First: Congratulations to Zack for winning the BTT bracket contest. Zack was one of two entrants to correctly name Purdue as the champion (Chris was the other). Send me your mailing address and I’ll mail you your DVD, Sir. Also, thanks to SpartanDan for serving as official score keeper.
I have one more DVD to give out, so we’ll do an NCAA Tournament contest, too. Like last year, though, we’ll mix things up. Any schmuck can fill out a bracket by picking the higher seed in almost every game. This blog’s readers deserve a more intellectually-demanding competition.
Here are the rules:
- Each entrant picks a list of 16 teams from the 65-team NCAA bracket.
- For each game a team on your list wins, you receive points equal to the team’s seed. Example: If you pick an 8 seed and they win 2 games before losing in the third round, you get 16 points. This creates an incentive to look for lower-seeded teams likely to pull upsets.
- There are bonuses of (a) 1 point for making the Final Four, (b) 3 points for making the championship game, and (c) 5 points for winning the national championship. So picking a 1 seed who wins the national championship would be worth 15 points (6 points for their 6 wins plus 9 points for the three bonuses). This keeps the top seeds in play as potential picks. [Note: Bonus amounts are tweaked from last year.]
Entries must be posted in the comments section of this blog post by noon on Thursday. Just list your 16 teams in any order. The tie-breaker is the number of possessions in the championship game (as determined by StatSheet).
Here’s the official bracket. Get those mental gears turning.
Again, having won a DVD already, this entry is purely for fun:
14 seed North Dakota State
11 seed Utah State
12 seed Wisconsin
10 seed Maryland
10 seed Southern Cal
10 seed Michigan
8 seed Ohio State
12 seed Arizona
5 seed Purdue
3 seed Mizzou
2 seed MSU
1 seed UNC
3 seed Villanova
8 seed Oklahoma St.
13 seed Cleveland St.
1 seed Pittsburgh
There, think that looks right.
Some tough decisions for me. Unlike last year, I’m not going to wimp out on the upset specials I had in my normal bracket; at the same time, toward the lower end I’m fudging a few of the picks off a strict “who gets more points if my bracket is perfect” looking toward which teams I’m feeling most confident in (taking an 8 or 9 I feel strongly about over a 10 that I’m ambivalent toward, for instance).
Sorted by region and seed:
1) Michigan State (M2)
2) West Virginia (M6)
3) Cleveland State (M13)
4) North Dakota State (M14)
5) Missouri (W3)
6) Purdue (W5)
7) Utah State (W11)
8 ) UCLA (E6)
9) Texas (E7)
10) Oklahoma State (E8)
11) Wisconsin (E12)
12) North Carolina (S1)
13) Illinois (S5)
14) Arizona State (S6)
15) Butler (S9)
16) Michigan (S10)
Tiebreaker: 72 possessions
I’ve double-loaded three pods, so I can’t have more than 13 of the Sweet 16, but I just don’t have any high scorers coming out of the other three, and the toss-up games in those pods don’t give me a strong feeling one way or the other. (Then again, given my toss-up record, for the last couple spots I was half tempted to pick an 8 and 9 who were playing each other instead of going for two different toss-up winners; I’d at least be sure to get one of them that way.)
kj, I’ve got the spreadsheet from last year and can tweak it for the updated bonuses. All that’s left after that is to enter people’s picks as they come in.
1 seed Pittsburgh
3 seed Villanova
6 seed West Virginia
1 seed North Carolina
8 seed Ohio State
5 seed Purdue
12 seed Western Kentucky
11 seed Utah State
10 seed Maryland
10 seed Michigan
2 seed Memphis
6 seed Arizona State
4 seed Xavier
1 seed Louisville
2 seed Duke
2 seed Michigan State
Tiebreak-68 possessions
1-MSU
2-Minn
3-Purdue
4-Ill
5-WVU
6-Wisc
7-Utah St.
8-Utah
9-ASU
10-Nova
11-Okla
12-VCU
13-Xavier
14-WF
15-Mizzu
16-Clemson
Dan, per usual, you’re the man. Thanks.
