March Madness is in the air.. The NCAA men’s Division 1 basketball tournament is always the highlight sporting event of the month of March. The 68-team single elimination tournament runs for a total of 19 days with 67 exciting basketball games to be played. Wth an exciting and fast-paced format, the tournament has earned the nickname March Madness, and rightfully so.
The first NCAA tournament was held in 1939 and has been held every year ever since. In the inaugural tournament, there were only eight teams that participated. The number of teams doubled in 1951 and kept expanding through the decades. In 1985, the 64-team tournament format was adapted. The field increased to 65 in 2001 with the inclusion of the Mountain West Conference to Division 1. Ten years later, three more teams were added to reach the current total of 68 basketball teams competing in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
32 of those teams will automatically qualify for the tournament by virtue of winning their respective conferences. The remaining 36 teams will have to wait for March 17, 2019 where a selection committee will read all 68 teams that will participate in this year’s tournament.
The March Madness tournament games begin on March 19th and after three weeks of eliminating each other, the remaining four teams will play in the Final Four on April 6th. Two days later, on April 8th, NCAA will crown its 2019 National Champions. But who will win it all this year?
As we said, the list of teams and their respective assignments won’t be out until March 17th. But as early as now, prop bets have started popping out in various betting sites. Of course we searched them for you and found these early prop bets that you might be interested in.
Here are some of the early March Madness prop bets at mybookie.ag as of 3/12/19:
Will a Number One seed win the 2019 NCAA Championship?
When we hear March Madness we often think about the crazy upsets that we want to see and happen. Who wouldn’t want a Cinderella team go all the way to the top, right? Well, historical data says that in the last 34 years, the lowest seed to ever win a National Title was 8th.
Nine out of the last dozen National title winners were #1 seeds and 21 out of the last 34 NCAA men’s basketball champions have come from the top line. Likewise, 56 #1 seeds have made it to the Final Four and a total of 33 top teams have entered the National championship game.
So if you ask me, I’d put my money on the top teams because they are there for a reason. As mad as March can be, the regular season is still the gauge of postseason success in the NCAA. Pick: Go with the Number One seed bets.
Only once since the 64-team tournament format was installed in 1985 has there been an instance where all #4 team made it to the Final Four and that was in 2008 when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina and UCLA all went to the semifinal round.
There have only been 5 instances when three Number One seeds have made the Final Four. Likewise, there have only been three instances when no #1 made it to the Final Four and these were in 1980, 2006 and 2011. Teams seeded 2,3 and 4 have made a total of 57 Final Four appearances while #1 seeds have totalled 56. Pick: Two Number One seeds make the Final Four.
Same as the reasoning above but this one is a safer bet because you don’t have to pick and actual number. Only thrice have there been no Number 1 seed that made it to the Final Four.
Since 1985 #2 ranked teams have made the championship game a total of 13 times and have won the title game a total of five times, the last of which was VIllanova in 2016. Pick: No but if I don’t pick #1, I’ll go with #2.
Third seeds have made the championship game a total of 8 times with the team going 4-4. The last third seed to win it all was UConn in 2011. Pick: No
A number four seed has won the NCAA Championship just once, and that was in 1997 with Arizona. Pick: No
This one’s my favorite among the bets because a 12 seed has knocked out a 5th seed in nine out of the last 10 years. Moreover, at least two 12 seeds have ousted a 5th seed in six out of the last 10 tournaments. The percentages are high, really and I’m betting on this for sure. Prediction: Yes
No 16th seed has ever upset a #1 seed since the current tournament format was introduced in 1985. Pick: No
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