Monday, March 12, 2012

League Life's March Madness Contest!

With March 15 right around the corner, basketball fans everywhere are strategically filling out their brackets. There are so many different systems that people use to make their picks. Some base their brackets strictly off of the records from the season. Others make their choices at random. And then there are those who use the crazy systems such as which teams have the best uniform colors or mascots. Want More March Madness Fun? Fill out your brackets and compete against LeagueHound! First Place will receive a free t-shirt! The deadline to send in your brackets is tomorrow at 6:30 PM. Go to http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/group/119699/invitation?key=9343551f3a889167 to sign up.



Go By the Numbers
It is easy to look at the history of the teams to make your decision. It's always a great strategy to fill out your brackets with the obvious choices. Sometimes you just can't dispute the cold hard facts. Some teams will almost always be better than others, and it's smart to use a little bit of common sense when picking who will make it to the final four. 

Get Risky
Playing it safe is always a pretty good bet when filling out your bracket, but what about those inevitable upsets that happen every year? You have to have a keen eye for which teams will exceed everyone's expectations. It is very uncommon that all number one seeds make it to the final four of the tournament. It has only happened three times: 1980, 2006, and 2011. This is evidence that it is not always so wise to make the obvious picks.

Play Favorites
One strategy that people always find themselves using is picking their favorite teams to go farther. It's tough to be unbiased towards the teams that you want to win. I always find myself putting Tennessee way beyond their skill level. While it might not be the wisest decision, you could be surprised at how far your team ends up going.

Have Fun With It
March Madness is also a time for those untrue fans of basketball to jump on the bandwagon and make a bracket. It is just so fun that everyone wants to be in on the action. Some people fill out their brackets completely at random. I have always made 2 brackets every year. The first bracket is strictly based off of the numbers, but the second is always some sort of wacky system like who has the cutest players. The funny thing is that my random wacky bracket almost always does better than my serious one. In fact, my wacky bracket has won not once- not twice- but THREE times. These guys had the best system for picking their teams last year:


It's tough to find that balance between carefully calculated and random. Most of the time you just have to make your guesses and leave it up to the march madness gods. No matter which way you cheer for your teams or fill out your brackets, March Madness is fun for everybody. Let us know what strategy YOU like to use when filling out your brackets.


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