The round of 32 has concluded!
The trend from Saturday continued, with no more upsets. After a wild first round, the second round has seemed to lack the (trademarked) namesake “madness” of the tournament. Advancing to the round of 16 are only two teams lower than a 4-seed: Auburn (5) and Oregon (12). In our pool, 27 brackets (27.6%) picked Oregon to reach the round of 16. The only other teams to advance that were picked by less than half of our pool are Purdue (3) and Auburn (5), both picked in 44% of brackets. Congratulations if you picked Oregon, Auburn, or Purdue to get this far!
Looking forward to the round of 16 (worth 4 points for each correct pick), our picks don’t anticipate many upsets. In fact, none of the top 40 brackets dared to not pick Duke, and only 6 brackets picked a Duke upset overall (94% pick rate). The other 1-seeds have an over 70% pick rate to advance, and the 2-seeds all have an over 50% pick rate. Those picks aren’t without warrant: historically over 80% of 1-seeds and over 70% of 2-seeds in the round of 16 have advanced. Compare that to Oregon’s chances—only one 12-seed has ever advanced to the round of 8 (5% win rate).
You may be feeling like you’ve slipped too far in the standings, but from here on out the tournament shifts from a game of predicting which low seeds will have a surprise win or two to predicting the results of practically even matchups between teams with very comparable levels of coaching and talent. If (or rather when—the round of 8 is the classic round for felling giants) upsets return to this tournament, expect movement in the standings!
1st place (tie): Paul Schlenter – ESA and Max Berde are tied with 88 points
2nd place: BC&Buds is not too far behind with 85 points
In the Robinson Noble staff and family division, the leaders are:
1st place: Bryce Powell is rocking first place with 84 points
2nd place: Eat my dust! is not too far behind with 83 points
Be sure to check your standings by clicking here, and on to the round of 16 starting this Thursday, March 28!
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