March Madness 2024 Tournament Challenge

It is time create your entry for March Madness. It is Selection Sunday.

March Madness Hopefuls group is free to play and you can enter up to three entries. There is no password on the group, so hoping it will be an easy process to join your entries, encourage your family and friends to join, and be sure to come back after Selection Sunday to make your entries.

The directions for joining remain the same from last year. The more people in the group the more fun it is to make your selections. 

1. Visit ESPN which will take you directly to the March Madness Hopefuls.
2. If you are already signed into the ESPN web site, you can immediately create your bracket. If not, sign into the site and then you will be taken to the March Madness Hopefuls group or you can search for March Madness Hopefuls to join.
3. Join the group.
4. Repeat the above process to create additional brackets. In the March Madness Hopefuls bracket, you can have three entries.

Be sure to submit your entries by 11:00 am CST Thursday, March 21. This will make sure you get your entries submitted and have time to get them submitted. First game tips at 11:15 am on Thursday March 21. There are play-in games starting Tuesday, but you do not need to enter your picks until the field is set following Wednesday night play-in games. Make sure to enter your picks prior to 

If you have any questions or problems, please let me know.

Good luck and enjoy March Madness!

Final Results of the 2022 ESPN Tournament Challenge in the March Madness Hopefuls Group

What a March Madness we had! All kinds of fun games, late nights, and good memories. The final result helped a number of us in the end with Kansas Jayhawks winning. It will be one week on Monday that KU won the national championship. What a run and what a game! But this update is about the top winners in the March Madness Hopefuls group.

The group saw a number of people rise and fall from the top spot from game-to-game and week-to-week. In the end, we had four that finished in the top three spots. Uncle Charlie won our group with a total score of 1,180 points. Followed by yours truly with 1,140 points. Third place was locked in by Betsy Hoke and Shawn Geil with 1,130 points. 

Uncle Charlie had only one entry to the tournament and it ended up clinching the top spot in our group. Meanwhile, I had three entries in this group alone and a total of seven entries overall. Betsy had three entries in our group and Shawn had two entries. So, Uncle Charlie won our group with only one entry. Nice job!

I am sure we will hear from Uncle Charlie during the off season and into next year when the tournament starts how he won it all. Congrats!

It is so exciting to have people playing in our group and entering multiple entries. It makes the tournament fun as we watch the changing leaders following each upset or after each week ends. What a fun time! We had over 40 entries in the group and the average points scored for our group was 555 points.

Great year and looking forward to next year!

March Madness 2022 ESPN Tournament Challenge

It might seem a little early to create your bracket for the tournament, but it will be here before you know it. So, go ahead and create your entry now. No, you will not be able to make your selections until Selection Sunday on March 13, 2022. Get your entry created now so you can focus on making your picks come Selection Sunday. 

March Madness Hopefuls group is free to play and you can enter up to three entries. There is no password on the group, so hoping it will be an easy process to join your entries, encourage your family and friends to join, and be sure to come back after Selection Sunday to make your entries. 

The directions for joining remain the same from last year. After receiving the reminder from ESPN yesterday (February 18), I figured why not go ahead and create it now. Get the group created and start getting the word out on joining the group. The more people in the group the more fun it is to make your selections. 

1. Visit ESPN which will take you directly to the March Madness Hopefuls.
2. If you are already signed into the ESPN web site, you can immediately create your bracket. If not, sign into the site and then you will be taken to the March Madness Hopefuls group or you can search for March Madness Hopefuls to join.
3. Join the group.
4. Repeat the above process to create additional brackets. In the March Madness Hopefuls bracket, you can have three entries.

Be sure to submit your entries by 10:00 am CST Thursday, March 17. This will make sure you get your entries submitted and have time to get them submitted. First game tips at 11:15 am on Thursday March 17.

If you have any questions or problems, please post a comment to this post.

Good luck and enjoy March Madness!

