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March - It is a crazy time of year all-around the US. And not only college students embrace this insanity whole-heartedly but the whole America. March madness or the NCAA mens basketball championship is indeed already an American tradition and nothing can bet the excitement of this. March Madness is also the biggest sporting event of the month and one of the most heavily bet events each year. If you're planning on wagering on March Madness or getting ready to fill up your March madness bracket, you may want to consider a few important facts when choosing your brackets or making a team-on-team wager. Whether you're considering the first round or focused on the Sweet Sixteen, here are a few guidelines to help you make productive wagers.

Does Rank 1 Always Win? :

In the last 20 years, the team nationally ranked number one going into the tournament has won it only three times. Let's face it, most teams competing in March Madness Bracket are pretty good and when you come down to it, what's the difference between the seventh and first ranked team? Not a whole lot. This is especially true in a sport where during the regular season there have been virtually no head-to-head match-ups between initial tournament participants. An additional fly in this year's ointment are the numerous conference changes that various teams have initiated, with more than a half-dozen perennial March Madness contenders switching leagues.

Some Things Won't Change:

Teams that play well on the road tend to do well in the March Madness frenzy, where almost every team, except for the top seeds, play away from comfortable, familiar surroundings. So, if a team has been a road warrior all season, they will probably continue to be that same animal in March and possibly into April.

Trust the Guides and Reports:

If you're serious about wagering, you'll want to read at least one or more of the many in-depth reports available through various media-magazines, newspapers, and the Web. A good report will include an analysis of the team, especially the point guard and the interior players, road and home record, recent performance, playing style, turnover ratio, penchant for committing fouls, injuries, tournament history, bench, and coaching.

Final Four – Final Reminder:

Often people make gut choices rather than analyzing a team's performance, reading some expert analysis, and considering match-ups and trends. If you really want to go deep into the tournament, then do your homework. It can payoff, taking you to the National Championship by insuring that you make sane picks without bending to the pressures of March Madness. 

 
College student or not, you are definitely going to be crazy when March comes. This is because the NCAA basketball tournament is coming to an end, and the so called “March Madness” already hits everyone. This is already an American tradition. Every year, NCAA turns millions of fans into madness and everybody already got their March Madness bracket ready by this time. So are you already a part of the madness. I am. If you are not, then it’s still not too late. Today, we will help you create your March madness bracket. Here are the rules that you should follow:

The field of teams starts at 64

1 seed plays the 16th seed 2 seed plays the 15th 3 seed plays the 14th seed 4 seed plays the 13th seed 5 seed plays the 12th seed 6 seed plays the 11th seed 7 seed plays the 10th seed 8 seed plays the 9th seed

After the first 2 days the field of teams will be down to 64 and your bracket for march madness will only have 32 teams left. From that point on those winners play each other bringing the field down to 16 teams, then down to 8, then down to 4, and then finally the national championship game between the 2 surviving teams. Last year we saw four number 1 seeds playing for the national championship. That is VERY unlikely and has not happened for a long time since last year. In the national championship in your bracket for march madness you should have a number 1 seed playing in the national championship and the other team a number 2 seed or 3 seed. More than likely a 2 or 3 seed will surface and get hot during march madness and make it to the national championship game. It is extremely hard predicting who will win the national championship, but it is VERY possible using the right strategy.

When you are ready to fill out your March madness bracket, you really need to take into consideration statistics of each bracket. Some notables are:

1. No number 1 seed has EVER lost to a number 16 seed 2. Only twice in history a 2 seed has EVER lost to a 15 seed 3. Almost every single year, the 10th seed beats the 7th seed twice. 4. Roughly 1 11th seed downs a 6th seed each year 5. The 9th seed usually knocks off the 8th seed half the time 6. 1 out of every 3 years a 12th seed knocks out a 4th seed

March + madness is one of the best times of the year! You can really feel the college basketball spirit during this time. I wish you the very best of luck filling out your March madness brackets and I hope you become the winner using these tips. Let the madness begin!
 
