The Scoop:
It’s March. The weather is unpredictable and so is College Basketball.
The good teams aren’t guaranteed to win anything while it’s common to see a not-so-good team step up in the tournament.
Sorry to break it to ya, but the odds that your favorite college team wins it all is slim-to-none. Even this year’s favorite contender, Villanova, only has a 4.5% chance of winning the National Championship according to Las Vegas.
You think those chances are low? The odds of predicting every possible game in the tournament is even lower. WAY LOWER. You have a one out of nine quintillion chance to be exact… I’ve never even heard of that number until I looked it up.
9,000,000,000,000,000,000. Yeah, that’s a nine, followed up by 18 zeros. No wonder Warren Buffet offers a million dollars a year to whoever guesses a perfect bracket.
If you’re in a bracket pool at school or work, here’s what you need to know before filling out your bracket.
1.) The tournament is full of upsets. The vast majority of upset teams are either the 10, 11, or 12 seeds. Over a fourth of bracket upsets come from the 12 seed, alone.
2.) Since 1985, about 40% of 1 seeds arrive at the final four. They have the best shot at making the championship but don’t fall in love with all of them because over half of the Final Four teams aren’t 1 seeds. Any team ranging from a 1-4 seed is a safe pick although last year, South Carolina (7 seed) arrived at the Final Four.
3.) Predicting the National Champion is worth the same amount of points as it is to guess 32 out of 32 of the winners in the first round, so don’t get too caught up if you don’t get many picks right in the first round.
Scripture:
So why do millions of people fill out brackets every year when there’s practically no chance of winning? We believe.
In a similar sense, Christians believe in God.
In John 3:3-18, scripture says you gotta believe in God in order to reap his treasures.
- By getting baptized, you’re proving that you believe in God (John 3:3-5).
- By believing in God, you’ll receive eternal life (John 3:16).
- By receiving eternal life, you will not be condemned (3:18).
Pretty good gig if you ask me. What do I have to lose by believing in The Lord? Perhaps, there are some worldly things, but no matter what it is, eternal life lasts forever… FOREVER.
Application:
What do you have to lose by filling out a bracket? A sheet of paper and 5 minutes of your time. If you win, you can receive millions of dollars. You’d definitely be on the better side of that trade.
Recollection:
What are some other ways, besides filling out Final Four brackets, do we believe (in anything)? What are you giving up by believing? What is the potential reward? Is it worth it? Why?
Travis Armbruster 