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32 games are complete, and the first round (technically second) of the 2024 NCAA Tournament is now complete. It is one of my favorite articles to write every year, it is, “The KOS Bracketology” of the first round. Enjoy some of these fun facts as you sit down tomorrow afternoon for the Saturday slate of games as 32 teams remain.
If you picked all higher seeds you went 21-11 in the opening round.
The top 16 ranked teams in the tournament went a commanding 14-2. ( seeds 1,2,3,4)
The next 16 ranked teams (17-32) went 7-9 (seeds 5,6,7,8)
Seeds 1-8 went 21-11
Seeds 9-16 went 11-21
If you told yourself, you were going to pick all the same seeds in each bracket and take that approach, the best 8 seeds to have picked would have been, 1,2,3,4,7,9,11 and 12. Had you done that, you would have went 25-7.
How did each seed do?
1 Seeds went 4-0
2 Seeds went 4-0
3 Seeds went 3-1 with the upset coming at the hands of Oakland over Kentucky
4 Seeds went 3-1, with the upset coming at the hands of Yale over Auburn
So, before we go on, think about it like this. If you went chalk style, and picked the top 4 seeds in each region to advance to the sweet 16, you still have a chance to get 14 of the 16 there. Picking 1-4, continues to be the smartest move through the first two rounds. Unless you had Kentucky or Auburn winning it all, you are still in tremendous shape if you took this approach like we told to you to last year. Clearly, this could change drastically over the next 48 hours.
5 Seeds went 2-2 as the only seed to split
6 Seeds went 1-3 as the lone six seed to win was Clemson over New Mexico
7 Seeds went 3-1 with the lone 10 seed to win being Colorado over Florida
8 Seeds sent 1-3 with the lone 8 seed to win being Utah State over TCU
9 Seeds went 3-1
10 Seeds went 1-3
11 Seeds were dominant going 3-1
12 Seeds went 2-2
13 Seeds went 1-3 ( Yale )
14 Seeds went 1-3 ( Oakland )
15 Seeds went 0-4
16 Seeds went 0-4
The Biggest upset of the first round was #14 Oakland over #3 Kentucky
Yale #13 and Oakland #14 were the only seeds in the teens to advance
# of Upsets by bracket
South = 5 as the only higher seeds left are 1,2, and 4
Midwest = 1 as the 11 seed Oregon was the only lower seed to win.
East = 3 upsets
West = 2 upsets
How did the Blue Bloods do?
They went 5-1 if you consider Gonzaga and Arizona honoree members of that special club given their past history.
How did the BIG 10 do?
They went 3-2
Double Digit Seeds left
8
Good stuff as always Vince!! Liked the breakdown. The Madness is always a fun time of the year and it’s cool to see it after the first round statistically!!