Results of the March Madness Hopefuls! ESPN Tournament Challenge #MarchMadness #results

 

So good to have March Madness again this year! We had a good group participating in the ESPN Tournament Challenge. We had 25+ participate in the selections this year. A wide range of picks started out the tournament. The selected winners ranged from a dozen votes to single votes to win it all.

• Gonzaga (12)
• Illinois (4)
  
• Michigan (3)
• Kansas (2)
• Alabama (1)
  
• Baylor (1)
  
• Iowa (1)
  
• Oklahoma State (1)
  
• Villanova (1)
  
• West Virginia (1)
  

Gonzaga had the most votes with 12 followed by Illinois (4), Michigan (3), and Kansas (2). The remaining teams all had one vote each to win the tournament. For the majority of the rounds, Javier G was at the top of the leader board. Going into the championship game Monday night, Javi was leading the group with the most points. Following the end of the game the winner of the group was Dina H. She was the only one in our group to have Baylor winning.

With a narrow margin of points, Dina H beat out Javi G 1,240 to 1,140. Followed by tsh34081. I am not sure who tsh34081 is but they came in third in our challenge. Congrats to Dina on winning the bracket this year with the only one picking Baylor from our league.

How did Dina compare to the entry winning all of ESPN? The winner of the entire ESPN bracket won with 1,690 points. What a fun tournament to watch. There were some heart breakers, some buzzer beaters, and a lot of efforts to watch in March Madness no one was able to enjoy a year ago. We are so happy to have it back and finish another tournament challenge.

Congrats to the winners, Dina H, Javi G, and tsh34081. 

March Madness 2021 ESPN Tournament Challenge

It is good to have basketball again. Be sure to get your bracket created so you can be sure to take part in the 2021 ESPN Tournament Challenge. It is free, it is fun, and you might even win something (from ESPN) if you pick the correct picks. Make your pick today!

Directions for joining are listed below.

1. Visit ESPN which will take you directly to the March Madness Hopefuls.
2. If you are already signed into the ESPN web site, you can immediately create your bracket. If not sign into the site and then you will be taken to the March Madness Hopefuls group or you can search for March Madness Hopefuls to join.
3. Join the group.
4. Repeat the above process to create additional brackets. In the March Madness Hopefuls bracket, you can have three entries.

Be sure to submit your entries by 10:00 am CST Thursday, March 18. This will make sure you get your entries submitted and have time to get them submitted. First game tips at 11:15 am on Thursday March 18.

If you have any questions or problems, please post a comment to this post.

Good luck and enjoy March Madness!

March Madness Hopefuls ESPN Tournament Winners

Follow up on who won the ESPN Tournament Challenge 2019. Every weekend was fun with so many good games. But, this post is more about the winners for the tournament challenge March Madness Hopefuls.

Looking at the top four teams that all picked the national champion correctly with Virginia were Dos Try, Crashing the Boards, The B Team, and NastySplash. A narrow margin of victory allows Dos Try to pull ahead in the Final Four and get the win in the national championship game with all four top teams getting 320 points.

Removed the owners from the below listing, but they are left on the links above. Fun March Madness!

Rank	Bracket	R64	R32	S16	E8	F4	NCG	Champion	Total	PCT
1	Dos Try	200	260	240	160	160	320	Virginia	1340	98.9
2	Crashing the Boards	240	280	240	80	160	320	Virginia	1320	98.6
3	The B Team	230	300	200	80	160	320	Virginia	1290	98.0
4	NastySplash	220	240	200	80	160	320	Virginia	1220	95.6

Until next year! Have a great spring and look forward to seeing you back for March Madness 2020 next year.

March Madness 2019 Tournament Challenge

Hard to believe it is that time of year again. Short write up with information on accessing the ESPN Tourney Challenge. Same name as last year and hopefully you will share with family, friends, and co-workers so we can get a lot of people in this group. Directions for joining are listed below.

