Another thrilling game while Arkansas knocks out Kansas after barely having the lead most of the game.
#15 Princeton advances to the Sweet 16 with an upset of seventh-seeded Missouri.
Towards the end of the Princeton-Missouri game, they showed happy fans in the Princeton section of the stands, two of whom were taking cellphone photos of the action on the court. One of them had a Louis Vuitton case for her cellphone.
Classic Ivy League rooter.
Not a single team from last year’s Final Four makes it out of the first weekend (and two of them didn’t even make the field).
#16 Fairleigh Dickinson’s upset over #1 Purdue inspired me to watch the 2018 #16 UMBC upset over #1 Virginia. The game is available on YouTube. I hadn’t seen it before. It was a sloppy first half with low and inept scoring ending in a 21-21 tie. In the second half UMBC slowly yet convincingly pulled ahead to lead it by 13, 16, then 20 points.
It was discussed five years ago here:
After the first weekend, here is the current breakdown of the money shares - remember that each share is counted for each of the next six years:
(Numbers in parentheses indicate how many teams from that conference remain; each can earn up to 2 more shares)
14 (3) - SEC
13 (1) - Big 10
12 (2) - Big 12
9 (3) - Big East
9 (1) - ACC
6 (1) - Pac-12
5 (1) - Mountain West
4 (1) - West Coast
3 (1) - American
3 - NEC
2 (1) - Conference USA
2 (1) - Ivy
2 - Southern
2 - Southland
The other 18 conferences each got 1 share.
Each share will be worth about $285,400 in 2024, and increases each year until it gets to $326,000 in 2029. The money goes to the conferences, which are “supposed to” divide it equally among their schools, but I have heard that some conferences pocket some, if not all, of it (“well, we have to pay for the conference track & field championship somehow…”)
A conference gets a share for each team in the tournament, and a share for each win outside of the final four. First Four wins do count.
In case anyone is wondering what happens to, say, Texas’s and UCLA’s shares in future years: all shares earned in a tournament will remain with the conference the team was in at the time.
Also, the women’s tournament does not generate any shares (at least, not yet); any profits from that tournament (and all other NCAA tournaments, for that matter) are kept by the NCAA. I am not sure what happens with NIT money.
Just for fun, I submitted a bracket for my work group (it cost me another $20) that was an autofill based only on the BPI seed. It’s at 94.3%. Which is better than my bracket that I spent hours working on. That hurts my feelings, a little 
I’m a U of Michigan alumni, but am cheering for Michigan State. They just tied it 82-82 to go to overtime here in the sweet 16.
That was an amazing game. Best in years.
Had great bracket until tonight. FAU and Gonzaga took out TWO of my Final Four teams.
Was it? I thought I’d seen more exciting games in this tournament, even.
Well, yeah it was a pretty good game. Back and forth, overtime.
Gonzaga over UCLA was really good. FDU over Purdue was great this year.
Texas - Xavier tonight at 6:45 pm west coast time. Can’t wait! Texas, I’m good. Xavier, I owe some coworkers some money.
There goes another #1
All four #1 seeds have been eliminated; this will make the Final Four the first since 2011 to have no #1 seeds.
Indeed, from what I can tell, this will be the first time EVER in a 64+ team tourney that no #1 seed has made it to at least the regional final.
Well I’m conflicted. If Texas looses to Miami, I win $80.00 from my office mates. But in another group (my buddies), I have Texas to take it all, but for me to be on top, they have to win the championship. And there’s no money to win. Go Texas!
What is the lowest combined ranking of a set of Final Four teams?
This year we have a:
5th, 9th, 5th, and a 4th ranked team.
No top 3 seeds made it and it got me wondering, what is the lowest ranked set of four teams to make it this far?
The lowest-seeded Final Four came back in 2011 with No. 3 UConn, No. 4 Kentucky, No. 8 Butler and No. 11 VCU. The four schools had an average seed of 6.5, besting the previous record of 5.5 from 2000.
Do not the highest (lowest?) total seeding, but the first time with no 1, 2 or 3 seed.