Here we go! This year’s tournament has an amazing total of 98 entries, meaning that the winner, if lucky, might be able to pay this month’s power bill.
There is no true consensus winner among participants, the most going to Purdue with 18 having picked the Boilermakers to go all the way. Of course there might be a bit of player partisanship built in there. Only 16 went with two of the other number one seeds, Alabama and Kansas, and the other top seed, Houston, only managed to attract 14 picks.
So only 2/3 of the picks have a number one seed taking this year’s title, while ten other teams were picked to win it all. That means it’s going to be a wide open and competitive tournament this year. Recalling that last year’s winner picked only two correct Elite Eight entries should provide encouragement when the inevitable upsets begin to take place.
Have fun!