College basketball

[Vrede too]

AP Rankings

1 Duke Blue Devils 29-5
2 Virginia Cavaliers 29-3
3 North Carolina Tar Heels 27-6
4 Gonzaga Bulldogs 30-3
5 Michigan State Spartans 28-6
6 Tennessee Volunteers 29-5
7 Kentucky Wildcats 27-6
8 Michigan Wolverines 28-6
9 Texas Tech Red Raiders 26-6
10 Florida State Seminoles 27-7
11 Houston Cougars 31-3
12 LSU Tigers 26-6
13 Purdue Boilermakers 23-9
14 Auburn Tigers 26-9

19 Wofford Terriers 29-4

(27) Maryland Terrapins 22-10

I could possibly see rooting for 5 of these teams to win it all, in no particular order:
UNC, Gonzaga, Duke, Michigan Hmmm, Houston
I could submit 4 or 5 brackets, we'll see.

Couldn't bring myself to exclude #2 Virginia. So, 5 pick sets at $5 each.

Duke > Gonzaga
North Carolina > Tennessee
Duke > North Carolina (state of NC & ACC, represent!)
(Auburn wins a game, gets beaten by KS)

Michigan > LSU
Virginia > Kentucky
Michigan > Virginia
(Auburn wins a game, gets beaten by KS)

North Carolina > Wisconsin
LSU > Gonzaga
North Carolina > LSU
(Auburn reaches the Sweet 16, gets beaten by UNC)

Virginia > North Carolina
Duke > Michigan
Virginia > Duke (ACC, represent!)
(Auburn gets upset by NMSU in game 1)

Gonzaga > Duke
Houston > Virginia
Gonzaga > Houston (Gonzaga is the only Western team I have in the Final 4 )
(Auburn reaches the Sweet 16, gets beaten by UNC)

I also entered Yahoo!'s free $1M game.

Houston > Wisconsin
Gonzaga > LSU
Houston > Gonzaga
(Auburn wins a game, gets beaten by KS)

We'll see.

[Vrede too]

1st game, 1st upset:

10 Minnesota 86
7 Louisville 76

Probably good for me, I picked Minnesota in 2 of my 5 pool brackets.

14 Yale 74
3 LSU 79

Close. May not bode well for me. I have LSU doing good vs. Mich St.

Charles Barkley bracket:
FSU > Gonzaga, all ACC Final 4. I think they said that 1 conf. has never done that.

Go Vermont! Halftime:
13 Vermont 27
4 Florida State 27
Edit: Nope.

12 New Mexico St. 77
5 Auburn 78
Congrats, you sure dodged an embarrassing bullet.

Halftime:
15 Bradley 35
2 Mich. St. 34
OMG, that would be SO great!
Edit: Nope.

11 Belmont 77
6 Maryland 79
Whew.

13 Northeastern 53
4 Kansas 87
Might be tough for y'all, billy.pilgrim.

I'm 4/7 on Yahoo, in 2,201,297th place out of 3,077,061 players.

12 Murray State 83
5 Marquette 64
Wow. Not sure how much it hurts me relative to others. I had Marquette doing okay vs. FSU, 3-2, only beating the Zags in one set.

10 Florida 70
7 Nevada 61
Not bad for me. I picked Florida in the upset in 2 of my sets plus on Yahoo.

I'm 7/10 on Yahoo, in 1,831,575th place out of 3,077,062 players.

11 St. Mary's (Cal.) 57
6 Villanova 61
Whew, losing that one would have hurt.

10 Seton Hall 68
7 Wofford 84
Go Terriers!

9 Baylor 78
8 Syracuse 69
Ugh, can't lose the 8 vs. 9 games.

I'm 11/16 on Yahoo, in 1,955,978th place out of 3,077,062 players.

[billy.pilgrim]

Strange finish. We had been ahead by 8 or 10 points for the 2nd half and with about a minute left, our Mr. Calm Cool and Consistent star player made 4 rec league mistakes. Came real close to losing.

He's all tore up about letting down the team. Hope he shakes it off before Kansas.

[Vrede too]

Strange finish. We had been ahead by 8 or 10 points for the 2nd half and with about a minute left, our Mr. Calm Cool and Consistent star player made 4 rec league mistakes. Came real close to losing.

He's all tore up about letting down the team. Hope he shakes it off before Kansas.

I picked Auburn to lose this next game vs. Kansas in 3 out of 5 sets, but I might do better in the long run if it wins since it is the underdog. So, go basketball!

