WASHINGTON — Nobody’s perfect.
That’s true in many aspects of life, but picking NCAA Tournament brackets is an especially good way to remind yourself of that. It can be a humbling process, but even a decent number of losses in the first four days of March Madness does not spell the end for your bracket.
The truth of the matter is, placing in your office or friend pool is all about surviving the long game, not winning each and every early-round matchup. So pull out your bracket (if you haven’t already shredded and disposed of it) and try to see through the red marks for the beauty that still lies underneath.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- How many of my Elite Eight are still alive?
- How many of my Final Four are still alive?
- Is my champion still alive?
If the answer to these questions are “at least four,” “at least two,” and “yes,” you’re still breathing. If you’ve got six-of-eight and three-of-four, along with your winner, you’re actually probably in terrific shape.
Did you pick Iowa State to beat UAB? So did 94.9 percent of ESPN’s Tournament brackets. Have them in the Final Four (like I did)? More than 16 percent of the nation did, too. Did you pick Baylor to beat Georgia State (like I did)? So did more than 91 percent of America. After just three games Thursday, only .27 percent of CBS Sports brackets were still intact.
In fact, only one bracket in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge pool had a perfect first set of Round of 64 picks. It was the first time anyone had gone 32-for-32 over the first two full days of the Tournament since 2010. And that guy had Virginia and Ohio State in the Elite 8, with Kansas in the Final Four.
The point, again, is that nobody’s perfect. But that lack of perfection during the Tournament’s opening weekend now allows you to not have to worry about every little thing breaking your way.
Look at the rest of your pool. Determine who above you also picked the same champion. Now, if you picked Kentucky, this is more problematic — and also why picking the prohibitive favorite, if there is one, is a riskier maneuver than it may seem. There may still be a path for you to win, but maybe not.
If you picked “not-Kentucky,” look at those ahead of you who picked the same “not-Kentucky” that you did. You should be able to see one or two teams whose fates will determine yours, depending on the outcome.
This should be a liberating feeling. After the chaos of trying to track 32 games on Thursday and Friday, you can feel free to really only invest in a select few, then generally just kick back and enjoy the rest of the Madness. Every game is still an elimination game, and the remaining field includes a great number of strong teams capable of toppling any of the three remaining one-seeds.
My colleague Clinton Yates told me over the weekend that he no longer fills out a bracket, and enjoys the Tournament much more as a result. While I understand where he’s coming from — the ability to simply enjoy each game for what it is — I personally like having some stake in the game. Clearly, so do many other Americans, as the country spends more betting on the opening weekend of March Madness than they did on the entire 2012 election, according to The Washington Post.
So even if your odds of winning the whole thing (or finishing in the money) look more like N.C. State’s than Kentucky’s, remember that this is the time of year for Cinderellas. Just ask N.C. State.
And go Arizona.
