The few days that serve as a break from March Madness and the NCAA Tournament are an opportunity to forget about how badly my Bracket is at the moment, and it might get even worse after the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight are over.
So how bad is it? I’m ranked 10,077,104 out of around 13,000,000 plus brackets on ESPN, with 360 points from the first and second rounds. There’s only one Sweet Sixteen matchup I predicted (Villanova and Miami). There are two Sweet Sixteen games (Notre Dame vs Wisconsin & Gonzaga vs Syracuse) without a single team I picked to make it this far. In the other five games I have one team remaining.
The only hope of redeeming this and moving up the charts in the pool I’m in and overall feeling good about this is nailing the three teams I still have making the Final Four. Michigan State were the most picked team to win the tournament, so it’s not so bad they’re out: I had them losing in the national semifinal. North Carolina, Kansas and Oklahoma, they’re my last hope, and things will be very good if the Tar Heels win the whole thing. Sure, not the most original of choices, but that’s who I’m going with, and they’re still in the running, unlike Michigan State or Xavier, the two highest seeds to get kicked out so far.
So assuming everything goes right for me from now on (obviously it’ll happen, said every gambler to himself just before losing all his money), this needs to happen: North Carolina to sweep the field, meaning beating Indiana, whoever they get in the Elite Eight and Final Four and then facing Kansas in the national championship game, winning (preferably 83-81). It means I need Kansas to beat Maryland, hopefully face Miami and then also beat Oklahoma in the Final Four. It means I need the Sooners to beat Texas A&M and then Oregon (an Elite Eight matchup I did pick) before losing to Kansas.
It can happen, right?