The dream of the proper bracket for all however a choose few is already over.
With a number of NCAA event video games nonetheless set to tip on Thursday, most brackets have been already busted. Solely 3% of brackets stuffed out by means of Yahoo Sports activities have been nonetheless good by means of the early wave of video games on Thursday afternoon, and that determine dropped to 0.1% after No. 14 Oakland upset No. 3 Kentucky on Thursday evening.
By the point Thursday’s video games have been all carried out, solely 116 brackets have been nonetheless good.
The most important drop-off of the day got here after No. 11 Duquesne pulled off an enormous 71-67 upset win over No. 6 BYU. The win was the primary within the event by the Dukes since 1969. A bit greater than 75% of brackets had BYU advancing out of the primary spherical, in order that recreation single-handedly knocked out most customers. Duquesne will tackle No. 3 Illinois subsequent within the second spherical after the Illini flew previous Morehead State.
The primary recreation knocked loads of brackets out, too. Tom Izzo and No. 9 Michigan State rolled over No. 8 Mississippi State, 69-51, to open play on Thursday afternoon. It marked Izzo’s twentieth first-round win within the event and arrange a battle between the Spartans and top-seeded North Carolina — which flew previous No. 16 Wagner in its first-round recreation. About 35% of brackets had the Bulldogs advancing out of the primary spherical.
No. 11 Oregon fended off No. 6 South Carolina, 87-73, of their first-round recreation, which reduce the remaining good brackets in half to about 7%. Then No. 7 Dayton rallied again from a 17-point gap within the second half to beat No. 10 Nevada, which reduce the remaining area of good brackets to simply 2.96%. Simply greater than 44.5% of good brackets at that time had Dayton beating Nevada.
The opposite three video games of the early wave — Creighton’s win over Akron, Arizona’s over Lengthy Seaside State and North Carolina’s over Wagner — have been picked accurately by greater than 90% of customers.
Texas beat Colorado State 56-44 on Thursday evening, which reduce the remaining good brackets down to simply 2.1%. Then it was Oakland’s huge win over Kentucky that basically reduce into the remaining good brackets. Oakland shocked the Wildcats behind an all-time efficiency from Jack Gohlke to seize a 80-76 upset win. It marks the primary time in program historical past that the Golden Grizzlies have reached the second spherical of the event. About 96% of customers picked Kentucky to advance to the second spherical. That left us with simply 0.1% of brackets remaining good.
By the tip of the evening, after Kansas and Washington State edged out tight wins over Samford and Drake, respectively, there have been solely 116 good brackets left.
There’s nonetheless loads of basketball to be performed by means of the remainder of the primary weekend of the NCAA event. However on the tempo we’re already going, it’s unlikely that we’ll have many good brackets, if any in any respect, by the tip of the primary spherical.