What a Fiasco! I’m 5,461st in the NCAA contest I founded!
The ageless Joe Mazzulla and West Virginia had a far better day than I did. (AP photo)
It’s not exactly a great moment when you awake on the second full day of the NCAA tournament to find you rank 5,461st of 5,742 entrants in the contest you founded. But that’s where I, Mark Bradley, stand in Mark Bradley’s Bracket Fiasco after as bad a prediction day as I’ve ever known. (Which is saying something.)
I went 7-9 in Thursday’s games. My two major upsets — Belmont over Wisconsin and Wofford over BYU — never came close to fruition. The two major upsets I chose not to pick — Morehead State over Louisville and Richmond over Vanderbilt — actually happened. The Michigan State comeback against UCLA fizzled. Old Dominion lost to Butler on a last-second putback. Missouri and St. John’s and Clemson all lost, and only Clemson was ever in its game.
To which I say: Rats. But now we move forward. The good news is that I have all my Elite Eight working. (The less-good news is that only three of the eight have actually begun play.) Today I’ve picked two more double-digit seeds — VCU over Georgetown and Georgia over Washington — and I can’t say the doings of (Full) Day 1 have filled me with optimism.
That said … (Full) Day 1 was one heck of a deal. Four last-second winners. Two huge upsets. Morehead State came very close to being the only team from Kentucky still playing. Butler is still doing as Butler does. And the price for hiring Chris Mooney away from Richmond keeps going up, which might not be the best news for Georgia Tech.
And me, I’m near the bottom of my own contest. Just between us, I would not classify that as a major upset.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
111 comments Add your comment
Rufus
March 18th, 2011
9:25 am
georgia will blow your bracket wide open! Georgia???? You’ve got to be joking. 3-9 versus 1-50 rpi??? Georgia teams are always out of condition, football, basketball, whatever, that’s the rap.
bhorsoft
March 18th, 2011
9:26 am
First?
bhorsoft
March 18th, 2011
9:27 am
Rats, guess not.
Not doing much better. Losing Mizzou was a big blow to my brackets. Approaching the day with optimism.
Rufus
March 18th, 2011
9:28 am
Mark,
How many of Fox’s 20 wins were against teams with a decent rpi, say 40 or better? 2? 3?
That’s what you look for in teams who go deeper in the tourney.
Rufus
March 18th, 2011
9:31 am
If you’re elite 8 is still in tact, you can finish well in the contest. Who carews, you’re a top notch writer, not a Vegas picker.
Rickster
March 18th, 2011
9:33 am
I’m at 26 points – 140th place.
NEVER pick against ‘Zaga in the first round!
Mark Bradley
March 18th, 2011
9:36 am
UGA is 3-9 against teams in the top 50 of the RPI
Mark Bradley
March 18th, 2011
9:36 am
I don’t know why I picked against Gonzaga. Or West Virginia. Or Morehead
Rickster
March 18th, 2011
9:36 am
I missed Temple over Penn St, UCLA over Michigan, and Morehead St over Louisville. No one in their right mind would have reasonably picked Morehead over Louisville.
Mark Bradley
March 18th, 2011
9:37 am
Or BYU. Or Butler
Mark Bradley
March 18th, 2011
9:38 am
Actually, I’d mentioned Morehead State twice as a possible upset team. But I didn’t think the Eagles could upset Louisville.
RBailey
March 18th, 2011
9:43 am
Mark, it is not where you start, it is where you end up. Heck, you started out at the MHS Advocate and look where you are now.
GTBob
March 18th, 2011
9:44 am
I’m 788th right now. Went 12-4 on day 1. Not too terrible. Louisville’s last second collapse didn’t help me though.
bucket
March 18th, 2011
9:46 am
Wow. I was actually 12-4 yesterday, but 2 of those picks are going to kill me later, especially Louisville. Really surprised there was no call @ the end of the Louisville game. Whether it was actually a foul or not is generally irrelevant when the higher seed is involved in the shooting!
El Bravo
March 18th, 2011
9:47 am
MB, I had a bad day myself but from a basketball standpoint it was one of the best days in the history of the tournament. Parity is here to stay and I would not be surprised if we don’t see the first 16 over 1 upset within the next five years. The depth in this tournament is impressive.
Paul in RDU
March 18th, 2011
9:48 am
My worst loss was Belmont against WI. My company’s HQ is near Milwaukee and I was smack talking the boss. I am still comfortable on my local teams going further in the tourney than theirs though.
bucket
March 18th, 2011
9:49 am
Mark, I have been trying to play nice with you lately, but I am really going to be angry with you if you have given the Dawgs the kiss of death!