I also picked Auburn to lose on Yahoo! where I strangely improved by 200K to 1,750,639th out of 3,077,061 players without a new game yet being played. Oooh, I can almost taste being above average.

[Vrede too]

10 Iowa 79
7 Cincinnati 72
Cool. Gotta win those 7 vs. 10 games.

Out of 82 including "Picks by Seeds", "Snoop Dogg", "President Obama" and "Will Ferrell", I'm in 10th, 22nd, 45th x 2 and 75th places.

Ah, apparently there's a significant Yahoo! ranking delay after a game result is registered.

[billy.pilgrim]

Strange finish. We had been ahead by 8 or 10 points for the 2nd half and with about a minute left, our Mr. Calm Cool and Consistent star player made 4 rec league mistakes. Came real close to losing.

He's all tore up about letting down the team. Hope he shakes it off before Kansas.

I picked Auburn to lose this next game vs. Kansas in 3 out of 5 sets, but I might do better in the long run if it wins since it is the underdog. So, go basketball!

I also picked Auburn to lose on Yahoo! where I strangely improved by 200K to 1,750,639th out of 3,077,061 players without a new game yet being played. Oooh, I can almost taste being above average.

I heard that Obama picked New Mexico. Told ya he is a dumbass.

[Vrede too]

I heard that Obama picked New Mexico.

He did.

Told ya he is a dumbass.

By ONE point. I picked NMSU in one bracket because some pundits said it was a sleeper, they were thaaat close.

That said, he's in our 64th place, tied with "Snoop Dogg". He's had losses but no other crazy picks.

He says:

Duke > Michigan
North Carolina > Tennessee
Duke > North Carolina

Damn close to one of my brackets, the genius.

Edit:
13 UC Irvine 70
4 Kansas St. 64
Wow. I picked UC Irvine in one of my brackets, as did "dumbass" Obama. He's up to 53rd.

More importantly, I otherwise did not pick Kansas St to do too well. 2 people had it in the Final 4, and 1 other picked it as champ.

Half:
16 Gardner-Webb 36
1 Virginia 30
That would fuck me up, but not necessarily more than everyone else.

10:52 2ND HALF:
15 Colgate 52
2 Tennessee 50
That would mostly be good for me.

[Vrede too]

Half:
16 Gardner-Webb 36
1 Virginia 30
That would fuck me up, but not necessarily more than everyone else.
Nah, Virginia won.

10:52 2ND HALF:
15 Colgate 52
2 Tennessee 50
That would mostly be good for me.
Nah, Tennessee won.

12 Oregon 72
5 Wisconsin 54
That really hurts my NC & Yahoo! brackets, but I did pick Oregon to win this game in a couple of brackets.
Obama picked Oregon, he's up to 39th.
12 Oregon vs. 13 UC Irvine on Sunday. I picked Oregon to win in one bracket.

5 of us had Wisconsin in the Final 4, with one player picking Marquette to beat Wisconsin in the Final.

I'm in 9th x 2, 2 points out of the lead, 39th, 55th and 80th.

I'm 16/23 on Yahoo!, 1,762,210th out of 3,077,062 members.

9 Washington 78
8 Utah State 61
Nice. I had lost faith in Washington, only picked it in 2 brackets and on Yahoo!

2 Liberty 80
5 Mississippi St. 76
That's fucked up, hurts me x 3 in the next game, but not beyond that.

Half:
16 Gardner-Webb 36
1 Virginia 30
That would fuck me up, but not necessarily more than everyone else.
Nah, Virginia won.

16 Iona vs. 1 North Carolina - 1st time ever that two #16s have led at the half, but North Carolina is now up by 17.

19/28 on Yahoo!, 1,544,543rd out of 3,077,061 members. I'm average!

11 Ohio St. 62
6 Iowa State 59
Crap, I went all in on Iowa State.

9 UCF 73
8 VCU 58
Darn, I went 3-2 for VCU.

I'm in 28th, 44th x 2 - tied with Obama, 59th and 78th.
Oddly, "Picks by Seeds" is in 71st. There have been that many upsets, and those doing well chose the right ones.

22/32 on Yahoo!, 1,399,178th out of 3,077,061 members. I'm above average!

In our pool, picks for champ:

Duke 35, including me
UNC 15, including me
Gonzaga 6, including me
VA 6, including me
#1 seeds rule.

Mich 4, including me
Mich St 4
TN 3
KY 2
Not much respect for #2 seeds, especially ones not from the state of Michigan.