Wake Forest
Temple
Purdue
Mississippi St.
Villanova
Arizona
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Utah St.
Virginia Commonwealth
North Carolina
Southern California
Maryland
Minnesota
Michigan
Ohio St.
Tiebreaker: 75 possessions
Michigan State (2)
North Carolina (1)
Wake Forest (4)
Siena (9)
Arizona State (6)
Pittsburgh (1)
Gonzaga (4)
Xavier (4)
Wisconsin (12)
N. Dakota St. (14)
Memphis (2)
Purdue (5)
West Virginia (6)
Clemson (7)
Butler (9)
Villanova (3)
Pittsburgh (1)
Purdue (5)
North Carolina (1)
Wake Forest (4)
Maryland (10)
Ohio State (8)
Clemson (7)
Arizona (12)
Utah State (11)
Arizona State (6)
USC (10)
LSU (8)
Villanova (3)
Texas (7)
BYU (8)
Florida State (5)
Tie-breaker = 74
Michigan State (2)
USC (10)
West Virginia (6)
Purdue (5)
Washington (4)
Utah State (11)
Memphis (2)
Wisconsin (12)
Xavier (4)
VCU (11)
Villanova (3)
Texas (7)
Duke (2)
North Carolina (1)
Western Kentucky (12)
Clemson (7)
Tie breaker: 71 possesions
West Virginia (6)
Arizona (12)
Purdue (5)
Missouri (3)
Memphis (2)
Wisconsin (12)
Villanova (3)
Michigan (10)
Western Kentucky (12)
Minnesota (10)
Utah State (11)
Maryland (10)
Gonzaga (4)
Clemson (7)
Ohio State (8)
VCU (11)
Tie Breaker 74 possesions
1. Pittsburgh
2. Nova
3. Syracuse
4. VCU
5. Butler
6. Wisconsin
7. WKU
8. Mich State
9. Louisville
10. UNC
11. UConn
12. Memphis
13. Wake
14. Utah State
15. Purdue
16. Kansas
wah, and hoo. Go Green!
MSU (mandatory)
Michigan
Marquette
Wake Forest
Western Kentucky
Gonzaga
Purdue
Villanova
Wisconsin
Arizona
Oklahoma
Maryland
Connecticut
Memphis
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
Almost half of the entries so far don’t have the tiebreaker (number of possessions in the final).
MSU
Louisville
Connecticut
Memphis
Kansas
Wake Forest
Northern Iowa
Missouri
Pittsburgh
Xavier
UCLA
Duke
UNC
Illinois
Arizona State
Oklahoma
tie breaker 73 possessions
thanks to KJ and Spartan Dan for some extra fun
Damn, re-entry with tie-breaker included.
MSU (mandatory)
Michigan
Marquette
Wake Forest
Western Kentucky
Gonzaga
Purdue
Villanova
Wisconsin
Arizona
Oklahoma
Maryland
Connecticut
Memphis
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
tie-breaker 72 possessions
The official 16 picks of the Spartans Weblog:
Louisville (1)
Kansas (3)
USC (10)
BYU (8)
Purdue (5)
Utah St (11)
Missouri (3)
Wisconsin (12)
UCLA (6)
Texas (7)
North Carolina (1)
Butler (9)
Gonzaga (4)
Arizona St. (6)
Stephen F. Austin (14)
Clemson (7)
Tie-breaker: 76 possessions
Here we go…
MSU
Purdue
Wisconsin
Memphis
West Virginia
UCLA
Arizona State
UNC
Utah State
Xavier
Wake Forest
Missouri
Texas
Gonzaga
Clemson
BYU
Tiebreaker: 68 possessions
2 seed: MSU
6 seed: West Virginia
8 seed: Ohio State
10 seed: Southern California
1 seed: UConn
2 seed: Memphis
4 seed: Washington
11 seed: Utah State
1 seed: Pittsburgh
6 seed: UCLA
7 seed: Texas
13 seed: Portland St.
