How Do You Pick Your Picks?

by RemorsefulBruinBabe on Mar 21, 2009 9:44 AM PDT Comment 9 comments

On the morning of this Saturday of Madness, I have been wondering how everyone creates their brackets.

Yes, I am still pretty much in last place at this point, having only correctly picked 17/32 games so far. Yes, the only people doing worse than I am at this point are RollOnYouBears667 and mikeA. Yes, the only reason I am doing better than they are is the simple fact that they did not submit brackets. No, I am not seeing a huge comeback in my future.

But hey, Obama and I picked the same team to win the NCG, so I feel somewhat validated. Even though I am pretty sure I picked them because I thought "Tar Heels" was a funny name.

So...inform me. How do you make your picks? (pics?) (pix?) (pickx?) Poll below.

Poll

How do you Pick your Picks?

I perform agonizing research, analyzing the previous season/s of each team, player strengths/weaknesses/injuries, etc.

3 votes

I spend just enough time reviewing the teams to have a decent idea of their histories so I can make an educated guess.

11 votes

I use a haphazard method of picking, using whatever criteria I want (player cuteness, team colors, funny mascots, schools I've heard of) to determine my choices for the outcomes.

4 votes

I pretty much just close my eyes and throw a dart. There is absolutely no method to my madness.

1 votes

What are you talking about? I don't know what "NCAA Bracket" means.

1 votes

20 votes | Poll has closed

The opinions expressed in a FanPost are, in every way, reflective of the opinions of every California Golden Blogs Marshawnthusiast. Moreover, they are reflective of every employee of SBNation, including Tyler "Blez" Bleszinski.

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Comments

i was on vacation during the pre-madness this year

and so didn’t have much time to think about it. this is good, because i usually overthink things. at this point, i’m humble enough to know that i don’t really know what i’m doing, and realizing that the favorites win most of the time, i just filled out my bracket with ‘all favorites’, then made a couple changes if i had any knowledge of the actual teams involved.

i’ll definitely finish in the top half, and i’m almost certain i won’t finish in the top 5, or even 10.

So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!

by ragnarok on Mar 21, 2009 10:03 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I only pay attention to Pac-10 basketball, so I don’t know anything about 90% of the teams in the tournament. My strategy is to pick most of the favorites to win, and then choose a few teams I like to get an upset, and a few teams I don’t like to get upset. My strategy usually results in thoroughly mediocre brackets, but I love filling them out anyway because it gives me someone to root for in every game.

by Calnet on Mar 21, 2009 10:35 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I don’t know much of anything about teams outside the Pac-10, so my picks are mostly guesses. I spent about ten minutes using some of the stats Yahoo provided to shape my picks. If two close seeds are playing one another, I’ll usually choose the one who played in a stronger conference, or the one with the largest average margin of victory (especially if it’s in a premiere conference). This worked great until last night’s madness upset my brackets.

Whose domicile? OUR DOMICILE!

by Berkelium97 on Mar 21, 2009 10:39 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

In the CGB league, I hit “Top Seeds” and then Finish.
In the SBN league (the famed SBN League), I hit “Popular Picks” and then Finish.
In ATQ league, I hit “Random Picks” and then Finish. I think that Morehead St. was facing off against Minnesota in the Championship game. Minn was winning it all there. I have 16 correct picks there. Random gave me literally a 50% success rate. But its going to go downhill, because I only have like 58 potential points left!

TYRANNICAL KING OF UC EUGENE! BRING ME THE HEAD OF SEATTLE QUACKER!

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Mar 21, 2009 11:01 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

IMHO, agonizing research doesn’t really work because there’s too much unpredictability. On the other hand, relying on upsets doesn’t really work because by the definition of the term they’re unlikely to occur. Like Ragnarok, I go with favorites and then make a few changes to games where I expect an upset (Wisconsin, USC).

I outworthless the Maharg.

by HolmoePhobe on Mar 21, 2009 12:12 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs