March Madness Discussion Thread & 3rd Annual Official PokéCommunity Bracket Challenge

[ddrox13]

It's extra official this year because I actually asked permission first :P

The NCAA Men's Basketball tournament is once more upon us, and it will soon be time once more to blindly guess which teams will win 63 basketball games over a monthlong span. No actual basketball knowledge needed, Literally 10 minutes of effort required!

Joining is easy! Just go to THIS LINK, make an account (or sign in), and pick which teams you think will win each game! Don't have any idea who wins what? Pick at random! It works better that way anyway.

Brackets open at around 7:30 ET on Sunday, and lock at Noon EDT this Tuesday, but you can join whenever. You can sign up and join the group in advance too.

GLHF everyone! This is also the official tournament discussion thread, so use it as such.

 

[EC]

Sure, I'll join up for the third year. Can't wait for tournament time!

 

[ddrox13]

THE BRACKETS ARE OPEN FOR PICKS!

And now, ddrox13 tells you who he thinks is the most likely 1st round upset(s) in each region:

East: Yale > LSU lol
West: Ja Morant Murray St. > Marq.
South: G-W>UVA Oregon > Wisconsin
Midwest: Georgia St. > Houston because there's no fun upset picks in this quarter

Remember kids: There is no reason not to fill out your bracket!

also Wofford is winning this tournament if they get out of Jacksonville REEEEEEE

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Joined as usual. Decided to go with a bit of a biased homer pick this time and roll with my Auburn Tigers to cut down the nets. We are a football school for sure and I've not gotten to see much success on the basketball court in my life but this is far and away the best team that I can really remember since I've been watching. We are riding an 8 game win streak including an absolute beat down of Tennessee. While I don't really believe we will even come out of our tough quadrant(Iowa State, UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, Seton Hall) I am still going to put faith in my team for this challenge!

 

[Brendino]

No actual basketball knowledge needed

Friendly reminder for everyone that a guy who knows the name of exactly one college basketball player is looking for a three-peat victory in PC's bracket challenge! I'm almost worried that if I do any research other than knowing some general stuff about how the schools have done in the past, that I'll completely screw my bracket up, so I'm literally just going to set it and forget it. Just make sure to dust that trophy off for me in a couple of weeks!

 

[EC]

I do wonder how someone would do if they just flipped a coin for each game. Would be foolish to do so for any #1 vs #16 games, but now that the lid has been lifted last tournament, you never know!

 

[ddrox13]

I do wonder how someone would do if they just flipped a coin for each game. Would be foolish to do so for any #1 vs #16 games, but now that the lid has been lifted last tournament, you never know!

We have stats for that! the answer is... not very well on average. An infinite number of coin flip brackets would result in an average of exactly half the available points, which ends up below the 50th percentile overall in most years (for contrast, always picking the better seed puts you on average in the 60-70th percentile, give or take)

 

[ddrox13]

Oh whoops I forgot to fix my bracket after it autopicked Wofford to the national finals but THAT'S OKAY WE WON

Day 1 Update: Gods I'm awful at this

Provided ODU doesn't make some miracle comeback after I sleep (which doesn't matter - we all picked Purdue), here's the standings so far

EC, Brendino, AUT? - 13 (86% percentile overall)
ddrox, Castform - 11 (39% overall)

Those numbers are out of 16

 

[EC]

Doing great so far with my "I don't give a hoot" method!

 

[donavannj]

I'm just surprised 4 out of 5 of you had Minnesota over Louisville. The Gophers have been very streaky and inconsistent and shooting that well from 3 was a complete shock.

 

[EC]

Louisville only gets a high seed because of name recognition. Just a highly overrated basketball team.

 

[ddrox13]

And so, the first Final Four pick falls, as EC's Cyclones will not be reaching the title game if they can't beat Ohio State.

ALSO BRENDINO IS STILL WINNING?????

 

[Brendino]

Don't worry, my reign of terror might be over soon. I had Villanova repping the South in the Final Four (going over Ole Miss in the Elite Eight no less), so I'm already dropping off a little bit.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

My bracket is an absolute disaster but my Auburn Tigers are still going strong so I can't complain! #wareagle

 

[EC]

Yeah, this might be the worst I have ever done. My bracket days might be over.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

My tigers are on FIRE

 

[EC]

I have no more points to gain. :(

 

[Sirfetch’d]

I correctly predicted 2 of the 4 in the final four! Really proud of Auburn for actually making it this far. I mostly picked them as a homer pick but they truly are doing fantastic.