OkaForPrez
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College Basketball’s Fiddler Crabs
Teams that are disproportionately better on one side of the ball than the other, and how they have performed in March (plus Eliminator Update!)
basketballwithglasses.substack.com
Every year I pour a bunch of time into bracket prep (this year to crap effect) but one of the interesting inputs I've found in analyzing upset potential is the concept of a fiddler crab. This is a team that's really great on one side of the ball and really poor on the other. Have a look at the link above. These team's traditionally underperform their seeding and get knocked out earlier. This year though, is the year of the fiddler crabs:
SDSU and Miami both made it to the final four. That's rare, but you already knew this for other more obvious reasons.
Now you'll also take note that we've already dispatched of two of these crabs. St. Mary's and Gonzaga.
Time will tell if this year is the exception to this historical trend or if the 2023 UConn Men's basketball team will be forever known (by me) for bagging 4 crabs on the way to glory.