As I go about preparing to fill out my March Madness office pool brackets, I implement a very important strategy that will pay off come tournament time. Since this year you will only have one day before your brackets have to be done (most office pool brackets will have to be completed by Tuesday if they are going to include all 68 teams and the selection show is Sunday night), it is important to do some prep work early.
My prep work begins with the conference tournaments. I look for the smaller teams that get automatic bids or who win their conference tournament who I feel may surprise or upset someone. I look for certain things:
Teams that are high scoring – If you can score you are never out of a game and these teams tend to have a great chance for a 1st round upset win.
Teams that can control the tempo – If they can get the game going in their favor they have an excellent chance of pulling an upset.
Teams that shoot the 3 – exchanging 3′s for 2′s can be a great way to stay close and get that last second win.
Teams that have experience – Seniors often play with more passion and poise and that is what you want in a tournament team.
Teams that can create more possessions for themselves (offensive rebound or turnovers) – More possessions equates to more shots and at a higher percentage which is always a sign of winning teams.
As the conference tournaments finish up and the automatic bids are finalized, I will be making a list of potential 10-16 seeded teams that are poised to pull an upset or two. Check back in with The Office Pool Guy for those potential sleepers or create a list of your own using my Do-It-Yourself Resources.
If you don’t want to do it yourself, or are running out of time to fill out your brackets then you can download and copy mine from my website. Go to The Office Pool Guy. (Will be posted when brackets are out)