By far march +madness time is the most exciting time of the year! You can sense the fun in the air during this time! Yet, many people take March madness very seriously. Mainly because they use it to win big amount of money. March madness bracket prediction can be a difficult task, especially if you do not know much about college basketball and have not been following each team all year. March madness predictions can be challenging, but extremely realistic and doable. You can be the big star at your office or at home by winning your march madness bracket. You can impress all your friends by winning and predicting the outcome of all 64 teams!

How can you do well with your March madness bracket and predict the results?

If you want to do well with your March Madness bracket , there are some things you MUST know. You will need to check on stats such as conference strength and how a team performs against the spread. Another very important point factor to consider is how well the team is playing going into the tournament. A team could hit a cold streak and be easily knocked out by a much higher seed. Most teams in the march madness brackets have a good run during the season and absolutely choke when it comes down to the time needed to shine. If even one player on the team gets hurt it could disrupt all the chemistry the team had and even cause the team to lose. Team chemistry and how well team plays together is one of the most important factors to any teams success.

This year it is going to be a wild ride to the national championship! Last year we saw all number 1 seeds make it to the final 4. There is no way history is going to repeat itself. When making your march madness predictions, you will need to consider a number 1 team going to the national championship game and the other team should be a number 2 or 3 seed. March madness predictions can be challenging and fun at the same time. If you truly want to win you will need to do your research and homework to find out which teams are missing players, which teams are playing their best basketball of the year, which teams are on cold streaks, which team could be the most surprising Cinderella team, etc.

Every year there is one Cinderella team that goes on some improbable run. I am sure all of you remember George Mason making their improbable run to the final four just a few years ago. How about Western Kentucky making a small run last year? That was nice! There is going to be so many surprises this year and shocking upsets that you won’t believe! Your ncaa basketball bracket definitely does not need to look like all number 1 seeds going to the final 4 again this year! Don’t be surprised if a number 3 seed or even 4 seed wins it all this year. It can very well happen. Remember Syracuse’s improbable run in 2002? Anything can happen in march madness which is why this is by far the most fun time of the year!
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For fans of US sports - and US basketball in certain, the month of March is especially very important. It sees the climax of the NCAA basketball season and people all over the United States is tuning in this game. March madness bracket, online or offline are everywhere and it is confirmed that March madness is one of the most bet sports every year. For fans of sports betting 'Mad March' is the perfect time to make massive funds on wagering, especially that many online sports betting sites, offer great prizes for their March madness bracket contest.

This month sees the NCAAB season reach its climax having a 68 team elimination tournament leading to the Regional Finals and Final Four. The intensity and excitement generated by this stage of the competition has earned it the affectionate yet wholly proper moniker of 'March Madness'. Sports wagering statistically goes by means of the roof in March for what exactly is a virtual sporting lottery.

American collegiate basketball is by far the greatest organized sports league within the Western Hemisphere. The National Collegiate Athletic Association Basketball (NCAAB) Division 1 alone accounts for a staggering 346 school teams aligned to 32 Division 1 basketball Conferences.

The Conference winners automatically qualify for the Championships, too as 36 "at-large" bids, i.e teams chosen by the NCAA selection committee based on each team's ranking, win-loss record and RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) data. The 68 teams and their seedings will likely be announced on 'Selection Sunday' which this year is going to be on March 13.th

On March 15th and 16th, the four lowest ranked automatic qualifiers will square off against the four lowest "at-large" bids within the 'First Fours', with the four winners going through to the tournament's principal draw. There is certainly usually a wave of intense betting around the 'First Fours'. Use the exceptional Free of charge March Madness Picks provided by ValueSportsPicks.com to guarantee a healthy return on you 'First Four' betting.

The second and third rounds of the tournament might be held between March 17-20. March madness will then climax with the four regional finals from March 24-27. Each regional final winner will progress to the Final Four, held from April 2nd to April 4th at the Reliant Stadium in Houston.

