NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge - Sweet 16, Day 2 Update

The second half of the Sweet 16 games on Friday night put most of our challenge entrants' brackets out of their misery, crushing almost all hope for most of us to win the Mega March Madness Matchup Monstrosity crown.

For the first time in NCAA Tournament history, there will be no 1-seeds in the Elite 8.  Both remaining 1-seeds and the top two teams in the field, Alabama and Houston, were bounced out of the tournament by five seeds: San Diego State and Miami.  Both underdog teams benefitted from poor shooting by their opponents, Alabama in particular shooting just 3-27 (11%) from three.  Miami, like many teams in this tournament, used a second half surge to propel them to a comfortable double-digit win over the Cougars.

The other two favorites performed impressively well, as (6) Creighton and (2) Texas cruised to victories over (15) Princeton and (3) Xavier, respectively.  While many higher-seeded teams struggled mightily over the Sweet 16 games, the Blue Jays and Longhorns were not fazed by the big moment.  Both teams now have excellent shots at reaching the Final Four now that the 1-seeds in their regions are out of the way, though you can't overlook anyone in the NCAA Tourney.

As I mentioned at the beginning, most of our brackets were just about ruined completely after Alabama and Houston went down.  In fact, one bracket has no teams remaining in the Final Four or beyond.  Four others have just one Final Four team left, while two still have 50% of their Final Four field alive.  Only two brackets have a champion contender remaining, though it looks like the bracket challenge will end up being decided by Sunday's game between Miami and Texas.

Here's the leaderboard at the conclusion of the Sweet 16:

1. winning bracket (540 points)

• Points Remaining: 640
• Champion: Miami
• Final Four: West Virginia, Miami, UConn, Memphis

2. Trizzy Tre (510 points)

• Points Remaining: 0
• Champion: Tennessee
• Final Four: Alabama, Houston, Kansas, Tennessee

3. Back2Back (460 points)

• Points Remaining: 80

• Champion: Alabama
• Final Four: Alabama, Texas, UCLA, Marquette

4. Swatson (450 points)

• Points Remaining: 640

• Champion: Texas
• Final Four: Alabama, Texas, Gonzaga, Purdue

5. Drew (420 points)

• Points Remaining: 80

• Champion: Houston
• Final Four: Arizona, Houston, UConn, Purdue

6. Disappointing (400 points)

• Points Remaining: 80

• Champion: Kansas
• Final Four: Alabama, Texas, Kansas, Purdue

7. Micah's Bracket (340 points)

• Points Remaining: 240

• Champion: Alabama
• Final Four: Alabama, Texas, Kansas, Purdue

Another update will be delivered tomorrow morning after the first two Elite 8 games tonight.

Written by Nick Swatson