Viral Bracket Tip Could Be The Difference Between Winning And Losing Your Bracket Pool

Getty Image / Isaiah Vazquez

Tens of millions of Americans will fill out an NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket over the next few days in anticipation for the traditional Thursday start. In a society where few things bring us together anymore, this is definitely one of them.

Everyone is looking for an edge up in their bracket pool, whether it’s with their family, at work, or a serious gambling endeavor. One Twitter user thinks they found one that could give you a huge edge in the first round in picking March Madness games.

One of the coolest things about March Madness and college basketball in general is that a bunch of different teams play a bunch of different styles. It can lead to some really fun clashes in styles amongst teams that would normally never play.

One Twitter user claims that he’s found a pattern in these kind of games where a team likes to play really fast and the other team likes to play really slow.

So, the really, really slow paced teams are beating the run and gun teams in March regularly. I’m curious as to why this is.

One reason could be that teams that play at an exceptionally fast pace are at a disadvantage is because everyone is well-rested for the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament. Teams have, at minimum, three full days of rest, and typically a good bit more. If a team is well-rested, it’s harder to wear them down, and part of the advantage of playing fast goes away.

The other explanation for this I can think of has to do with playing in unfamiliar venues. If you’re a fast-paced team that shoots a lot of threes, playing in an unfamiliar venue works against you. But, if you’re a slower-paced team that is maybe going to try to work for a layup late in the shot clock, you’re probably effected less from the unfamiliar shooters’ eye.

Based on the data, pick the boring teams!