Latest news with #Men'sTournamentChallenge
New York Times
04-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How the woman with a near-perfect NCAA Tournament bracket made her picks
You might recognize her name: Joeigh Eaton. Look familiar? That's because she's currently at the top of the leaderboard on ESPN's Men's Tournament Challenge. Eaton is one of five people tied for first place among more than 24 million bracket entries in ESPN's competition, and her bracket is perfect since the Round of 32 began. Her only three misses, all in the Round of 64, came when No. 10 New Mexico beat No. 7 Marquette, No. 2 St. John's beat No. 15 Omaha and No. 7 Saint Mary's beat No. 10 Vanderbilt. Advertisement 'I picked Omaha to win because a boy from my hometown actually is playing for them,' Eaton told The Athletic about the long-shot pick. 'And so, I was just trying to have a little faith and pick Omaha, and they just got, you know, they got beat.' But the rest? Straight sweeps. 'I never expected to be in this position,' Eaton said. 'I honestly kind of filled it out pretty fast.' Eaton, 25, has plenty of basketball experience. She played through high school, growing up in Mound City, Mo. Her sister played Division II in college and her brother currently coaches at the high school level. Eaton hopes to coach one day, too. She lives in Ames, Iowa, working as a substitute school counselor while getting her master's degree in school counseling. Like many other bracket-making, formerly playing college basketball fans, Eaton went with her instincts. 'I actually had picked Mizzou,' the Missouri native said. 'I think I had clicked Mizzou, and then I was like, 'Nope, they always disappoint us.' And so I changed that pick to Drake, which ended up being right.' As for No. 12 McNeese over No. 5 Clemson? 'I just kind of felt that one,' Eaton said. She chose No. 10 Arkansas over No. 2 St. John's because she has some family in Arkansas. That risk worked out, too. 'It's been really, really crazy,' Eaton said about her ranking. 'I've had a lot of people reach out, and just being from a really small town in the Midwest, I think everybody's pretty pumped about knowing someone who's on there.' With four No. 1 seeds in the Final Four, this year's tournament hasn't included many major upsets. But there are no completely perfect brackets left, and someone has to sit at the top of the leaderboard. For now, that rank includes Eaton, alongside four others. She has Duke beating Florida in the final. Advertisement 'My brother and sister and I, we're kind of Duke fans, just kind of grew up liking Duke and Coach K (Krzyzewski) and all that. So I do usually pick Duke,' Eaton said. 'It ended up being a great year to pick them.' She's never done this well in the past. If — and how long — she stays at the top will become clear once the Final Four starts Saturday. Regardless, she's well-positioned in her bracket pool of college friends — though she has no plans to quit her day job. 'It's really lame,' Eaton said, 'but all we (win) is bragging rights.' (Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos courtesy of Joeigh Eaton)
Forbes
23-03-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
NCAA March Madness: Just 2 Brackets Remain Perfect—Out Of 34 Million Submitted
Only two brackets submitted for this year's NCAA March Madness men's tournament remained perfect Sunday afternoon, during the fourth day of the college basketball competition, as entrants face near-impossible odds of perfectly predicting the outcomes of the tournament's 63 games. Over half of the brackets submitted to the NCAA were busted after game one of the tournament. (Photo ... More by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) The NCAA said Sunday that of the over 34 million brackets submitted on major platforms at the start of March Madness, only two remained perfect on the final day of the second round—both on ESPN's Men's Tournament Challenge. That number will be down to one after the Duke-Baylor game concludes Sunday afternoon, as the two brackets are split between picking the No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils and the No. 9 seed Baylor Bears. Most brackets were busted after the first game of the tournament Thursday afternoon, when No. 9 seed Creighton's win over No. 8 seed Louisville busted more than 13.3 million of the nearly 24.4 million brackets submitted to ESPN. No. 12 seed McNeese State's upset win against No. 5 seed Clemson University in a 69-67 nail-biter Thursday afternoon took out the next-biggest chunk of brackets, ending perfection for more than 6.6 million. Brackets that remained perfect after the first round concluded Friday also had to navigate correctly picking upset wins for 12-seeded Colorado State, 11-seeded Drake, 10-seeded Arkansas and 10-seeded New Mexico, while the second round Saturday delivered the biggest upset of the tournament so far when Arkansas knocked off No. 2 seed St. John's. Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We're launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day's headlines. Text 'Alerts' to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here. One in 9.22 quintillion if bracket submitters flip a coin or just guess for their picks. The odds improve but stay infinitesimally small if submitters have knowledge of the competing teams and NCAA basketball, lowering to one in 120.2 billion, according to the NCAA. A perfect bracket requires the outcome of a whopping 63 games to be called correctly. X, formerly known as Twitter, is offering a trip to Mars to anyone who submits a perfect bracket and $100,000 to the best bracket. If the potential perfect bracket winner does not want to make the roughly 140 million-mile voyage to Mars, they can instead receive $250,000, a SpaceX astronaut training experience and a Starship launch viewing. ESPN has randomly drawn prizes including 20 grand prizes of $5,000 for people who predict the national champion. USA Today Sports will reward $1 million to people who submit a perfect bracket. The NCAA's Bracket Challenge Sweepstakes gives the contestant with the best bracket two tickets to next year's men's Final Four, a four-night hotel stay, $1,500 for airfare and $750 in spending money. (See here for other men's and women's March Madness bracket rewards). Nobody has ever picked a verifiably perfect March Madness bracket, according to the NCAA. The closest a contestant has come was in 2019, when an Ohio man predicted 49 out of the tournament's 63 games, losing his streak during the Elite Eight round. Duke University is favored to win this year's tournament, according to DraftKings odds, which lists the powerhouse at a +320 betting line, meaning a $100 bet could net bettors $320. Following Duke in the odds race is the University of Florida (+380), Auburn University (+450) and the University of Houston (+600). March Madness Starts This Week—As Rewards For Perfect Bracket Include Trip To Mars (Forbes) Meet The Billionaire March Madness Boosters (Forbes)
