When we talk about March Madness outcomes — well, we mean the yearly college basketball tournament held by the NCAA that runs from mid-March to early April (it will actually wrap up DURING Summit this year).
It’s been going on since 1939, though the field has expanded over the years (it began with just eight teams playing against one another when Oregon beat Ohio State to take home the first tournament title). This year it started with the “First Four” games in Dayton, Ohio on March 14-15, and continues through to the 2023 Final Four in Houston on April 1 and April 3.
There are 67 games in the tournament, but most bracket contests allow participants to skip the four play-in games. But then, treating each of the 63 remaining games as 50-50 coin flips, the probability of predicting a perfect bracket is about one in…9.2 quintillion. Those odds likely grew significantly following yesterday's dramatic upsets (congrats Princeton and Furman!) - not to mention a couple of near-upsets.
Here’s what readers thought:
In the South regional the top 4 teams (according to the pre-tournament ranking) were, in fact, the top picked teams — and in that order:
27% - Alabama
26% - Arizona (not this year)
14% - Baylor
10% - Virginia (another not this year)
Charleston got a couple of votes — and the support of one reader who supported that vote by noting “I like their shoes (Charleston Shoe Co.).”
In the West, there was diversity in the voting, though the top 4 were still the top 4 here:
26% - Kansas (1)
18% - UConn (4)
17% - Gonzaga (3)
17% - UCLA (2)
UConn’s relatively strong showing (relative to its ranking) was apparently supported by collegiate ties. “As an alumni of UConn, it has to be my pick!,” commented one. “Go Huskies!!!” cheered another. That said, a Gonzaga supporter noted that “I like their name.”
We also got a bit of diversity in the rankings for the Midwest regional:
29% - Texas (2)
28% - Houston (1)
8% - Indiana (4)
7% - Xavier (3)
5% - Iowa (8)
“Could the Phi Slamma Jamma be back????” said one reader (that’s Houston). Another noted that “Iowa deserves recognition other than for just corn” — though they were only ranked 5th by readers, they weren’t far behind #4.
And as for the West, while there wasn’t any doubt about #1:
28% - Purdue (1)
21% - Duke (5)
21% - Marquette (2)
8% - Kansas State (3)
5% - Tennessee (4)
5% - Michigan State (7)
“I went to the Purdue "Pension School" at the beginning of my career,” explained one. On the other hand, another mentioned “Purdue is like Anna Kournikova — looks good but never wins. Could the ghost of Al McGuire give Marquette the push they need to win it all??? God I hate Duke (see ‘UConn alumni’).”
Winner Picks?
We then asked readers — having sorted out the Final Four — which team they thought would win it all:
17% - Purdue
13% - Alabama
11% - Kansas
10% - Houston
6% - Arizona
6% - Texas
4% - Duke
4% - Marquette
4% - UCONN
3% - Gonzaga
3% - Kentucky
3% - None of the Above? (“Most likely none of the ones I picked for final four, given my ‘reasoning,’” noted one reader).
‘Wanted’ Picks
But then we asked which team they WANTED to win — and that shifted things around considerably —though not at the (very) top:
12% - Purdue
10% - Gonzaga
6% - Arkansas, Houston, Kansas, Michigan State
4% - Arizona, Duke, Indiana, NC State, San Diego State, UCLA
Interestingly enough, Alabama didn’t get a single vote in the “want” category.
Cinderella Stuff
Oh, and as for that “Cinderella” team, readers had their eye(s) on:
10% - Northwestern
10% - Iona
9% - UConn
9% - TCU
8% - Grand Canyon
6% - UNC - Asheville
6% - St. Mary’s
6% - Gonzaga
5% - UCLA
5% - Howard
5% - Boise State
Other Comments
This is the kind of thing that makes office life gel. The more neurological science delves into the human brain, the more we understand how important "diversification" is. Our brains focus better with breaks. And the finger-wavers are likely the least productive of the bunch.
Always exciting.
Ha! It's a great break from the everyday work we throw ourselves into!
Best basketball event of the year!
Even though the NCAA is "monetized" now, it's still one of (if not) the purest competitive tournaments still today.
It was fun when these were "behind the scenes" taboo types of pools that everyone whispered about at the water cooler. It was a great way to bring it together. Pay for play and allowing gambling nationwide will ruin college sports. Hopefully, we'll someday be able to put the genie back in the bottle.
Thunder the Antelope could take down the Zags!
Sad UNC missed the tournament.
When I was at * they had (and probably still do have) a very hard "no gambling policy." They always issued warnings about March Madness brackets on company time/company computers, whether or not there was gambling involved. Someone got fired pretty much every year over it by not heeding the warnings.
Only good part of March Madness is that basketball is almost done.
Life is short, have fun, and try to make a little money if you can.
Office pools for NCAA and Super Bowl build the team.
Surprised more NAPA evening events aren't focused on the NCAA Championship the Monday evening of NAPA this year (Editor’s note: You WILL be able to keep up with the games during Monday night’s festivities!).
It's fun. Enjoy it!
Best basketball fun of the year. Parity will play out this year in a way never before. Upsets throughout
It's fun and can be uniting to our Employees...let 'em have some fun!
Best sporting event of the year
I don't even "care" about basketball as a sport much. I rarely watch a game and have only attended a couple (pro) games in my life. But I like all the brackets, surveys, and generalized kookiness about March Madness. It's something fun to get us over the winter hump and into spring. I hope.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this week’s NAPA Reader Radar Poll! As for those plan sponsor questions — well, come check out Monday afternoon’s general session and hear for yourself!
