The bracket is out and the First Four will tip off in about 48 hours!
With the round of 64 then getting into full swing on Friday, it doesn’t really make sense for us to stick to our normal HV Weekly Friday schedule — we will all (gladly!) be glued to the TV instead.
So we are sending out a rare Tuesday email, with much more to come as the first two rounds begin to unfold.
Before we get started…
Last year’s Hoop Vision One Shining Moment montage to put you in that March Madness mood.
68 Teams, 11 Minutes
We might be taking the year off from our Tourney Bible, but that didn’t stop us from systematically covering all 68 teams — just in a more bite-sized way.
On Sunday night, we published another video over on the YouTube channel. The 11-minute voiceover video contains an annotated X's & O's, stats, and/or scouting nugget on every single team in the field.
We also have the cliffs notes version of the video down below. The image (click/tap to enlarge) contains the script that I wrote for the video — with a fact on each team.
CLICK/TAP TO ENLARGE
If you’re curious about how the sausage gets made…
The video was a big team effort.
Jackson Johnson, Justin Clareman, Jason Fang, and Rafi Goldman all put in significant scouting work on different teams. Those four have to be the most overqualified group of people for an 11-minute YouTube basketball video ever. Give them a follow on Twitter!
We had 63 teams completely done (audio recorded and video “animated”) going into the selection show.
Because we started the scouting process about two weeks before the bracket release, the bubble situation can change drastically over that time. Of our 63 teams, three didn’t make the field: Louisville, Colorado State, and Xavier.
After the bracket was released, the group got to work on the last several missing teams while I finalized the editing, animations, voiceovers, and thumbnail.
It was just after 11:00 PM ET on Sunday night when I hit publish.
Do Matchups Matter?
Yesterday, we sent out a newsletter to Hoop Vision PLUS subscribers on “opponent compatibility” — and, more specifically, how it relates to March Madness and bracket strategy.
It’s a topic I first looked at back in college for a writing contest at TeamRankings.com.
Here’s the example I used in that original article from the 2013 NCAA tournament:
The Minnesota-UCLA matchup featured the best offensive rebounding team in the country (Minnesota) and the 263rd defensive rebounding team in the country (UCLA). A smart analyst would point this compatible Minnesota strength and UCLA weakness out, but what does it really mean for the expected outcome of a game?
On one hand, Minnesota should kill UCLA on the offensive boards, possibly creating a huge advantage for Minnesota. On the other hand, Minnesota kills just about everyone on the offensive boards. UCLA wouldn’t be able to stop the lethal Minnesota rebounding attack regardless, so maybe this is a waste of an opponent weakness for Minnesota.
In yesterday’s newsletter, I revisited the idea of opponent compatibility with my updated thoughts.
The subscriber-only newsletter includes:
Syracuse’s 2-3 zone and the effects of extreme styles of play on opponents
Why we’re not as good at identifying matchup advantages as we think
In-game adjustments, including an example from Virginia and Tony Bennett
Some final advice for your brackets
LINK: Do Matchups Matter? (HV+)
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