Teams that burn you in the NCAA Tournament

[gipper2001]

I have picked South Dakota State 4 out of 5 times they have been in the tourney, a couple times to the Sweet 16. The only year I abstained was the year they were a 16 seed. They lost every time. They are a trendy upset pick this year but they have burned me too many times.

 

[Halincandenza]

And Kansas is the weakest 1-seed. Iowa really lucked out with their draw, and not surprising they are a trendy Final 4 pick.

Kansas is the second best 1 seed. The worst is Zona.

 

[cyclones500]

I've miscalculated Syracuse more than any other - both overestimating and underestimating. Examples: In '91 (in my early days of doing brackets), I had (2) SU to win it all - lost to Richmond in R64. In '03, I bounced (3) Syracuse in round 2 -- of course Orange won the damn title. That's only the tip of the iceberg.

At least I won't have to worry about that for this year's tournament!

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Kansas is the second best 1 seed. The worst is Zona.

Yeah, I know what the metrics say. I'm saying worst based off what my eyes tell me.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

I have picked South Dakota State 4 out of 5 times they have been in the tourney, a couple times to the Sweet 16. The only year I abstained was the year they were a 16 seed. They lost every time. They are a trendy upset pick this year but they have burned me too many times.

I have only made a couple brackets so far. I have them 1-1 v.s Providence. I think this could be the year.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

I can never get Gonzaga right. Whenever I pick them to make a run, they get upset early. When I pick them to get upset, they make a run.

That's exactly what happens to him every time he votes for "******* Gonzaga", as he calls them...

 

[cytor]

The KU region is really weak. The Hoks could not get any luckier.

 

[SportsMan9000]

Vermont is a team that always screws me, I buy into their upset picks quite a bit and they always screw me over. I think that Richmond iowa game is going to bust a lot of brackets in a bracket I got the same bracket but Richmond upsetting iowa instead

 

[FerShizzle]

Syracuse and their zone tended to win games they shouldn’t for most of the last 2 decades.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I usually pick ISU and Big 12 teams for a longer run than they end up having.

 

[CyCloned]

I stopped trusting Kansas a while ago. Gonzaga usually does okay, but they get a much better seed than they deserve most years. I'm sure they would have several more losses every year if they had Big 12 defenses beating on them.

 

[dahliaclone]

Florida State. In years they are really good, they seem to be my sleeper and never make it as far as I pick them.

 

[EnkAMania]

Back in the day, I had Arizona in the championship game. Of course they lose to Santa Clara first round.

 

[CascadeClone]

SYRACUSE and it isn't even close.

Pick them to lose first round? They will be in the elite 8.

Pick them to the Final Four? Upset in first round.

Every. Effing. Time.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Bob Huggins-coached teams are always hard to predict as well. After Cincy went to a Final Four and Elite 8 back in the early 90's, his teams crapped the bed a lot as a higher ranked seed for the next decade. Still a very impressive resume, but they remain a trendy upset pick whenever I see them.

 

[HFCS]

What teams tend to destroy your bracket in your NCAA pools?

"All of them" is the easy answer, but I seem to ride the fail train when picking Tennessee, Purdue, Gonzaga, Duke and every single Pac 12 team.

Who has been your Achilles Heel for years?

Last year I'm pretty sure you'd have won plenty of pools if you just picked every Pac 12 team to win every game.

Not the norm, but it was the most underrated/underseeded a conference has ever been.

11 seed in the Final Four.
6 seed in the Elite Eight.
12 seed in the Elite EIght.
7 seed in the Sweet 16...that was eliminated by Pac 12

You could probably play 100 more NCAA tournaments and never find a conference outplaying its seeds that astronomically. No conference beat a Pac 12 team until the Elite 8 and they started out with ZERO good seeds.

 

[HFCS]

Kansas is the second best 1 seed. The worst is Zona.

Gonzaga didn't look like the overall #1 to me when they were playing teams near their level...1 or 2 seed sure. But they did not look better than Baylor in those days.

I do like that lately there hasn't been this completely dominant obvious #1 like the year AD's Kentucky knocked us out and it was obvious they were the favorite.

 

[CRcyclone6]

Yeah, I know what the metrics say. I'm saying worst based off what my eyes tell me.

How dare you use your eyes and watch games!! It's all metrics and ball bearings these days!

 

[drlove]

Michigan State. I bought into the Izzo in March narrative for way too long after its expiration date.

didn't they make the Final 4 in 2019?

 

[mywayorcyway]

How about a company that burned me? Quite a few years back, I worked for a bank on the corporate side. A couple hundred people entered a bracket sponsored by work so no entry fee. It was the first time the company had done this and they didn't know what the participation level would be. I won and it wasn't close. The championship game didn't matter and this was a while back so my memory may be foggy, but I don't think either of the semis mattered either. For winning, I was gifted a golf shirt embroidered with the bank logo. It was too small, they didn't ask me what size I was, they just gave it to me. Thanks.

The next year I entered but made little effort and finished middle of the pack. The winner was gifted two additional days of PTO.