A Celebration to the Hoopla Groupla Winners
And boy, there were a LOT of you who beat me
The Women’s NCAA Tournament has ended, which means that the second annual Hoopla Groupla has been decided.
For those out of the loop, that is the name of my ESPN Tournament Challenge group for the women's tournament, which had 42 filled out entries this year. That was very cool to see, and I hope to see you all back next year.
The prize for this group is simple: Beat me, and get a shoutout in a future post. There are two ways to do this:
Outscore me in the traditional NCAA Tournament points format
Get more Big Ten team finishing spots correct
Let’s start with the Big Ten teams one, since hey, that’s what the bulk of this newsletter focuses on. To beat me here, you have to get more Big Ten team runs exactly correct. That means having more of these exact things in your bracket than me:
Iowa losing in the Final
Maryland losing in the Elite Eight
Ohio State losing in the Elite Eight
Indiana losing in the Round of 32
Michigan losing in the Round of 32
My bracket, ashamedly, had just two of these right: Maryland and Michigan. I had Iowa losing in the Final Four to South Carolina, Indiana in the final (pain) and Ohio State losing to UConn. So, surely, a lot of you beat me.
Here are all the brackets that had three or more Big Ten runs correct:
Oh, what’s that? NOT ONE PERSON IN THE 42 BRACKETS GOT AT LEAST HALF THE BIG TEN TEAMS RIGHT???
Yes, based on my own count, I believe that it is a big ‘ol tie for first between me and a whole lot of you who got 2 out of 5 right. And believe me, a lot of you got that many right. Over half (26) of you correctly picked Maryland’s Elite Eight run and 16 of you got Michigan’s one win right, but the other three teams ended up being the dagger.
Eight of you picked Ohio State to take down UConn and fall in the Elite Eight, but just two of you — Big10 Hoosier Daddy? and PackorDie — got Iowa making, and losing, the final right. Not a single bracket predicted the Hoosiers’ downfall in the Round of 32.
A special shoutout to Big10 Hoosier Daddy?, the lone bracket that got both Iowa and Ohio State’s runs correct. You unfortunately had too much faith in the Terps and the Wolverines, but who am I to blame you for spreading the good word about the conference.
The same amount of people that beat me in that part of the challenge got this year’s champion right: Zero.
Not one person in this group picked LSU to hoist the trophy, a sign of the growing parity in women’s college basketball, and a sign that you all hate Kim Mulkey as much as I do, it’s beautiful.
Despite the lack of correct champion, our group of brackets ranked 500th among all groups in the ESPN Tournament Challenge. I have no idea how many groups there were, but with over 2 million brackets made, I’m going to assume a top 500 finish is pretty good.
That’ll also help me sleep better at night, because 20 of you beat me, making my bracket the definition of mid.
At the top, it was Caitlin Clarketology who gets the top honors, with a bracket of 1,130 points that puts it in the 97.1 percentile. Getting the Iowa-LSU final correct is insanely impressive, and it was a swap of champions away from being among the best on ESPN. But, with the bracket name, I certainly get it.
Dan_Hope1 finished just 10 points behind in second place after also getting three out of the four Final Four teams: South Carolina, Iowa and LSU. This bracket also had the Tigers in the final, but instead went with the Gamecocks, both in the final and winning it. If this is the Eleven Warriors writer’s bracket, this is a good sign that the Ohio State publication indeed Knows Ball.
Big10 Hoosier Daddy? (980 points), WWCCD (950) and irrational confidence (900) each landed in the top five with 900 points or more. Hoosier Daddy did well thanks to Big Ten picks I highlighted above, while the other two brackets here cleaned up early on and stayed toward the top thanks to the unorthodox finale.
Rounding out the top 10 is BenDeeto (890 points), PackorDie (870), *sizzling noise* (860), Move to Covelli (850) and graciebballin (840), the latter of which took 10th on the tiebreaker. Three of these five brackets lost their champion in the first weekend, with PackorDie losing theirs in the first round with NC State. And yet, the rest of the bracket was strong enough to get within the top 20 percent of ESPN’s brackets, great work.
Here are the rest of the brackets that finished higher than my 760-point bracket this year:
Silus University Vamps, 840 points
Big Ten Supremacy, 810 points
Jacy Young Sheldon, 810 points
Houston We Have a Bracket, 800 points
jawnz mayer, 800 points
Big_Dyl1, 790 points
Sarcastic Mike, 780 points
madsamillion, 780 points
BengDoesntKnowBall, 770 points
Your mom, 760 points (beat me on tiebreaker)
I am, frankly, disgusted at how long this list of people better than me is. I will watch the film, get in the lab and attempt to be better in 2024. For now, if you are on this list, enjoy it. This is embarrassing for me and I want you to know that. That is the reward that you have earned.