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The first four days of the NCAA Tournament are some of the best of the year, but getting to that point can be a struggle. After the brackets are announced, you get inundated with takes from every direction. Even the biggest stats nerd (like yours truly) can get overwhelmed by all of the numbers that get tossed around from Sunday night to Thursday morning. If you fill your bracket out early (again, I am guilty), then you just have to wait for days for the tournament to start.

There is a way to revitalize the NCAA Tournament experience, and it isn’t by revealing the tournament teams in alphabetical order. Our friends at head-to-head sports have figured it out by offering the only player NCAA Tournament contest.

Head2Head’s College Choose’em Challenge give fantasy players a chance to break free from the bracket by choosing individual players instead of teams. Of course, determining which teams you think will advance in the tournament is still important, but College Choose’em Challenge offers several more layers that simply add to the fun and intrigue.

College Choose’em Challenge features 12 groups of players, with eight players in each group. You choose one player from each group to fill out your 12-team roster. Those players then earn fantasy points for as long as their teams remain in the NCAA tournament, with five bonus points each time their team wins a game. Your team needs to balance picking high-scoring players with picking players who advance deep into the tournament. That one twist adds several layers of strategy to the sometimes mundane activity of filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket.

The College Choose’em Challenge runs throughout March Madness, and players can enter up to four teams for only $10 each. You can join a randomly assigned league or create a buddy league to compete against friends and family. Each league features a $1000 first prize. While the chance to turn $10 into $1000 is certainly appealing, the thing I really love about the College Choose’em Challenge is the strategy. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the strategy elements involved, so that you might navigate them successfully to a big payday.

If you operate under the theory that the simplest answer is usually the right one, the best way to fill out your College Choose’em Challenge roster is to fill out your NCAA Tournament bracket first. While you are at it, don’t forget to enter that bracket in Head2Head’s March Mania contest (more on that below). Next, simply pick the team from each group you have going farthest in your bracket, and then choose the best player from that team.

For example, if your bracket has Villanova losing to Gonzaga in the National Championship game, then you should choose either Mikal Bridges or Jalen Brunson in Group 1, since there are not any Gonzaga players in that group. You could use that same methodology to make your picks for the remaining 11 groups as well. If your bracket does well, your College Choose’em Challenge team should as well.

Of course, just because a method is the simplest does not necessarily the best. It almost certainly isn’t the most fun. Also, if your bracket gets busted early, your College Choose’em Challenge team may not stand a chance. If you want to take a more in-depth approach to building your roster, there are several other factors to consider.

Safety is very important, especially at the top. It would be great if all of our players reach the Elite Eight, but that probably isn’t realistic. It might be more realistic to target teams we are confident can at least reach the Sweet 16, especially in the first handful of groups. Number 1 seeds are virtually guaranteed to play at least two games; the same can’t be said for two or three seeds, no matter how safe Michigan State or Duke feel.

That being said, when you have an NCAA Tournament that feels even more wide open than usual, it probably isn’t a bad idea to simply take the best player available. This is especially true in later groups where you have players on lower seeded teams or less-heralded players on top teams. Even if Butler loses in the first round, Kelan Martin could put up more points in one game than another player will score in two.

When choosing between teammates, consider the team’s first-round opponent. I might prefer Angel Delgado to Desi Rodriguez in the long run, but if I think Rodriguez matches up better against N.C. State, I will probably go with Rodriguez. After all, if Seton Hall beats Kansas in the second round, I will probably be happy with whichever Pirate makes my roster.

Now that we have the generalities out of the way, let’s take a look at each of the 12 College Choose’em Challenge groups.

Group 1

DeAndre Ayton is probably the best player in this group, but his team might have the toughest defensive matchups. Even if Arizona makes a deep run, his production may be less that what we have grown accustomed to.

A lot of people are coming to the NCAA season extremely late, and those people will likely gravitate towards the names they have heard of. With that in mind, there can be some value in taking some of the lesser-known players who can be just as productive. If you like Villanova to make a deep tournament run, take Mikal Bridges over the more popular Jalen Brunson.

Group 2

Duke and Michigan St. will meet in the Sweet 16, if they both advance. I love Miles Bridges, and no one can argue Grayson Allen has had a great college career, but picking either one would make me nervous.