Rickster
March 18th, 2011
9:49 am
Luckily I had Kansas beating UofL further down the line, so that won’t hurt me too much.
I went 13-3!
Rickster
March 18th, 2011
9:55 am
I picked Richmond ’cause I thought they were the #12 seed that had the best chance to beat their opponent.
Mark Bradley
March 18th, 2011
9:57 am
I try not to pick upsets against good coaches — Pitino, Stallings, etc. Might need to reconsider.
bucket
March 18th, 2011
9:59 am
@ Rickster – Wish I had shown more faith in Kansas now! All is not lost, however, as I still have a chance for 3 of the final 4! We shall see!
elroy
March 18th, 2011
10:04 am
hope you didn’t jinx UGA by predicting them to win a couple of games. now i am not liking UGA’s chances.
CJ
March 18th, 2011
10:10 am
I wish I had done a little more research on Mizzou on Utah State. Mizzou has no idea what a rebound is and Utah State apparently doesn’t know how to score when their go-to-guy is out. Whoops.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
March 18th, 2011
10:13 am
Yeah I lost 3 of the 4 games deceided in the last 7 seconds. That goes along with St. John and Michigan St. The good news is I am ranked higher than Bradley! LOL! All kidding aside, that is the beauty of March Madness, having a opening day so capturing like that. Look forward to todays games!
Lowcountry Bulldawg
March 18th, 2011
10:16 am
Mark,
I thought with the pressing defense St. John ran and the talented perimeter players they have they would handle Gonzaga better than they did. Gonzaga played a beautiful inside/outside game along with dominating the boards. St. John ran simply into a terrible matchup for the teams skill set.
wdm
March 18th, 2011
10:17 am
No one is surprised you don’t know what you are talking about. And just as a side note, I checked Google and you also rank 5,461 out of 5,462 sports journalist.
JTH
March 18th, 2011
10:22 am
Don’t quit your day job!
Buckeye
March 18th, 2011
10:26 am
dawginlex,
Wasn’t it you who said Wisc. was crap?
Buckeye
March 18th, 2011
10:27 am
Good luck Howard ( before I was Trey) and Co. Once you’re drafted and sign, I’ll call you Howard ( before I was NBA).
Go Bucks!
dougmo2
March 18th, 2011
10:33 am
Mark, what’s going to kill you is your southeast region. Dude, you got shredded.
Dirty Dawg
March 18th, 2011
10:39 am
That’s not all that bad, Mark, when you consider that the, so-called, ‘Experts’ on ESPN – all six of ‘em – missed a batch of theirs too. Not as many as you and me, but a batch. They missed on Penn State, Louisville, Old Dominion and Utah State, and they still have a bunch of upset picks that could ‘go-south’ on ‘em today. As for picking UGA, like me you probably thought, ‘what the hell’, so I miss one, the upside outweighs the miss. For you maybe it’ll mean folks like me won’t be on your rear-end so much for ‘doggin’ the Dawgs’…for me, it’s just that I needed to pick ‘em cause I never like ‘pulling against my money’.
Mr. Holmes
March 18th, 2011
10:39 am
Still hopeful over here. All Elite Eight teams remain, only lost two Sweet 16s. Tip of the hat to the Zags for a great game against St. John’s. Missed Vandy/Richmond so not sure what happened there.
UGASlobberknocker
March 18th, 2011
10:40 am
8-8 #5204..my worst first day ever by far. My Final 4 is still standing..but only 2 of them played yesterday. only lost one sweet 16 team..MO.
Oh well, the green beer was still very tasty
SOUTH GA DAWG FAN
March 18th, 2011
10:42 am
3448 Is where i rank at the moment better than last year is all i can say about that. 7 of my elite 8 are still in which is not saying much at this point.
UGASlobberknocker
March 18th, 2011
10:44 am
How many people entered this thing ? If I am 8-8 and #5204. Id hate to see the # on the guy who went 6-10.
UGASlobberknocker
March 18th, 2011
10:45 am
never mind…re read the article..Man Im worse that I thought
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
10:51 am
Mark, you’re an entertainer.
Like Cedric.
You scored yesterday with your concise and accurate summation of Coach K but I deserve a assist for bringing up the issue.
Rickster
March 18th, 2011
10:51 am
Still can’t believe that KY came within a 3-pointer of losing to Princeton!
Dink
March 18th, 2011
10:52 am
Not sure why Belmont seemed to be such a popular choice, never thought they could handle the Badgers. But Morehead St really surprised, I thoght you picked them MB? Hats off to their HC who went for the win. Zaga was really impressive last night.
