Zack Peñalva, Sports Editor
In the spirit of competition, I’ve pitted myself against staff writer and college basketball fan Abby Witt to see whose picks would come out on top. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t me.
I’ll come right out and admit my bracket looks like a train wreck at this point. My first round was coming along rather well. I made the right call in games that looked bad even on paper (San Diego State over St. Johns, Oregon beating Oklahoma State) and the winners I missed didn’t look to be part of the competition for long. I felt good, confident, even. I realized how wrong I was.
I put a lot of faith in Iowa State only to see them completely implode and take my chances at a respectable bracket with them. The Cyclone’s loss, combined with Virginia, my other Final Four pick, bowing out in the round of 32 threw the entire right side of my bracket out the window.
On the other hand, my West and Midwest picks still look pretty good. Baylor going out in the first round was a gigantic blow, but I had them losing against North Carolina on their way to the Final Four. Kentucky has been the one anchor in my sea of terrible picks. If The Wildcats continue to pound their way through the tournament, which I think they will, they’ll be the ones in the championship in Indianapolis on April 6.
If they go on to meet up with the Tar Heels for the semifinals, my bracket may still have some small chance of redeeming itself.
Abby Witt, Staff Writer
As the tournament kicked off, my bracket was actually doing close to perfect. Up until the end of the second round, my bracket ranged from 98-99% accuracy. Honestly, I was shocked. Unfortunately, now it stands with 85.9% accuracy, but that is not too shabby. A major downfall was when UVA took a 60-54 loss to Michigan State.
Being a pro-ACC fan myself, I had Virginia going up against Arizona in the final round. One risky pick that I had great confidence in was NC State, currently making it to the sweet sixteen as they face the University of Louisville this week. Not too many people had faith in State to do as well as they have so far, but I had them advancing to the elite eight, only to lose to UVA. But since they are out I can expect a big loss of points.
Only fifty percent of the teams I had picked to enter the final four remain, Arizona and Duke. I know what you are probably thinking, “No Kentucky?!?” Not for this girl. I decided to go against the majority of the US with this team, choosing them to lose to Maryland (Editor’s Note: Boo/Hiss). Since Maryland is no longer in the game, West Virginia has a chance to knock out the still undefeated Wildcats of UK. Even though my bracket is far from where I would like it to be, I remain ahead in all the competitions my bracket is in.
