Bracketology 101

Upsets refer to the occurrence of an underdog team beating their opponent. This is much easier to understand within the context of March Madness because every team has an assigned ranking before the tournament starts. Anytime the lower-seeded team wins a game, it is an upset. This is incredibly common during March, and upsets are the very factor that makes the National Tournament true madness. Last y...

The most controversial component of Bracketology, seeding, involves assigning each team a numerical ranking from 1-16, which will dictate their path in the tournament. This is chosen by a committee of analysts, who gather on Selection Sunday to put together the final bracket.  Logically, number one seeds are the best in the region, whereas 16-seeds are the worst. Although 68 teams compete in t...

College basketball teams are broken into conferences, which are groups of teams — mostly located near each other — who frequently compete with one another during the regular season. Teams are grouped based on the size of the school and the history of the teams’ basketball programs, and each team ends the year with an overall record and conference record. The conference record is usually more indicati...