The Great Bracket Showdown

Are you like me, never winning the March Madness pool, despite having enough lifetime entries to wallpaper a room?  Charlie Sheen would be so disappointed in me.

Because although I know a bit about sports, and even watch my fair share of college basketball, this crazy game of random chance has no patience for that.  Sure there are learned opinions aplenty, but half of them go bust in the first weekend just like mine.  This year I decided to have a little fun with watching my bracket go down in flames.

I entered a bracket in my customary contest, then chose a bracket based on random chance, flipping a coin on every tough decision.  However, I did give random chance a fighting chance by doing the following:

• Advanced the #1 seeds to the Sweet 16 - We know they never lose in the first round and something like 90% get to the round of 16.
• Advanced the #2 seeds to the round of 32 - One win in 13 years out of #15 seeds means it's a lock.  I miss Santa Clara beating Arizona, wish it would happen again.
• Advanced the #3 seeds to the round of 32 after the first one lost - This one's a bit more wishy-washy, because #3s do lose, but still at a very low rate.  Thought I'd give the #14s a shot and one of them delivered.

Rest of the games were up to the flip.

My bracket
I fill out two brackets, and usually try to hedge some bets with the second one, not that it helps.  This was the first I was filling out, so I figured what the heck, you know crazy **** is going to happen, just pick the right crazy ****.  So here's my crazy ****:

West - Mizzou (#11) and Memphis (#12) winning 1st-round games, Temple(#7) taking SDSU(#2) out in the round of 32
Southwest - Richmond(#12) going to the Sweet 16
Southeast - St. John's(#6) over BYU(#3) in the 2nd round and Wisconsin(#4) making the Elite 8
East - Xavier(#6) over Syracuse(#3) in the round of 32

And you can keep the snark about no wonder I never win to yourself.  You have to make some picks that look stupid at the time in order to be right in the end.  High seeds must die!  Check the stats, then pick against the four you hate.

Elite Eight: Ohio State(#1), North Carolina(#2), Texas(#4), Connecticut(#3), Kansas(#1), Notre Dame(#2), Wisconsin(#4), Florida(#2)

Final Four: Ohio State(#1), Texas(#4), Kansas(#1), Florida(#2)

Championship: Kanasas over Ohio St.


The flip bracket

West - Mizzou(#11) with a mild upset over Cincy(#6) and Penn St.(#10) takes out SDSU(#2) in the round of 32
Southwest - Purdue(#3) makes the Final Four after FSU(#10) paves the way by beating Notre Dame(#2) in the round of 32
Southeast - Pandemonium. Wofford(#14) beats BYU(#3) in the opening game, UCLA(#7) ousts Florida(#2) in the round of 32, St. John's(#6) makes the Elite 8
East - Kentucky(#4) knocks off Ohio State(#1) in the Sweet 16, Marquette(#11) beats Xavier(#6) and Syracuse(#3) on it's way.

Man, the coin really had it in for those #2 seed
Elite Eight: Kentucky(#4), North Carolina(#2), Texas(#4), Connecticut(#3), Kansas(#1), Purdue(#3), Pittsburgh(#1), St. John's(#6)

Final Four: North Carolina(#2), Connecticut(#3), Purdue(#3), Pittsburgh(#1)

Championship: North Carolina over Purdue

And hell, that's as plausible as the one I picked, who knows?

Now, let the battle of basketball wits begin.