Bracketology 101

Now that Oakland has played it's way to being the sacrificial lamb for North Carolina I should reveal to you Brian's Rules of Bracketology. They've served me pretty well so I shall share. What are friends for?

The key to good bracket is very simple in theory: where are the upsets in the first two rounds? Once you figure out the upsets the rest falls in line pretty easily.
First Round is always key.

1. #1s don't lose to #16s.
2. Usually one #2 will fall to the #15. You can almost guarantee that. Almost.
3. Usually a #3 and #4 will fall to a #14 and #13 respectively. But you have feel that a bit. I'm not shocked when a #4 loses. A #3 falling in the first round is somewhat rare.
4. #5s vs. #12s. These are the tough ones. One #5 will fall and sometimes two #5s will fall. Never three of them though.
5. #6 over #11. Just go for the #6 seed unless you see a very interesting matchup.
6. #7 over #10. Again unless you see a very interesting matchup go for the higher seed.
7. #8 seeds and #9 seeds. BAH! Just flip a coin.

Second Round

1. All those low seeds that just pulled off a major upset had their day in the sun. Pick the higher seed.
2. The second round is a good place to have a #1 fall.

After that you're dealing with teams in the Sweet Sixteen. At that point you just pick high seeds unless you see something very interesting. Once you get to the Final Four you'll likely have two #1s, a #2, and a #3. At that point anything goes. Have fun!

Illinois is looking pretty tough this year. They might bring a lot of glory to the Big Ten this year.