How to Calculate an NCAA Bracket Analysis

Knowing how to calculate an NCAA bracket analysis is a crucial skill if you hope to have any degree of success in your March Madness pool. You can use a bracket analysis to make smarter, more informed picks based on actual statistical analysis when filling out your predictions for the NCAA tournament.

Instructions

  1. Look at the Facts

    • 1

      Look at a breakdown of each team's Rating Percentage Index (RPI). This helps determine seeding, but you'll also need to know how each team fared on the road. March Madness games are played at predetermined sites.

    • 2

      See how each team did against opponents that match up against the one it will be facing in its bracket. If a lower-ranked team had a strikingly high winning percentage against superior teams, give it some thought as an upset possibility.

    • 3

      Hit the history books. Check to see not only how teams you want to calculate a bracket analysis for have performed, but also how each school has fared in March Madness play. A high-ranked team with a reputation for choking in the early rounds may make a good target for an upset candidate.

    • 4

      Check to see where each team playing in the bracket game is based. The team with the greater traveling distance to the site of the game is generally considered to be at a slight disadvantage.

    • 5

      Compare statistics in key team categories. Two offensive teams known for having weaker defenses make an intriguing match, but a different kind of intriguing match can ensue when a powerful offensive team plays the nation's top defensive team.

    • 6

      Break down each team's roster. Look at which players will be competing for minutes. Identify teams with key positional advantages over their opponents and put the smart money on players who have proven they can come through in a clutch.