March Madness: Five rules based on stats

Before Selection Sunday, take a look at these NCAA tournament historical statistics

It's not a new concept, statistics rule the world. The same applies to the upcoming NCAA March Madness tournament. Guess what, they also dominate gambling, fantasy sports, business, and most everything else. Below I've ranked the top 5 statistics to keep in mind while filling out your bracket. For best use, use these "rules", as I'll call them, regardless of where teams end up and who they end up playing.

Well duh.

1. It's quite obvious, and probably doesn't even need to be here, but a #1 ranked team has never lost to a #16 ranked team. They've definitely came close, but it has never happened. Therefore, do not be the bonehead to pick a #16 to upset a #1 seed. Also, a #15 seed only has beat a #2 seed 3% of the time. Don't be the goof to pick a #15 seed to beat a #2 seed.

Final Four wins brackets

2. The lowest seed to ever make it to the Final Four was #11. That has occurred three times, with VCU being the most recent with their epic run in 2011. In addition, the lowest seed to win the NCAA tournament is a #8 seed. That was the Villanova Wildcats in 1985. Using those two powerful stats, I imply you to not pick a team seeded lower than #10 in your Final Four. Also, do not have a team ranked lower than #7 win the tournament.

3. All #1 teams have made it to the Final Four once. On the other hand, all #1 seeds failed to make it to the Final Four 3 times. This makes us believe that 1-3 #1 seeds will make the last four. With the parody in college basketball in recent years, you should include two #1 seeds in your Final Four picks.

4. Don't pick a #1 seed to win the NCAA tournament. 14 out of 76 times, a #1 seed has won it all and cut down the nets at the end of the day. That comes out to 18%. If you told me to bet on anything else with those odds, I wouldn't throw down a single dollar. Trust me.

Upset specials

5. People are always trying to pick the "key" upsets in their bracket. It's no secret that those can be huge in a bracket, so where is the upset most likely to happen? #3 vs. #14 is tough to predict, it happens 15% of the time. So we'll take the 85% in those odds. However, take a look at the stats for the other matchups. #13 beats #4 21% of the time. #12 beats #5 33% of the time. #11 beats #6 33% of the time. Finally, #10 beats #7 40% of the time. Yes I know, tons of numbers. Pick one #13 seed to beat a #4 seed. Pick three #12 and #11 seeds to beat #5 and #6 seeds. Lastly, pick two #10 seeds to beat #7 seeds.

Take note: Brackets should be filled out from the Championship game backwards. If you haven't tried it this year, give it a go. You won't go back. The writer of this article has cashed in on 4 out of the last 5 NCAA brackets using the principles above.