They’re better than last season, but again, they have a very Kansas and Arizona-esque way of bowing out of the tournament early.
Two 4-seeds have lost to 13-seeds, and Auburn was almost the third one to go down. Damn, that was a nail biter!
I used to mistakenly think UMBC stood for UMass-Boston College, as though it were a sister school of the Boston College.
HOLY SHIT!!!
A 16 seed has just beaten a 1 seed for the first time EVER!
WOW.
Perhaps they were NOT better than last season.
Jeebus. Not only did UMBC win, they CRUSHED VA by twenty. Told you they were a tourney soft child, but I certainly didn’t anticipate this, nor did anyone else. Another bracket buster.
I originally had 2/3/4/5 seeds in my Final Four, realized I should have at least one #1 seed in there, so went back and put in Virginia thinking they’d rally after the injury to Hunter and might be a value pick from people shying away from them for that. Oops. Still glad to be around to see a historic upset though.
No 5-12 upsets, pretty rare. Two 13s-over-4s and the 16-over-1 though.
I’m tied for second from the bottom of the SDMB Bracketeers, but at least I didn’t pick Virginia or Arizona as my champion!
Damn…my UK squad looked pretty good in the second half taking down Buffalo. If they make it to the Elite 8, there’s a great chance they get to play Cincinnati! That would be awesome.
Tennessee loses a buzzer-beater to Loyola Chicago. There goes my bracket!
And the higher seeds just keep on falling. North Carolina, Michigan State… Nevada’s comeback win over Cincy! Are you kidding me?
It looks like at this point, less than half of the brackets in the pool have a National Champ pick that’s still alive. :eek:
I don’t think I have ever seen a tournament that’s been so wildly unpredictable.
Since most brackets are for shit now, best commercial of the tourmanemt is down to Turtle-rat or Broken Ankles. Challenges?
My main entry is in the 45th percentile. I think about half the entries are never filled out completely so somehow I have negative points. By far the worst entry I’ve ever had and I’ve been doing these since paper entries in the 1980’s.
How Sweet (16) it is! Go 'Noles!
And a 2nd #1 goes down. Xavier joins UVA on the long plane ride home.
In one of my brackets I have 13 of the 16 teams right so far. But I also had Wichita State in the championship game, sooo…
Man this tournament is blowing my mind. I’ve never seen so much parity.
Once again, here’s way more information than you ever needed to know about our pool.
According to 538, Frosted 1 is the bracket most likely to win at 21%; Jahiegel is the person most likely to win at 29%.
Interesting (to me) trivia:
- 5 of 38 brackets have both of their finalists left.
- One bracket has both Elite 8 teams from the South (aka Virginia, aka upper left) bracket.
- Six brackets have both Elite 8 teams from the West (aka Xavier, aka lower left) bracket.
- Loyola Chicago was picked for the Sweet 16 (4x) as often as Florida State (2x), Texas A&M (1x), Kansas State (1x), and Syracuse (0x) combined.
- Most common wrong picks: Virginia over UMBC (everyone), Wichita State over Marshall (all but one), and Virginia, UNC, and Michigan State to the Sweet 16 (all but two).
