NCAA Bracket Update: No More Perfect Tournament Predictions, But Final Four Faves Still Alive and Well
ByBefore the first round even finished, ESPN reported that all 11 million brackets uploaded to their website had at least one flaw.
With no perfect brackets remaining on ESPN, or anywhere, no one will claim Warren Buffet's billion-dollar prize. How is that a surprise anyway? According to ESPN, the odds were 9.2-quintillion-to-one.
Steven F. Austin's upset over VCU was the nail in the coffin, so to speak. Before that game, three people had a perfect 27 correct picks, but that upset eliminated all three.
That's all folks. 11 million brackets came to ESPN's Tournament Challenge. ZERO will leave perfect. UNREAL.
— Numbers Never Lie (@ESPN_Numbers) March 22, 2014
CLICK HERE to see the mangeled yet up-to-date NCAA Tournament bracket.
Saint Louis was the only five-seed to survive the round of 64. VCU lost to Steven F. Austin, Oklahoma lost to North Dakota State and Cincinnati lost to Harvard. What's more is three-seeded Duke lost to Mercer, a 14-seed. Tennessee (11) topping Massachusetts (6), New Mexico (7) falling to Stanford (10) and Dayton (11) defeating Ohio State (6) rounded out the upsets in the first round of play.
After Thursday's action was over, 18,741 brackets on ESPN were still perfect. After Stanford's and Mercer's wins, that number plummeted to 66. After Tennessee's win, 66 became 16.
With 64 teams in play, the first round of the tournament is always nerve-racking, but the heavily favored Final Four teams are still alive. Louisville and Michigan State, the favorite of many to play for the National Championship survived their first-round matchup, despite how much Rick Pitino hated his.
Also pulling through were all the tournament's one- and two-seeds. With Kansas, Syracuse, Iowa State and Creighton also still alive, many people likely still have a fairly intact Elite Eight.
This year's tournament may be another classic example why it is called March Madness, but we still did not get to see a one-seed lose to a 16-seed in the first round. Virginia came the closest this year, as they went into halftime trailing Coastal Carolina 35-30, only to rally for 40 points in the second half to win.
A number one seed has never lost in the very first round since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Maybe next year some 16-seed will do something amazing, maybe next year someone will fill out a perfect bracket.
