How Busted is your NCAA Bracket - How Many of the 16 Did you Pick?
Mates,
First two rounds are in the books. Looking at the separate regionals, the East Regional is a minefield of failure for most, but maybe you picked it successfully? I am the 'Commissioner' of our Family & Friends pool and our results for the first round ranged from 19 to 25 out of the 32 games. For the second round the range is folks getting between 6 and 10 out of the 16. As a side note, youngest son has the South regional nearly perfect, including Princeton v. Creighton, so far. He only missed the UVA/Furman upset in that regional.
Houston and 'Bama are the two most common picks to win it all.
1. How's your bracket looking? What did you score out of the round of 64 and then 32?
2. Who is your pick to win it?
Exceptionally cool weekend for Michigan with all the winning and championships on Saturday and what looks like very hopeful football recruiting news from yesterday.
Have a great Monday,
XM
I gave up doing them years ago because mine were never good (picked too many Big Ten teams) and I'm sure this year it wouldn't have been good.
Exactly. I could never pick worth a damn when I was following college basketball more closely, and now when I mostly just follow Michigan basketball I might as well be picking at random.
March 20th, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
ya, i don't really do them anymore either. but this year there was a free one for a $400 hooters party. no wings for me.
Ditto for me. But for anyone doing it, a good benchmark is how the Selection Committee itself did. There are only 9 Top 4 seeds still alive. XM, it looks like many in your family didn't even do that well.
yeah, well, most of them are kids and they don't get to watch TV, excepting michigan sports and the occasional family move.
It seems like total frustration. I picked four brackets. Three of them were done with the plan to pick a few upsets, since they always seem to happen. Those three brackets have 28 in one and 2 with 31 winners.
However, my best bracket was a test. I decided to see how it would work if I just ignored my hunches and picked the top seed to win each game. That is my best bracket! Though not great, to be sure. I have 35 winners in that one and Alabama for the title. But with all the high seed losers figured into it, I have just three teams left in the Elite 8: Alabama, Houston, Texas. The title is Alabama over Houston. Of course, this bracket has #7 MSU losing to #2 Marquette. Who woulda thunk it.
As soon as UVA lost I was toast. When Arizona lost I just stopped checking
I was in the same boat - had AZ beating Houston in the final and UVA getting to the elite 8; the sweet elixir of low expectations after Thursday (!)
yeah...I was toast within the first game, let alone the first day of games.
VA losing, lit it on fire, threw away ashes and said bye to the $60 I spent on tourney fees
22/32 and then 10/16, on my best brackets (out of the four I filled out). I don’t think that’s TOO terrible, given all of the extra madness.
My best bracket of 6 has 25/32, then 8/16, with 6/8 and 3/4 possible. If UConn beats Arizona for the natty, I'm golden - oh shite.
It doesn’t really matter the # of correct picks with my bracket format. I multiply seeds in round 1 by 1, round 2 by 2, round 3 by 4, culminating with the championship x32. If you pick a 10 seed to win you’ve got 320 points or 32 points for a correct champion that’s a 1 seed. Only way to do it IMHO.
I’m 7/16. Bracket is basically done because the pool I’m in the only people with their champion left have Alabama winning and I also have them going to the championship game, so I can’t catch up. I did ok in the Midwest I suppose. Got Houston, Miami, and Texas. Also got Uconn and UCLA right.
But the other side of my bracket is trash. Just Alabama and Kansas State made it. Had Kansas learning from their recent losses and winning the whole thing. Did not have Bill Self not coaching so that sucked. Final Four was Bama, Marquette, Houston, and Kansas, so I guess 2/4 isn’t awful?
the only people with their champion left have Alabama winning
That's interesting, are you in a pool w/ a lot of Alabama fans? Surprising no one picked Houston, Texas, UCLA, Gonzaga, or UConn.
I have 9 of 16 Sweet Sixteen teams, but still have all 4 of my Final Four teams left. I picked UConn over Alabama in the championship game, with Houston and Tennessee as the other two teams in the Final Four. Feeling pretty good about it, given all of the chaos so far.