Go Dawgs!
Can't believe you picked uga
March 18th, 2011
10:53 am
You are obviously biased.. Bark Bradley
Dirty Dawg
March 18th, 2011
10:57 am
Seemingly every sports talking head (so to speak) – at least for the radio guys, I assume they’ve got heads – is making a joke about ‘Morehead’ State, but the jersey they showed on TV, a pretty young coed, I assume, with ‘I (heart/love) Morehead’, topped the list. Maybe this has been going on forever – at least in Kentucky (you ought to know Mark) – but it was new to me.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
10:58 am
Paul in RDU
How’s your job security though?
Your boss’s team lost after you smack talked him?
Your last paycheck is in the mail.
Just kiding.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
11:01 am
Folks
Both Mark and Jeff generally have to say nice things about Tech and Uga.
When they don’t is after a number of years of falling returns.
Plenty of fans are egging them on by then.
Sometimes they’ll be homers.
Other times they try to hit the nail on the head and spark some controversy.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
11:06 am
Since most of this state’s archrival fans usually pick doom for the other side’s teams, I’d like to rank Bulldogs/Huskies as a toss-up.
Should be a good game.
Should the Dawgs get past U-W, the Heels await and a stadium full of baby blue and probably not too many calls.
As Clemson and Tech find out each year in Greensboro.
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 18th, 2011
11:07 am
You should publish the screen names of the 281 people who did worse than you.
Paul in RDU
March 18th, 2011
11:08 am
Actually Jackets 2011, my last day is next Friday. I start work in NH a week on Monday.
joe
March 18th, 2011
11:10 am
Yesterday I said Vandy, UT and UGA all lose in the first round…still on track with that one…
BuckheadBill
March 18th, 2011
11:18 am
Hey Pitino, come on man. I had you in final 4.
gdawginkalamazoo
March 18th, 2011
11:19 am
Paul in RDU, personally I don’t run any smack until the scoreboard advises me that I can.
Paul in RDU
March 18th, 2011
11:24 am
gdawginkalamazoo,
I hear you on that one, but my boss and I enjoy doing it at times (and we know it is just complete BS)
GT BB Fan
March 18th, 2011
11:35 am
Bracket is in good shape. Lost on Old Dominion, Belmont, Louisville, and Missouri, but hit it on Richmond and Gonzaga. All final four are still in!
It would be interesing to learn of Dan Rada attends the Miami vs Missouri State game on Monday night in Miami to watch Cuonzo Martin. Maybe it is inteview time for the Jackets job!
Rickster
March 18th, 2011
11:35 am
In case anyone’s wondering… that puts MB in the bottom 4.9% of contestants!
The Results are in
March 18th, 2011
11:45 am
Streak ends
A symbol of the Hawks’ growth bit the dust Wednesday. Starting in the 2005-06 season, the Hawks had won more games than they had the previous season for five consecutive seasons, all under former coach Mike Woodson. They became the seventh team in NBA history to accomplish that feat, a fact that the team proudly trumpeted. However, the Hawks’ 102-87 loss to Denver on Wednesday was their 29th, matching their loss total for the 2009-10 season and ensuring the streak will stop at five.
John
March 18th, 2011
12:10 pm
Mark-
You’re good at what you do.
Not too many people have 8.954 million page views in 2010.
KevinM
March 18th, 2011
12:14 pm
I think most here get back in the action after today….whoever picked all 16 yesterday is just ‘lucky’…yes, lucky is better than good.
How many top coaches went out yesterday? Probably more to come today.
BTW, 140th place and I’ve never been higher……I will enjoy the moment.
Geez, if Pearl goes on to win 2 games, what would that do to everyone’s bracket?
The 1st number one to go down? I think Ohio St….that overall #1 is just too much pressure.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
12:40 pm
So you’re still with the same company?
Just moved.
Will u b Paul in NH or keep your old handle?
Paul in RDU
March 18th, 2011
12:51 pm
Jackets 2011
New company. I haven’t decided on my handle yet.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
12:52 pm
I know the way they decide how gets in this would never happen but a sellout first game in Charlotte could have been Uga vs Clemson.
Lots of good seats empty in these opening games.
How many people will the Huskies get to Charlotte tonight?
A thousand?
I’m also curious how many Dawg fans will make the trip?
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
12:53 pm
Still friends with the old boss I hope.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
12:55 pm
If they wanted a packed house full of excited fans in Charlotte tonight, they should have made it Clemson vs Uga.
