2023 NCAA Tournament Perfect Bracket: Medium Pools (March Madness)
It's that time of year again, March Madness has finally returned. One of the most exciting aspects is this week leading up to the tip-off of the games when you have to fill out your bracket. If you're like me, you will stress over every little decision. If you aren't like me, you will trust my advice and use this article to build your brackets. I will be doing a series on filling out your bracket for small, medium, and large pools.
Here I will be providing advice when filling out a bracket for medium pools. These are general pools with about 50-500 people. Maybe a pool with a bunch of college friends, or all of your coworkers from the office, for example. Despite the bigger pool size, you still don't have to overthink this as much. Picking the champion is the most important part when filling out your bracket, so don't differentiate your Final Four or champion pick compared to smaller pools.
What I would advise changing up is some potential champion or Final Four options that you instead of losing early, take a stake in them dropping out in the first or second rounds despite others in your pool taking them to win it all. This allows you to differentiate yourself among the pool while still keeping positive leverage in mind, and lower risk than changing up your champion.
My selections for some potential top teams to bust early: Marquette, Kansas, and Purdue.
Marquette seems to be the hottest team in the nation after their Big East title run. Shaka Smart has worked wonders with the talent he brought in – or didn't bring in – this offseason. One blaring concern for the Golden Eagles is their defense – ranking 47th in KenPom. Since 2012, only three teams ranked outside the top 40 in defensive efficiency pre-tourney have made the Final Four. Playing on neutral courts against new teams can cause offenses to collapse, so it wouldn't be the craziest thing to see Marquette lose earlier than expected.
Kansas is not only already a team with little depth, but if Kevin McCuller is hurt that further troubles the hopes for the Jayhawks to make a deep tournament run, especially with Arkansas or Illinois waiting in the second round after a quick turnaround. They showed a bit of fatigue in the Big 12 title game, and I am expecting the same in the second round of the tournament.
Purdue is simply a team that cannot be relied on for deep tournament runs. Year after year we see great Purdue teams fall short and even with their size and firepower last year, they fell to Saint Peter’s. Zach Edey is a dude but the metrics are lower on the Boilermakers than their seeding, and they have one of the most difficult paths to the Final Four among any top-seeded teams.
If you want an example, I have included a template bracket below. But take a stake on solid teams to fade early, and go from there.
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