This year I am not putting money down in an NCAA pool but I thought I might share some thoughts about picking a pool. Biggest tip is to discount ACC teams. In years past they were one of the top conferences and have a lot of name recognition. Lot of people picking in your pool will overvalue them. This year they stink. They are the #7 ranked conference by KenPom. Pick them to flame out early. UConn and UT are really undervalued by the seeding. UConn and UT are fourth and fifth in Pommeroy rankings and both got four seeds. They seem like solid bets to make the Sweet Sixteen. UCLA is a very good team and under ranked as a two seed. I like them a lot. Purdue might not be one of the top four teams this year and maybe don't deserve a #1 seed but they have the best big man I have seen in years. That might be the difference. And while they might not be the favorite to win it all if you pick the favorite and they win then you need to pick a lot of games right to win money. Most years picking a team that has a good chance to win correctly is the winning ticket.
Good call on the ACC so far. How far do you see Duke going? Bunch of folks in the pool picked Duke to the FF.