1. Visit the link to ESPN which will take you directly to the March Madness Hopefuls.
2. If you are already signed into the ESPN web site, you can immediately create your bracket. If not signed into the site, you will need to sign in first.
3. Join the group and use the password: haverty (No password is necessary -- Open Group)
4. Repeat the above process to create additional brackets. In the March Madness Hopefuls bracket, you can have three entries.

Be sure to submit your entries by 10:00 am CST Thursday, March 21. This will make sure you get your entries submitted and have time to get them submitted. First game tips at 11:15 am on Thursday March 21.

If you have any questions or problems, please post a comment to this post.

Good luck and enjoy March Madness!

March Madness 2018 Tournament Challenge

Hard to believe it is that time of year again. Short write up with information on accessing the ESPN Tourney Challenge. Same name as last year and hopefully you will share with family, friends, and co-workers so we can get a lot of people in this group. Directions for joining are listed below.

1. Visit the link to ESPN which will take you directly to the March Madness Hopefuls.
2. If you are already signed into the ESPN web site, you can immediately create your bracket. If not signed into the site, you will need to sign in first.
3. Join the group and use the password: haverty
4. Repeat the above process to create additional brackets. In the March Madness Hopefuls bracket, you can have three entries.

Be sure to submit your entries by 10:00 am CST Thursday, March 15. This will make sure you get your entries submitted and have time to get them submitted. First game tips at 11:15 am on Thursday.

If you have any questions or problems, please post a comment to this post.

Good luck and enjoy March Madness!

March Madness 2017 Tournament Challenge

This is the best time of the year if you are a sports fan! Baseball is well underway for spring training with opening day just a few weeks away, March Madness is in full effect, and for the golf fans, golf is each weekend. There is always something sports related to watch whether through the week or on the weekend. This week is my favorite week of all. Today, the brackets are announced at 5 pm this evening for Selection Sunday. On Thursday, the real madness begins with games starting mid-morning and going until late in the night.

Each year, there are millions and millions of people filling out their brackets. That is after all part of the fun of the madness trying to pick the team that will win it all. Each year, I have put out a bracket and it is open to anyone. The bracket is on the ESPN web site and the winner gets bragging rights for being lucky and picking the most right.

If you are looking for a group to join, I invite you to join the ESPN Tournament Challenge 2017 with the steps below...

1. Visit the link to ESPN which will take you directly to the March Madness Hopefuls.
2. If you are already signed into the ESPN web site, you can immediately create your bracket. If not signed into the site, you will need to sign in first.
3. Join the group and use the password: haverty
4. After the Selection Show, you will be able to make your picks.
5. Repeat the above process to create additional brackets. In the March Madness Hopefuls bracket, you can have three entries.

Enter your brackets before the first tip-off on Thursday morning. Do not wait until Thursday to enter your entries as sometimes the site gets busy with everyone else who forgot to get their entries entered.

Any problems or questions joining the group, please post in the comments or drop me a message.  Share this information with your family, friends, co-workers, etc. The more entries the more fun it is for everyone.

Good luck with your picks and good luck to your team!

Final Four is Set for Next Saturday

The Final Four is set. Only one of the teams that were seeded a one made it to the Final Four. North Carolina took care of business tonight beating Norte Dame. Syracuse beat Virginia to advance. Next Saturday will be (2) Villanova vs (2) Oklahoma and then (10) Syracuse vs (1) North Carolina. One team from Big East, one from Big 12, and then two from ACC.

I was happy today that Syracuse beat Virginia, but then I am hoping North Carolina beats Syracuse next Saturday. Pulling completely now for Oklahoma Sooners to beat Villanova and then beat North Carolina.

Fun evening of basketball. Surprised three one seeds were eliminated before the Final Four. 

Elite 8 Starts Tonight with only Four Conferences Remaining in the Tournament

The second day of the Sweet 16 to determine those teams that go to the Elite 8 is now complete. Last evening four more games were played. Once again, four more teams advanced to the Elite 8 for a chance to play to make it to the Final Four.

