In 2022, roughly 40 million Americans filled out a March Madness bracket. However, with the continued growth of legalized sports betting, that figure is expected to rise even higher this time around. The NCAA Tournament is the ultimate “public' betting event of the year, which provides a unique advantage for contrarian-minded bettors.
The public may not have bet, or even watched, a single college basketball game all season long. But they love the annual excitement of March Madness and want to get in on the action. When the public fills out their brackets, they will lean heavily toward favorites, big-name schools and whoever is the higher seed. Simply put, it's all chalk.
The key to winning your Bracket is setting yourself apart from the public. And also by starting in the middle and working your way out.
When the public fills out a bracket, they start on the outside and work their way in, first filing out the Round of 64 matchups. However, the outside matchups get you the least overall points in the long run. It's like being on Jeopardy and getting all of the $100 questions right, meanwhile, someone else who picked the champion correctly is winning all of the $1000 questions. The key to winning your bracket is selecting your champion first because you get far more points over the long haul if they win it all. Each round rewards more points the deeper you go. Therefore, getting the deeper rounds correct is far more important than getting the opening rounds correct.