Bracket Contest Returns, New Prize Up for Grabs

Thursday marks the traditional start of this year’s college basketball tournament, which produces a lot of associated betting opportunities, many of which come in the way of bracket contests between friends, or in offices and bars.

Filling out a college basketball tournament bracket has become something of a tradition— even some U.S. Presidents have done it -- and you’ve likely sees lots of articles on how to fill out your bracket to best effect.

You will read that a No. 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1 and that 12 vs. 5 matchups are prime spots to search for upsets.

There is one strategy that almost no one writes about, and if you are gambling on your bracket, which many do, it is the most important consideration of all.

The best thing you can do is guess.

There is a reason there is never a perfect bracket every single year. A total of 70 million tournament brackets were filled out nationwide in 2017. In case you were wondering, the odds of filling

In case you were wondering, the odds of filling out a perfect bracket are 1 in 9,200,000,000,000,000,000 (9.2 quintillion).

It would be easier to win back-to-back lotteries, buying one ticket each time, than it is to fill out a perfect bracket. Now that your morale and confidence have been

Now that your morale and confidence have been effectively crushed, the Watonga Republican is proud to announce our seventh annual Bracket Bonanza.

With 68 teams playing 67 games in a span of 19 days, that is a whole lot of chaos in a short amount of time, with only one team left standing at the end.

Because of our press deadline, and the start of the tournament, everyone is going to have a very short amount of time to fill out a bracket and turn it into us at the office before the tournament starts.

Brackets must be filled out and either returned in-person, postmarked, or emailed to the Watonga Republican by 5 p.m., Thursday, March 18

Ḃrackets sent by email should be sent to staff@watongarepublican.com and if you have any questions give us a call at 580-623-4922. Due to mailed out newspapers sometimes arriv

Due to mailed out newspapers sometimes arriving a few days after Thursday, we will be accepting some brackets until 5 p.m. on Wednesday March 24. However, all games that have begun or have been completed prior to that time will NOT count towards your final score.

Here is a quick rundown of the Bracket Bonanza’s rules:

• Brackets must be filled out and either returned inperson, postmarked, or emailed to the Watonga Republican by 5 p.m., Thursday, March 18. Send to staff@watongarepublican.com if sending by email.

•If a bracket is turned in after all first-round picks of games that have been played that day, those games will be ineligible. No brackets will be accepted for any reason after 5 p.m. on Wednesday March 24.

•NO PHOTO COPIED BRACKETS WILL BE ACCEPTED

Scoring will be as follows:

- 1st Round - 1 point per correct prediction

- 2nd Round - 2 points per correct prediction

- Sweet 16 - 4 points per correct prediction

- Elite 8 - 8 points per correct prediction

- Finals - 16 points per correct prediction

- Champion - 32 points per correct prediction

- In case of a tiebreaker the tiebreaker will be the combined score of the Championship Game.

• Scores will be compiled after the championship game held Monday, April 5.

• Results will be published in the Wednesday, April 7 issue.

• This is a winner-take-all contest for the cash Grand Prize.

Tips and Strategies based on Historical Results:

One of the main keys to winning your bracket pool is picking the right upset, picking the winner based on previous seed results is tough to do.

However, there are some patterns that start to emerge when you look at the historical data.

For example, a #1 seed has never lost against a #16 seed. Despite a higher ranking, #8 seeds lose more often than not against #9 seeds.

The following percentages are based on 27 years tournament play with four of the same types of matchups in each tournament.

#1 seed vs. #16 seed – The #1 seed has won 100% of the time against the #16 seed.

#2 seed vs. #15 seed – The #2 seed has won 96% of the time against the #15 seed.

#3 seed vs. #14 seed – The #3 seed has won 85% of the time against the #14 seed.

#4 seed vs. #13 seed – The #4 seed has won 79% of the time against the #13 seed.

#5 seed vs. #12 seed – The #5 seed has won 67% of the time against the #12 seed.

#6 seed vs. #11 seed – The #6 seed has won 67% of the time against the #11 seed.

#7 seed vs. #10 seed – The #7 seed has won 60% of the time against the #10 seed.

#8 seed vs. #9 seed – The #8 seed has won 47% of the time against the #9 seed.