Not really, I think there's maybe one Bama fan. It isn't a ton of us in the pool and a bunch of people just went with the top seed I think. Plus it's just one bracket per person, so that makes a difference. We had one pick UVA, one Purdue, and one Arizona. I picked Kansas of course, and then everyone else was Bama, which is like 5 more people.
Didn’t fill one out. Enjoying the tournament as much as I can without Michigan playing in it.
We’ve gotten spoiled these last 15 years or so with Michigan always being in the tournament, but it’s still some of the funnest sports times of the year during the NCAA’s
I am 12/16...thanks to Duke, Marquette, Arizona, and Memphis
10 of 16. But 7 of my Elite 8 and my entire Final Four are still in play, so I'll take it.
Terrible. Only 6 of 16 left.
Amazing part, picked the FDU - Purdue upset (only because I thought Purdue was overrated and would bust my bracket sooner or later), and I still have a bracket that is completely wrecked.
Have 3 of 4 Final 4 remaining somehow. Bama, Texas, UCLA
They should set the game where you make premium points on 1v16 or 2v15 upset.
I'm in a pool where the scoring is typical (1 point first round, 2 next, 4 next, etc) EXCEPT you also get points for the seed of the team you picked to win. So picking a 1 seed to win the first round is worth 2 points. Picking the 16 seed is worth 17.
I didn't realize that was the scoring when I made my bracket, but it makes for some really interesting incentives in your picks.
I like it.
I've gotten every game correct in the Midwest region! The others, uh, not so much.
In retrospect, I should've figured Sparty was going to make the sweet sixteen this year--bad oversight on my part.
Lost AZ (runner-up) and Duke (FF), but most of S16 still in play. Had MSU going to the E8 initially, because I figured they are overdue to give me heartburn, but swapped them at the last minute for Marquette.
My champ is Texas, but I’m not sure I feel great about that selection. I’m just enjoying the chaos.
I have 3 brackets in my money pool. My best has 10 correct in the Sweet 16 (3rd in possible points remaining) and a second has 9 correct (7th in possible points remaining). There are 52 brackets entered so I'm pretty happy with this so far.
I basically just shaded the B10 throughout and that has worked out so far. Seth's tool really helped as well for shorting Baylor and Kansas. I always bet against Arizona as a rule.
I wish I learned the AZ lesson. I have now. They get the Iowa treatment from me until they prove otherwise.
9/16 and got none of the East region. Can still get 3/4 FF though so yay. Have Gonzaga as national champ.
Its kind of nice to know my bracket is super busted in money pools so I can just sit back and enjoy the madness.
March 20th, 2023 at 10:04 AM ^
I'm in a VERY similar position. Good news is, one of the pools I'm in is my cousin's and he lives in Indiana, so A LOT of people picked Purdue and IU to go far, so that's helping me.
And much like you, my East region is a disaster lol
I didn't check the specifics. All that matters is if you win. In the yahoo national pool, I'm in the top 18%. I'm 3rd in the family pool, which includes all the cocky nephews who are looking up at me, their aunt and my niece.
Suck it, boys (well, me too, because I'm behind 2 people who don't even pay attention to basketball)!
Probably my worst opening weekend in 20 years. Granted, I watched the least amount of College Basketball outside of Michigan this year than I have in 20 years (kids, coaching, and life in general limited casual viewing). I almost always am in the 90th percentile range after the first weekend, but now I sit at 62%. I did pick FDU which is my shining light, but I also had Arizona going on a run so those cancel each other out.
I have Tennessee vs Bama, and Houston vs UCLA with Houston beating Tennessee.
Standing 6th (44pts) out of 145 entries but 1st (164) in Max potential. 10 of sweet 16.
The Zags and MSU hurt me a little yesterday. I faded the Big Ten across the board.
i'm guessing our brackets are pretty close. i did take sparty though (picture of someone being a little nauseous) to go to the elite-8.
Our Michigan team would look quite a bit better with Tyson Walker on it.
Stopped filling out brackets years ago.
