March Madness women's perfect bracket tracker: Only 6 perfect brackets remain after Iowa falls in second round
Only 112 people made it out of the first round unscathed.
But by Sunday night, as the second round of the women's NCAA tournament reached it's midway point, only 10 had survived. Then on Monday, after a pair of wins by No. 1 Texas and No. 2 NC State we hit single digits for the first time. It was No. 6 Iowa's loss to No. 3 Oklahoma, however, that did the most damage. That eliminated an extra three brackets and brought the total perfect down to just six.
Perfect brackets in the Yahoo Sports Women's Bracket Mayhem immediately dwindled through the first four games of the second round. There was only one true upset to start the day, which came in the form of a one-point overtime win by No. 5 Kansas State over No. 4 Kentucky. Kansas State edged that win out behind 24 points from Temira Poindexter, which got the Wildcats into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002. South Carolina, after an early scare, rallied to make it past Indiana on Sunday afternoon.
No. 2 Duke fended off No. 10 Oregon to also reach the Sweet 16. Hannah Hidalgo then led No. 3 Notre Dame to a 21-point blowout win over No. 6 Michigan to advance. Those four games wiped out 78 perfect brackets.
Then, thanks in large part to Ole Miss' upset win over Baylor in the second wave of games, 19 more brackets were eliminated. TCU's win over Louisville, which pitted star Hailey Van Lith against her former team, then eliminated one more bracket. Tennessee's win over Ohio State, which was the third upset of a No. 5 seed over a No. 4 seed on the day, knocked out four more brackets on Sunday night.
Texas rolled to a dominant win over Illinois on Monday afternoon to start the fourth day of play, and NC State followed suit with a 34-point win over Michigan State. Those two games eliminated one more bracket and left just 9 perfect brackets remaining.
Upsets were hard to come by in the first two rounds of the tournament, but 97.7% of entries this year were still busted by the end of the first day. There was then a steady decline on Saturday as the first round wrapped up, even without many big upsets. No. 10 South Dakota State led the charge on that front with its win over No. 7 Oklahoma State. No. 6 Florida State, which was the least-picked No. 6 seed in the tournament, rolled past George Mason, too. Both of those games brought the total number down below 200.
While the women's side still has hope for a perfect bracket, the men's tournament had its final perfect bracket eliminated during the second round of play on Saturday.
The Gamecocks were the most popular pick to win the women's national championship this season. More than 20% of Yahoo users went with them to repeat, while just more than 19% opted to go with Paige Bueckers and UConn. UCLA and USC each also received double-digit support.
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That the struggling Walker hits behind them in the batting order only exacerbates the problem. Blaming Paredes and Altuve alone for an entire team's struggles the first time through is foolish, but both men are here to help carry a top-heavy offense. Improving in their first at-bats can make that easier. Has the fact that (Miguel) Ullola hasn't been mentioned by (general manager Dana) Brown previously mean he's unlikely to get the call-up anytime soon? — Ryan C. I'd recommend listening to Brown's regular Sunday appearance on the team's pregame radio show, Ryan. During last week's discussion, Brown mentioned he and Espada 'just had a nice discussion about (Ullola) downstairs.' That the conversation happened at all indicates Ullola is on the major-league radar. Ullola has struck out 52 batters across his first 38 innings at Triple-A Sugar Land and claimed Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Month honors in May, a month he finished with a 1.17 ERA in 23 innings. 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Gusto is listed as the team's probable starter Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox, a lineup with listlessness on par with Pittsburgh. If Gusto authors a similar result, a difficult conversation may ensue — especially if Ullola continues to make his case for a call-up. One bright red flag I see with this year's team is the failure to control the opponents' running game. Do you see this improving anytime soon? And does the problem lie with the catchers? Slow pickoff moves? Inexperience in the rotation? Or all of the above? — Neeraj J. Only the Miami Marlins and Athletics entered Sunday allowing stolen bases at a higher clip than the Astros, Neeraj. Houston and Miami are the only two teams to surrender at least 70 stolen bases. It's a problem — a holistic one harped on by Houston's coaching staff since spring training. No part of the Astros' battery is absolved from blame. According to Baseball Savant, Houston's pitching staff is worth a minus-13 net bases prevented and entered Sunday allowing 56 extra bases gained by either steals or balks. Again, only the Marlins have worse numbers. Opponents have attempted 54 stolen bases against Diaz and 30 against Caratini. Diaz's average exchange and pop times have decreased from last season, while the average velocity on his throws is down from 84.3 mph last season to 83.6 mph during this one. Advertisement Still, Diaz managed to throw out eight base stealers. Caratini has only caught three. On average, runners are 54.1 feet away from second base when Diaz receives the baseball and 53.5 feet away against Caratini. League average is 56 feet, accentuating a fact that's hard to argue: Astros pitchers are giving their catchers little chance to throw anyone out. Introducing slide steps, holding the baseball longer before delivering it or varying times to home plate can help. Houston's pitching staff is incorporating all of it in hopes of turning around this troubling trend. What's the chance Jacob Melton is (given) the same opportunities they have (given) Cam Smith? — Shannon E. Production precipitates playing time, Shannon, so Melton is in control of his destiny. He is a left-handed hitter who represents what this club lacks — and what it could be in the market for during the trade deadline. Perhaps Melton will make that pursuit moot. As long as Alvarez remains on the injured list, a path to regular at-bats exists for Melton at any of the three outfield spots or as the team's designated hitter. The team must be mindful of Melton's recovery from a groin injury, though, which limited him to playing four days a week at Triple-A Sugar Land before his promotion. Melton has started six of his first seven games as a big leaguer. He has demonstrated dazzling defense and an ability to prolong at-bats, but is still 3-for-20 with eight strikeouts. While Alvarez, Chas McCormick and Zach Dezenzo are out, though, a runway exists for the major-league staff to see whether Melton can be a contributor. If he proves capable, it could open a new avenue for Brown to explore at the trade deadline — perhaps using McCormick, Dezenzo or starting center fielder Jake Meyers as chips in trade talks with Melton waiting in the wings to replace them. (Top photo of Victor Caratini and Yainer Diaz: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)
