# SDMB 2016 NCAA Tournament Pool **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 13, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859 "2016-03-13T14:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/21 "2016-03-18T05:03:53Z")
On Thursday, two number 12 seeds knocked off two number 5 seeds and two number 11 seeds knocked off two number 6 seeds. Can’t wait for Friday … ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/22 "2016-03-18T07:44:14Z")
Watched Charlie Rose tonight (3/17/16) and Rose interviewed John Feinstein, who talked about the coaches he covered [in his new book](http://www.amazon.com/The-Legends-Club-Krzyzewski-Basketball/dp/038553941X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8). Wow! If you’re into college basketball, try not to miss this interview. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/23 "2016-03-18T10:47:10Z")
Go Hoosiers! Beat Kentucky! (A guy can dream.) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/24 "2016-03-18T11:56:27Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > On Thursday, two number 12 seeds knocked off two number 5 seeds and two number 11 seeds knocked off two number 6 seeds. > > Can’t wait for Friday … I picked one each of those (#12 Ark-L.R. and #11 Gonzaga) but I guess I should have picked more. I did pick Wichita State initially but then changed it before submitting my bracket. ☹ Hey, did anyone else notice they’ve gone back to calling the round of 64 the First Round? Seems like for a few years after expanding the play-in games to the First Four, they were calling the round of 64 the Second Round and confusing everybody. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/25 "2016-03-18T13:58:55Z")
Well, that was probably my worst first day ever, but at least I’m not in last place here. (I’m the In Gard We Trust bracket). ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/26 "2016-03-18T14:18:43Z")
From day 1… The Good: I picked **AR-Little Rock** to beat Purdue in all my brackets The Bad: I picked \*\*Iona \*\*to beat Iowa State in all my brackets (and to make the Sweet 16 in 2) The Ugly: FU **Arizona**! FU **Seton Hall**! Sweet 16 my ass! ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/27 "2016-03-18T15:43:51Z")
Aw crap, I missed this thread. Not seeing another thread regarding the tournament, which is kind of sad. I’m in first place in my work pool after day 1, but probably not for long as I have Arizona and Purdue both in the Elite 8. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/28 "2016-03-18T17:34:23Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Go Hoosiers! Beat Kentucky! Nothing to add. It just bears repeating. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/29 "2016-03-18T20:59:03Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I gotta quit picking Baylor to go deep in my brackets. They look tough during conference play then fold when they get to the tournament. Ditto Michigan State. There goes my bracket! ---
**Author:** ![TheInimitableMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TheInimitableMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInimitableMaven)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/30 "2016-03-18T21:22:14Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Ditto Michigan State. There goes my bracket! All three of mine are down the toidy as well…had Michigan State in the Final Four in all three AND going onto Monday night in two. But I’m actually not complaining…MSU was my ex’s favorite, so the sooner they were out, the better from that standpoint. BUT, I am sorry for all of the good MSU fans…I really, honestly thought they had potential for a great run. As well as Seton Hall and Baylor too… ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/31 "2016-03-18T22:39:58Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Ditto Michigan State. There goes my bracket! That was one of the best college basketball games I’ve ever watched. Middle Tennessee just took it to them. One of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country nailed something like nine in a row at the end. They played wonderfully, and Michigan State didn’t play bad–they just got beat. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/32 "2016-03-19T00:31:35Z")
[Last year](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18235063&postcount=50), I entered this pool and typed everyone’s picks into a spreadsheet, which I eventually turned into stats and probabilities about the pool. This year, I was too depressed by Vanderbilt’s play in the play-in game against Wichita State to make my own picks. ☹ However, since Arizona looked even worse against WSU (going by 538’s in-game win percentages, anyway), I’ve cheered up enough to figure out how to scrape the data from ESPN’s webpages. Yay, me! 