How to Win Your Office Basketball Pool
Want to be a big shot at work? Want to move up the corporate ladder? Tired of wondering who the Iona Gaels are when you fill out the brackets in your office's 64-team college basketball championship pool? These steps are designed to give you an edge.
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Instructions
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Understand the rules of your office pool. Most pools require picking the winners in every bracket; others go by the point spread, and some require you to pick dark horses.
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Choose the winners bracket by bracket, starting at the beginning. Avoid starting with the national championship game or the Final Four teams and going backward; you may overlook an early-round game that could throw off later results.
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Consult the Sagarin ratings in "USA Today" or the rating percentage index (RPI) at CBS SportsLine (cbs.sportsline.com) to see how teams compare with one another in computerized rankings.
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Pick teams that play in tougher leagues when you are torn between two teams.
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Don't hold a grudge against your alma mater's rival or teams that have burned you in the past. They may be better than you want to admit.
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Check where the games are played to see if a team owns a regional home court advantage.
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Pick a team that has recently lost to win it all or to reach the Final Four round. It takes six games to win the championship, and teams losing right before the tournament tend to be a little more motivated.
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Opt for teams that did not play in a grueling conference tournament. They will be more rested in comparison to teams in the Big 10 or SEC that spent the last couple of days beating up on each other.
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Question teams that blew out their competition all season long and never had to come from behind. They may not be able to win the close ones.
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Pick at least one No. 12 seed to win a first-round game. It almost always happens.
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Tips & Warnings
Avoid picking the No. 1 ranked team at the end of the regular season. Since the tournament has gone to the 64-team format, only Duke in 1992 and UCLA in 1995 have been ranked No. 1 at season's end and won the national championship.
Choose teams with successful coaches. The players always change, but a good coach brings stability and consistency to a program.
Iona won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship for 1999-2000.
Your company may frown upon office pools. Don't advertise it to the CEO unless he or she is a college basketball fan or a graduate of Duke University.
Don't spend your working days refreshing your browser for the latest scores. You may bring your company's local-area network to its knees.
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Comments
View all 7 Comments-
Nov 22, 2005
The best way that a big underdog in the tourney can stay close is by hitting "3's." Check out how teams were from the 3 point arc this year. If a team has been bombing (at a better than average rate) or has a big 3 point shooting advantage against a certain opponent, there is a chance for a huge upset. -
Nov 22, 2005
Always choose a team with players that have been together longer than a team composed of rookies. They tend to handle pressure better and complement each other in the end.
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Nov 22, 2005
Look at how well a team shoots, especially at the free-throw line. That makes the difference in tight games.
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Nov 22, 2005
Look for teams who have a McDonald's All-American playing for them. Every winning team over the last 25 years has had at least one on the team.
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Nov 22, 2005
Look at how well a team shoots, especially at the free-throw line. That makes the difference in tight games.
