NCAA Basketball Bracket Picking Rules You Should Never Break!

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NCAA Basketball Bracket Picking Rules You Should Never Break!

03/15/2010 12:10 AM · RJ_Bell

Sports betting authority RJ Bell of Pregame.com provides simple rules to improve anyone's bracket results.

Las Vegas, Nevada (March 15, 2010) - "Over 12 BILLION dollars is expected to be wagered on the 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament - which is more than was bet on the Super Bowl," said RJ Bell of Pregame.com. "And over 40 million Americans are expected to take part in bracket-style office pools." No sporting event generates more action. Here are proven rules you should never break when picking your bracket.

1st round rules:
Pick no more than two seeds worse than #12.
#16 seeds are 0 for 100 in the modern era (since 1985).
#15 seeds are 4 for 100.
#13 and #14 seeds combined win only 18% of first round games.

Don't be shy about picking upsets with #12 through #9 seeds. Give special consideration to picking #12 seeds: they have won 16 of 36 matchups vs. #5 seeds the last nine years. At least one #12 has won 19 of 21 years. 3 of 4 won last year.

#9 seeds have won over half their games (54%) vs. #8 seeds.

2nd round rules:
Advance #1 seeds almost automatically into the 3rd round. #1 seeds win their first two games 88% of the time.

Keep advancing the #12 and #10 seeds you picked to win in Round One. These teams win about half the time in Round Two. A double digit seed has made the Sweet Sixteen 23 of 25 years. Only once in 25 years has all the top three seeds (#1, #2, #3) made the Sweet Sixteen.

Seeds worse than #12 DO NOT win in the 2nd round. Only 6 of 400 teams that have advanced past Round 2 were seeded worse than #12.

Sweet 16 round rules:
Advance exactly three #1 seeds into the Elite 8. There's no reason to buck the math: 73% of #1 seeds advance into the 4th round (that's a higher percentage than #5 seeds who win a single game)!

Advance no team worse than a #11 seed into the Elite 8 (23 have made it to the Sweet 16, but only 1 has ever advanced).

Elite Eight round rules:
Advance exactly ONE or TWO #1 seeds to the Final Four. Amazingly, the Final Four has included exactly one or two #1 seeds 20 of the last 25 years.

Advance no team worse than a #8 seed to the Final Four. Only 2 of 100 Final Four teams have been seeded worse than #8.

Final Four round rules:
Advance NO team worse than a 6th seed to the Championship game. Not a single one has made it in the last 24 years.

Championship game rules:
Pick a #4 seed or better to win it all. For 21 straight years the champion has been a #4 seed or better!

MEDIA NOTE: Print, radio, TV, and Internet media should feel free to quote any information above. Please attribute: RJ Bell of Pregame.com. For follow-up questions, or media appearances - email: rjbell@pregame.com

RJ Bell of Pregame.com is the only sports bettor on Forbes' recent list of Gambling Gurus and has been called "a true insider" by ESPN, "incredibly astute" by AOL and a "point-spread maven" by USA Today. Mr. Bell has been featured on CBS News with Katie Couric, ABC News with Charles Gibson, Nightline, Sportscenter, Outside the Lines (ESPN), First Take (ESPN2), Mike & Mike, Colin Cowherd, Jim Rome, Dan Patrick, ESPN.com, FoxSports.com, Yahoo, CNN.com and in the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, New York Times, LA Times, Newsweek.com, Bloomberg, Maxim, and Sports Illustrated. Pregme.com is the largest sports betting news website compliant with US Law.

TWITTER: Follow all of RJ Bell's news making releases at www.Twitter.com/RJinVegas

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Topics: CBB

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RJ Bell is the founder of Pregame.com – a two-time INC. 5000 company, as well as the largest American digital media organization covering Las Vegas news and odds. Pregame is the exclusive odds provider... Read more