March Madness bracket fanatics can get even more excited a little bit earlier this season with the first ever in-season preview of the NCAA March Madness tournament bracket airing on February 11th. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Chair, Mark Hollis, will be headlining the event announcing the top 16 seeded teams and naming the top 4 teams of each region.
This television event will be massive draw for fans of tournament as it gathers analysts and bracketing specialists together to discuss selections, seedings, and personal predictions for the upcoming tournament. The event will get fans to start thinking and further their preparations for the brackets even before Selection Sunday, which is an exciting event in itself.
So, what does this preview event mean for March Madness bracketeers?
Well, it definitely has the potential to influence. While there will be still plenty of games to be played, including conference tournaments, this event could change fan’s minds about who to place in their brackets and who to look out for.
Another consequence is it’s going to put the power of bracketing in the hands of the experts again rather than the fans. This event is going to manned by the experts in the field who have made bracketology their lives, which gives them the authority and power to change fan’s minds, make certain games more important than others and try to figure out upsets before they happen.
It will also likely spark more interest in the tournament and the bracketing element of the tournament. People who enjoy watching the tournament, but aren’t necessarily willing to fill in a bracket may be more inclined to because they have more insight and understanding of what is likely to happen. It also may further understanding of bracketology as a whole, allowing a broader range of people to establish an interest. This is likely ESPN’s goal: create more interest, in more people, earlier in the season.
This event also places a spotlight on the importance of this tournament and the importance of the bracket within the season. The bracketing aspect of the tournament, now with this first-ever preview show, the money associated it and the grand numbers of men and women participating almost allows it to be the principal aspect of the tournament.
But even with all of those factors in mind and all of those effects that this in-season seeding show might cause, will this television affect fans’ brackets? Will the top picks of these experts play an extremely active roll within viewer’s brackets? After there are 68 participating teams and this event will be televised extremely early, before even the most important games and other tournament-related events occur.
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So what about you? Are you going to tune in on February 11th?