WSJ Blindfold Brackets
The Wall Street Journal has done their blindfold brackets feature again this year. For the uninitiated, it's an interesting interactive bracket where you pick each game based on a description of each team and its strengths and weaknesses, theoretically removing biases that you may have about the school or conference.
Link: http://projects.wsj.com/blindfold-brackets-2014/index.php
For what it's worth, I got a Final Four of Florida, Arizona, Iowa State, and Louisville, with Florida beating Louisville in the title game. It's not hard to figure out who Michigan is from the description; I had them losing to Louisville in the Elite 8.
Kid President's bracket. Taste the fur. Taste the claws.
I got Michigan over Virginia in the final.
Final Four: Michigan, Virginia, Creighton, Florida
March 17th, 2014 at 10:00 AM ^
Almost blind, anyway. I can sniff out a few of these, particularly my own teams, one of which is glaringly obvious.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:05 AM ^
I hope you enjoy the tournament with both your teams advancing for the next three weeks. I know sometimes having both teams in the tournament can be stressful, but at least they are on opposite sides of the bracket!
March 17th, 2014 at 10:21 AM ^
Thanks. Opposite sides of the bracket is just the ideal outcome. If they happen to meet now, by that point I'm beyond caring which team wins.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 10:17 AM ^
Somehow got Wichita State over Florida in the final with Arizona and Virginia also in the final four. Had Stephen F. Austin as my big upset.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:20 AM ^
Exactly what I ended up with for a Final Four. Harvard and ND State turned out to be 12/5 picks, and Harvard was basically the only non-chalk in the Sweet 16. Boy do I hope that comes true. Ohio State over Syracuse as well, and I would honestly have strongly considered the same thing knowing their names.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^
Ooof. I picked mostly on defense and ended up with Arizona over Florida in the Finals. I have Michigan losing to Arizona State in the Round of 32 and MSU losing to Virginia in the Sweet 16.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:30 AM ^
Always reassuring when my blind final four and my predicted final four are the exact same. The only difference was my championship game result.
Florida, Arizona, Michigan State, Louisville.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
Dayton over OSU. Run and tell that.
Florida > Villanova
Michigan > Creighton
Michigan > Florida.
I may have figured out who Michigan was by the description *DRINK* (I did legitimately pick them into the Elite 8 against Wichita State)
March 17th, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^
Heh, I also had Dayton over OSU in the blind bracket.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
Wow... Eastern Kentucky!!!
March 17th, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^
Final four: Creighton, Michigan...Syracuse, mich state
March 17th, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^
Filled this out and.... got Wofford going to the Sweet 16. Awkward.
March 17th, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^
I somehow got Michigan AND Duke losing their first games...
March 17th, 2014 at 11:01 AM ^
Michigan over Kansas in the final. Ohio lost in the round of 64, State and Wiscy in the round of 32.
March 17th, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
Elite Eight
- The Uncoordinated Mountain Climbers over the Drooling Divas
- The Considerate Kleptomaniacs over the Erudite Cheese Mongers
- The Belligerent Pacifists over the Carefree Zookeepers
- The Negligent Nincompoops over the Sweet Smelling Sanitation Workers
Final Four
- The Considerate Kleptomaniacs over the Uncoordinated Mountain Climbers
- The Belligerent Pacifists over the Negligent Nincompoops
Championship
- The Belligerent Pacifists over the Considerate Kleptomaniacs
March 17th, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^
Did it twice.
First time I had Virginia over Louisville in the title game, with Arizona and Florida as my other two Final Four teams. Michigan lost to Louisville, no real major upsets.
Second time I got Wichita State over Florida, with Zona and Nova as the other two Final Four teams. This time I zoomed right through it, not looking at any seeding or descriptions what so ever, and had us losing to Duke and Harvard in the Elite Eight.
Both times Dayton beat OSU.
March 17th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
Too easy to tell which team was Michigan so I kept picking them and surprise, they won it all in my "blind" bracket. My final four was Michigan, Arizona, Florida, and Cincy with Michigan beating Florida to win it all. Which is exactly what my final game is in my real bracket. All this did was tell me that I watched way too much college basketball this season.
March 17th, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
I did this bracket last year and my results had Michigan losing their first game! Glad I went with my actual bracket and had Michigan( a little bit of a homer pick) losing to Louisville.
March 17th, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
I got harvard winning it all...
March 17th, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^
St Joe's and Gonzaga to the Elite 8, and Wichita State over New Mexico in the final. Seems like a likely bracket
March 17th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
I wound up with UCLA beating Arizona in the final - with Michigan and Wisconsin as the other final four teams. Had St. Joe's on a deep run. Ohio out in the first round.
March 17th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
Final four:
Michigan St over Florida
Creighton over Michigan
Champion:
Michigan State over Creighton
Time for a shower.....
I had Wisconsin winning it all over New Mexico. Duke lost to UMass in the second round. We made it the Elite 8.
I ended up picking every 12 over a 5
Picked all 1 seeds in the FF with WSU winning it all. We lost to Texas.
Florida over Louisville for me (UVA and Zona as the other two in my Final 4 - clearly I go nuts for defense).
Didn't try to figure out who these teams were, but Syracuse was freaking obvious.
Providence in the sweet 16 is about as crazy as my picks went. Clearly too conservative.
March 17th, 2014 at 10:36 PM ^
March 17th, 2014 at 10:55 PM ^
http://projects.wsj.com/blindfold-brackets-2014/bracket.php?r=b597dfdd-…
This is almost dead on from what I would select. I could tell who Florida and Wichita St were though, and I don't have either of them in my true bracket going to the championship game, so I don't know why I kept picking them. But, they seemed to be the best option for me. I have Michigan going a long way, and I had no idea which one they were.
I also have Ohio losing to Dayton, which surprised me, but I can't say I'm mad. You can check my blind bracket out above. I also have Dayton taking Syracuse down.