Villanova 2
KS 1
LSU 1
Marquette 1, already lost
KS St 1, already lost

We're tracking perfect brackets in the 2019 NCAA tournament

After the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament — through 32 of the 63 games of the tournament — there are 16 perfect brackets remaining across all major online bracket games.

For reference, the longest we've ever seen is 39 games in a row, which happened in 2017.

This is the fourth year that we're tracking tens of millions of brackets from the largest online bracket games across the country, including our Bracket Challenge Game, ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, Fox, and Sports Illustrated to see when the last perfect bracket busts. Or, you know, if someone gets the first-ever verifiable perfect bracket. But we're counting on the former....

We started the 2019 tournament with tens of millions of brackets. After the first day of the tournament, Friday began with approximately 60,000 perfect brackets. And after two days and 32 games, we're down to just 16 perfect brackets across all major bracket games. There are eight more games tomorrow, and a chance for some of those 16 brackets to set the record with 40 straight correct picks. We'll keep you posted on the progress of all of them right here....

I made one big mistake when filling out my brackets, I forgot to check a gambling site. They're often more accurate than pundits or rankings.

On Sat. I want, mostly but not entirely for bracket reasons:

6 Maryland > 3 LSU
I'm okay if LSU wins.

7 Wofford > 2 Kentucky
Go Terriers!, but I'm okay if Kentucky wins.

2 Michigan > 10 Florida

12 Murray State > 4 Florida State
I'm okay if, ugh, Florida State wins.

1 Gonzaga > 9 Baylor

10 Minnesota > 2 Mich St
I'm okay if, ugh, Mich St wins.

6 Villanova > 3 Purdue
I'm okay if Purdue wins.

5 Auburn > 4 Kansas
On behalf of billy.pilgrim, pool-wise I don't care.

[Vrede too]

Oddly, "Picks by Seeds" is in 71st. There have been that many upsets, and those doing well chose the right ones.

Email from my brother:

What a great first round! No overtime games yet, but we have already had a healthy dose of 12 upsets (13 if you count that #4 Kansas St. already "lost" in the next round) and a slew of games that went down to the wire! Twelve upsets means the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee got more than one-third of the games played wrong. Three of the four teams seeded #5 got knocked out, and not one of the #8 seeds is still in the tournament.

6 Maryland 67
3 LSU 69

Crap, brilliant 2nd half comeback, came up short on the last shots. My 2 best brackets actually moved up in the ranking, as did one of my other brackets, and I improved on Yahoo!. Go LSU > Mich St or MN in 3 out of 5 brackets plus Yahoo!

7 Wofford 56
2 Kentucky 62
Darn. My best bracket dropped back.
One of us picked Wofford to lose in the final.
Kentucky is vulnerable, cool. Goodbye Terriers!

23/34 on Yahoo! 1,803,286th out of 3,077,061 members, below average again, .

Several favorites winning. I'm falling in the pool and staying fairly static on Yahoo!, just better than average.

On Sun. I want, mostly but not entirely for bracket reasons:

2 Tennessee > 10 Iowa
For the pool, but it would be pretty cool for Iowa to win.

1 North Carolina > 9 Washington
4% picked Washington, 95% North Carolina. I'm all in with North Carolina, but it would be pretty cool for Washington to win.

1 Duke > 9 UCF
100% of us picked Duke and I'm all in on it.

6 Buffalo > 3 Texas Tech
This is my biggest game of the day pool-wise.

4 Virginia Tech > 12 Liberty
Because it's Liberty, and 0% of us picked it. I may actually do better if Liberty wins, though, since I picked another team in 3 brackets plus Yahoo!.

1 Virginia > 9 Oklahoma
1% picked Oklahoma and 94% Virginia, and I'm all in on Virginia.

3 Houston > 11 Ohio St

12 Oregon > 13 UC Irvine
But I only picked Oregon in one bracket.

[billy.pilgrim]

34 - 15 is a pretty good start

[Vrede too]

34 - 15 is a pretty good start

They're on fire! On pace for a 100 point game.
Edit: Hah, posted that with 7:30 left in the first.
HALF:
5 Auburn 51
4 Kansas 25
If their defense stays as stifling, they don't have to score another point.


I may be dead already:
34th, tied with “Picks by Seeds” and Snoop Dogg;
51st, tied with “dumbass” President Obama;
65th, 73rd x 2.
Will Ferrell is worst, 82nd, but he put Montana and Northeastern into the Final 4, long with still alive Iowa (2nd) and Duke (champ).