The two number one seeds playing yesterday (North Carolina and Virginia) both won and advanced. Syracuse struggled in their game early against Gonzaga, but ended up winning the game. As you might recall, Syracuse was one of those teams that some were questioning how they got into the tournament on Selection Sunday. Yet, here they are playing Sunday for a chance to play in the Final Four.

Nothing too exciting from the games last night. No upsets and the better seed advanced in all four games. Much like the Thursday night games, there were not any upsets and no surprises.

Tonight Oklahoma verses Oregon in the early 5:09 pm CST game and then Villanova faces off against Kansas in the late game at 7:49 pm CST. The last two Big 12 teams that remain in the tournament after starting off with seven.

ACC: 4

Big 12: 2

PAC-12:  1

Big East: 1

Out of fifteen teams from the ACC, four remain. The ACC has a lot of teams and thus a lot left still in the tournament. Out of ten teams, the Big 12 has two remaining. Not too bad with two teams remaining. Would have preferred to have more of the seven still in the hunt for the Final Four, but we will take what we can get.

Going into tonight, I am hopeful that Kansas plays well. Comes out strong to start the game and stay aggressive throughout the contest. Another late game, but at least no work tomorrow and Kansas is still in the hunt. I am hopeful to post tomorrow with news of the two remaining Big 12 teams advancing to the Final Four.

Enjoy the games tonight!

First Round of Sweet 16 Done with Second Round of Sweet 16 Playing Tonight

The first round of the Sweet 16 for the NCAA tournament was not too exciting. In fact, there was not a single upset in the four games that were played Thursday evening. Kansas, Oregon, Villanova, and Oklahoma all advanced to the Elite 8 and will play on Saturday. Tonight, the second half of the Sweet 16 match up. Good match ups in the games tonight.

I for one am happy to report that the Kansas Jayhawks won last night and advanced to the Elite 8. The previous two years, we were an early exit from the tournament the first weekend. KU will play at 7:50 pm CST on Saturday, March 26 against Villanova. Another tough matchup.

Keep your "March" Madness going strong through the weekend....

Second Chance for March Madness Selections

If your NCAA bracket is like my bracket, well, there is not much left of it. Yes, I have a few of the 16 teams still playing in the Final Four, but overall, my brackets are pitiful. The percentages for my brackets range from 56% down to 4%. Ouch! I am not alone as I have read on various social media and spoken to friends. There is still time to put through your second chance bracket. Start from scratch and try making that perfect bracket again.

Start fresh with the Sweet 16 and put through your new bracket. Try to make up for that first bracket and see if you can get a perfect 16 of 16in this second chance. You have until the first tip which his at 6:10 pm CST on Thursday. Below is the information to join the group.

1. Visit the link to ESPN which will take you directly to the “Ok this is the Bracket!” group.
2. Like the first bracket, if you were already signed into ESPN, you can immediately create your bracket. If you are not signed in yet, you will need to sign into your ESPN account.
3. If you used the link, you should be part of the group. If not, you can search for the group using “Ok this is the Bracket!”. No password is required to join the group as this one was left open to anyone to join.
4. Enter as many times as you wish (or you think will be needed to get that sweet 16 bracket).

Enjoy and I hope to see you in the group!

Happy “March” Madness!

The Field is Set with Busted Brackets and Sixteen Teams Hoping for More

What a great four day weekend! I took off work Thursday and Friday to stay home and watch basketball. That's exactly what I did, not leaving the house at all those two days. Saturday and Sunday, was more basketball, but I did leave the house a few times. There were some great games! I sit here watching the end of the Oregon vs St Joseph's game which is another close game.

The forth day of the start of March Madness resulted in more exciting games! It is going to be tough to go back to work tomorrow after enjoying all of this basketball and only thinking basketball the past four days.

