NBA Best Practices: Washington Wizards Bring Fans with them for the NCAA Tournament

Bracket time! Last month many of you no doubt joined fans nationwide in filling out your NCAA Basketball Tournament Brackets. If you love the game, you likely filled out a bracket. (or multiple brackets!)

The Washington Wizards identified this as an opportunity to do two things: 1) remind fans that they were a team of players who love the game (like you) and 2) brought fans closer to their players in the process.

Let's dive in.

Hit the Wizards home page and you'll note the NCAA Tournament story in the main window (not any more, but this example stuck with me.) Let's keep moving.

Clicking in takes you here, to the bracket home of the Wizards players. You'll see a window of 8-10 brackets that span players, dance squad members, and even the mascot. At a glance (see image below), you will see where they went to college, their biggest upset, and who they pick to win it all.

Then you can check out any player's bracket, like JaVale McGee's ( here). As you can see in this image, we not only get his picks, but we get a personal feeling by seeing them laid out in his handwriting. It's almost like you simply went around and collected brackets from the Wizards players for your pool. Really nice.

But to me this is just the start of an opportunity.

How could this be better? First, I'd love to see the "why" on each bracket. Let players record videos of their bracket selections. Or let players join fans in an online chat the day after Selection Sunday. (Go to the Wizards Facebook Page to talk NCAA Basketball with the squad!)

In a deeper level, we could take this one emotional step further. Invite fans to compete against players in a bracket contest. Open the door for trash talking. And, naturally, offer up an experience for the winning fan, rather than a prize. (How about a chance to watch the Final Four with the team?) Use a shared love for the game to better connect the players with the fan base!

Come back next week as we check out another best practice from the NBA. And as always, you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34) or on Facebook (Digital Hoops Blast).

Thanks!

Andy