Perfect Bracket

There's never been and there never will be a “Perfect Bracket.” You have a better chance of getting attacked by a shark while being struck by lightning than filling out a Perfect Bracket. So why the title? While no one will ever take home Buffett’s billion, everyone is in a tournament challenge with friends. Here are just a few tips on how to set yourself apart.

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1. Never take the school you attend to wn it all

Actually, try and eliminate them from your bracket as early as possible. More than likely you’re in a tournament challenge with your classmates and no one want’s to be the person rooting for the other team so everyone will take their school to win it all. Here’s the problem with that, even the top ranked schools usually only have around a 6% chance of winning it all. Given that you've probably taken a statistics course at some point, you can understand that those aren’t very good odds. By eliminating them early, you’re giving yourself the opportunity to gain points on everyone else in your tournament.

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2. Pick some upsets!

These tournaments never go as planned, if they did, it wouldn’t be called March Madness. Every year, a team comes out of nowhere and shocks the world. Everyone loves their story and deep down, everyone is rooting for them. That being said... no one has them in their bracket. Choose your Cinderella story early, and ride them into at least the Elite 8. This year I have Arizona State as that 11 seed who makes a deep run.

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3. Ride the hot teams

UConn was the perfect example of this in 2011. They won the Big East in dramatic fashion at Madison Square garden, then rode Kemba Walker's hot hand all the way to a championship. This year that team is College of Charleston. Like UConn that year, Charleston slumped. People were counting them out. But also like UConn, Charleston got hot and should now be seen as one of the most dangerous teams in College Basketball.

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4. Fall in love with the story!

You’re going to be rooting for the teams you choose, so you might as well enjoy watching/cheering for them. Last year for me, that team was Wisconsin. On the way to the Big 10 tournament last year, their plane crashed during an aborted takeoff. They barely ended up making it to their first game in D.C. Once they arrived, they were ready and ended up winning the entire thing.

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5. Don't get too technical

I’d rather take the bracket of someone who knows nothing about basketball and picked all their teams based on Jersey colors, than the bracket of someone who sat in a dark room for 4 days and dissected the teams down to an inhuman level. It’s basketball. Anything can happen, and that’s what is so beautiful about it.

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6. This isn't the NBA

Only a few guys from each team will end up going to the NBA; on some teams, there will be none. Most of these players will never get an opportunity like this again and for a lot of seniors, they may never play basketball again. What does that mean? It means that the group of freshman who will all be going to the NBA simply won’t be as invested as the seniors who are playing in their final games. Seek out that top seeded team who doesn’t seem passionate and take them out early!

Gif source Do I have this thing down to a science? I mean I have won my pools 4 out of the last 5 years... so you decide for yourself. Take my tips as you will, have fun with your bracket, and enjoy the most magical time of the year.