Men’s Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com: Only 47 Brackets Out of 8.15 Million Correctly Picked the Final Four

April 1, 2013

Only 1.3% of brackets picked Louisville to advance to the Elite Eight in Women’s Tournament Challenge

ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge

Brackets in ESPN.com’s Men’s Tournament Challenge presented by Allstate, Acura and Taco Bell revealed only 47 brackets of 8.15 million correctly picked all four Final Four teams in the tournament while 0.46% of all brackets went 3 for 4. An analysis of all brackets submitted also reveals:

#1 Louisville is the biggest favorite in the Final Four, with 39.7% of brackets picking them to advance to the championship game and 21.9% have them winning it all
4.9% of brackets have #4 Michigan moving onto the championship game with 2.7% picking them to win the title
Just 3.5% of brackets picked #4 Syracuse to advance to the championship game and 1.5% have them winning it all
Only 0.08% of brackets have the biggest underdog #9 Wichita State moving onto the championship game with 0.03% picking them to win the title

Taking a look at the other teams in the Elite Eight field:

Only 19 brackets out of 8.15 million correctly picked the entire Elite Eight correct
42% of brackets picked #3 Florida to reach the Elite Eight, and 20.4% to the Final Four
23.4% of brackets picked #2 Duke to advance to the Final Four and 7.9% had them winning it all
Just 13.3% of brackets picked #3 Marquette to win in the Sweet Sixteen
#2 Ohio State was chosen to reach the Elite Eight and Final Four in 68.1% and 44.2% of all brackets, respectively, and was the most popular pick from the West at the start of the tournament

The 8.15 million brackets in Men’s Tournament Challenge this year surpassed last year’s record of 6.45 million brackets by 26.3 percent. At the peak period, fans registered 8,123 brackets per minute (135 brackets per second). Among them was President Barack Obama, who currently sits in the 91.3rd percentile with a rank of 711,035 in the Men’s Tournament.

A full round-by-round breakdown of picks can be found under “Who Picked Whom” on ESPN.com, listing the percentage of participants who selected each team to win in each respective round. Fans can follow all their brackets via Bracketcast, a new tool for Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com that tracks all brackets in one single place. Located at the bottom of each bracket page, Bracketcast delivers the latest scores and total points in real time throughout the tournament.

At the end of the Tournament, all Men’s Tournament Challenge entries that finish in the top 1% are entered in a random drawing for the $10,000 Best Buy Gift Card prize.

ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge

The Women’s Tournament Challenge game on ESPN.com showed that through the Round of 32 and Sweet Sixteen:

Only 1.3% of brackets picked #5 Louisville to advance to the Elite Eight, compared to 96% that picked #1 Baylor to move on
Of all brackets that predicted a Louisville vs. Baylor matchup, only 1% picked Louisville to pull off the upset
57.5% of all brackets had Baylor winning it all, including President Obama
The most popular national championship pick still in play is #1 Notre Dame with 15.1% of brackets picking them to win it all
Only 5.1% of brackets picked #4 Georgia to win in the Sweet Sixteen
Just 5.4% of brackets had #12 Kansas winning in the Round of 32
President Obama’s women’s bracket currently sits in the 59.6th percentile, going 5 for 8 in his Elite Eight picks with three of his Final Four teams still in play but his championship pick Baylor out of the tournament

For a full round-by-round breakdown of picks, visit the Women’s “Who Picked Whom” page on ESPN.com. Entries that finish in the top 1% are entered in a random drawing for a $5,000 Best Buy Gift Card.

2013 NCAA Basketball Tournament on ESPN Digital Platforms

ESPN.com will have complete round-by-round coverage of the tournament from its line-up of experts and analysts including Eamonn Brennan, Andy Katz, Jason King, Joe Lunardi, Myron Medcalf, Ted Miller, Dana O’Neil, Robbi Pickeral, Rick Reilly, Mike Rothstein and Carter Strickland. From Selection Sunday through the Final Four, ESPN.com will deliver features, analysis, commentary and more on the teams, players and coaches in the tournament. Additionally, ESPN.com’s Basketball Power Index (BPI) will be available for fans to reference the latest power rankings by team to assist in their bracket picks.

Additionally, fans won’t be far from checking their brackets while on the go with the 2013 updated ESPN Bracket Bound app, now available on the App Store and Google Play. The free-to-down app features full access to Tournament Challenge brackets and new personalized “My Teams” and “My Games” sections displaying scores and schedules of favorite teams. Additionally, the app will once again include video analysis from ESPN’s college basketball experts and analysts, bracketology, exclusive clips, top stories, game previews, recaps, analysis and highlights.

ESPN Mobile will also carry complete coverage from writers and analysts, keeping fans up to date on the latest news and highlights on mobile devices via a special section on the ESPN mobile Web. Additionally, fans can sign up for ESPN Alerts to receive real-time information on the game (scores, starts, etc.), breaking news, upsets and more.

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