6 tips for filling out your March Madness bracket

Here is another tip for the more cautious of bracket builders — don’t pick all the 1-seeds to make it to the Final Four. Just once in tournament history have all four top seeds made it out of their region.

Instead, find a balance. In the past 25 years, 41 1-seeds have made it to the final weekend of the tournament — by far the most of any seed, but still only one or two in most years.

A healthy way to reach a plausible Final Four without sticking strictly with favorites is to work off of averages. Over the past 25 years, the average sum of the Final Four seeds is 11.2. That can translate to two top seeds, a No. 3 and a No. 6, or any other number of combinations.

Obviously you can pick a lower sum total to work towards if you want to play a bit more conservatively with your bracket, but the numbers don’t lie. If your Final Four teams add up to seven or less, you probably have room to get a little riskier.