Obligatory data dump (use the old forum skin for viewing):
Standings: PPR Points Max
1. Jahiegel 840 440 1280
Jahiegel 2 840 440 1280
Final 520 440 960
4. Fire Steve Alford 800 430 1230
cugel 1 480 430 910
6. Paul Casey 480 420 900
7. Frosted 1 1080 410 1490
8. Kansas All The Way 880 400 1280
Kimble (0) 840 400 1240
10. Kimble (-2) 840 390 1230
basset hound 1 280 390 670
12. Shoeless 480 370 850
Hungry Hungry Haruspex 320 370 690
espn80563733 1 600 370 970
FGIE GO UK3 960 370 1330
16. Squirrel's Stupendiferous Sel. 480 360 840
There Goes My Heart 400 360 760
FGIE GO UK2 320 360 680
Eric70231 1 520 360 880
Lamar Mundane 320 360 680
Alas, still no Tigers :( 960 360 1320
cugel 3 200 360 560
Frosty's FunZs 120 360 480
24. Now, Voyager 600 350 950
FGIE GO UK!! 1080 350 1430
26. ESPNFAN99052289 1 320 340 660
Kimble (2) 160 340 500
InGardWeTrust 560 340 900
29. etv78 1 520 330 850
Happy Lendervedder 1040 330 1370
rckrllh2 1 440 330 770
32. Ponch8 1 320 320 640
33. Frosty's Money Ball 920 310 1230
34. Alas, no Tigers :( 600 300 900
35. HoopsDawg235 2 800 290 1090
How Green Was My Valley 640 290 930
37. Purple Passion 920 280 1200
38. Now 100% Collusion Free 400 270 670
Winning Shares (out of 32768)
-----------------------------
Fire Steve Alford 5098.000 15.558
Frosted 1 3958.000 12.079
Kansas All The Way 3592.800 10.964
Jahiegel 2 2976.467 9.083
FGIE GO UK3 2806.000 8.563
Squirrel's Stupendiferous Sel. 2033.000 6.204
Jahiegel 2030.467 6.196
Alas, still no Tigers :( 1498.000 4.572
Happy Lendervedder 1493.000 4.556
espn80563733 1 1223.000 3.732
Final 974.467 2.974
Frosty's Money Ball 913.000 2.786
FGIE GO UK!! 766.000 2.338
Kimble (2) 608.000 1.855
basset hound 1 468.000 1.428
Paul Casey 448.000 1.367
Shoeless 420.000 1.282
Now, Voyager 418.000 1.276
Kimble (0) 344.000 1.050
Eric70231 1 168.000 0.513
Purple Passion 146.000 0.446
InGardWeTrust 145.000 0.443
Hungry Hungry Haruspex 100.000 0.305
etv78 1 44.000 0.134
Alas, no Tigers :( 44.000 0.134
Lamar Mundane 40.800 0.125
rckrllh2 1 12.000 0.037
Now 100% Collusion Free 0.000 0.000
cugel 1 0.000 0.000
cugel 3 0.000 0.000
Ponch8 1 0.000 0.000
How Green Was My Valley 0.000 0.000
FGIE GO UK2 0.000 0.000
ESPNFAN99052289 1 0.000 0.000
Frosty's FunZs 0.000 0.000
Kimble (-2) 0.000 0.000
HoopsDawg235 2 0.000 0.000
There Goes My Heart 0.000 0.000
FiveThirtyEight Probabilities
-----------------------------
Frosted 1 21.251
Jahiegel 2 17.718
Kansas All The Way 12.861
FGIE GO UK3 11.916
Jahiegel 9.402
Fire Steve Alford 6.263
FGIE GO UK!! 4.366
Happy Lendervedder 2.973
Alas, still no Tigers :( 2.869
Kimble (0) 2.335
Squirrel's Stupendiferous Sel. 1.910
Final 1.793
Frosty's Money Ball 1.216
Paul Casey 0.892
Purple Passion 0.639
espn80563733 1 0.521
Now, Voyager 0.245
Eric70231 1 0.212
InGardWeTrust 0.145
etv78 1 0.113
Hungry Hungry Haruspex 0.095
basset hound 1 0.092
Shoeless 0.058
Alas, no Tigers :( 0.044
Kimble (2) 0.032
Lamar Mundane 0.027
rckrllh2 1 0.011
Frosty's FunZs 0.000
Now 100% Collusion Free 0.000
ESPNFAN99052289 1 0.000
Kimble (-2) 0.000
FGIE GO UK2 0.000
cugel 3 0.000
HoopsDawg235 2 0.000
Ponch8 1 0.000
How Green Was My Valley 0.000
There Goes My Heart 0.000
cugel 1 0.000
FiveThirtyEight Probabilities By Person
---------------------------------------
28.913 Jahiegel
22.467 Frosted
16.282 sgenetti77
12.919 62Shoeless
6.263 magnusblitz
3.552 divemaster1313
2.973 ESPNFAN28919619
2.367 KimbleSD
1.910 Squirrel's Stupendiferous Sel.
0.892 casey1505
0.521 espn80563733
0.245 asianmike
0.212 Thing Fish
0.145 ThatBuckyGuy
0.113 etv78
0.095 Jules Andre
0.092 basset hound
0.027 jcatcher43
0.011 rckrllrh
0 Chadtastic Sheldon
0 cugel
0 HoopsDawg235
0 Ponch8
0 zoog's pix
Outright Winner Chances
-----------------------
Fire Steve Alford 4972 15.173
Frosted 1 3662 11.176
Kansas All The Way 3448 10.522
FGIE GO UK3 2532 7.727
Jahiegel 2 2304 7.031
Squirrel's Stupendiferous Sel. 1792 5.469
Alas, still no Tigers :( 1486 4.535
Happy Lendervedder 1474 4.498
Final, Jahiegel, Jahiegel 2 1316 4.016
espn80563733 1 1080 3.296
Jahiegel 1056 3.223
Frosty's Money Ball 837 2.554
FGIE GO UK!! 766 2.338
Final, Jahiegel 754 2.301
Kimble (2) 608 1.855
Final, Jahiegel, Jahiegel 2, Squirrel's Stupendiferous Sel.
