ESPN Tournament Challenge: UMBC Win Eliminates Final Perfect Brackets

At the end of the Round of 64 in the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, there are no perfect brackets remaining among the 17.3 million total brackets entered in the ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge game. No. 16 UMBC’s historic upset of overall No. 1 seed Virginia eliminated the final 24 perfect brackets remaining to that point.

 

Other highlights from the Men’s Tournament Challenge “People’s Bracket”:

 

Of the 17.3 million brackets, only four correctly predicted 31 of 32 games.

All 17.3 million brackets entered predicted at least two games correctly.

Percent of brackets picking overall No. 1 Virginia to advance to:

Round 2 – 96.7 percent

Sweet 16 – 89.7 percent*

Elite 8 – 58.7 percent

Final 4 – 48.2 percent

Title Game – 32.9 percent*

Championship – 18.5 percent*

(*Highest percentage among all 17.3 million brackets.)

 

Of the 17.3 million Tournament Challenge brackets, only 3.35 percent (579,666) picked UMBC to beat Virginia.

With Virginia eliminated, teams picked most to win the title:

Villanova (16.3%)

Duke (9.8%)

Michigan St. (8.6%)

Kansas (7.9%)

North Carolina (6.9%)

 

Percentage who correctly picked each game:

No. 16 UMBC (3.35 percent***see above) over No. 1 Virginia

No. 11 Syracuse (29.1 percent) over No. 6 TCU

No. 9 Florida St. (46.7 percent) over No. 8 Missouri

No. 5 Clemson (71.4 percent) over No. 12 New Mexico St.

No. 4 Auburn (87 percent) over No. 13 Charleston

No. 9 Kansas St. (43.5 percent) over No. 8 Creighton

No. 3 Michigan St. (93.9 percent) over Bucknell

No. 1 Xavier (96.7 percent) over Texas Southern

No. 7 Nevada (46.2 percent) over No. 10 Texas

No. 5 West Virginia (82.6 percent) over No. 12 Murray St.

No. 10 Butler (58.0 percent) over No. 7 Arkansas

No. 2 UNC (95.9 percent) over No. 15 Lipscomb

No. 2 Cincinnati (92.9 percent) over No. 15 Georgia St.

No. 13 Marshall (13.5 percent) over No. 4 Wichita St.

No. 2 Purdue (95.7 percent) over No. 15 CS Fullerton

No. 7 Texas A&M (50.8 percent) over No. 10 Providence