March madness is here
An overview for fans and non-fans.
For many Americans, the next few days are among the most entertaining of the year. They will be filled with dozens of college basketball games, with major upsets and thrilling finishes. When a team loses, their season is over.
The main part of the men's March Madness starts today and the women's tournament follows tomorrow. Both will continue for nearly three weeks. They are among the few sporting events that capture the attention of non-fans, thanks to college loyalty and the ubiquity of parentheses.
La newsletter today offers an overview, with help from our colleagues at The Times and The Athletic.
If I can offer some personal advice, try to find time to watch the Iowa women's team. Its star, West Des Moines native Caitlin Clark, is perhaps the most entertaining player in the country (as this Washington Post profile explains). His fans include LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Clark is known for hitting "three logos", shots from so far that she stands near the half court logo.
Who are the male favorites?Neither team looks dominant. Bettors like Houston, an athletic team with a terrifying defense. Alabama -- the No. 1 seed overall -- and Kansas aren't far behind. Purdue, with 7-foot-4 Canadian star Zach Edey, is intriguing. The Wall Street Journal calls U.C.L.A. the most underrated potential winner.
Who are the women's favorites?The women's tournament has one big favorite: defending champion South Carolina, who won't has not lost a game this season. His star is Aliyah Boston, likely this year's No. 1 W.N.B.A pick. disorganized. Longtime powerhouses UConn and Stanford are also in the mix, as are Maryland, Indiana, Utah - and Iowa, which won the recent Big Ten tournament, the strongest conference. p>
Don't worry about a few losses. As surprising as it may seem, there has never been a confirmed perfect parenthesis in the decades of March Madness. With 63 games in each bracket, there are 9.2 quintillion possible outcomes, which means that the millions of people who fill a bracket still only cover a tiny fraction of the scenarios.
Do not pick only seeds n°1. "Fans tend to rate No. 1 seeds or well-known teams as more likely to win the tournament than experts," explain Josh Katz and Alice Fang of The Times. The lowest-ranked men's teams that have a chance of going far, experts say, include San Diego State, Creighton, Tennessee and Providence. (This chart lets you compare the crowd's picks with expert analysis.)
Athletic's Seth Davis picked both the top seed #12 Charleston and top seed #14 U.C. Santa Barbara (the mighty Gauchos!) at...
An overview for fans and non-fans.
For many Americans, the next few days are among the most entertaining of the year. They will be filled with dozens of college basketball games, with major upsets and thrilling finishes. When a team loses, their season is over.
The main part of the men's March Madness starts today and the women's tournament follows tomorrow. Both will continue for nearly three weeks. They are among the few sporting events that capture the attention of non-fans, thanks to college loyalty and the ubiquity of parentheses.
La newsletter today offers an overview, with help from our colleagues at The Times and The Athletic.
If I can offer some personal advice, try to find time to watch the Iowa women's team. Its star, West Des Moines native Caitlin Clark, is perhaps the most entertaining player in the country (as this Washington Post profile explains). His fans include LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Clark is known for hitting "three logos", shots from so far that she stands near the half court logo.
Who are the male favorites?Neither team looks dominant. Bettors like Houston, an athletic team with a terrifying defense. Alabama -- the No. 1 seed overall -- and Kansas aren't far behind. Purdue, with 7-foot-4 Canadian star Zach Edey, is intriguing. The Wall Street Journal calls U.C.L.A. the most underrated potential winner.
Who are the women's favorites?The women's tournament has one big favorite: defending champion South Carolina, who won't has not lost a game this season. His star is Aliyah Boston, likely this year's No. 1 W.N.B.A pick. disorganized. Longtime powerhouses UConn and Stanford are also in the mix, as are Maryland, Indiana, Utah - and Iowa, which won the recent Big Ten tournament, the strongest conference. p>
Don't worry about a few losses. As surprising as it may seem, there has never been a confirmed perfect parenthesis in the decades of March Madness. With 63 games in each bracket, there are 9.2 quintillion possible outcomes, which means that the millions of people who fill a bracket still only cover a tiny fraction of the scenarios.
Do not pick only seeds n°1. "Fans tend to rate No. 1 seeds or well-known teams as more likely to win the tournament than experts," explain Josh Katz and Alice Fang of The Times. The lowest-ranked men's teams that have a chance of going far, experts say, include San Diego State, Creighton, Tennessee and Providence. (This chart lets you compare the crowd's picks with expert analysis.)
Athletic's Seth Davis picked both the top seed #12 Charleston and top seed #14 U.C. Santa Barbara (the mighty Gauchos!) at...
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