March Madness: 11 Bracket Rules You Should Never Break

NCAA Basketball Tournament facts & stats from #1 Sports Betting Expert

Las Vegas, Nevada (March 8, 2007) – Over 30 million American’s take part in March Madness office pools, and over 3 billion dollars is bet on the games. RJ Bell of Pregame.com, 3-time World Handicapping Champion and the only sports bettor on Forbes’ recent list of Gambling Gurus, has prepared “Cheat Sheets” to make it easy for you to play smart!

11 Bracket Picking Rules You Should NEVER Break!

1st Round:
- Be very selective picking any team below a #12 seed.
#16 seeds are 0 for 88. #15 seeds are 4 for 88. #13 and #14 seeds are less than 19% combined.

- Don’t be shy about picking upsets when #12 through #9 seeds are involved. Look especially hard at picking #12 seeds; they have won 11 of 24 matchups vs. #5 seeds the last six years. #9 seeds have a winning record vs. #8 seeds.

2nd Round:
- Advance #1 seeds almost automatically – they win their first two games 86% of the time.

- Keep advancing the #12 and #10 seeds you picked to win in Round One. They win almost half the time in Round Two (14 of 29 for #12 seeds; 17 of 35 for #10 seeds).

- Rarely pick a #13 seed or lower to win in Round Two.
Only 9% of teams advancing past Round Two are seeded that low.

Sweet 16:
- Advance exactly three #1 seeds into the Elite 8
No reason to buck the math: 70% of #1 seeds advance into the 4th round (that’s a higher percentage than #5 seeds who win a single game)!

- Advance no team lower than a #12 seed into the Elite 8. NOT ONE has ever advanced!

Elite Eight:
- Advance ONE or TWO #1 seeds to the Final Four.
Amazingly, exactly one or two #1 seeds have made the Final Four 18 of the last 22 years.

- Advance no team lower than a #8 seed to the Final Four. Only 2 of 88 Final Four teams have been seeded lower than #8.

Final Four:
- Advance NO team below a 6th seed to the Championship game. Not a single one has made it in the last 21 years.

Championship Game:
- Pick a #4 seed or higher to win it all.
For 18 straight years the champion has been a 4 seed or higher!

Print, radio, TV, and Internet media should feel free to quote as much as you’d like; when doing so, please attribute: RJ Bell, president of Pregame.com

About RJ Bell:
President of Pregame.com and About.com’s Sports Gambling Guide, is a leading sports betting expert, and has been featured on ABC News, CNN, ESPN Radio and Howard Stern’s SIRIUS station. He’s also been profiled in dozens of publications, including The Washington Post and Maxim Magazine - and has even been quoted as an authority by H&R Block.


About Pregame.com:
This country’s largest sports betting information website. Players get ready with free picks & tips backed by superior customer service.


More March Madness “Cheat Sheets” are available here:

- What’s bigger: Amount bet on March Madness or odds of a perfect bracket? http://pregame.com/remarkable-numbers

- 5 Keys to picking surprise tourney teams http://pregame.com/picking-surprise-teams

Contact: rjbell [at] pregame.com

Contact Information

Peter St. Cyr

Media Contact

Griffin and Associates

Contact via E-mail