544 1.660
FGIE GO UK3, Frosted 1 476 1.453
basset hound 1 468 1.428
Paul Casey 448 1.367
Now, Voyager 368 1.123
Shoeless 348 1.062
Kimble (0) 312 0.952
Eric70231 1 168 0.513
Jahiegel 2, Squirrel's Stupendiferous Sel. 162 0.494
Fire Steve Alford, Frosty's Money Ball 152 0.464
Shoeless, espn80563733 1 144 0.439
InGardWeTrust 142 0.433
Purple Passion 104 0.317
Fire Steve Alford, Now, Voyager 100 0.305
Hungry Hungry Haruspex 96 0.293
Kansas All The Way, Purple Passion 84 0.256
Kansas All The Way, Lamar Mundane 72 0.220
Frosted 1, espn80563733 1 70 0.214
Kansas All The Way, Kimble (0) 64 0.195
FGIE GO UK3, Frosted 1, espn80563733 1 48 0.146
Kansas All The Way, Squirrel's Stupendiferous Sel. 48 0.146
Alas, no Tigers :( 41 0.125
FGIE GO UK3, espn80563733 1 40 0.122
etv78 1 36 0.110
Alas, still no Tigers :(, Final, Jahiegel, Jahiegel 2 24 0.073
Final, Jahiegel, Jahiegel 2, Kansas All The Way 24 0.073
Happy Lendervedder, rckrllh2 1 24 0.073
Final, Jahiegel, Jahiegel 2, Kansas All The Way, Lamar Mundane
24 0.073
Alas, still no Tigers :(, Final, Jahiegel 18 0.055
Happy Lendervedder, etv78 1 12 0.037
Frosted 1, Hungry Hungry Haruspex 8 0.024
Alas, no Tigers :(, InGardWeTrust 6 0.018
Frosted 1, etv78 1 4 0.012
Frosted 1, Happy Lendervedder 2 0.006
How Green Was My Valley 0 0.000
cugel 1 0 0.000
There Goes My Heart 0 0.000
Lamar Mundane 0 0.000
Ponch8 1 0 0.000
HoopsDawg235 2 0 0.000
cugel 3 0 0.000
FGIE GO UK2 0 0.000
Frosty's FunZs 0 0.000
Now 100% Collusion Free 0 0.000
ESPNFAN99052289 1 0 0.000
Kimble (-2) 0 0.000
Final 0 0.000
rckrllh2 1 0 0.000
Composite predictions (asterisk = correct; hyphen = wrong):
-------- Final 1 ----------
10x 1 -Virginia
5x 1 Villanova
3x 1 Kansas
2 -Cincinnati
2 Duke
2 -North Carolina
4 -Arizona
2x 3 Michigan
1x 1 -Xavier
2 Purdue
3 -Michigan State
3 -Tennessee
5 Kentucky
6 -Florida
-------- Final 2 ----------
15x 1 -Virginia
10x 1 Villanova
9x 1 Kansas
7x 2 Duke
2 -North Carolina
3 -Michigan State
5x 4 -Arizona
4x 2 Purdue
3x 2 -Cincinnati
3 Michigan
2x 3 -Tennessee
5 Kentucky
1x 1 -Xavier
6 -Florida
-------- Final 4 ----------
23x 1 Villanova
17x 2 -North Carolina
16x 1 -Virginia
14x 1 Kansas
11x 3 -Michigan State
10x 2 Duke
2 Purdue
9x 3 Michigan
7x 4 -Arizona
6x 2 -Cincinnati
4 Gonzaga
5x 1 -Xavier
4x 5 Kentucky
3x 4 -Auburn
2x 3 -Tennessee
6 -Florida
1x 3 Texas Tech
4 -Wichita State
5 West Virginia
6 -Houston
6 -Miami (FL)
7 Nevada
10 -Texas
-------- Final 8 ----------
32x 1 Villanova
28x 1 Kansas
24x 1 -Virginia
2 Purdue
22x 4 Gonzaga
21x 2 -North Carolina
20x 3 -Michigan State
17x 2 Duke
16x 2 -Cincinnati
14x 3 Michigan
13x 1 -Xavier
11x 3 -Tennessee
9x 4 -Arizona
7x 4 -Auburn
6x 6 -Florida
5x 3 Texas Tech
5 Kentucky
4x 4 -Wichita State
6 -Miami (FL)
3x 6 -Houston
10 -Butler
10 -Texas
2x 5 Clemson
5 -Ohio State
5 West Virginia
7 Nevada
1x 8 -Missouri
10 -Oklahoma
11 Loyola (IL)
12 -New Mexico State
15 -Georgia State
