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How fans have fared through to the Final Four in ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge, Elite Eight in ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge

ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge

Brackets in ESPN.com’s Men’s Tournament Challenge presented by State Farm and Infiniti USA revealed only 0.4% of 6.45 million brackets correctly picked all four Final Four teams in the tournament.  However, that fared much better than last year, where only two of 5.9 million brackets picked all four teams correct.  Through the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, 11 brackets are currently tied for the lead.  An analysis of more than 6.45 million brackets submitted also reveals:

• Kansas took down the second-most popular pick in the game, busting 17.9% of brackets that picked North Carolina to win the championship, including President Barack Obama;
• Of the Final Four teams, Kentucky is by far the most popular team picked to win the national title (52%) with Kansas a far second with 18.2%, Ohio State in third with 12.2% and Louisville with only 1.8% of brackets;
• Only 6.8% of brackets picked Louisville in the Final Four, however they were the highest of no. 4 seeds;
• More people picked Ohio State to advance to the Final Four (34.4% of brackets) than no. 1 seed Syracuse (22.8%).

Taking a look at the Elite Eight field:

• Only 0.5% of brackets correctly picked the entire Elite Eight correct;
• 63.9% correctly picked a North Carolina vs. Kansas matchup, while 38.7% picked Kentucky vs. Baylor;
• Just 1.5% picked Louisville and Florida to meet in the Elite Eight;
• 70.9% had Michigan State advancing from the Sweet Sixteen (fourth-most popular pick), while 7.5% had them winning it all (third-most overall);
• 25.1% picked Syracuse and Ohio State to meet in the Elite Eight, the lowest of potential no. 1 vs. no. 2 seed matchups in a regional final.

The 6.45 million brackets in Men’s Tournament Challenge this year surpassed last year’s record of 5.9 million brackets by 8.9 percent.  At the peak period, fans registered 6,340 brackets per minute (105 brackets per second). Among them was President Barack Obama, who currently sits in the 96.1st percentile with a rank of 252,521 in the Men’s Tournament.

A full round-by-round breakdown of picks can be found under “Who Picked Whom” on ESPN.com, listing the percentage of participants who selected each team to win in each respective round.  At the end of the Tournament, all Men’s Tournament Challenge entries that finish in the top 1% are entered in a random drawing for the $10,000 Best Buy Gift Card prize.

ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge

The Women’s Tournament Challenge game on ESPN.com showed that through the Second Round and Sweet Sixteen:

• Only 5.9% of brackets picked no. 11 Kansas to win in the Second Round, compared to 71.8% that picked no. 3 Delaware;
• 7.5% picked no. 11 Gonzaga to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, while 65.4% picked no. 3 Miami (FL);
• The Women’s “National Bracket” correctly picked every Elite Eight team, which consisted of all no. 1 vs. no. 2 seeds;
• President Obama’s women’s bracket currently sits in the 37.1st percentile, going 5 for 8 in his Elite Eight picks with three of his Final Four teams still in the tournament.

For a full round-by-round breakdown of picks, visit the Women’s “Who Picked Whom” page on ESPN.com.  Entries that finish in the top 1% are entered in a random drawing for a $5,000 Best Buy Gift Card.

2012 NCAA Basketball Tournament on ESPN Digital Platforms

ESPN.com has complete round-by-round coverage of the tournaments from its line-up of experts and analysts including Edward Aschoff, Brennan, Kevin Gemmell, Andy Katz, Jason King, Lunardi, Myron Medcalf, Dana O’Neil, and Robbi Pickeral.  Additionally, ESPN Insider is offering a number of additional exclusive features during and after the tournament to help break down who gets off the bubble, who is most likely to be this year’s Cinderella and who will be the breakout stars of the tournament.

Additionally, fans won’t be far from checking their brackets while on the go with the 2012 updated ESPN Bracket Bound app available now in the App Store and Android Market.  The free to download app features:

• Nightly video highlights and analysis from ESPN’s college basketball experts;
• Latest news columns and blogs from Katz, Gottlieb, Bilas and others;
• Live game-following experience around the nation plus live events via WatchESPN;
• Aggregated Twitter talent feeds;
• Customizable with favorite teams for easy access to schedules, custom news, video, Twitter and more;
• Bracketology by Lunardi;
• Sign-ups for Tournament Challenge, where fans can join groups, create and manage their brackets and follow all the action in real-time on the go.

ESPN Mobile is carrying complete coverage from writers and analysts, keeping fans up to date on the latest news and highlights on mobile devices via a special section on the new ESPN mobile Web.  Additionally, fans can sign up for ESPN Alerts to receive real-time information on the game (scores, starts, etc.), breaking news, upsets and more.

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