A Girlfriend's Guide to Bracketology 2019

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Alright for those of you that are new round here, here is a quick little blurb!! Every year I put together an easy to read guide for all things bracketology. For background info into why I do this – for starters – I attended a huge basketball school; Indiana University (#1 in the NIT tourney this year lol!!). Which is where I gained my fair share of college basketball knowledge. This knowledge also came from playing the sport from 6 years old to 18 years old. I have countless memories of my Dad and I in the front yard in small town Indiana, where I grew up, working endlessly on my jump-shot and playing HORSE until I would of course win :). Also – I want to help YOU ALL out! All through my high school and college years I would help my girlfriends on their brackets, picking teams and sharing insight. It is something that I just love and enjoy! College basketball and March Madness have become one of my passions and almost a part of who I am.

So without further aideu lets get started ladies.

1) Stray away from choosing all four #1 seeds to be in the Final Four. Rookie move!! This has only happened once in the history of the tournament, in 2008, and not likely to happen this year as the talent is pretty evenly space throughout the 1-3 seeds.

2) Stay above a 6 seed to win it all. Only one time has a team ranked lower than 6 won the whole tournament. This year with the strength of top seeds especially #1 seed UVA, it does not seem likely to have an underdog win the title.

3) Pay close attention to who won the conference tournaments. These teams are important because it is a preview to how they will play during March Madness, and under the pressure of a “one and done” type atmosphere. These teams are on a hot streak and high on their respective titles. So therefore, keep the below in mind while filling out your brackets. Side note: If you do not know what the conference tournaments are these are pre tournaments that happen within each conference – i.e: Big Ten, SEC, ACC, etc. The winner of each of these tournaments gets an automatic ticket to The Round of 64 (Aka: First Round).

America East: Vermont

AAC: Cincinnati

Atlantic 10: Saint Louis

ACC: Duke

ASUN: Liberty

Big 12: Iowa State

Big East: Villanova

Big Sky: Montana

Big South: Gardner-Webb

Big West: UC Irvine

Big Ten: Michigan State

Colonial: Northeastern

Conference USA: Old Dominion

Horizon League: Northern Kentucky

Ivy League: Yale

Metro Atlantic Athletic: Iona

MAC: Buffalo

MEAC: NC Central

Missouri Valley: Bradley

Mountain West: Utah State

Northeast: Fairleigh Dickinson

Ohio Valley: Murray State

Pac-12: Oregon

Patriot League: Colgate

SEC: Auburn

Southern: Wofford

Southland: Abilene Christian

SWAC: Prairie View A&M

Summit League: North Dakota State

Sun Belt: Georgia State

West Coast Conference: Saint Mary’s

Western Athletic Conference: New Mexico State

4) Keep in mind the outright conference title holders. Although these titles will not determine how they will play in the tournament under pressure, it will give you more information on their depth and performance. The below teams have been playing strongly throughout the whole season and conference play, they have the players, coaching, and hard work to go far.

American Athletic Conference: Houston

Atlantic 10: VCU

ACC: UVA

Big 12:Texas Tech

Big East: Villanova

Big 10: Purdue

PAC 12: Washington

SEC: LSU

5) Upsets will happen. This is the most inevitable yet exciting part of the tournament. We are always rooting for that Cinderella Story and seeing a #14 seed beat a #3 seed, tbt 2012 Lehigh v. Duke game, are sometimes March’s best moments. Below I will highlight the upsets that should be on your radar!

(11)Belmont/Temple over (6) Maryland: Belmont and Temple play in the First Four round on Tuesday night. I think Belmont wins this one but whoever wins this matchup will have the advantage over (6) Maryland. Maryland finished 5th in the Big Ten and lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament to lowly Nebraska (no offense). With a win under their belt in the tournament already I see the winner of the Belmont/Temple matchup using the confidence from that win to roll over Maryland.

(13) UC Irvine over (4) Kansas St: UC Irvine was the regular season winner of the Big West conference and won their conference tournament with ease beating CS Fullerton by 28 points in the final. This team only lost 5 games all season and had wins @ Texas A&M and @ (11) Saint Mary’s who later defeated (1) Gonzaga in the WCC conference tournament. UC Irvine held their opponents to a 38.3% shooting percentage which ranks 5^th best in the nation. Should be a close one and since this game is being played in California (San Jose), I’ll give the nod to UC Irvine.

(7) Nevada over (10) Florida and then (2) Michigan: Nevada was one of the hottest picks to win the NCAA Tournament back before the season started. They have a very experienced squad who has been in this spot before. Last year they were also a (7) seed and beat (10) Texas and (2) Cincinnati before losing by 1 point to Cinderella story Loyola-Chicago. Nevada has been waiting for March since the season began. They play in a mediocre conference in the Mountain West and lost 4 games all season. Those 4 loses can be attributed to an experienced team playing down to their competition in anticipation for March.

(12) Murray State over (5) Marquette: This matchup might be the most exciting game of the first round. You have two of the best players in the country squaring off in JA Morant (Murray State) and Markus Howard (Marquette). Morant is likely a top 5 maybe even top 3 pick in the NBA draft and averages 25 points per game with 10 assists. Marquette was hot at one point this season winning 20 of 22 games but have lost 5 of their last 6. Also Marquette hasn’t been good this year in close games (games within 5 points) having only won 30%. You have to go with JA Morant in a tight one against Marquette.

6) Four teams I feel strongly about going far and potentially winning it all

Duke– They have the nation’s best player in Zion Williamson. He is a man among boys.

Gonzaga – A loss in their conference tournament final will light a fire under their players.

Kentucky – Easy route to the elite 8 with likely UNC in their path to the final four.

Virginia – Their games will be boring to watch but this is the tournament’s best defensive team hands down.

7) Where to enter your bracket. So now that you have your full brackets complete, you can enter them into website wide competitions or competitions with your company and friends. I have linked a couple of my favorite sites below!

ESPN

BLEACHER REPORT

YAHOO

Last tip! Keep in mind where these games are being played as well as the proximity from the school to that city. As any sort of home court advantage in March is ideal for a W. Please reach out with any questions, comments or suggestions below!