Well, the title says it all doesn't it? My bracket hopes were brought to a screeching halt on Sunday all thanks to a single game. We will get to that in a little bit though.
Let's start at the beginning with Friday shall we?
Friday was definitely an exciting start to the tournament with sixteen games played and three of them going into overtime. On top of that, six of the sixteen games ended in an upset.
Probably the biggest shock of Friday was #15 Oral Roberts taking out #2 seed Ohio State in overtime by three points. Talk about a stunner! That upset actually ruined a lot of brackets before the tournament had really even started.
The other upsets included #12 Oregon State over #5 Tennessee (my secondary team to cheer for), #9 Wisconsin over #8 North Carolina, #13 North Texas over #4 Purdue, #10 Rutgers over #7 Clemson, and #11 Syracuse over #6 San Diego State.
Talk about a wild first day!
With Tennessee out and Michigan State out, my only option left was to cheer for Illinois who I had winning the whole tournament.
On Saturday we had another sixteen games to be played and despite the carnage of Friday, my bracket was still looking pretty good. The only big dent was Ohio State who I actually had losing in the Elite Eight, so no big deal.
The first big blow to my bracket happened when VCU had to forfeit their game due to Covid issues and since I had them in the Sweet Sixteen, that was another gap.
Sadly, Saturday didn't grace us with any overtime games, but it did give us a small number of upsets. #10 Maryland over #7 Uconn, #13 Ohio over #4 Virginia which would have been the most impressive upset of the day if #14 Abilene Christian hadn't beaten #3 Texas.
Finally, we had #11 UCLA over #6 BYU to round things out.
I had Texas in the Final Four, so thing were really starting to fall apart for me. I actually had Virginia losing in the third round, so that one wasn't as much of a blow to me.
And then Sunday happened...
I was actually out most of the morning so I didn't catch many of the early games that were on. I was in the kitchen vacuum sealing some steaks that I had bought at Costco when my wife finally turned the TV on and shouted "oh no honey, come out here quick".
Sure enough #8 Loyola Chicago had taken down #1 seed Illinois and put the final nail in the coffin of my bracket. Talk about a great way to ruin a perfectly great day...
Baylor rolled over Wisconsin (more on that in a bit), #11 Syracuse took out #3 West Virginia, #15 Oral Roberts (who took out Ohio State) also handed a ticket home to #7 Florida. Finally, #12 Oregon State took out #4 Oklahoma State.
So here are my takeaways from the weekend. With 9 slots in the conference, the Big 10 is looking pretty pathetic right now. Only three of those nine teams are still in the running. Though Rutgers did give #2 Houston a run for their money yesterday.
I don't know if they were over-rated or they just had a massive mental collapse, but it was a disgraceful showing. For the first half of the Wisconsin/Baylor game the badgers looked like grade school kids trying to play. They just couldn't keep up with The Bears.
I can't say as though any other conference was as completely decimated as the Big 10 in this tournament. It makes me a bit sad.
At this point, after watching both of them play this weekend, I think the world is going to be absolutely short changed if we don't get a Baylor/Gonzaga matchup in the finals. Both teams are just fantastic. Despite my arguments to the contrary all season, they have proven it in the early rounds here.
So that leaves us with eight games being played today. I am actually indifferent at this point. The only thing I am actually cheering for today is a Michigan loss. I don't think U of M should have been a #1 seed. Especially not given some of the losses they suffered at the end of the season. My Spartans beat them for crying out loud. If they make it to later stages of the tournament, I will be sure to bring that fact up every chance I get.
I was going to pick a couple games to highlight for today, but quite honestly, they should all be really great. This is the last big blitz before the Sweet 16. Kick back and enjoy some more March Madness if you get the chance today!