1. Gonzaga (sort of) - This one is a bit more difficult for me this year. Gonzaga is my second favourite team (about a 95% gap from Syracuse mind you). Few always seemed like a good guy that has ran a great program with American and International recruit... a legacy of many Canadians.
But then he had the DUI incident earlier this year and that really bothered me. His punishment was not appropriate. I don't think he should have been cancelled either, just a much bigger punishment. That being said I will probably cheer for them... depending on #2.
2. Teams I bet on to win (group of 10). The last number of years I tend to make a handful of selections based on teams whose odds are not keeping up with their KP ranking. Rather smallish, bets payoff between $500-$600 if the teams win. This strategy of looking at early KP odds (about 8-10 games into the year) typically ends up with some good value bets. I did a calculation the other day -- My selection of teams this year ended up coming at odds of +231 to win... if I bet on them all today to win I would be getting odds of +115, so overall there was good timing I think.
On December 8 I chose the following based on what seemed good value per KP
Auburn 60-1, now 16-1
Baylor 16-1, now 12-1
Arizona 20-1, 6-1
Tennessee 70-1. 22-1
USC 55-1, 80-1
BYU 100-1 , 150-1
For some reason early in the year I really liked Purdue as well. Usually don't take teams at 10-1, nor were they any great value at those odds compared to the others. But I liked them at 10-1, and they are now 13-1. So that bet was my most expensive and did not pay off.
Purdue 10-1
Usually like to have about 10 teams in my group -- I ended up adding 4 teams around February 20th largely based on those that appeared to have KP value or projected seeding value. Iowa a few weeks back at 100-1, San Francisco 150-1, Wisconsin 80-1. Iowa and Wisconsin are now up to 50-1. I later added Providence 80-1 and yesterday Texas A&M at 100-1
Who I do not want to win
1. Duke and its not even close.
2. UConn
3. Kentucky, Kansas, UNC
4. Will typically cheer against BIG schools.