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Perfect brackets fall into the single digits after Texas upsets Gonzaga and Nebraska tops Vandy

By The Associated Press

Forty games into the NCAA Tournament, fans hoping to fill out a perfect bracket were a respectable 2 for 26,587,885.

No. 11 seed Texas all but wiped out the remaining unblemished entries in the annual March Madness contests with its 74-68 upset of No. 3 seed Gonzaga on Saturday night.

After the win by the Longhorns, who started in the First Four, there were 22 perfect entries in ESPN’s bracket challenge and 27 in the NCAA’s contest.

The last three games on Saturday were won by higher-seeded teams, but No. 4 seed Nebraska was hardly a sure thing, having never won an NCAA Tournament game before this week. The Cornhuskers survived fifth-seeded Vanderbilt 74-72, and once Arkansas knocked off High Point, ESPN had two perfect brackets left.

On the NCAA’s official site, there were four.

Favored teams went 16-0 on Friday, and they started 4-0 on Saturday, leaving more than 100 brackets intact. No. 1 seed Duke dominated No. 9 seed TCU in the second half and won 81-58. No. 1 Michigan dispatched No. 9 seed Saint Louis 95-72. No. 2 seed Houston hammered No. 10 seed Texas A&M 88-57. No. 3 Michigan State beat sixth-seeded Louisville 77-69.

Texas sent the remaining perfect brackets down to the double digits with its takedown of the Zags.

There was also a sharp drop-off in perfect brackets in the women’s tournament Saturday. The day started with 675,000 in the ESPN contest. After the conclusion of the first round, there were 1,131 left.

Just three lower seeds won, with No. 10 seed Virginia knocking out No. 7 seed Georgia 82-73, No. 9 seed Southern California beating No. 8 seed Clemson 71-67 and No. 9 seed Syracuse eliminating No. 8 seed Iowa State 72-63. Many more brackets would have been in a shambles had 15th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson, which was in a one-possession game with No. 2 seed Iowa midway through the fourth quarter, been able to pull an upset. Iowa won 58-48.

The odds of going 63-0 in a bracket contest are somewhere between one in 9.2 quintillion (for totally random guesses) or one in 120 billion (semi-educated ones).

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Cheryl Reeve steps away from the WNBA grind for a Hall of Fame induction

By The Associated Press
Cheryl Reeve is taking a break from her busy WNBA season to head to Knoxville this weekend and be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. She's only the second WNBA coach to enter the Hall of Fame, joining former Houston Comets coach Van Chancellor, who was inducted in 2001. “(I appreciate) the magnitude of this recognition of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the great work that has gone into this institution,” Reeve said. “To walk around and see the history of how much has been done years before I could ever have this opportunity to coach. Grateful to the WNBA because I think there was some consideration given schedule wise.” Reeve will be joined by WNBA greats Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne in this year's class. Parker and Delle Donne also will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. Other inductees include ESPN broadcaster Doris Burke, Kirkwood Community College coach Kim Muhl, Spanish star Amaya Valdemoro, French great Isabelle Fijalkowski and Clemson's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, Barbara Kennedy-Dixon.
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