Who will go all of the way this year? Will the 2012 Tournament Championship winner come from the top-ten teams inside the country, or will an outside bet go all the way? Don’t miss the chance to bet on March Madness because it is the most exciting betting event. Get your March madness bracket now!
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If surveys are right, American productivity is taking a big hit down this week, thanks to March Madness — the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Every Americans might have their own March Madness Bracket now.

U.S. businesses owners and managers are getting their selves ready as workers follow the tournament on their computers, iPods, and iPads. It's been estimated that 2.5 million workers will access online coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament, and those fans will spend an average of one and a half hours a day watching games and highlights. In a recent survey, more than 40 percent of IT professionals said that the spike in internet use has affected their office computer operations in recent years, in some cases causing their systems to grind to a halt.

This year, estimates of lost productivity range from $175 million to $1 billion. But what do we really know about the connection between March Madness and worker productivity? Through my research, I came up with clear evidence of the NCAA tournament's effect on patterns of work. Whether it's a serious problem is another question.

My research suggests that the tournament has a profound and widespread impact on patterns of work. The clearest effect was a significant drop in articles viewed during the week following Selection Sunday. In each of the three years I observed, the daily number of articles that users looked at this week dropped about 6 percent. This decline started on Monday and lasted the entire week. This 6% drop affected everybody. It didn't matter if the library in question had a team in the tournament or even if they had a Division I basketball team at all. But I wouldn't necessarily say these effects — as clear and consistent as they were — represent declines in productivity.

So a true test of whether or not the tournament causes any real decline in work must focus on how fans respond to unanticipated outcomes. Tracing fan behavior in these cases is akin to a natural experiment, because the outcome of any game is more or less a random occurrence. For universities whose team won unexpectedly, it was party time: work declined 19% the following day, but for that day only. But when a team lost one of these games, there was no effect.

Big-time college sports leaves a giant footprint, and the influence of March Madness on patterns of work is just one example. But American productivity probably isn't affected too much, no more than it is by, say, Thanksgiving. In conclusion, people have fun during March Madness. They take out their March Madness Bracket for some time and watch the NCAA coverage but most of them find a way to get their work done so there’s no need to worry about. Let’s just enjoy this great season in sports and let’s all get hook up in March madness craze!
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March Madness is finally upon us as the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament finals are soon to take place! With everyone’s March madness brackets in hand we are all anxiously awaiting to see who comes out on top and who disappoints at the end. And since brackets are especially popular during March Madness, today we will talk about the three important questions that matter while or before filling up a bracket. These questions are what the bettors ask themselves. A few major questions asked by sports fans every year regarding March Madness are:

1. Who will be the Cinderella of the big dance - Up to this point, there has never been a No. 16 seed team that has defeated a No. 1 seed. There have only been four No. 15 seeds that have won since 1985. But every year, there is always a Cinderella team that will emerge in March Madness. The Cinderella doesn’t win much, but they still draw a ton of bandwagon fans during the first week of the tournament. The fact that any team can push through and win their conference title in pursuit of a national title and actually get the chance to win it is what makes the tourney great. After all, it’s always fun to root for the underdog.

2. What big seeds will lose early - Just as much fun as it is to watch the Cinderella succeed, watching the big seeds lose early is a bit fun as well. Especially if that big seeds is your team’s top rival or you just plainly hate that team. There will always be puffed-up seeds for a number of reasons. You should definitely ask yourself what big seeds are just plainly there to deceive you to make the wrong picks. Not all big seeds team are that good to make it.

3. Who will make the Final Four - Final Four is a term that is applied to the last four teams that are remaining in a playoff tournament of NCAA men’s basketball. Generally speaking, these are the champions of the tournament’s four regional brackets, and the only teams remaining on the tournament’s final weekend. The Final Four this year will be played in Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans with the final game to be played on April 2nd. The Final Four this year will be no different than in past years with all the excitement level that the next couple of weeks in college basketball will provide with all the schools trying to get to the heralded Final Four.

Ask yourself this question every time you fill out a March Madness Bracket. Remember that the right choices on these questions qill definitely bring you you’re A game and the edge to win your March Madness bet. Enjoy!
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Nothing bring together the Americans like March Madness! In workplaces, families or other friends, the annual rite of the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four has a unique way of giving the American a great pastime. People tune in to March madness and compete to fill out the most accurate March madness bracket for the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.

