Table of Contents
By Alex Lauzon from the “Course of Life” podcast
Winding Down the Chaos
After a season of surprises in women’s college hoops, and a March Madness that brought chaos to a typically chalk-ish bracket, we’ve gotten down to the last four squads standing in Dallas, Texas. College Hoops across the country are probably pleasantly surprised to see some fresh blood in the final four outside of your usual suspects in women’s hoops like UConn and Stanford. While the South Carolina dynasty is in its current iteration and is back in the picture for the Final Four yet again, there’s a first-time program, the best individual player in college hoops, and a veteran coach with a new squad all looking to crash the Gamecocks repeat party this weekend.
In years past, the women’s bracket has been the chalkiest bracket imaginable. While opening-round matchups for anything lower than a 4 seed are often blowouts, the growth in parody across the women’s landscape is slowly starting to catch up with the men’s game. Proof of the parody rang through every region in this year’s women’s tournament. Louisville veteran coach Jeff Walz snuck Louisville back into another elite as a five seed, and the social media sensation Cavinder sisters from the University of Miami were a whistle or two away from making the final four as a NINE seed. These types of runs are unheard of in the women’s tournament’s history, but with unpredictability comes entertainment. Now there are just four teams left that have a say in hoisting the trophy, with BIg 10, SEC, and ACC representation shining through.
Friday
#3 LSU vs #1 Virginia Tech – 7 pm ET
LSU Coach Kim Mulkey did it again and I’m sure her haters are furious. The Hall of Fame coach went to a whopping FOUR Final Fours with the Baylor Bears, notching three national championships in her time there. Then in 2021, she suddenly left her post in Waco to coach the LSU Tigers, and the critics were admittedly curious if she would ever get back to the final four again. Just two seasons later she led the Tigers to a national semifinal in Dallas and is two wins away from a fourth title. In her path in the semifinal are the Hokies who have made the women’s final four for the very first time. They netted a record TWENTY three-pointers in their elite eight victory to clinch the spot, and are built on some badass perimeter shooting – now wonder they were a 1 seed on the bracket. It’s a fascinating dynamic of a team that’s coached by someone who knows their way around these final four games, versus a team new to the scene. My intuition tells me to lean with the experience in the moment as the moment could be too big for the Hokies.
Alex’s Play: LSU
#2 Iowa – vs #1 South Carolina – 9 pm ET
The best team vs. the best player – what a matchup. Whenever you talk about Iowa women’s basketball, you start the conversation around Caitlin Clark and you probably will for years to come. Clark is again lighting up the scoreboard for the Hawkeyes and breaking every NCAA and Big 10 scoring record along the way. The best player in the country has tallied the ridiculous mark of 900+ points and 300+ assists, which no other woman or man has done in NCAA Division 1 basketball history. She is undeniably the engine that makes Iowa run night in and night out and you can stamp her in for a minimum of 25-30 points and a handful of highlight reel plays to facilitate her teammates. As for who has the next chance to contain Clark and keep her at bay it’s the best team in the land, the prohibitive favorite in the Gamecocks from South Carolina. The 2022 and 2017 champs know how to win the final four and much of the same roster from last year’s team is here to do it again. While I would love to see the scenario where Clark goes off for 50+ and stuns South Carolina, I know how these games work. The Gamecocks will suffocate her with a double team on every touch and she’ll be hard-pressed to score more than 25, which won’t be enough for Iowa to hang in for 40 minutes.
Alex’s Play: South Carolina
Looks like we could be in for an All-SEC final on the women’s side. Time will tell as the action from Dallas gets going Friday night, with the championship being played Sunday evening. Let the madness roll on into April!
CBB FAQs
When are brackets due for March Madness?
For March Madness Bracket pools, brackets typically are due before the start of the First Four games on March 15. However, on RunYourPool, commissioners have the ability to select their own due date for when brackets need to be submitted. Commissioners can access this setting by viewing their Commissioner Console and clicking on the Pool Settings.
How do I run a March Madness bracket for my office?
To run a March Madness Bracket Pool for your office, head over to RunYourPool.com! RunYourPool offers a plethora of different pool options to ensure the fun and competition amongst participants. Additionally, RunYourPool allows pool commissioners to customize and modify pools the way they see fit. It should take less than five minutes to set up your pool and start inviting colleagues!
How do you win your NCAA bracket?
To win a traditional March Madness Bracket pool, you will need to correctly select the winners of as many of the tournament's games as possible. In most March Madness contests, the point total of each correct selection increases with each ensuing round, culminating in the most important pick of all: the national championship game winner!
