March Madness by the numbers

March is one of the best months for sports fans.

I mean, what’s better than sitting on the couch, flipping through channels, and watching basketball all day long?

Since you know you’ll be watching, why not enter the Daily Bee’s March Madness challenge?

You still have one more day to enter the contest. Just send me an email at tpixley@bonnercountydailybee.com and submit your picks for the final 4, who you think will be in the championship game, who will win, and your final score prediction.

The winner will receive a crisp $100 bill.

While you’re filling out your bracket and entering into the challenge, here’s three helpful tips to make sure you have the best odds possible.

We all love an underdog story. In fact, that’s probably 99 percent of the reason so many people enjoy the month of March, but don’t get too crazy.

In the history of the NCAA tournament, only one 16 seed has topped a number one seed. That was back in 2016, when UMBC shocked Virginia 74-64 .

In 2021, Oral Roberts became the ninth 15 seed to beat a second seed.

If you’re chasing an upset, the safest option is an 11 seed downing the sixth seed.

There have been 55 cases where an 11 seed has beaten the sixth seed during the tournament.

The 12 seed over the fifth seed is also a safe bet with 50 wins throughout the history of the event.

However, in eight out of the last 13 tournaments, a 13 seed has defeated a three-seed. If you see a matchup you like, keep that in mind.

Putting all four number one seeds in the final four seems like a good idea on paper, but actually it’s only ever happened once in the history of March Madness (2008).

If you want to do a deep dive into analytics and stats, cbssports.com has you covered.

According to an article by Matt Norlander, there are only two things to look for while filling out your bracket: a top-30 per possession defense and a guard that is going to get drafted.

This formula applies to the last eight national champions. The teams this applies to are Tennensee, Arizona, Kentucky, and Kansas.

The biggest part of March Madness is to have fun and to cheer on the underdogs. The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion, so just sit back and enjoy the madness.