-------- Final 16 ----------
38x 1 *Villanova
37x 1 *Kansas
36x 1 -Virginia
2 -North Carolina
3 -Michigan State
35x 1 -Xavier
33x 2 *Duke
2 *Purdue
28x 2 -Cincinnati
3 *Michigan
27x 3 -Tennessee
4 *Gonzaga
23x 4 -Auburn
20x 5 *Kentucky
6 -Florida
19x 4 -Wichita State
18x 4 -Arizona
15x 3 *Texas Tech
5 *West Virginia
10x 5 -Ohio State
8x 5 *Clemson
7x 6 -Houston
12 -New Mexico State
6x 6 -Miami (FL)
5x 7 *Nevada
4x 7 -Rhode Island
10 -Butler
10 -Texas
11 *Loyola (IL)
12 -Murray State
3x 11 -San Diego State
2x 6 -Texas Christian
9 *Florida State
14 -Stephen F. Austin
1x 7 -Arkansas
7 *Texas A&M
8 -Creighton
8 -Missouri
8 -Seton Hall
9 *Kansas State
10 -Oklahoma
10 -Providence
11 -St. Bonaventure
12 -South Dakota State
14 -Wright State
15 -Georgia State
-------- Final 32 ----------
38x 1 *Kansas
1 *Villanova
1 -Virginia
1 *Xavier
2 *Duke
37x 2 *Cincinnati
2 *North Carolina
2 *Purdue
3 *Michigan State
4 -Wichita State
36x 3 *Tennessee
4 *Auburn
4 *Gonzaga
34x 3 *Michigan
4 -Arizona
33x 6 *Florida
32x 3 *Texas Tech
5 *Kentucky
31x 6 -Texas Christian
29x 5 *Ohio State
28x 5 *West Virginia
7 *Rhode Island
10 *Butler
27x 6 *Houston
26x 8 -Virginia Tech
25x 8 -Creighton
23x 5 *Clemson
9 *Florida State
21x 6 -Miami (FL)
8 *Seton Hall
20x 7 *Texas A&M
10 -Texas
18x 7 *Nevada
10 -Providence
17x 9 -North Carolina State
11 *Loyola (IL)
15x 8 -Missouri
12 -New Mexico State
13x 9 *Kansas State
12x 9 *Alabama
11x 11 -San Diego State
10x 7 -Arkansas
10 -Oklahoma
12 -Murray State
9x 12 -South Dakota State
7x 11 *Syracuse
6x 12 -Davidson
14 -Stephen F. Austin
5x 11 -St. Bonaventure
4x 13 *Buffalo
14 -Montana
2x 13 -College of Charleston
13 -North Carolina-Greensboro
14 -Wright State
1x 13 *Marshall
14 -Bucknell
15 -Cal State Fullerton
15 -Georgia State
15 -Lipscomb
I am currently #1 in my office pool 25/32 and 10/16 correct picks. Pretty good for someone who does not follow basketball and has watched < 10 min of it this year.
(I was at UW-Platteville at the same time as Bo Ryan but thats it for any basketball connection)
Brian
My bracket (Fire Steve Alford) is sitting pretty for the moment, but missing two of my Final Four (UVa and Mich St) as well as one finalist (UVa) really hurts.
I guess this has kinda morphed into the 2018 NCAA tourney omnibus thread in addition to our brackets, so…
WOW. What an exciting second half of the Nevada/Loyola game. And the Ramblers advance again! I hadn’t looked it up, but the announcers said that Loyola has now won three tournament games by a total of FOUR points! Incredible! Can this last?
I feel like if UK advances that it won’t come down to the wire like that but who knows anymore. Plus UK has to beat K-State first. Many consider this part of the bracket as fortuitous for UK to walk into the Final Four, but the way this thing is going, I am no longer sure about anything.
Texas A&M is getting schooled, though.