There was at least one upset for the day with Wisconsin beating Xavier. Overall, it was a good day to watch basketball and enjoy the great time of the year!

Oh our brackets! Yes, I remember filling out my brackets under a week ago thinking this is the time I fill it out 100% right. Yeah right! I filled out a number of brackets on ESPN and the only one that I have that is over 50% is at 54%. I am not alone though as the majority of the other entries are just as bad. It is not as though I had Michigan State winning it all of necessarily going to the Final Four in all of my brackets, there were simply some major upsets (see post from Saturday).

My favorite from the weekend was when Carrie, my wife, commented following a game ending around 6 or 6:30 today asking me if it was the last game of the day. No, still more games tonight! Best time of the year!

A NCAA game ends… @carrieloulou asks me if it is the last one of the day and that I have been watching for four days straight. Oh dear! 😀

— John Haverty (@havertyj) March 21, 2016

Carrie enjoys basketball, but only prefers the last five minutes of the game and only really watches one team because I watch them. She spent most of her time this weekend on her phone watching Netflix. Sorry Carrie!

The last game of the weekend is over with Oregon winning. The field of sixteen is set. We now wait for Thursday to roll around so we can cheer again.

First Day of Second Round Done with Two Upsets... One Seeds Advance

First day of the Second round is done and there were a few upsets. The largest upset of the day being  (5) Indiana beating (4 ) Kentucky this after Coach John Calipari was complaining on Sunday about only being ranked a 4 seed. Apparently, Kentucky needed to be much lower because they could not handle Indiana. The other upset was (11) Gonzaga beating (3) Utah, but then it seems Gonzaga is in the hunt every year. 

He might have been joking, but still, it seemed he was upset about the seeding. He can be upset, but Kentucky still lost.

The one seeds for Saturday all won and advanced leaving only Oregon to play (8) Saint Joseph. It was another fun day of basketball with two teams coming back from huge deficits to make the games interesting. Wichita State (vs. Miami) and Yale (vs. Duke) both got down early in each of their respective games by a large margin. Both games appeared to be over shortly after they started... unfortunately both teams came up short and lost to the higher seed. I was hoping Yale would beat  Duke, but that did not happen. I was pulling for Wichita State to beat Miami. Neither of which would have helped my brackets, but would rather see the upset.

Both Big 12 teams (Iowa State and Kansas) moved on to the sweet 16 that played today with one left tomorrow. The last team left from the Big 12 to play Sunday is Oklahoma who will play #10 VCU. Not being sure what to expect from today, I am happy that Kansas advanced to the sweet sixteen. Waiting to hear when Kansas will play on Thursday.

It has been a fun four day weekend with more basketball to go Sunday. My bracket(s) are busted, but still the greatest time of year!

Enjoy the Sunday games and enjoy the "March" Madness!

Day Two of NCAA Tournament: Major Upsets and Questioning Big 12 Conference

The second day of the NCAA tournament was not disappointing in terms of major upsets and drama. Ten double digit seeds won in the first round which is a new tournament record.

#MarchMadness RECORD: 10 double-digit seeds won in the first round. pic.twitter.com/1Trsu6REPz

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 19, 2016

Immediately following the Texas loss and the debate about the Big 12 conference started in various social media platforms. The Big 12 entered the NCAA tournament with seven teams and we now have three remaining to advance to the second round.  Iowa State, Oklahoma, and Kansas are the only three teams to advance from the power house Big 12 conference. The debate being that maybe the Big 12 was not that "powerful" as the experts said.

This is the NCAA tournament and it is March Madness. It has that name for a reason and the ten upsets today are why this time has that name. Whether or not the Big 12 Conference was the dominant conference throughout the year or not is a moot. To win games and advance in the post season not only takes talent, but it also takes luck. If Paul Jespersen of Northern Iowa would have been a second later with his half course release or been off by just a touch, we would be talking about overtime game instead of the game winner.  Or, if Cincinnati would have been just a second faster dunking the ball, they would have won to beat Saint Joseph. Instead, Saint Joseph won and moves on to the second round. It takes talent certainly to get to this point, but it also takes luck.

