March Madness: The Last Perfect Bracket Busted

According to Chicago’s ABC 7, the last perfect bracket among NCAA Tournament fans was busted Thursday.

Gregg Nigl, a 40-year-old neuropsychologist from Ohio, created the bracket on NCAA.com. 

My brackets were nuked early on, but I had Duke advancing through the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8 and, of course, to the National Championship.

Nigl didn't even realize his bracket was still intact on Tuesday, having correctly predicted the outcome of all 48 games that had been played so far.  Nigl even changed his Twitter handle to Gregg “Perfect Bracket” Nigl.  Mr. Perfect is no more after Purdue’s overtime win over the Vols.

Well, it was a good run... Thank you to everyone who joined me along this incredible journey! Maybe next year we'll get it!

— Gregg 'Perfect Bracket' Nigl (@GreggNigl) March 29, 2019

Purdue had a commanding lead throughout most of the game and was leading by 18 in the second half before the Vols went on a 32-14 run to tie the game at 65 with six minutes left to play.

The pivotal moment in the game came with 10 seconds left.  With the Vols up 82-80, Purdue moved the ball into the corner passing to Carsen Edwards.  Had he not missed the three-pointer the game would have been over.

Tennessee’s Lamonte Turner allegedly fouled Edwards.  The call was controversial.  Edwards’ heels were on the line when he attempted that shot.  The refs declared Turner had contact with Edwards’ hip.

Thanks to the new PI review rules, this “foul” call with 1.7 seconds left would be overturned in the NFL pic.twitter.com/NU6Jz8Gb2W

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) March 29, 2019

The foul sent Edwards to the charity stripe allowing Purdue to tie the game and send the game into overtime with the final score of 99-94.

Saturday’s games:

No. 3 Texas Tech vs. No. 1 Gonzaga 6:09 PM, TBS

No. 3 Purdue vs. No. 1 Virginia 8:49 PM, TBS

Sunday’s games:

No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Michigan State 5:05 PM, CBS

No. 5 Auburn vs. No. 2 Kentucky 2:20 PM, CBS

Spartans Head coach Tom Izzo hopes his team has the same success against Duke as they did against LSU, but that will only happen if they can come up with a robust defense to control Zion “Thunder Dunk” Williamson and R. J. “Maple Mamba” Barrett.

Williamson was incredible against the Hokies, this time finishing with 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting. The biggest story might have been the hot shooting of teammate Tre Jones, who hit five three-pointers after never making more than two in one game all season. R.J. Barrett was also phenomenal, adding 18 points and 11 assists in the win. Duke will continue to be a favorite throughout this tournament because Williamson is by far the best player in the country. 

Here’s My 2018 NCAA Brackets

Click image to enlarge

The odds of picking a perfect bracket in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament are so minute that mathematicians can’t agree on the actual estimation of the odds.

Some believe the odds are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. Picking all 63 games, excluding the First Four, is next to impossible. Last year, the NCAA said more than 99% of all brackets were busted by the end of the First Round.

It’s easier to become an astronaut:  1-3 in 600

Odds of finding a four-leaf clover:  1 in 10,000

Why bother then?  Well, it’s fun to join your “crew” at the local watering hole to see who’s brackets get busted first and then buy a round for everybody.

The camaraderie of friends seated around a table laden with platters of wings and pitchers of beer makes watching roundball fun─for one shining moment, it’s all on the line.

UPDATE:  My brackets are already busted.  Texas Southern defeated North Carolina Central 64-46.  Dang!

Here's My 2017 NCAA Brackets

Click on image to enlarge

You Say Your Brackets Are Busted Bunky?

Next to college football, the NCAA Tournament is my favorite time of the year.  Last year I rooted for my beloved Duke Blue Devils all the way to their fifth National Championship.  It was glorious.

Today’s slate of games features Duke vs Yale.  This will be the second meeting between these two teams.  The last meeting was in November when Duke was a much better defensive squad.

Duke’s title chances have hit the skids due to a right foot fracture Amile Jefferson suffered during practice in mid-December.  He cannot run fluidly and will miss the tournament altogether.  The senior forward was a vital front court piece for the Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils are vulnerable on the offensive glass but aggressive as hell when pressing up on the perimeter.

Yale is riding high after their shocker whipping of Baylor that busted everyone’s brackets, but they do not have a reputation of hurrying their offense.  That is a weakness that Duke will surely exploit.

Coupled with the experience Yale already has from facing Duke this season, the Ivy League champion is ready to prove the NCAA tournament wait was worth more than half a century.  We shall see.

GO DUKE!

If you need me, I’ll be at my local gin mill/sports bar with my crowd rooting like crazy for Duke and later this evening I’ll devote my attention to pulling for Carolina to trounce Providence.

Duke Blue Devils Vs North Carolina Tarheels

I love this time of year.  Spring is right around the corner and college basketball is at its zenith.

Tonight my beloved Duke Blue Devils (27-3) are playing arch rival Carolina (21-9) at the famed “Dean Dome” in Chapel Hill.  Tipoff is 9:00 PM ET and airs on ESPN.

This is the last day of the ACC’s regular season.  Duke has been on one helluva roll of late devastating the hapless Demon Deacons of Wake Forest 94-51.  Seventeen days ago the Tarheels lost a heartbreaker to Duke in overtime 92-90.  The Heels are looking for payback.  Can they do it?  I don’t think so.  They’re playing at home but the bad news is they’ve won a scant 6 games in their last 16 meetings against Coach K’s team.

If, and I do mean if, the Heels miraculously win tonight the Louisville Cardinals will be the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament.  But I’m not going to think about that.  Duke is 4-1 against the top five teams in the league and the Heels are 1-4.

First round games start this Tuesday.  Second round is Wednesday with the quarterfinals set for Thursday.

None of my friends are Dookies, but that won’t stop me from donning my Blue Devil’s regalia (there’s no shame in my game) and walking into my favorite watering hole/sports bar where they will all be congregated to cheer my boys on to victory.

GO DUKE (GTHC)

And since no basketball post would be complete without some pom-poms, here’s a pretty Duke cheerleader to feast your eyes on.