Mt. Pleasant, IA- Two rounds of March Madness are down for the men’s NCAA tournament with the Sweet 16 looming ahead on Thursday, March 27th, it is the perfect time to update what has happened in the pool of 64 and the standings heading into a bit of a reprieve.
What Happened
The prediction amongst the people of southeast Iowa was that upsets were so last year and that came to fruition as only seven upsets prevailed through the first round with #12 McNeese State pulling off the biggest upset, knocking out Clemson—an upset only four brackets had.
Home state pride proved successful until the second round as Iowa State and Drake were eliminated by Ole Miss and Texas Tech, respectively.
The second round was thrilling but did not yield many upsets, especially on the right side of the bracket as only #6 BYU was able to down #3 Wisconsin in a tough game. The left side of the bracket was a bit more unpredictable as #5 Michigan, the Big Ten winner, and #6 Ole Miss advanced.
Oh and #10 Arkansas, coached by John Calipari, outpaced #2 St. John’s, coached by Rick Pitino, 75-66 to galivant into the Sweet 16 in a battle between two legendary coaches. Nine brackets predicted St. John’s to lose in the second round, but only three had Arkansas complete the task. Most did not have the Razorbacks escaping past Kansas in the first round.
Above all, seven of the top eight teams still remain and only four brackets lost their champion out of 46, although one lost their entire championship matchup.
Before we jump into the top 10, most people did an excellent job guessing the first round with 30 brackets at least guessing 25 games correctly. The most belonged to Mat Wilson and Terry McWilliams as each picked 28 first round matchups correctly.
The second round was also above average as 37 brackets at least picked 10 games right, though 16 were able to get up and over 12 correct. Wanda Broeker demolished the second round with 14 correct choices out of a possible 16 contests. Five brackets accurately guessed 13 games right.
Standings
- Wanda Broeker: 110
- Rick Bunnell: 104 Guessed the Arkansas Upset
- Mat Wilson: 104 Guessed the Arkansas Upset
- Curt Wilson: 102
- Aaron Freeman: 102
- Matt Donnolly: 102
- Terry McWilliams: 100
- Brent Broeker: 100
- Janae Body: 98
- Karen Brimhall: 98
More
Stay tuned to KILJ for an update on the standings after the Elite 8.