NCAA Bracket 2010: How To Make Your Bracket a Winner

When it comes to the NCAA Bracket 2010 development, there are always some key strategies that should be employed.

Among them:  Remember the oddsmakers know best (in most cases). 

Immediately following the Selection Sunday outcomes, visit online gambling sites and watch those odds change to see where the action is going.  Gambling911.com regularly reports on the trends for each game and which teams are getting the most action.  You can place all your NCAA 2010 College Basketball Tournament bets at one of Gambling911.com's Top Online Sportsbooks Here

Volume, which is brought on by the general public (or your typical recreational player base) will be recognized after a day of betting.  Line movements will continue to fluctuate over time, but again, it is that first 24 hours (and really the first 12 hours) where early "sharp" action can be recognized. 

One piece of advise Gambling911.com feels compelled to give in regard to office pools:  Do not hand in your 2009 NCAA Bracket the first day.  Study those line movements.  Review sites like this one in order to review which teams these so-called "sharps" are on early in the tournament.

Now this doesn't mean the "sharps" are going to be right, nor will this concept get you far beyond the first round for those who need to have their office pools in by Wednesday of this week.  Analysis of lines is useful for the sports bettor throughout the tournament. 

The line to watch may not necessarily be the spread, however.  Gambling911.com suggests watching the money line movements and any dramatic shifts as well.  Keep in mind that the spread is a cover and doesn't necessarily suggest an opinion on an outright win.  The money line represents an outright win, so if you see a particular dark horse getting substantial action on the money line (via a 5, 10, 15 point movement or even greater), that is a team you might want to seriously consider for your NCAA bracket this year. 

This is just one of many tools to use when creating your 2010 March Madness bracket.  Study these teams and - if available - review past head-to-head history.  For sports bettors this becomes more widely available as we get into the later rounds since there is a higher likelihood that the top seeded teams will have played one another in recent times. 

There is this historic trend that simply cannot be ignored: 

In the last 20 years prior to last year, No. 1 seeds have won 70% of the NCAA tournament. No. 2 seeds have won the title 10% of the time - Duke won as a No. 2 seed in 1991 and Kentucky won as a No. 2 in 1998.

Interestingly, No. 3 seeds have actually won 15% of the last 20 NCAA tournaments. Michigan was a No. 3 in 1989; Syracuse was a No. 3 in 2003; and Florida was a No. 3 in 2006.

Add it all up, and 95% of the last 20 tournaments have been won by one, two, or three-seeds.

Dave Deland of SCTimes.com had this to say:

"The easiest way to win an NCAA pool, of course, is to correctly forsee some darkhorse making a run through its regional.  But darkhorses don't usually do much running beyond the tournament's first weekend; once you get down to the round of 16, talent and depth and tradition take over and Cinderella usually packs up her pumpkin and goes home.

The 2008 season served as a perfect example. The Men's Final Four? All No. 1 seeds. Only one team below a No. 3 seed - No. 10 Davidson in the Midwest - even made it to a regional final. You can do some damage in your pool if you correctly pick this year's Davidson, but chances are you don't want to pick them too far.

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher