Good morning Bracket Busters!
Hopefully your Sunday was better than it was for some of college basketball’s blue bloods. Carnage in the brackets and the Big 10 continues its tournament dominance.
We are officially moving on to the Sweet 16!
The Highlights (and Heartbreaks) from Day 4
Perennial Powerhouse With the exception of a historic upset by No. 16 Farleigh Dickenson in 2023, Purdue has made it to the Sweet 16 every year since 2017. Coach Matt Painter has officially made his mark in West Lafayette and the halls of college hoops greatest coaches. The No. 2 Boilermakers were 21-of-22 from the line, which made a huge difference as Miami only had 10 attempts. Miami earns a trip back to Heaven’s waiting room in South Florida. Purdue gets to the Sweet 16 once again with a 79-69 win over the Canes.
The Johnnies Are Back For the first time since 1999, the St. John’s Red Storm are back in the Sweet 16 thanks to a ferocious comeback and last second heroics. Down 13 with over 7 minutes to play, St. John’s went on a 20-7 run to tie it up. With a mere 3.9 ticks on the clock, Dylan Darling (who had not scored a point all game) drove the lane and scored the most important 2 points of his life. Strangely, there were fewer Jayhawks in the paint to defend it than illegal immigrants at an ICE raid. Kansas’ absence on defense when it mattered most sends the 2022 national champs home. St. John’s wins a nail-biter 67-65.
Cavalierly Dismissed The Tennessee Volunteers have scored under their projected point total in seven of their last eight games. Sunday would be the turnaround they needed with 5 players scoring in double digits. The No. 6 Vols are headed to their fourth straight Sweet 16 with a 79-72 victory. Meanwhile, Virginia hasn’t been past the Round of 32 since cutting down the nets in 2019, longer than Leonardo DiCaprio keeps a girlfriend.
See You Later, Gator In the most shocking outcome of the night, the defending National Champs get sent home early. Coming off a 59-point victory against Prairie View A&M on Friday, Florida looked like a team that had not been challenged. Perhaps they were looking too far ahead. The No. 9 seed Hawkeyes stun the world and bust a lot of brackets by taking out the first No. 1 seed of the tournament 73-72.
The Rest of the Day’s “Expected” Chaos
- Iowa State 82, Kentucky 63: Kentucky turned the ball over 20 times in this one. The Cyclones’ defense made them look about as coordinated as a giraffe on roller skates.
- Arizona 78, Utah State 66: The top-seeded Wildcats showed why they were the pre-tournament favorite on Sunday night, holding off the No. 9 Aggies. Playing their home games at 4,500+ feet elevation, Utah State used their stamina to mount a late comeback, but Arizona proved to be too much in end. Cats move to the Sweet 16.
- UConn 73, UCLA 57: The 2023 & 2024 National Champs look to make a deep run after holding UCLA to just 38% from the field. The win sets up a battle for the ages between Izzo’s Spartans on Friday night.
- Alabama 90, Texas Tech 65: Roll damn tide. The Red Raiders had no answers for the Crimson Tide who dominated the boards (42-28) and the shot the lights out from the arc (45.2%). Bama reaches their fourth straight Sweet 16.
Standings Update After the Round of 32 Sunday was moving day for many Bracket Busters, and we have a 7-way tie at the top with 91 points each. If you head over to our Standings page, you’ll see a number of entries made significant moves up the leaderboard of 55, 92, and even 96 spots. It’s far from over as points for each correct pick continue to escalate (5 for the Sweet 16 and 8 for the Elite 8). Congrats to our current leaders!
- Chrissy Goelz
- Karl Lamar
- Kyle Hendrickson
- Michael Albrecht
- Nunya Binnus (x2)
- Tom Edwards
Blue List Reminder
Now that the madness of the first full weekend of the greatest tournament in sports is behind us, this week is a great time to get right on the Blue List. We have just 29 people to go before we’re all square. I accept many forms of payment with the exception of cryptocurrency. I’m too old for that nonsense.
If you think the list is inaccurate, how dare you question my meticulous accounting. But if you insist, send me a note and I’ll double check for you.
Have a great week everyone!
Chris H
Bracket Busters HQ