Breaking down the bracket: This week, we can all be SIUE fans

Is filling out NCAA tournament brackets still a popular activity? Do offices hold high-stakes pools while work grinds to a halt during the opening round?

Technology and remote work have spoiled so many traditions, but maybe this one lives on.

If it helps, here's a comprehensive postseason preview for the local viewer. Let's start with the hometown heroes. Of course, we mean No. 16 seed SIU-Edwardsville, making its NCAA Tournament debut on Thursday against No. 1 Houston.

A long way from Chicago, but still instate, the Ohio Valley champs are coached by Brian Barone, son of longtime coach and Chicago native Tony Barone. Brian played for his dad at Texas A&M, then transferred to Marquette, where he was a teammate of Hinsdale Central legend Brian Wardle.

Before moving to Bradley, Wardle hired Barone as an assistant at Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2010. Barone also worked for former Loyola, current Oklahoma coach Porter Moser at Illinois State.

It used to be safe to say the No. 16 seeds had no shot against a No. 1. But now that it's happened twice, never say never. SIU-Edwardsville's strength is its defense, while the offense is led by OVC player of the year Ray'Sean Taylor, a 6-1 guard from Collinsville who averages 19.3 points.

The other instate team, the Fighting Illini, plays Friday evening against the winner of the Texas-Xavier play-in game. That's a risky spot, because in nine of the last 10 tournaments, one of the 11-seed play-in winners has gone on to post a victory in the next round.

But the Illini seem dangerous, just as likely to win by 20 as lose by 25 in any given contest. Brad Underwood's squad had an impressive four-game win streak to end the Big Ten season, but sandwiched that with a 21-point loss to Wisconsin, a 43-point loss to Duke, then were clobbered by Maryland in the conference tourney.

At the same time, freshman Kasparas Jakucionis is still a likely lottery pick, freshman Morez Johnson is back from an injury, and the supporting cast tends to run red-hot or ice-cold, with no in between.

Here's an interesting fact about another local team. The renowned Ken Pomeroy rankings had Northwestern as the second-most deserving team to miss the field (behind Ohio State). The Wildcats finished 17-16 and their season was loaded with dramatic, disappointing finishes. They decided not to participate in a postseason tourney.

But Loyola and Bradley accepted invites to the NIT. Those teams played each other last year in the NIT. This time, Loyola is heading out West to face San Jose State on Wednesday and, with a win, could stay in the Bay Area to play San Francisco. So this is like a bowl trip for the Ramblers. Bradley opens with a home game against North Alabama.

DePaul finished 14-19, but landed an invite to the College Basketball Crown, a new 16-team tourney in Las Vegas. The Blue Demons will start with former Great Midwest rival Cincinnati on April 1 at the MGM Grand.

Illinois State is headed to the CBI, another single-city tournament set in Daytona Beach, Fla., and will open against Presbyterian on Sunday.

OK, back to the real tournament and some actual help on how to fill out the bracket.

How many first-round upsets are typical? First of all, toss out the 8 vs. 9 games. After that, there have been on average seven upsets in the first round, where the lower-seed won, during the past 10 tournaments. That's with a low of five (in 2015. '17 and '23) and a high of 10 (2016).

There has been at least one double-digit seed in the Sweet 16 the past 10 years, and that number got as high as four in 2021 and '22.

Is there a mid-major conference that tends to pull upsets? Yes, the Ivy League. Yale and Princeton have won the past two years and Ivies have four first-round wins in the last 10.

According to KenPom, the most egregiously underseeded team is Gonzaga, which is a No. 8 seed, but should have been a 3. The Zags have made it to the Sweet 16 for nine consecutive tournaments.

The most overseeded team, per KenPom, is Oregon, a No. 5. But beware, the Ducks have never lost a first-round game under coach Dana Altman, going 8-0.

There was a 10-year run of the No. 1 overall seed failing to win the tournament until Connecticut finally ended the streak last season. Auburn is the top overall seed this time.

At least one top-four seed has lost in the first round in 15 of the past 16 tourneys. A No. 2 lost to a No. 15 three years in a row from 2021-23, then it didn't happen last year.

There hasn't been three No. 1 seeds in the Final Four since 2015. If it feels like the Cinderella stories are more frequent these days, that is accurate. Between 1979-2015, there were just three double-digit seeds in the Final Four. From 2016-24, there were four.