March Madness affects the workplace most. Indeed, a survey conducted by MSN found that 86 percent of all American workers will devote at least some time during their work hours to the games and that every year, there’s a sudden decrease in work productivity due to March Madness. Challenger's completed a study. The firm predicts "that employers will end up paying distracted workers about $175 million over the first two full days of the tournament." That statistic was based on three obviously relevant figures: 2.5 million unique visitors per day visiting websites related to the tournament, each spending an average of 90 minutes watching games, and the average private-sector salary of $23.29 per hour.

Luckily, today’s modern age had make way for workers to enjoy March madness and working at the same time. What I mean is that, now we measure people on performance and not on hours. If attention is diverted, it doesn't matter if the quality holds up. So if you are planning to take some minutes in your work hours for march Madness, it is ok, as long as your quality and quota is still reached. If in case you didn’t, then you should take home some work. Technology paved way for people to work on their jobs even if at home.

March Madness will not even register a blip on the nation's economic radar and even the smallest company will survive the month without any impact on their bottom line. A boss shouldn't necessarily care if an employee is watching the game during work hours. But the boss might even hope for more than just merely breaking even during March Madness.

The sports fan's ability to more closely identify with the team during the good times is only amplified during a competition like the NCAA tournament. With 64 teams in the field, the fan can hitch his wagon to numerous stars, and easily stick it out with the one that proves to be a winner. For many sports fans, this is the best time of the year. The March madness bracket inclusiveness as the thing that everyone can talk about makes it even more appealing, given the rise of a less permanent staff -- as people work remotely and more often on a part-time basis.
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These are the teams battling for a critical bye in the first round of the Pac 12 tournament meet when the Ducks would visit the Stanford cardinal.
With a small chance of winning the regular season title, the two teams are focused on finishing among the top four seeds for the tournament.

The Ducks are emerging from a tragic loss of 86-83 at California, while Stanford has won two straight after losing five of its previous six games. The Cardinal has won six of the last 10 meetings against Oregon, but the Ducks won 78-67 in Eugene on January 5.

Oregon Ducks at Stanford Cardinal
When: 7:30 PM ET, Sunday, February 19, 2012
Where: Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California

The Cardinals pre – March Madness odds would be 6 points on several sports books online.

Oregon Ducks (18-8)
On their loss to California, Devoe Joseph managed to score a career-high 33 points in Thursday, drawing high commendations from Bears coach Mike Montgomery. “There wasn’t much we could do, we tried everybody on him,” Montgomery said. Joseph is averaging 16.6 points, and he scored 30 while making five 3-pointers against Stanford in January. Oregon committed 22 turnovers against California and they were the eighth in the Pac – 12 turnover margin at minus – 0.96. Reigning Pac – 12 player of the Week E.J. Singler, who was held to eight points against the Bears, averages 13.2 points and 5.6 rebounds. The Ducks are 11-3 this year in games decided by fewer than 10 points.

Stanford Cardinal 918-8)
To peak at the right time is Chasson Randle, the freshman guard tied a career high with 24 points in the Cardinal’s 87-82 win over Oregon State on Thursday, and is 13 for 17 from 3-point range in the past three games. Josh Owen gets an average of 9.7 points and five boards in six career games against the Ducks, while Aaron Bright is averaging 11 points in three meetings. Bright broke out of a mini-slump against Oregon State, scoring 20 points and shooting 4 for 9 from beyond the arc. The Cardinals leads the Pac – 12 in rebounding margin at plus 5-8.
At the Maples Pavilion, Stanford is at 13-2 and 64-18 since the start of the 2007-08 seasons.
Owens had five rebounds against Oregon State to give him 500 for his career.

