March Madness Tips for Brackets & Betting

Written by -

march-madness-tips-020409.jpgMarch Madness isn’t really that far away.  Besides that, it’s one of the most exciting times of the year in the sports betting world and it’s never too early to start thinking about your brackets and your bets.  I decided to compile a list that can help you with both this season in the first round based on the most significant trends of the past.

A #16 seed has never beaten a #1 seed in the first round in the history of the NCAA Tournament (96-0).

#2 seeds rarely lose either, as they’ve only fallen to a #15 seed 4 times in 96 meetings in the tournament (92-4).

The #3 seed has lost to the #14 seed in the first round a total of 15 times (81-15).

#4 seeds tend to win about the same rate against #13 seeds with the 13 seed winning just 17 times (79-17).

At the #5 seed it starts to get interesting.  The 5 seed has beaten the #12 seed 65 times in 96 years, but that’s only a winning percentage of 68%, which is a pretty dramatic drop-off from the 82% winning percentage of the #4 seeds  (65-31).

The trends take a slight upward turn in favor of the #6 seed, which has beaten the #11 seed 66 times (66-30).

The #7 seed is usually considered one that is ripe for an upset, but they’ve still won about 63% of the match ups with the #10 seed (60-36).

With the #8 against the #9 seeds we get closer to a coin-flip type situation, but it is interesting to note that the #9 seed actually has the better winning percentage with nearly 54% of the victories (#8 seed record against #9: 44-52).

More Trends

The lowest seed to ever make the Championship game is a #8 seed and it’s happened twice.  UCLA made it in 1980, but lost to Louisville, while the #8 seeded Villanova Wildcats made the final game, and won over the Georgetown Hoyas.

A team seeded #10 or #12 has never made it past the Elite 8.

The #13 and #14 seeds have reached the Sweet 16 just two times in the history of the tournament.

It’s already a well-known fact that a #16 seed has never beaten a #1 seed in the tournament, but did you know that only 11 of the 96 match ups have been within 10 points?

Only once in the history of the tournament have all four #1 seeds made it to the Final Four.

The Championship game of the tournament has pitted two #1 seeds against each other just 6 times.

The team crowned as the #1 overall seed in the tournament has ended up winning the championship just 6 times, though 3 of those wins have come within the last decade.

Be sure to check back often as we will be providing updates and different trends periodically for March Madness.

About the Author: Steve will be the first to tell you that College Football is his passion, but he enthusiastically follows the NFL, NBA, College Hoops, and Major League Baseball. Get started today with a premium package from Steve Janus!
Connect with the author via: Twitter - Google+
WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.