March Madness 2022: 46% of people just go with their gut for their NCAA Tournament bracket

NEW ORLEANS — Are Americans ready for the 2022 NCAA Tournament? You bet your brackets they are! A new poll finds 15 percent of hoops fans admit they’ll be slacking off at work while March Madness unfolds. In fact, one in three remote workers confess they’ll be watching the games while doing their job — good luck multitasking!

In a survey of more than 1,100 March Madness fans, conducted by LouisianaSharp.com, researchers reveal that Americans love to fill out their NCAA tournament brackets — even if they don’t know anything about sports! While 47 percent look at the win-loss records for each team, a whopping 46 percent admit they just go with their gut and take a guess.

Then there’s the five percent who have a “more advanced” system: they choose the winners based on the team’s colors and their mascot!

Regardless of how you make your picks for this year’s March Madness games, the odds of choosing every winner are extremely low. How low? How about one in 9.2 quintillion! Forget winning the lottery, that’s easy. Researchers say you actually have better odds of becoming a professional athlete yourself than picking a perfect NCAA tournament bracket.

Put your March Madness money where your bracket is

Although plenty of friends and office pools will likely play for bragging rights during the NCAA tournament, many people will be betting on the big event. More than a quarter of respondents (27%) say they’re betting on the college tournament. Two in three will keep those wagers under $50. However, four percent are dropping more than $250 on their March Madness brackets this year.

Hopefully, those fans will put a little extra research into their selections. Nearly half the poll (43%) commit less than 30 minutes to filling out the field of 68 teams. Meanwhile, one in 10 spend over two hours picking winners before finalizing their bracket.

Who will make the Final Four of the 2022 NCAA Tournament?

Perhaps all those busted brackets have something to do with many hoops fans believing in the Cinderella story. Forty-five percent of respondents think an underdog will make it all the way to the Final Four. One in four people actually pencil in a Cinderella team to reach the NCAA Tournament Finals!

Overall, however, the big schools still win out when it comes to “bracketology.” Duke, Gonzaga, Auburn, and Baylor were selected as the most likely schools to reach the Final Four this year. In the championship game, most respondents see a Duke-Gonzaga matchup. That would certainly be a fairytale ending — and give new meaning to “March Madness” — for legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, as he enters the final NCAA tournament of his career.

2022 March Madness Betting Odds

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