Virginia will be without sixth man DeAndre Hunter for the entire tournament. While that could mean more minutes and touches for Gary Clark and Jacob Evans, it could also mean a shorter tournament run for Virginia.

Group 3

One of these things is not like the other. Trae Young’s team is the only one that won’t be a heavy favorite in its first round game, and will be a huge underdog if it advances to the second round. Young may be the leading scoring in the country, but he topped 20 points just twice in his last five games.

Group 4

This group features players from six teams who could all go to the National Championship game or lose in the first round. This is where we have to start looking at a team’s draw as being far more important than the players themselves.

Group 5

Bryce Brown, Keita Bates-Diop and Marcquise Reed are clearly the best players on their respective teams. I don’t think you can say that for anyone else in this group, except for maybe Jevon Carter. The question is: how much does that matter? It won’t matter much if they all lose in the first round.

Group 6

UCLA has already been eliminated by St. Bonaventure. Will Florida suffer the same fate? None of these teams are huge favorites in their first-round games, and they could all be huge underdogs in the second round. If your bracket has Houston going to the Elite Eight, then by all means pick Rob Gray. A better strategy may just be to pick whoever you think is the best player or whoever has the best first-round matchup, since none of these players are likely to play more than two games.

Group 7

Mohamed Bamba is by far the biggest celebrity of this group, but unlike Trae Young, Bamba is not in a group full of players who will probably advance farther than him in the tournament. Bamba is capable of producing big numbers in just one or two games. Just know that it would be quite an upset if he is not the most popular pick in this group.

If you are choosing between players from the same team, look closely at the first-round matchups. As much as I like Jordan Caroline, I’m not sure I want to rely on him getting rebounds over Mo Bamba.

Group 8

Oklahoma probably doesn’t belong in this field, but that doesn’t mean they can’t win a game or even two. Trae Young rightfully gets all of the headlines, but Brady Manek is averaging 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds this season while shooting .391 on threes. Four teams are represented in this group, with two teams from each. Your best bet may be to decide which team is most likely to win its first-round game and then select whichever player you like best from that team.

Group 9

With respect to the other seven players in this group, Group 9 is all about Michael Porter Jr. He will likely be the most popular player in Group 9, but I am reluctant to dismiss him out of hand. Porter Jr. didn’t play great in the SEC Tournament, but this team is capable of beating Xavier in the second round, and if they do, it will probably be as a result of Michael Porter Jr. putting up numbers.

Group 10

Again we have a big name who stands out in his group, and this time it is Collin Sexton. Sexton was phenomenal in the SEC Tournament, and Alabama follows the proven NCAA Tournament blueprint of playing good defense and having a point guard who can do everything. That being said, if one of these teams advances to the Sweet 16, those players will have a huge advantage on the rest of the group.

Group 11

We are back to chalk, as every team in this group is a three-seed or better. That being said, these players are at best the third options on their respective teams. For my money, Cassius Winston is the best player in this group, but the Spartans may have the most difficult path to the Elite Eight of any of these teams.

Group 12

Once again, it looks like the best player in the group plays for Michigan State. Unlike in Group 11, I’m not sure any of teams in Group 12 are great bets to advance to the Elite Eight. Dusan Ristic is overshadowed by DeAndre Ayton, but I don’t think anybody would be shocked if puts up a couple of double-doubles in this tournament.

Here is a sample team that could be made with the information above:

The focus for most of this article has been Head2Head’s College Choose’em Challenge, and for good reason. It is new, exciting, fun and challenging. It puts a new wrinkle on traditional NCAA Tournament games, and as such, playing the game successfully requires a lot of thought and analysis. Of course, Head2Head has a lot more to offer than just the College Choose’em Challenge. They also do the traditional bracket challenge better than anyone, with their March Mania Contest. You can enter up to four teams for only $10 each. That means you can enter multiple brackets to give yourself the best chance at the $1000 first prize, or if you only create one bracket, you can enter it in up to four different leagues.

You can join a randomly assigned league or create one for you and your buddies to compete against each other. Leagues pay out to the top three finishes, and every entry is eligible for the $25,000 Bonus if you pick 60 or more games correctly. Odds are you have already filled out at least one bracket, so why not give yourself another chance to win?

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