Bracket Idiosyncracies

I'm currently 20, and I've been doing brackets for as long as I can remember--I was probably 7 or 8 when I did my first one. Some things I noticed as I filled mine out this March:

1. I've never once picked Carolina to win the title. I just can't bring myself to do it. Even in 2005, I think I had them losing in the regional final. I end up rationalizing things to myself, too: "You know, it's not that I hate them; I just don't like their chances this year." :)

2. I always have at least one 4 beating a 13 and at least one 5 beating a 12.

3. A good 75%-80% of the time I take the 9 over the 8.

4. I tend not to have too many 1 vs. 2 regional finals.

5. I never have more than three 1's make the Elite 8.

6. I always, always, always have at least one bracket that has Duke winning it all. I can't bring myself not to do this--it just feels wrong. As with the Carolina situation, I'm always able to rationalize this in some manner. This year, it's: "This team has enough talent to go on a hot streak and beat anyone in the nation if it can just play 40 minutes of basketball instead of 20 or 30." I'm sure I'm not the only one here who does this, either. ;)

Any of ya'll have any weird bracket habits?

Duke wins every bracket I fill out! This year Duke will beat Ohio State 75-73 in the Championship Game (I've had a vision) and you can take that to the bank! :)

I like #12 teams over the #5 teams (ODU and Arkansas this year). I pick the power conferences mainly because of the competition they have faced. For example, Indiana over Gonzaga, Vanderbilt over George Washington, Notre Dame over Winthrop, and Maryland over Davidson.

Finally, and most important, my bracket always looks like chopped liver after the first weekend. :mad:

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

I always fill out at least one bracket with Duke winning as well, but this year, it took a lot of upsets to give us all winable games, but my "Duke wins it all brakcet" has us beating:

VCU
Pitt
Gonzaga
SIU
Arizona
Georgetown

all believable wins. Will the tourney play out to give us those opponents? Probably not, but if we happen to get that draw, we CAN win it all.

I got too arrogant last year, and only filled out one bracket, this year I've got 3, two reasonable ones, and then the one that I WANT to happen. In the other two, I've got us going out either to Pitt or UCLA :(

I usually fill out multiple brackets. No sheet of integrity here!

One of my brackets has Duke in the Final Four but not winning it. I'm a bad Duke fan.

I only filled out one bracket and I have Duke winning it all. I didn't have time to really research teams this year, but I always pick Duke in every bracket. In the past, it made a lot of sense since we always had a good shot at winning it and I didn't want a conflict of interest later on in the tournament, but even this year I stick with Duke. I'm only playing ESPN's game so I'm not really expecting to win, hence my Jackson State over Florida pick! Duke beats OSU 72-65 (same score at '91 :) )

i had duke winning it in '04. when the final four started i was near the top of the leaderboard and if duke had beaten uconn i would have won 3 different pools totalling about $400 (and i was a cash-strapped college student at the time). duke blowing that lead at the end - i didn't know what to be more upset about, the money or the loss. in retrospect, i'd have taken the win and given away the money, but at the time - man, did i need that $400.

I only do one bracket a year. In 1991 I did not pick Duke to go all the way and I have never forgiven myself. Ever since then Duke has always been the National Champion in my Bracket. It worked out pretty well for me in '92 and 2001

I've always thought the whole multiple brackets thing was questionable -- the purist in me says "make your picks and stand by them." And I've ALWAYS had Duke winning for good karma.

But this year I had to break down and do 2 brackets -- 1 with Duke beating Ohio State, and 1 with Kansas beating Ohio State. I did want to see how I did not being tied to a 6 seed as champion, but on the other hand, if Duke does pull off the miracle or miracles (apologies to NCSU and Nova of the 80's), some of us here will win a lot of money for their faith, while the rest will be crushed with guilt and their carefully researched Florida-UNC-Ohio St-Kansas Final 4 won't win them squat.

On a related note, I found this the other day...some guy on Fox Sports goes through all the standard bracket rules and tendencies (1 never beats 16, a 12 always beats a 5, runners-up never make it back to the final, rookie coaches never win it, etc.), eliminating teams 1 by 1. Guess who's left? Duke and Georgetown!