Edit:
Auburn helped me some at the top end:
25th;
38th, tied with “Picks by Seeds” and Snoop Dogg;
President Obama is in 60th;
67th;
75th x 2.
5 players had KS or Nova in the Final 2.

I'm 27/40 on Yahoo!, in 1,777,429th place out of 3,077,061 members. I'm 5-5 on Sweet 16 teams, but have only lost one Elite 8 and final 4 team so far, WI.

[Vrede too]

Not sure what Vegas was saying, but 5 Auburn > 4 Kansas was the only upset on Sat. after so many Round 1 upsets. I know that it doesn't necessarily work out this way, but NMSU was 2 points away from theoretically being the team to humiliate Kansas and advance to the Sweet 16 as a #12 seed.

[billy.pilgrim]

Not sure what Vegas was saying, but 5 Auburn > 4 Kansas was the only upset on Sat. after so many Round 1 upsets. I know that it doesn't necessarily work out this way, but NMSU was 2 points away from theoretically being the team to humiliate Kansas and advance to the Sweet 16 as a #12 seed.

It's obvious that you didn't watch NMSU.


How do you think Zion will do against Fall?

[Vrede too]

It's obvious that you didn't watch NMSU.

It wasn't a 1 point game?

How do you think Zion will do against Fall?

I suspect just fine. Vegas says Duke -13.5, the largest margin in a day that includes UNC, VA, TN and Houston.

I haven't watched UCF much, and Fall sure is huge, but his stats aren't that great and Zion is even out-rebounding him.

You can pretty safely start dancing on UCF's grave.

Iowa's coming back! Down 19 to TN at the half, down 3 with 7:23 left to go.

[billy.pilgrim]

It's obvious that you didn't watch NMSU.

It wasn't a 1 point game?

How do you think Zion will do against Fall?

I suspect just fine. Vegas says Duke -13.5, the largest margin in a day that includes UNC, VA, TN and Houston.

I haven't watched UCF much, and Fall sure is huge, but his stats aren't that great and Zion is even out-rebounding him.

You can pretty safely start dancing on UCF's grave.

Iowa's coming back! Down 19 to TN at the half, down 3 with 7:23 left to go.

Grant Williams is an asshole.


When evaluating a game don't you consider each teams game performance compared their overall season performance.

Is UNC that much better than Duke? They won more head to head games.


To me, our best player making 4 rec league mistakes in the last two minutes, says more about Harper screwing up than it does about NMSU making it close.

[Vrede too]

Grant Williams is an asshole.

Holy crap, OT.

When evaluating a game don't you consider each teams game performance compared their overall season performance.

Is UNC that much better than Duke? They won more head to head games.

To me, our best player making 4 rec league mistakes in the last two minutes, says more about Harper screwing up than it does about NMSU making it close.

... theoretically ...

[billy.pilgrim]

Grant Williams is an asshole.

Holy crap, OT.

When evaluating a game don't you consider each teams game performance compared their overall season performance.

Is UNC that much better than Duke? They won more head to head games.

To me, our best player making 4 rec league mistakes in the last two minutes, says more about Harper screwing up than it does about NMSU making it close.

... theoretically ...

OT is just more time for no-calls against Williams.

[billy.pilgrim]

Iowa's coach blew their chance. Why didn't he call time out when they got the rebound with 2 seconds left in regulation?

[Vrede too]

Iowa's coach blew their chance. Why didn't he call time out when they got the rebound with 2 seconds left in regulation?

Idk for sure, but I think they were trying. Still, usually not going to score with that little time.

I shared your line about Williams with a pool admin and Iowa alum friend. He took the high road and ignored it:

Woulda been nice to get to 16. Fun to watch for sure

Turns out the same guy was traveling and lost track of 18! bracket submissions on his tiny phone. I suck even worse.

[billy.pilgrim]

Iowa's coach blew their chance. Why didn't he call time out when they got the rebound with 2 seconds left in regulation?

Idk for sure, but I think they were trying. Still, usually not going to score with that little time.

I shared your line about Williams with a pool admin and Iowa alum friend. He took the high road and ignored it:

Woulda been nice to get to 16. Fun to watch for sure

Turns out the same guy was traveling and lost track of 18! bracket submissions on his tiny phone. I suck even worse.

He might not have taken the high road if he had been watching him all season. Just way too many no-calls, or maybe it's more his indignation when he is called for a foul.