Mount Pleasant, IA- The men’s March Madness is set to start at 11:15 am this morning with #8 Mississippi State facing off against #9 Michigan State to get the tournament rolling.

That game will also signify the official start of KILJ’s Bracket Challenge sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design. Moreover, that game will also end many of hopes at a perfect bracket, which presented the idea to go through all 34 brackets and peruse the data.

So, without further ado here’s the stats no one asked for but still seemed interesting.

March Madness is known for its unpredictability and Cinderella stories, but most of the time the higher seeds win their matchups and that was apparent amongst our bracket submissions with an average of only 6.5 upsets in the first round or an upset in just 20% of the games. Last year saw 7 first round upsets.

Despite #15 Princeton and #16 FDU winning their first-round matchups last year, only two brackets picked a #15-seed to win, Long Beach and Western Kentucky, with both teams making it to the Sweet 16.

To stay on the theme of upsets, the most common upsets occurred in the #7 versus #10 matchup. #10 Drake was picked over #7 Washington State in 21 of the 34 brackets or 62% of the time and #10 Nevada was selected 20 times or 59% of the time against #7 Dayton.

The #11 seeds Oregon and New Mexico were each picked 14 times to pull off the upset with Grand Canyon advancing 12 times, James Madison 11 times, and NC State 10 times.

No one picked #16-seed to upset a #1-seed.

One bracket picked 14 first-round upsets, while another selected zero upsets. Six brackets had nine upsets, which was the mode.

Now, let’s take a look at the Final Four teams. UConn was a Final Four team in 91% of brackets with Houston a distant second with 62% of brackets putting them in the Final Four. Purdue was selected in 19 of the 34 brackets followed by Arizona, North Carolina, and Kentucky.

Iowa State did not get the benefit of the home-state advantage, being selected just seven times to advance to the Final Four. Now, there were two brackets that predicted two separate historical moments for March Madness.

One bracket had #11 NC State advance all the way to the Final Four, which would tie the record for the lowest seed to advance to the Final Four as 2021 UCLA being the last team to do so.

The other historical moment properly leads us to the most common championship matchups selected. Unsurprisingly, UConn, Houston, and Purdue dominated the matchups with UConn and Purdue squaring off for the championship in 8 of the brackets, while UConn and Houston faced off 7 times.

The next closest was Arizona versus Purdue and UConn taking on Marquette as these matchups were selected three times. UConn was selected to advance from the Final Four to the championship game in 20 of the 31 brackets.

Furthermore, UConn was the National Champion for 16 brackets or 47% of the total field. Purdue was next with five brackets picking them to be champions. Houston was picked a mere four times, while Iowa State, Kentucky, and Arizona was selected twice each.

North Carolina and Kansas were each picked once to win the championship. Leading us to a predicted historical moment, one bracket selected #10 Drake to upset everyone and win the National Championship.

This would not only be the Bulldogs’ second Final Four appearance but their first National Championship in program history. Furthermore, the Bulldogs would also be the lowest seed to ever make the championship game let alone win. That honor goes to four #8-seeds as Villanova in 1985 was the only #8-seed to win the big game.

So, those are the percentages and stats heading into KILJ’s Bracket Challenge and to leave you with one final stat: the odds of filling out a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion to round down.

High School Track and Field

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will compete at a meet in West Burlington on March 26th, while the boys’ team will travel to Washington today to compete in the Steve Roth Relays.

The WACO and Danville boys’ teams will travel to Washington to participate in a meet today. The WACO girls’ team will run on March 26th at West Burlington.

The New London and Central Lee boys’ teams will participate in a meet on March 25th at West Burlington.

The Van Buren County girls’ and boys’ teams will travel to Albia for a meet today.

The Mediapolis and Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ teams will travel to Washington today for a meet. The Mediapolis, Danville, Winfield-Mt. Union, and New London girls’ teams will compete in a relay on March 26th at West Burlington.

High School Soccer

The WACO boys’ team will open the season on March 28th against Fairfield on the road at 5 pm.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ and girls’ teams will take on West Liberty on March 25th at home with the girls’ game scheduled first at 5 pm. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ will host Mediapolis on March 26th to start their season at 4:30 pm, while the boys’ will travel to Danville to play at 5 pm on the same day. 

The Danville girls’ team will face off against Assumption on March 25th on the road at 5 pm.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will take on Burlington on March 26th on the road at 5 pm.

Southeastern Community College

SCC baseball has now won six straight after defeating Marshalltown Community College yesterday in front of the home crowd 10-7. The Blackhawks exploded for five runs in the sixth inning and kept the Tigers scoreless for the final five innings. Cole Smith finished 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs as Carter Gallagher slapped a double and totaled 2 RBIs in the winning effort. SCC will host Northeast Community College on Saturday, March 23rd, in a doubleheader. 

The SCC softball team split their doubleheader against Des Moines Area Community College, losing game one 2-1 and winning game two 10-3. Lauren Summers clobbered a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth of game one, but that was not enough to complete the comeback. Summers produced an encore in game two with a grand slam in her lone hit of the game. Maggie Vasa collected four RBIs and a triple. The Blackhawks will travel to take on Indian Hills Community College on Saturday in a doubleheader. 

College Basketball

The Iowa women’s team will be the #1-seed in the Albany Regional for the National Championship bracket, which means they will host the first two rounds. The Hawkeys will take on either Holy Cross or UT-Martin on Saturday, March 23rd, at 2 pm.

The Iowa State women’s team will be making their 5th consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament as the Cyclones earned the #7-seed. They will face off against Maryland tomorrow, March 22nd, at 6:30 pm. 

The Iowa State men’s team claimed the #2-seed in the NCAA tournament as they will compete against the #15-seed South Dakota State tonight at 6:35 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will face off against the #2-seed Utah on Sunday, March 24th, at 8 pm for the second round of the NIT. 

University of Iowa

Caitlin Clark keeps sweeping up the accolades as Clark was named National Player of the Year by Sporting News and Associated Press First Team All-American. Clark is the first player in program history to nab AP First Team All-American in three straight seasons. This is already her sixth yearly award for the 2023-24 season.

March Madness

The KILJ bracket challenge, sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design, is officially underway with over 30 brackets submitted with the top three set to receive prizes.

Standings will be updated at the conclusion of each round.

This Day in Sports History

1953 – A playoff quadruple overtime finish, an NBA record 106 personal fouls, 12 players fouled out, two were ejected, players fought players, players fought the police. The winning team shot 41% from the floor but sank 37 straight free throws as the Boston Celtics defeated the Syracuse Nationals 111-105.

1955 – Brooklyn Bulletin asks Dodger fans not to call their team “Bums.”

2019 – Ichiro Suzuki finishes his career with a record 4,367 base hits (NPB & MLB) as the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland A’s, 5-4 in Tokyo, Japan.