Boggs Details how to pick your March bracket

Picking brackets has become one of the biggest businesses around and generates thousands for Television companies and ESPN every year, with shows and all kinds of coverage for your teams that you favor. So how will you pick your teams? How will you know what teams you should avoid? How can you call an upset? Worry no more friend, Your official Devils’ Advocate bracketology guide is officially here, with all of the tips and tricks that you’ll need to properly create a bracket with a fighting chance.

1.Keep it sane

One major goal that you’ll always want to follow is to not make insane picks, like predicting a 16 seed to beat a 1, (which has never happened in the history of college basketball). Refrain from calling more than three or four upsets in the first round, where the biggest gap in talent exists in the whole tournament. Upsets in the first round WILL happen, just predict in a believable way.

2.Never bet on surprise teams 

Teams this year that have been on the up-tick and become good teams should be able to make at least the second round, Teams like Xavier and this years surprise one seed Villanova will be the most susceptible to upsets. These teams haven’t been able to rule the big dance in the past, mostly due to a lack of pure talent. These teams with high skill and large amounts of seniors may be very good, but usually in the end, the team with the best overall talent has the better chance.

3.Star players make star plays

Bet the most on the teams with the most players you can name. Sure, bet your upsets where the teams will not have a single kid you know. But when it comes to Elite 8 or Final Four, bet on the teams with the biggest stars and game changers. This year is a bit special because the overall best player will not be participating in the tournament, Ben Simmons of LSU, because of coaching mostly. This year you’re going to want to take teams like Oklahoma that has a great player in Buddy Hield, or Michigan State with Denzel Valentine, and of course the Cats with Jamal Murray and Tyler Ulis.

4.Never count out underperforming teams

This year Duke has been extremely underwhelming, but they have something that other tournament teams don’t: Coach K. Coaching matters in the tournament, the good coaches put their players in the best possible positions to win. Duke has stars in players like Grayson Allen and Brandon Ingram, and a garbage man in Marshall Plumlee. This might not sound like a lot, but Coach K will run plays that are specifically set up for those players, therefore they will always have the upper hand.

5.Look at the officials

This may seem like a bit of a nitpick compared to other things on this list, but these last couple of years have been frankly ridiculous for officiating in college basketball. Ghost travel calls, while blatantly missing others, and contact in the lane means everything today. If refs like Doug Shows, Pat Adams or Doug Sirmons are officiating a game, you may want to look at certain matchups. For instance if you have a tall and rough team like Iowa State or West Virginia. That is going against a smaller, finesse team like Villanova or Kentucky, expect a lot of fouls and the better shooters to eventually win out.

6.Ride the hot teams

Lastly and the most importantly, you’ll want to ride the teams with the best record in the month of February. These records show teams that are hot, either shooting or just making winning plays. Even though a team may be a end up being a 4 seed based on their record, they may be play as good as your usual one seed, just for their play recently. Hot teams like Virginia or Kentucky would be teams to roll with into March.

So in conclusion, March is a crazy time in sports where wild things will surely occur, make the smart choices and be creative with your bracket, and most importantly, have fun! Happy March!