Starting At My Torn Bracket....

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Nobody can compete with my destroyed bracket. Nobody in the country who were picking the games seriously. Never before has one of my brackets been so ravaged in so many ways.

How, do you ask? Two final four teams gone. Only THREE of my elite eight remain. I only got SIX of the sweet 16.

And it's not like my picks were so outlandish:

Eliminations:
Final Four: Drake, G'Town
Elite Eight: Drake, G'Town, Butler, Vanderbilt, Duke
Sweet 16: Drake, G'Town, Butler, Vanderbilt, Duke, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, USC, Purdue, Pittsburgh

Granted maybe taking Oklahoma and Purdue was stupid, both six seeds over three seeds. But the rest weren't idiotic picks. Drake and Butler were both in the Top 25 and lost in overtime games. G'Town, Duke, Pitt and USC were trendy Final Four picks.

xbawlingx xbawlingx xbawlingx

It's a good thing I also picked the women's bracket on ESPN, where in my best brackets I only got 5 wrong and have all my Sweet 1 alive. Dare to dream! xnodx

[813Jag]

Nobody can compete with my destroyed bracket. Nobody in the country who were picking the games seriously. Never before has one of my brackets been so ravaged in so many ways.

How, do you ask? Two final four teams gone. Only THREE of my elite eight remain. I only got SIX of the sweet 16.

And it's not like my picks were so outlandish:

Eliminations:
Final Four: Drake, G'Town
Elite Eight: Drake, G'Town, Butler, Vanderbilt, Duke
Sweet 16: Drake, G'Town, Butler, Vanderbilt, Duke, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, USC, Purdue, Pittsburgh

Granted maybe taking Oklahoma and Purdue was stupid, both six seeds over three seeds. But the rest weren't idiotic picks. Drake and Butler were both in the Top 25 and lost in overtime games. G'Town, Duke, Pitt and USC were trendy Final Four picks.

xbawlingx xbawlingx xbawlingx

It's a good thing I also picked the women's bracket on ESPN, where in my best brackets I only got 5 wrong and have all my Sweet 1 alive. Dare to dream! xnodx
Drake's a good team, but I never thought they were final four quality. Georgetown was the biggest loss that I see, I had them as a final four team. I thought Notre Dame would beat Washington State but they couldn't force the tempo. Duke was bound to lose at some point, since they have no real inside game. Teams like Oklahoma were too inconsistent.

[brownbear]

I did pick West Virginia over Duke correctly, however:

I picked Pitt and Georgetown in the Final Four
Marquette over Stanford
Drake and Vandy in the Sweet 16

I had UCLA beating Tennessee in the title game, almost lost both of those to have all final four teams eliminated in the first weekend.

At least I'm not as bad as your bracket.

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

Nobody can compete with my destroyed bracket. Nobody in the country who were picking the games seriously. Never before has one of my brackets been so ravaged in so many ways.

How, do you ask? Two final four teams gone. Only THREE of my elite eight remain. I only got SIX of the sweet 16.

And it's not like my picks were so outlandish:

Eliminations:
Final Four: Drake, G'Town
Elite Eight: Drake, G'Town, Butler, Vanderbilt, Duke
Sweet 16: Drake, G'Town, Butler, Vanderbilt, Duke, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, USC, Purdue, Pittsburgh

Granted maybe taking Oklahoma and Purdue was stupid, both six seeds over three seeds. But the rest weren't idiotic picks. Drake and Butler were both in the Top 25 and lost in overtime games. G'Town, Duke, Pitt and USC were trendy Final Four picks.

xbawlingx xbawlingx xbawlingx

It's a good thing I also picked the women's bracket on ESPN, where in my best brackets I only got 5 wrong and have all my Sweet 1 alive. Dare to dream! xnodx


see this is why I wait until April to fill out my bracketxnodx

[UNHWildCats]

i got 4 elite 8 and 1 final 4 left....

[nwFL Griz]

Nobody can compete with my destroyed bracket. Nobody in the country who were picking the games seriously. Never before has one of my brackets been so ravaged in so many ways.

How, do you ask? Two final four teams gone. Only THREE of my elite eight remain. I only got SIX of the sweet 16.