🙂 Here’s what everyone picked, with results updated through the first 24 games. An asterisk in front of a team’s name means the team’s advanced that far; a hyphen means the team’s been eliminated: ```auto -------- Final 1 ---------- 10x 1 Kansas 1 UNC 5x 2 -Michigan State 4x 1 Oregon 3x 2 Oklahoma 2x 2 Villanova 5 Indiana 1x 1 UVA 3 Texas A&M 4 Duke 4 Kentucky 5 -Baylor 6 -Arizona -------- Final 2 ---------- 20x 1 Kansas 15x 1 UNC 11x 2 -Michigan State 8x 1 UVA 6x 2 Oklahoma 5x 1 Oregon 3 Texas A&M 3x 4 Kentucky 5 Indiana 2x 2 Villanova 4 Duke 1x 2 Xavier 3 West Virginia 5 -Baylor 6 -Arizona -------- Final 4 ---------- 32x 1 Kansas 23x 1 UNC 19x 2 -Michigan State 16x 2 Oklahoma 15x 1 UVA 11x 1 Oregon 8x 3 Texas A&M 5x 2 Villanova 3 West Virginia 4 Duke 4 Kentucky 5 Indiana 4x 3 Utah 3x 2 Xavier 2x 5 Maryland 5 -Purdue 1x 3 Miami 4 -Cal 4 Iowa State 5 -Baylor 6 -Arizona 6 Texas 7 Wisconsin 10 Syracuse -------- Final 8 ---------- 36x 1 Kansas 33x 1 UVA 28x 2 -Michigan State 2 Oklahoma 27x 1 UNC 25x 2 Villanova 24x 1 Oregon 19x 3 West Virginia 15x 2 Xavier 11x 3 Texas A&M 10x 4 Duke 9x 3 Utah 8x 4 Kentucky 7x 5 Indiana 6 -Arizona 6x 3 Miami 5 -Baylor 5x 5 -Purdue 4x 5 Maryland 7 Wisconsin 3x 4 Iowa State 2x 4 -Cal 6 Notre Dame 6 Texas 7 -Dayton 7 Iowa 11 Wichita St. 1x 6 -Seton Hall 7 -Oregon State 9 Butler 9 Cincinnati 10 Pitt 10 Syracuse 11 Gonzaga 11 Michigan 12 Yale -------- Final 16 ---------- 41x 1 UNC 40x 1 UVA 2 Oklahoma 38x 1 Kansas 37x 1 Oregon 36x 2 Villanova 34x 2 -Michigan State 32x 3 Texas A&M 29x 2 Xavier 3 West Virginia 25x 5 Maryland 23x 3 Utah 22x 4 Duke 4 Kentucky 20x 4 Iowa State 19x 5 Indiana 5 -Purdue 6 -Arizona 18x 3 Miami 5 -Baylor 12x 4 -Cal 6 -Seton Hall 9x 6 Texas 7 Wisconsin 7x 6 Notre Dame 11 Gonzaga 5x 7 Iowa 10 Syracuse 11 Wichita St. 4x 10 Pitt 11 Michigan 12 -South Dakota St 3x 7 -Dayton 8 -Colorado 9 Cincinnati 2x 8 Saint Joe's 12 Yale 13 -Iona 14 SF Austin 1x 7 -Oregon State 8 -Texas Tech 8 -USC 9 Butler 9 UConn 10 VCU 12 AR-Little Rock 13 Hawaii 13 -Stony Brook 14 Green Bay 15 -UNC Asheville -------- Final 32 ---------- 42x 1 *Kansas 1 Oregon 1 *UNC 2 *Oklahoma 41x 1 *UVA 2 *Villanova 2 Xavier 3 *Miami 4 *Duke 40x 2 -Michigan State 4 *Kentucky 39x 3 Texas A&M 3 *Utah 36x 3 West Virginia 35x 4 -Cal 4 *Iowa State 5 *Indiana 34x 5 -Baylor 5 *Maryland 5 -Purdue 33x 6 -Arizona 28x 7 Wisconsin 9 *UConn 27x 6 Notre Dame 6 Texas 9 *Butler 9 *Providence 10 *VCU 26x 7 *Iowa 25x 7 -Dayton 23x 6 -Seton Hall 8 Saint Joe's 19x 9 Cincinnati 11 *Gonzaga 17x 10 *Syracuse 16x 10 -Temple 15x 7 -Oregon State 8 -Texas Tech 8 -USC 11 Michigan 11 Northern Iowa 14x 8 -Colorado 10 Pitt 9x 11 *Wichita St. 8x 12 *AR-Little Rock 12 -South Dakota St 12 *Yale 7x 12 -Chattanooga 13 *Hawaii 13 -Iona 6x 14 SF Austin 3x 14 -Fresno State 14 Green Bay 2x 13 -Stony Brook 15 *Mid Tennessee 1x 13 -UNC Wilmington 14 -Buffalo 15 -UNC Asheville 15 Weber State 16 -Hampton ``` Unfortunately, my computer can’t calculate all of the hundreds of billions of possible results left right now. I’ll see if it can handle predictions after Saturday night’s games (~8 million possible results); if not, I’ll spam some reports at you guys sometime Monday. Time to watch the affront to basketball that is Wisconsin. Go Pitt! ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/33 "2016-03-19T01:05:47Z")
Yesterday went 15-1 on one of my Yahoo Sports brackets. Through 8 games today, I have slipped to 18-6. Hope the evening provides some better results. ---
**Author:** ![TheInimitableMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TheInimitableMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInimitableMaven)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/34 "2016-03-19T02:15:04Z")
And bang went West Virginia…had them in at least my Elite Eight in all three brackets. Today has to be on up there for the most insane First Round Friday in sometime, if not ever. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/35 "2016-03-19T04:50:41Z")
Given how well the seed selection process results have gone the last two days, [especially this slaughter on Friday](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/michigan-state-and-the-biggest-ncaa-tournament-upsets-ever/),[with Obama even looking like an ace bookie](https://www.staradvertiser.com/sports/sports-breaking/obamas-homer-pick-has-hawaii-upsetting-cal-in-ncaa-first-round/),[not to metion this shot from Mars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CfBk5r90uw), maybe the ten-member basketball selection committee can start using the more progressive processes of seed selection by employing either a dart board or hand grenades. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/36 "2016-03-19T06:35:49Z")
Five people on the Dope have my Hoosiers winning the national championship? Bless your hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/37 "2016-03-19T07:03:53Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > That was one of the best college basketball games I’ve ever watched. Middle Tennessee just took it to them. One of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country nailed something like nine in a row at the end. They played wonderfully, and Michigan State didn’t play bad–they just got beat. Frank I wasn’t able to watch the game. After reading your post I have the following question. Do you, or anyone else reading this post, know how I can watch the entire game now that it has been played? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/38 "2016-03-19T13:55:29Z")
[This, too](http://thebiglead.com/2016/03/19/cincinnati-loses-to-st-josephs-when-game-tying-dunk-came-after-buzzer/), was heartbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/39 "2016-03-19T14:46:18Z")
Heartbreaking? How about[losing on a half](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdFB3OGUaGU)court shot at the buzzer. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859/40 "2016-03-19T17:22:11Z")
Latest Line from Vegas. Number 11 seed Wichita State, favored by 2 1/2 points over Number 3 seed, Miami. You gotta be shit’in me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-2016-ncaa-tournament-pool/748859.md?page=3)