Broken Brackets to the Sweet Sixteen

My Bracket after opening weekend.  (dwm)

Most of the folks following the NCAA tournament over opening weekend wanted to see if the teams they picked to win, would.

Just about 100% of those folks didn't dream that a school known as UMBC would cut down the biggest tree in the forest.

The University of Maryland - Baltimore County decisively beat overall #1 Virginia, busting brackets everywhere.

When I first saw UMBC on my screen during the selection show, I thought it might be the University of Maine - something, something.

The team found a way to introduce themselves to a world of sports fans, and probably, the people in Baltimore County, Maryland.

That was the biggest blow to my picks as I had Virginia driving the road all the way to the final game. Since I didn't pick them as the champ, I guess technically my bracket is still intact.

The very first game on Thursday went against me when Rhode Island beat Oklahoma.  I suppose getting the whole "perfect bracket" nerves out of the way early was positive.  Right?

There was a lot of bracket destruction opening weekend, consider that in addition to top-ranked Virginia... #2 North Carolina and Cincinnati, #3 Michigan State and Tennessee, #4 Arizona and Wichita State (first big tree to fall), #6 Miami and TCU, and #7 Arkansas and Rhode Island all lost to lower seeded teams.

On the other hand, those "little guys" beat the guys from the larger schools with bigger brand names.  They had to win for the top dog to lose, and they did win!

#16 University of Maryland - Baltimore County over #1 UVA
#13 Buffalo beat # 4Arizona
#13 Marshall topped #4 Wichita State
#11 Loyola (Chicago) knocked off #6 Miami
#11 Syracuse beat #6 TCU and #3 Michigan State
#10 Butler took down #7 Arkansas
#7 Nevada downed #2 Cincinnati
and #7 Texas A&M beat #2 North Carolina

Loyola, Syracuse, Nevada, and Texas A&M are in the Sweet Sixteen.

Really interesting to me were the bracket results in the huge Tournament Challenge sponsored by ESPN.

After Round One, Thursday and Friday games - I was ranked 6,669,310 overall out of 17.3 million brackets submitted.

Then, after five more errors in Round Two - I actually jumped to 4,411,811.  Which only means a whole lot of folks really guessed wrong.

From here, I'm sticking with my two surviving Final Four picks to survive and advance this weekend's games - #1 Villanova out of the East Region and #4 Gonzaga from the West.  Joining them in San Antonio I expect to see #1 Kansas from the Midwest.

The South Bracket lost its top four seeds last weekend - #5 Kentucky is the obvious choice, but I'm going with the adorable Ramblers from Loyola Chicago.  An unlikely foursome, to be sure, with two #1 seeds, a #4, and #11.  But after the first weekend, it's a distinct possibility.

In my new Final Four, Gonzaga beats Loyola and Villanova downs Kansas.  In its second trip to the Championship game, Gonzaga wins it all.