"You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Upset Zone!"* For my readers who also happen to be science fiction aficionados, the intro to this article was a PPB reproduction of the infamous intro to the Twilight Zone television series. I can promise this is not a cross-over to or application of Twilight Zone thinking to bracket picking. I just wanted something cute to lead in the article about a phenomenon that makes you feel like you've just left a bizarre and unusual place. After 2018's R64 games, you probably felt like you had just left the Twilight Zone because 2018's tournament gave us bracket history. That's right, a 16-seed has finally beaten a 1-seed. 34 years of tournaments, 135 match-ups pitting 1-seeds against 16-seeds with 8-10 near-misses among these, and the last 1v16 match-up of the 2018 R64 gave us our Haley's Comet of Cinderellas. In all honesty, I wasn't euphoric about it, even though I should have been since it has never happened before. I wasn't really shocked by it happening (the margin of victory however was a surprise) or the team to which it happened. My first gut reaction to it was the inspiration for this article: "So, now what?"
In this article, I will answer that question: "What's remaining in the Upset Zone for us bracket pickers? To begin with, I want to better understand the conditions that gave way to the first-ever 1v16 upset so that the next one is closer to a given than a guess. Second, I want to know what other historical firsts are waiting for us in the Upset Zone.
Nov 23, 2018
Nov 1, 2018
Welcome to the 2018-2019 College Basketball Season
Important Dates:
Selection Sunday is March 17, 2019
WELCOME BACK PPB READERS!!! It's nearing the start of the 2018-2019 college basketball season, so we're going to start this new season off with the usual assessment of my predictions made in the previous season. Sit back, relax, and I'll tell you how good or bad I did in the 2017-2018 season (unless you already spent your off-season doing it). The predictions will be graded in chronological order of when they were made, and each individual prediction will be identified by italics and red highlight. Followed by the grades, the PPB schedule for 2018-19 CBB season will appear.
Selection Sunday is March 17, 2019
WELCOME BACK PPB READERS!!! It's nearing the start of the 2018-2019 college basketball season, so we're going to start this new season off with the usual assessment of my predictions made in the previous season. Sit back, relax, and I'll tell you how good or bad I did in the 2017-2018 season (unless you already spent your off-season doing it). The predictions will be graded in chronological order of when they were made, and each individual prediction will be identified by italics and red highlight. Followed by the grades, the PPB schedule for 2018-19 CBB season will appear.
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