1 seed: North Carolina
4 seed: Gonzaga
6 seed: Arizona State
7 seed: Clemson
Tiebreaker: 74 possessions
Louisville
Wake Forest
West Virginia
MSU
Connecticut
Washington
Missouri
Memphis
Pittsburgh
Xavier
UCLA
Duke
North Carolina
Illinois
Syracuse
Oklahoma
Tiebreaker: 71 possessions
Enjoy the tourney, everyone!
[...] There’s still time left to enter our unconventional bracket contest. Get your picks in before the first game tips [...]
1. North Carolina
2. Memphis
2. MSU
3. Villanova
3. Missouri
4. Gonzaga
6. West Virginia
6. UCLA
6. Arizona State
8. BYU
10. Michigan
10. USC
11. Utah State
12. Wisconsin
13. Mississippi State
14. North Dakota State
69 possessions
1) Michigan State (2)
2) West Virginia (6)
3) Wisconsin (12)
4) Western Kentucky (12)
5) Minnesota (10)
6) Michigan (10)
7) Ohio State (8)
8) Purdue (5)
9) Utah State (11)
10) Duke (2)
11) LSU (8)
12) Gonzaga (4)
13) California (7)
14) USC (10)
15) BYU (8)
16) Clemson (7)
I don’t know how that emoticon got into my picks. For the record I hate those things.
Obviously, you think Purdue is really cool, Mark. Just admit it.
1) Wisconsin (12)
2) Portland St (13)
3) Minnesota (10)
4) North Carolina (1)
5) West. Kentucky (12)
6) Arizona St (6)
7) Clemson (7)
8) Ohio St (8)
9) Wake Forest (4)
10) West Virginia (6)
11) USC (10)
12) MSU (2)
13) Utah St. (11)
14) Tennessee (9)
15) Villanova (3)
16) Missouri (3)
73 possessions
Holy crap I kept meaning to submit but almost forgot. Just under the wire:
Florida State (5)
Wake Forest (4)
Michigan State (2)
North Carolina (1)
Temple (11)
Virginia Commonwealth (11)
Michigan (10)
USC (10)
American (14)
Wisconsin (12)
Illinois (5)
Akron (13)
Missouri (3)
Duke (2)
Kansas (3)
Syracuse (3)
Tiebreaker: 67 possessions
1. North Carolina (1)
2. Memphis (2)
3. Villanova (3)
4. Missouri (3)
5. Wake Forest (4)
6. Purdue (5)
7. Arizona St. (6)
8. West Virgina (6)
9. Texas (7)
10. Boston College (7)
11. Maryland (10)
12. Utah St (11)
13. Arizona (12)
14. Wisconsin (12)
15. Western Ky (12)
16. Miss St (13)
Tie breaker: 73 possessions
i hope its not too late i didnt get a chance to check this till now
dayton
michigan state
washington
utah state
florida state
VCU
western kentucky
clemson
pittsburgh
west virginia
villanova
north carolina
oklahoma state
maryland
missouri
wake forest
70
Just in the nick of time, Tommy.
I just fixed the comment time stamping for DST, btw.
Some stats about the picks:
Most picked team: North Carolina (18 out of 22), followed by MSU (17), Utah State (17), Wisconsin (16), West Virginia (15), and Purdue (15).
Solo picks: Utah (msufan23), Boston College (Alex), Siena (spartanproducer), Dayton (Tommy), Marquette (DP99), California (Mark in DC), Northern Iowa (wife of a spartan), Tennessee (EB), American (Kurt), Akron (also Kurt), Stephen F. Austin (kj).
Highest seed picked by no one: Texas A&M (9). In fact, they and Cornell (14) are the only teams other than the 15s and 16s to get no picks.
Least support for a top-4 seed: Syracuse (3 picks), Oklahoma (4), Washington (4), Kansas (4), Louisville (5), UConn (5).
Most daring (highest average seed of picked teams): TMadison25 (8.56), Chris (7.88), Seer (7.69).
Most chalk: Sparty in Badgerland (2.94), wife of a spartan (3.44), dougieb (5.06).
What have we learned? don’t listen to Kurt! Doh! I looked like a genius on those solo picks and then the favorites woke up.