I have never been the type of person to sit down and watch a sports game on TV, and I rarely go to my school’s sporting events. I just don’t see the appeal to it all; screaming at a screen for something you can’t control and hoping with everything you have that the team you like will win. This is still the case for me; however, my one exception is March Madness.
For starters, I have no knowledge of what teams are better than other or how their seasons typically go. My school typically doesn’t make it into the tournament; therefore, I don’t have any school spirit to drive my opinion on March Madness. Last year, I was friends with a guy who loved all things basketball. I decided I would make a bracket just for fun and try to prove a non-basketball-lover can be just as good at picking teams. First round came to an end and I only incorrectly predicted two game turnouts — the same amount he missed. Moving forward, I don’t remember exactly how every game went, but I remember he was so mad when I correctly predicted the two teams playing in the final game.
I think the most important things when making an unqualified bracket are trusting your gut, don’t take your prior feelings towards a team into account, work round by round, pay attention to stats and finally, don’t take it too seriously.
Trust your gut
As I have grown up, I have learned the importance of trusting my gut (my intuition). I am typically very indecisive. So when making a decision — especially when it’s between two options — I tend to use my intuition to make the decision. As someone who doesn’t follow the regular basketball season, I decided to rely on my intuition when making my bracket.
When using my intuition — not just for March Madness — I make sure I turn my thoughts inward and tune out any distractions. I say to myself two to three times in a row, “[Team name] will win.” I focus on how my body and mind feels in that moment. I then say to myself two to three times, “[Other team name] will win.” I compare the way my body and mind feels in that moment to how I felt during the first statement. Which ever has a stronger sense of accuracy, that’s the team I choose.
If you’re someone who has trouble using intuition, I suggest still trying this method because it won’t hurt to practice and strengthen your ability. If you’re someone who finds it silly or unreliable, I encourage you still try it — after all, I used it and was pretty successful.
Work round by round
I know, traditionally, you need to have your bracket finalized before the first game starts, but since this is all for fun, I like to predict one round at a time. In other words, before the games start I pick the teams to win the first round then after those games finish I will move onto the next round. This allows me to stay actively engaged throughout the entire tournament. I would find it very discouraging to pay attention if by the third round none of the teams I predicted were still in the tournament.
Another way you can make the bracket process stress free is to create the whole bracket before the first round, and then as the tournament plays out, after each round feel free to alter predictions. For example, if you predicted incorrectly for the results of both games that will face off next round, you can predict between the two teams that are now set to compete. This allows you to, again, stay actively involved while still play by the more traditional rules.
As I mentioned, last year was the first time I ever made a bracket. Consequently, I am still getting my bearings and finding what works best for me. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll feel confident enough to follow the “real” rules of March Madness brackets.
Disregard any opinions on the teams
I had no prior knowledge on any of the teams, so I had no trouble disregarding a team’s prior seasons. Where I had more trouble was disregarding the outside knowledge I had heard over time. This could be if I heard someone saying, “[Team name] is so cocky!” When I hear something like this I automatically form a negative opinion of said team. It is pretty challenging to just forget about the little things like this because obviously I don’t want a cocky team to win.
This next thing I have trouble disregarding isn’t very feminist of me to say, but I also have to disregard my opinions on how hot each team’s players are. This one isn’t nearly as big of a problem as disregarding outside knowledge. However, I would be lying if I said I didn’t secretly want the team I found hotter to win. As if them winning would somehow give me more of a chance with a basketball player hundreds of miles away from me.
The importance of stats
I want to stress how important it is to only pay attention to the current season’s stats. Just because a team has been dominating the past 4 years doesn’t necessarily mean they are destined to be just as powerful this year and vice versa. Players graduate, new players are recruited, coaching staffs might change, funding differs, and a variety of other things contribute to a team’s success each season. That being said because March Madness happens at the end of each season, the only season that matters is the current one. Seeing as, only the current season is what got them to March Madness this year.
As someone who knows very basic basketball terminology, I had to do a decent amount of research before just diving right into looking at stats. Here are the stats I pay the most attention to and what they mean in non-basketball terms. What I did to know the basic premise of each term is Googling “college basketball stats meanings,” this gave me a bunch of sites that have a dictionary type list of what each abbreviation stands for. If I still didn’t know what one of them means, I look up what that phrase specifically means. Such as, “What is a field goal in basketball?”
When making a bracket I compared only a few of the stats for each team rather than every single stat. I typically look at how many points the team typically wins by, how likely a team is to score off two and three point shots and free throws, and rebound frequency. This are the things I find have the most weight in determining a win. As well as, their passion and dedication — how badly they want to win. However, this is a factor that is much harder to measure.
When predicting each game’s winner, I look at how each team played specifically in the prior game, their overall season stats and then rely on my intuition to pick. I like to see how they played only one game prior because it shows me the most recent and accurate display of their gameplay. Their overall stats help me to determine if they won their last game because luck or skill. Even though I check all of the teams logistics briefly, I still use my intuition to make the final call. There is always the chance that a team will be statistically better but still lose. My intuition allows me to pick the underdog to win sometimes, whereas looking at just the stats typically excludes the underdog.
Just have fun
Sports are such a high intensity expression of — whether for the player or the fans. That being said, it can be hard to remain level-headed throughout the game. I found myself getting heated when a ref would make a bad call. I had to remind myself that it is in fact just a game. I don’t gamble, so I had nothing to lose; therefore, I had to make a point to not get so wrapped up in the anger and focus more on the enjoyment. March Madness for the totally unqualified is going to be no fun if you take it too seriously. This process is a goofy and fun process. Whether it’s because you are able to pat yourself on the back when you predict correctly or when you shrug it off when you’re incorrect because, after all, this is all for fun.