Pre – March Madness Betting Picks and Predictions: Cardinal 74, Ducks 62
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A win for the Oregon Ducks will give them with a 20-win season in back-to-back campaigns for only the third time in school history. Under Howard Hobson, the Ducks were able to produce four consecutive 20-vicotry seasons in the late 1930s and had two straight 20-win seasons under Ernie Kent (2001 – 02, 2002-03).

But a more important thing to the second-year coach Dana Altman is to see his team earn one of the four first-round byes for the Pac-12 tournament. Oregon State Beavers, which has lost four straight games, beat the Ducks 76-71 in January.

Oregon Ducks at Oregon State Beavers
When: 7:30 PM ET, Sunday, February 26, 2012
Where: Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon

The Beavers opened as 3.5-point favorites on sportsbook sites online, check out Sportsbook.com for the lines and odds. Read our free March madness picks and analysis below to know which team you should be rooting and betting on.

Oregon Ducks (19-8)
The Ducks tied for fourth in the Pac-12 and finish the regular season with home games against Colorado and Utah. Oregon defeated Stanford in its most recent game as junior forward E.J. Singler scored 20 points to become the 31st players in school history to top 1,000 in his career. Singler has 1,015 points and has scored in double figures 22 times this season while averaging 13.4 points. Senior guard Devoe Joseph had 26 points in last month’s loss to Oregon State and recently had a career-high 33 points against California. Joseph averages a team-leading 16.3 points.

Oregon State Beavers (15 – 12)
On their first meeting with the Ducks, junior guard Jared Cunningham managed to score 24 of 27 points in the second half. Cunningham is the one leading the Pac-12 in scoring (18.6) and steals (2.7) and that combination has resulted in Pac-12 Player of the Year honors five times since 1978. Cunningham has 200 career steals, third-most in Oregon State history. Sophomore forward Devon Collier has scored in double digits in 12 straight games and leads the Pac-12 in field-goal percentage at 60.8. The Beavers lead the Pac-12 in scoring at 79.9 points per game. Oregon State’s win in January was only its eight in the last 37 meetings with Oregon. Cunningham is 25th on the Beavers’ all-time scoring with 1,128 points. He needs 49 to crack the top 20.

Free March Madness Picks: Beavers 80, Ducks 73
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The Baylor Bears are having their senior night where Anthony Jones, Quincy Acy and Fred Ellis will be honored before the game as the class in school history with most wins. While most of the Bears’ main contributors are underclassmen, this senior class has been at the forefront of the program’s revival under coach Scott Drew.

Baylor’s 24 victories are tied for the second-most in the regular season in school history and another would tie the 1945-46 team that finished 25-5. The Bears beat Texas Tech Red Raiders 73-60 in Lubbock on January.

Texas Tech Red Raiders at Baylor Bears
When: 9:00 PM ET, Monday, February 27, 2012
Where: The Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas

The Bears opened as 19.5 point favorites on several online sports book sites, take a look at updates at Sportsbook.com if you are thinking of betting on the game. Free March madness picks like this makes it easy to analyze a game and come up with an opinion. Read on below.

Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-20)
Though it may not look like it but the Red Raiders are beginning to show some signs of progress under the first-year coach Billy Gillispie. The won their first conference game against Oklahoma on February 11, and closely pulled off an upset of Texas over the weekend. They have taken the Longhorns to overtime and led by six at one point in the extra session before falling 71-67. Jaye Crocket had a team-high 16 points in the loss, and their forward who’s a sophomore managed to reach double figures in three of his past four outings. Fourteen of the Red Raiders’ 15 conference losses have come by at least eight points.

Baylor Bears (24-5)
With just one more victory, Baylor would reach 12 conference wins for the first time in the Big 12. Acy, a 6-foot-7 bruising forward, managed to reach double figures in 13 of 16 league games. The popular senior will make his 65th career appearance in a Big 12 game, a league record. Acy needs only one point to move into 12th on Baylor’s all-time scoring list. The Bears are in a tie for third in the Big 12 with Iowa State, one game behind second-place Missouri. The sophomore Brady Heslip has 88 field goals this season, and 73 are 3-pointers.

Free March Madness Picks: Bears 73, Red Raiders 57
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