Post by Admin on Mar 19, 2014 2:21:30 GMT
For this year's March Madness, Warren Buffett has made a deal with Quicken Loans to sponser a contest which offers 1 billion dollars for anyone who picks a perfect bracket. I would offer a billion bucks to a contest winner (of course, in which I knew had very, very little chance of winning), however, I don't have ten times a million to back it just in case someone does win...and, also, I don't have a product to market to hundreds of thousands of people who like contests.
I'm wondering if anyone has ever picked a perfect bracket. Last year? My memory is fuzzy about someone last season picking perfectly in the tourney. Well, nonetheless, I submitted my picks for the Quicken Loans contest. I wasn't sure about going with conventional wisdom and picking mostly favorites, or going with several, though not mostly, lower-seeded teams. At first, I played it safe, and went with three number-one seeds making the final four, whereas my early-round picks had only three "upsets." In the end, I took more risks.
My early round upsets includes three number eleven seeds in Dayton, Providence, and Iowa/Tennessee, along with Tulsa, Harvard, North Dakota State, Arizona State, and NC State/Xavier. That's eight lower-seeded teams winning so far. I also went with number nine seeds Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, and George Washington. Plus, I have Pittsburgh and Oklahoma State in the Final Four. Kind of dangerous, however, number one seeds aren't a guarantee for Final Four appearances.
Finally, I have Louisville beating Michigan State. I was reluctant to go with Louisville - it being a defending champion, and repeat winners have been far and few between in March Madness. Since Coach John Wooden's UCLA teams in the sixties and seventies, only Duke (in the early nineties) and Florida (starting for the 2005-'06 season) have repeated. This season's match-ups appear to be a little different than in the past, where under-seeded and over-seeded teams are more glaring...or maybe, I'm just paying a little bit more attention to the bracket study this year because of Buffet's billion dollar challenge. Anyway, my picks are locked and I have a few weeks to continue rationalizing my picks until my teams bow out one by one. Good luck everyone!
I'm wondering if anyone has ever picked a perfect bracket. Last year? My memory is fuzzy about someone last season picking perfectly in the tourney. Well, nonetheless, I submitted my picks for the Quicken Loans contest. I wasn't sure about going with conventional wisdom and picking mostly favorites, or going with several, though not mostly, lower-seeded teams. At first, I played it safe, and went with three number-one seeds making the final four, whereas my early-round picks had only three "upsets." In the end, I took more risks.
My early round upsets includes three number eleven seeds in Dayton, Providence, and Iowa/Tennessee, along with Tulsa, Harvard, North Dakota State, Arizona State, and NC State/Xavier. That's eight lower-seeded teams winning so far. I also went with number nine seeds Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, and George Washington. Plus, I have Pittsburgh and Oklahoma State in the Final Four. Kind of dangerous, however, number one seeds aren't a guarantee for Final Four appearances.
Finally, I have Louisville beating Michigan State. I was reluctant to go with Louisville - it being a defending champion, and repeat winners have been far and few between in March Madness. Since Coach John Wooden's UCLA teams in the sixties and seventies, only Duke (in the early nineties) and Florida (starting for the 2005-'06 season) have repeated. This season's match-ups appear to be a little different than in the past, where under-seeded and over-seeded teams are more glaring...or maybe, I'm just paying a little bit more attention to the bracket study this year because of Buffet's billion dollar challenge. Anyway, my picks are locked and I have a few weeks to continue rationalizing my picks until my teams bow out one by one. Good luck everyone!