In the aptly-named "This Bracket is Gonna Suck", I have my Indiana Hoosiers winning their sixth national championship by finally breaking their losing streak against their Big Ten rival Wisconsin Badgers, 70-68 in the championship game.
Louisville and Georgetown round out the Final Four. I have #1 Gonzaga knocked off in the Sweet Sixteen by Wisconsin, and #1 Kansas losing to Georgetown in the Elite Eight.
Major upsets: #12 Oregon defeating #5 Oklahoma State in the Round of 64 and then beating St. Louis to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. I have VCU with a minor upset of Michigan (boy, that's an odd sentence!) in the Round of 32 in the South Region.
#12 California over UNLV in the Round of 64 and #10 Colorado over Illinois, but both of those teams fall in the following round.
By the by, I have absolutely no scientific basis for these predictions whatsoever.
"I'm sorry, I'm not much of a hugger." "Not yet you're not." --Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan, SmackDown 1/18/13
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I DID do some scientific analysis but thinking that much about it will probably just doom me to last place.
Anyway, my breakdown resulted with Florida being #1. I can buy that. They're limping into the NCAA Tournament but nobody thought they'd get past the second round last year or the year before that. They're also something like 19-4 in the last six postseasons.
I have them beating Louisville in the finals (rematch of last year's Elite Eight). The Big Ten round out the Final Four with Ohio State and Indiana.
My biggest upset is Valparaiso over Michigan State in the first round. I actually liked Michigan State as a Final Four team last week but my theory ranked them a lot lower than I thought so we'll see.
My first #1 team out is Gonzaga in the second round against Pittsburgh. I hesitated because Pittsburgh chokes so bad in the NCAA Tournament but really, despite all their hype, Gonzaga is actually a pretty crappy tournament team too.
(edited by Quezzy on 20.3.13 1554) Lance's Response:
I didn't get around to doing a bracket this year. It's probably for the best since after seeing the west get totally shredded apart, capped off by tonight's Gonzaga upset (I actually thought they would make a run to the final against Louisville), I would have ripped out my hair at putting any money/effort into this bit of insanity.
On the plus side, all of this unpredictability is making the tournament really fun to watch as long as you don't have too much invested in it. Otherwise, you're probably best off buying some Pepto-Bismol cause I got the feeling there are more upsets to come.
Well, after only narrowly defeating #16 Southern University in the second round (a six-point win), I for one kinda figured Gonzaga wasn't gonna last much longer.
(By that logic, I'd look for a possible UNC upset of Kansas tomorrow).
But feel free to completely ignore my line of reasoning; I'm so brilliant at picking these things that two of my Final Four teams (Georgetown and Wisconsin) were one-and-done.
"I'm sorry, I'm not much of a hugger." "Not yet you're not." --Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan, SmackDown 1/18/13
Certified RFMC Member-- Ask To See My Credentials!
Co-Winner of Time's Person of the Year Award, 2006
I cannot believe I've managed to stay in first this long. I've lost 25% of my Final Four and Elite 8 (thanks, GTown and Wisky) and got punished by the state of New Mexico. Picking a lot of B10 has paid off so far, hope they can keep up the good work.
"As you may have read in Robert Parker's Wine Newsletter, 'Donaghy Estates tastes like the urine of Satan, after a hefty portion of asparagus.'" Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
The 2013 Yahoo! Sports Second Chance Tourney Pick'em game is here! Create a bracket, pick the winners of the final 15 games of the tournament, and compete against friends.
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Winston Churchill
If you were in the first one, you should get get an email invite. If you weren't or you didn't get the email, this is even easier - only 15 games to pick! - and the sign up info is
"As you may have read in Robert Parker's Wine Newsletter, 'Donaghy Estates tastes like the urine of Satan, after a hefty portion of asparagus.'" Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
In the main bracket competition, Franchize's Perfect Bracket has a narrow lead over all, and has Michigan winning tonight. 2nd biggest loser will pass those picks, and all the rest, to win the contest if Louisville wins tonight.
Over in the 2nd chance brackets, Canadian Bacon Bracketologist leads and will hold onto the lead should Louisville take the title. Only one person picked Michigan in these group, and it's Dok's Dazzling Bracket who wins if the Wolverines win the championship.
Congratulations to Louisville on winning the mens title (and good luck to them doubling up and winning the womens title later on tonight). And congrats to 2nd biggest loser and Canadian Bacon Bracketologist for winning their respective brackets.
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