“A string of stunning upsets and wild finishes in this year’s NCAA March Madness men’s basketball tourney have officially left a grand total of zero brackets perfect in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge game,” Variety reports. “The finishing blow came Friday, after supreme underdog U. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) became the only No. 16 seed in tournament history to defeat a No. 1 team, the Virginia Cavaliers — busting the only 24 perfect picks up until that point among ESPN’s 17.3 million players.”
The report notes that only 3.4% of all users had picked UMBC to upset Virginia.
“In another bracket-busting upset, Florida State (No. 9) defeated No. 1 Xavier in their Sunday night Round of 32 matchup,” the report adds. “This year marks only the fourth time that two No. 1 seeds failed to advance to the Sweet 16 since the NCAA expanded the tourney in 1985 to 64 teams (from 53 the year prior).”
ESPN said that with the Sweet 16 teams now set, only three of the 17.3 million brackets picked 15 of the 16 teams to advance, with not one bracket correctly picking all 16 teams.
“Meanwhile, 62,559 of ESPN Tournament Challenge players incorrectly predicted all 16 games,” Variety adds.
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