And it's not like my picks were so outlandish:

Eliminations:
Final Four: Drake, G'Town
Elite Eight: Drake, G'Town, Butler, Vanderbilt, Duke
Sweet 16: Drake, G'Town, Butler, Vanderbilt, Duke, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, USC, Purdue, Pittsburgh

Granted maybe taking Oklahoma and Purdue was stupid, both six seeds over three seeds. But the rest weren't idiotic picks. Drake and Butler were both in the Top 25 and lost in overtime games. G'Town, Duke, Pitt and USC were trendy Final Four picks.

xbawlingx xbawlingx xbawlingx

It's a good thing I also picked the women's bracket on ESPN, where in my best brackets I only got 5 wrong and have all my Sweet 1 alive. Dare to dream! xnodx

Actually a couple of your picks were borderline outlandish. They were what I like to refer to as "small college hopeful".

Drake - sweet 16 possible, but final four?
Butler - elite eight? Past Tennessee...no way.

Those were the only two questionable. The rest absolutely were possibilities, for example, I think Vandy has to be the let down of the tourney.

Overall, though, I think this year is a typical tourney year. A couple of regions hold fairly close to form, the other two....not so much.

[NorCalJack]

Drake's a good team, but I never thought they were final four quality. Georgetown was the biggest loss that I see, I had them as a final four team. I thought Notre Dame would beat Washington State but they couldn't force the tempo. Duke was bound to lose at some point, since they have no real inside game. Teams like Oklahoma were too inconsistent.

My boss went to Washington St. and I have seen them play quite a bit. The one thing about WSU is they don't shoot the ball until late in the shot clock. This really slows down the game and frustrates the other team if they are not use to playing this tempo. Every possession is critcal. If you are behind WSU it is tough to make a run on them because they limit the number of possessions you get.

On the flip side, if you can get ahead of them, WSU will not make a run at you either because they can't change their offense into a hurry up offense.

[TheValleyRaider]

Drake, Duke and Vandy seem like the worst picks you had

Like mentioned before, Drake is nice, but Final 4 nice?

Vandy's an interesting choice, but they were also considered a likely team to get knocked out in Round 1 (which promptly happened)

And Duke? Well, there's a paper tiger this year. Their record was deserving of a 2 seed, but I was never convinced of their quality this year. With them, it was only a matter of time. I too had WV taking them out

Of course, I can say all this since it's your bracket that's been wrecked and not mine.... yet? xwhistlex xpeacex xprayx

[Thunderstruck84]

Actually a couple of your picks were borderline outlandish. They were what I like to refer to as "small college hopeful".

Drake - sweet 16 possible, but final four?
Butler - elite eight? Past Tennessee...no way.

Those were the only two questionable. The rest absolutely were possibilities, for example, I think Vandy has to be the let down of the tourney.

Overall, though, I think this year is a typical tourney year. A couple of regions hold fairly close to form, the other two....not so much.
Bulter took them to OT was up by a bucket with a little over 100 seconds left in overtime. Tennessee squeaked by, they could have easily lost. The same was the case for UCLA and Stanford, there were plenty of upsets but if one bounce goes the other direction in any of those games, the brackets would've been even more busted.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I really like Drake mostly due to their outside shooting and defense. I LOVE teams like that and I was also looking at Davidson, but I thought that G'Town would prove to be too much for them.

The sad thing is Drake should have beaten WKU. They didn't play defense in the first half - they seemed tight - roared back and nearly won the game in regulation, led most of the way in OT but fell on a last-second shot.

I think had Drake survived we would have seen what they're capable of. I think anyone can agree had they hung on against WKU they would very likely have been in the Sweet 16, and after that, who knows? I liked their outside shooting against UCLA in that potential matchup...

Anyway, WKU deserved to win, but I think UCLA will kill them.

[Ivytalk]

I have 12 of the Sweet 16, and I haven't lost any of my Final Four yet. But I played the favorites this year, for the most part: I have 3 1-seeds making the Final Four, and one 2-seed (Texas).

[Killtoppers90]

Anyway, WKU deserved to win, but I think UCLA will kill them.

You are probably right there, but I am hoping for a (mid) MAJOR upset anyway. GO TOPPERS!

[UNCBears2010]

I have 12 of my Sweet 16 left (missed Pitt, Marquette, Duke, and Clemson), six of my Elite 8 are still around (Pitt and Clemson), and my Final Four is intact.

My basic philosophy was to avoid picking teams that relied on the three too much. When I didn't listen to myself, I lost. Teams won't shoot their threes well for four, five, or six games in a row in tournament play.

[CoastalFan2005]

I have 3 1-seeds making the Final Four, and one 2-seed (Texas).

We have the same Final Four, then. xthumbsupx

I think I have 9 of my Sweet Sixteen, 6 of my Elite Eight, and all of my Final Four left.