How do I fill out an NCAA bracket?
To fill out a March Madness Bracket, you will try to select the winner of every game of the tournament. The bracket begins with 68 teams and culminates in a championship between the final two remaining teams. You can fill out your bracket using RunYourPool and compete against friends, colleagues, family and more!
What is a March Madness Head-to-Head Pool?
A March Madness Head-to-Head Pool is a type of pool in which participants are randomly assigned one of the tournament's 64 teams. Participants advance if their team covers the spread, which allows every entry and team to have a chance of winning. If a team loses outright but covers the spread, the participant who's team covered will advance to the next round with the winning team.
What is the best way to play a March Madness Head-to-Head Pool?
The best way to play a March Madness Head-to-Head Pool is to set it up using RunYourPool and invite all of your friends! Setting up the pool and inviting participants is easy and should take less than five minutes. Next, you can randomize or assign the teams that participants will have.
Are March Madness brackets legal?
March Madness Brackets are completely legal to fill out and compete against fellow pool entries and users. Multiple softwares, including RunYourPool, will run sweepstakes and public contests for users to vie for a grand prize. Bracket pools must be in compliance with RunYourPools’s Terms and Conditions and must be for entertainment purposes only.
What is a March Madness Squares Pool?
A March Madness Squares Pools contains a 10x10 grid with each row and column being numbered 0-9. Prior to the tournament's start, pool members can login and select their squares. Next, when the tournament begins, the grid numbers are revealed. Members keep the same squares for each game and RunYourPool keeps track of the winners and other helpful statistics.
How does the NCAA select its teams?
32 of the 68 basketball teams that are selected for the NCAA tournament receive automatic entry into the competition as a result of winning their conference championship. The remaining teams get what's know as an "at-large bid," which extended by the NCAA selection committee based on the team's performance throughout the season.
What is a March Madness bracket pool?
A March Madness Bracket is a competition where players attempt to select the winning teams of each round of the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament in March. Traditionally, players would fill out a paper bracket and hand it into a pool commissioner. In recent years, software like RunYourPool.com has digitized and streamlined the process for speed and ease.
How many teams are in March Madness?
March Madness begins with 68 teams that are announced on Selection Sunday, March 13, 2022. The First Four consists of four games and the winners advance to the Round of 64. The following rounds are the Round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and finally, the National Championship game.
What is a March Madness Surivor Pool?
A March Madness Survivor Pool is a type of pool where participants select one team to win their game for every day of the tournament. Typically, entries are only allowed to select each team once and the last entry standing wins! Survivor pools are a really fun way for entries to compete and test their knowledge
What is the best way to play a March Madness Survivor Pool?
The best way to play a March Madness Survivor Pool is to make a pool or join one using RunYourPool. Participants find it helpful to try to map out their picks ahead of the start of the tournament, and save the higher seeded teams for the later round picks of the survivor pool.
How long is March Madness?
March Madness takes place over three weeks, starting the First Four, First Round and Second Round in one week. The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight take place during the second week, while the Final Four and National Championship are played on Saturday and Monday the following week.
What are the odds of a perfect March Madness bracket?
Experts say that the odds of you crafting a perfect bracket in March Madness run from 1 in 120 billion to 1 in 9.2 quintillion, depending on how much you know about the teams, and about basketball. To put that in perspective, your odds of winning the lottery are significantly better, at 1 in 292 million.
What is a March Madness Pick-X Pool?
March Madness Pick X is a pool format in which the pool commissioner specifies a specific amount of teams that every participant will select. For each win of a team selected, participants will be awarded the amount of points of that team's seed, generally encouraging entrants to pick upsets. At the end of the tournament, the entry with the most points is the champion.
What are Mid-Major teams?
Mid-Major Teams are universities and colleges that play Division I basketball, are not part of a major conference such as the SEC or Big Ten. Mid-Major Teams are a substantial part of March Madness, as they regularly win lots games from mid-tiered conferences. Some examples of Mid-Major conferences are the WCC, Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, and Conference USA. Upsets usually occur from Mid-Major schools.
What is the lowest seed to win the NCAA Tournament?
In the March Madness Tournament, one of the higher seeds usually ends up winning it all. However, there have been a few occurrences where a lower seed fought their way to eternal glory. In 1985, Villanova won the Championship as a No. 8 seed and is the lowest seed to win in the tournament’s history.