FUN FACT: In the NCAA Men's Basketball Sweet Sixteen, there are as many teams from the Ivy League (Princeton) as from the Big Ten (Michigan State), but in the NCAA Men's Hockey Sweet Sixteen*, there are twice as many teams from the Big Ten (Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State and Ohio State) as from the Ivy League (Harvard and Cornell).
* It helps that only 16 teams make the NCAA Hockey Tournament.
I haven’t missed one yet!
I also may have neglected to fill out a bracket, but…undefeated!
10/16 with 3 of my final 4 still intact. This next round will make or break me as I have SDSU beating Bama and making the final 4. If that happens I'll be in most excellent shape compared to the people I'm up against.
I got 8/16, with 6 of the Elite 8 and 3 of the Final Four still in the running.
I still have a shot at winning the pool; my pool manager calculated that I win in 814 out of 32768 possible scenarios.
your pool manager is so much better than i am, please don't tell my pool that people actually figure the odds on stuff like that.
11/16. I fill out 1 bracket, and replicate across platforms if entering multiple places. I hate hedging and having too many conflicting rooting interests, and no time to track such.
All Final Four (Gonzaga over Bama championship; K State and Texas) teams are still in play. In my work bracket pool (large public national firm, nearly 1,000 brackets), I'm currently near 100th, but factoring in max potential points I'm in ~25th. With a $20 buy-in and 70/20/10 split 1st-3rd, there's still hope.
Sparty of course diluting what was otherwise a pretty good bracket weekend, with having Zona and Purdue going out early.
1. Didnt do one. As mentioned in earlier threads, when Michigan's not in it my interest level goes to near zero.
2. Alabama has got to be a HEAVY favorite. Should be interesting though if they get invited to the White House afterwards and the president has to issue pardons to half the team so they can attend.
Side note - I do enjoy chaos so seeing higher seeded teams lose is fun unless it's the team I wanted to win it all (Purdue) losing or the team I wanted to lose in round one (MSU) winning.
<insert sad face emoji>
I only have 8/16 teams correct. At most, I can only get 3 of the elite 8 correct. I still have UCLA winning it all. I’ve been hoping all my teams lose at this point.
I once won an office pool.
I did the women’s pool and if Stanford would have won their last game, I would have had all of the first 8/16 teams correct so far.
I have 8 of 16 still alive and my Final Four (SDSU, Tennessee, Houston and Gonzaga) is still alive. I'm the only one in my group that picked Gonzaga, so from that standpoint, I'm in a great position for at least one more game.
March 20th, 2023 at 10:00 AM ^
Have 14 right for sweet 16 so far and 13 for the other bracket. Zona and Marquette and Purdue screwed me.
March 20th, 2023 at 10:26 AM ^
you have got to be at the absolute top of the hierarchy with 14/16.
I have Xavier and Houston winning it all with Bama making both finals. UCLA and Tenn. are two teams I would have picked against if I knew before I submitted the brackets they both had major players out. So I sorta got lucky by not knowing that in one bracket.
The women's bracket I was doing awesome in until Stanford lost and I went with my heart instead of my brain when I picked Michigan over 29 -2 LSU and they were a 3 seed. Do t think we will ever see a top 5 conference team with that record be a 3 seed in the Men's.
March 20th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
I'm using the ESPN one and felt like I was doing terrible but it says I'm at 94th percentile currently.
It looks like I picked 25 out of 32 in the first round and 9 of 16 in the second round.
I had Kansas winning it so I'm probably capped out on how much I can climb from here.
(just one bracket, I don't do the multiple entries, multiple strategies and then only post the best one thing)
March 20th, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^
My best brackets have 11 or 12 of the Sweet 16.
Major highlights are being T-1st and T-4th with most max points available for pool sizes of 71 and 122, respectively. Also in 1st place for some smaller pools.
Pretty much the only scenario I don’t win $ is if Gonzaga makes a deep run. But the ideal scenario is Tennessee running the table, which would mean I win multiple pools and a couple grand. So go Vols (but also UConn and Houston)!
March 20th, 2023 at 11:45 AM ^
Would be curious to see who you ended up going with for Sweet16 and Elite8 picks. What "value" teams did you ride and which teams/picks made you change up and go against some of your "math"?!