We move on to the second round Saturday starting with Wichita State tip off at 11:10 am CST. We know that the field will continue to dwindle and we can only hope that our team is left at the end of the madness. With a bit of luck, skill, and poise and it just might happen.

Enjoy the Saturday games and enjoy the "March" Madness!

Fun Day of March Madness with a few Upsets and Look Towards Day Two

The first day of the first round of the NCAA tournament is done. What a day of basketball! There were upsets and there was at least one overtime game. Fun day of basketball Thursday for the start of March Madness.

For the ESPN Tournament Challenge (see March Madness 2016 Tournament Challenge Starts Tonight) it did not take long for many of us to have busted brackets. Out of 13 million brackets, there are as of this morning only 25,704 perfect brackets or 0.2% of the brackets that remain perfect according to ESPN Stats &  Info Twitter account.

There are now 25,704 perfect brackets remaining in the Tournament Challenge (0.2% of approximately 13 million brackets)

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 18, 2016

With some of the standard upsets we come to expect in March with nine seeds beating eight seeds, but then there were also a few twelve seeds beating five seeds. There were actually two of those that happened with upsets by Yale over Baylor and then University of Arkansas Little Rock over Purdue. There was also the expected with Gonzaga beating Seton Hall which was a eleven seed beating a six seed. Expected each year to happen from Gonzaga.

All three one seeds that played yesterday (Virginia, Kansas, and North Carolina) won and moved on to the next day. The only other one seed, Oregon, plays today against Holy Cross. Unless something crazy happens, all one seeds will make it past the first round with a Oregon win today.

Looking toward day two and it will be another great day of watching basketball. Follow live scores or watch online via NCAA March Madness Live. Curious to see how Big 12 teams do today after two lost yesterday.  Five Big 12 teams remain out of seven that made it to the tournament.

Enjoy the day and enjoy the "March" Madness!

New App Called Anchor for Social Networking and Discussion Plus March Madness

Testing out Anchor which allows for back and forth conversation almost like voice messages. Interesting concept. In a recent #blogchat on Sunday evening, we discussed how Anchor could be used in our blogs.

Using Anchor to start a conversation regarding #MarchMadness and linking to Tournament Challenge post from the weekend to sign up for the group.  Here my Anchor and chime in with your own.

March Madness 2016 Tournament Challenge Starts Tonight!

This is the best time of the year if you are a sports fan! Baseball is well underway for spring training with opening day just a few weeks away, March Madness is in full effect, and for the golf fans, golf is each weekend. There is always something to watch whether through the week or on the weekend. This week is my favorite week of all. Today, the brackets are announced at 5 pm this evening for Selection Sunday. On Thursday, the real madness begins with games starting mid-morning and going until late in the night.

Each year, there are millions and millions of people filling out their brackets. That is after all part of the fun of the madness trying to pick the team that will win it all. Each year, I have put out a bracket and it is open to anyone. The bracket is on the ESPN web site and the winner gets bragging rights for being lucky and picking the most right.

If you are looking for a group to join, I invite you to join the ESPN Tournament Challenge with the steps below...

1. Visit the link to ESPN which will take you directly to the March Madness Hopefuls.
2. If you are already signed into the ESPN web site, you can immediately create your bracket. If not signed into the site, you will need to sign in first.
3. Join the group and use the password: haverty
4. After the Selection Show tonight, you will be able to make your picks.
5. Repeat the above process to create additional brackets. In the March Madness Hopefuls bracket, you can have three entries.

Any problems or questions joining the group, please post in the comments or drop me a message.  Share this information with your family, friends, co-workers, etc. The more entries the more fun it is for everyone.

Good luck with your picks and good luck to your team!