That’s unlikely to happen they way they do things.
I thought of that because my Clemson fan cousin is miffed at how his team got treated.
To play again Thrusday they should have given them a night game.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
12:58 pm
Clemson vs Uga tonight would have filled the place tonight.
Wonder if the Huskies can manage to bring 1000 fans that far?
Clemson fan cousin not happy they didn’t at least get a night game yesterday.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
1:01 pm
I agree with John at 12:10.
In the commercial for the NFL network, I think TO says “They still love to hate me”.
Even the people who say they don’t like you must love to hate you they way they keep coming back.
Skeezix
March 18th, 2011
1:03 pm
I hear ya Mark: Louisville lost to Morehead St.??!!! What?? Maybe Wed. night Ricky Pitino took his whole team out to a restaurant to meet his ex girlfriend.
And then St. Johns flakes out —these upsets both hurt me.
But, so far, my elite eight is still intact.
Rickster
March 18th, 2011
1:05 pm
Welcome to the upper ranks, KevinM!
Ted M
March 18th, 2011
1:06 pm
Mark – How do we view your brackets?
Ted M
March 18th, 2011
1:07 pm
I’m ranked 3448
Paul in RDU
March 18th, 2011
1:12 pm
Ted M
Click on “Leaders”. A page showing the national leaders and the AJC leaders will show up, along with Mark B. Click on Mark’s number of points (14 so far) and his picks will come up in comparison with yours.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
1:16 pm
Later folks.
Skeezix
March 18th, 2011
1:21 pm
Mark: Blog Alert!! I don’t think your blog is working – I think it is blocking new posts…….
Guy Incognito
March 18th, 2011
1:21 pm
Michigan is making Pearl sweat more than Col Quadaffy Duck in a unairconditioned tent
gdawginkalamazoo
March 18th, 2011
1:30 pm
Pearl’s pants are on fire. You think he told another lie.
Ted M
March 18th, 2011
1:31 pm
thx Paul
The Jedi Falcon
March 18th, 2011
1:33 pm
Do you see a pattern here, maybe? Everything you always predict – the exact opposite always happens. Every time you write an article about how great the Braves, Falcons, Hawks are – they always lose horribly shortly after. You are a living Jinx.
Fred
March 18th, 2011
1:59 pm
Well I’m in 788th place Mark. I also picked Belmont but I can top your “stupidity” by a large chunk. I picked Bucknell to upset Uconn as my “big” upset. While I’m comfortable with my pick of Old Dominion (I couldn’t make up my mind, and in the end the game could have gone either way), I’m aggravated for not picking Richmond. My gut kept telling me to do it but I couldn’t pull the trigger. Unfortunately I compounded the error by having Vandy move on until they were defeated by Georgetown. Being a homer, I picked the dawgs because they are the Dawgs dammit. Hope they can pull it off. I WANTED to pick Memphis over AZ which probably means they will win since I didn’t, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger on that one either.
JSS
March 18th, 2011
2:02 pm
@ Paul…
Whoa, you’re starting a job in New Hampshire? Just remember the way to Montreal! They’re nice folks in those parts; but those winters are wicked! Have you ever been to Nova Scotia? Try Cape Breton if you get a chance, nowhere else like it in North America!…
Fred
March 18th, 2011
2:04 pm
Looking right now like Tennessee is going to hose me.
Guy Incognito
March 18th, 2011
2:07 pm
Could Pearl be gone by 2:30p if they lose?
JSS
March 18th, 2011
2:08 pm
Wisconsin kept me from being 15-1 yesterday on the evil 4 letter tourney contest. I thought they’d (Belmont) seen enough of Jacksonville in the A-Sun not to be fooled by Wisconsin… Too bad… Rick Barnes nut cases finally decided to show up long enough to make today start off on the wrong note…
gdawginkalamazoo
March 18th, 2011
2:09 pm
You guys know that all these “gut feeling” picks that we have made for the brackets and been totally wrong about? Couple of shots of Jim Beam can help with that bad feeling.
gdawginkalamazoo
March 18th, 2011
2:10 pm
Guy, Pearl might have to buy his own plane ticket home.
Fred
March 18th, 2011
2:15 pm
He might not WANT to go home, just send the movers to the house……… unless they make a miraculous comeback………
Guy Incognito
March 18th, 2011
2:17 pm
gdawg,
If he flys Southwest, he could blend in with the color scheme.
How’s the blue plate special at Knapp’s these days?
Fred
March 18th, 2011
2:17 pm
He might not WANT to go home unless they make a miraculous comeback. Just send the movers………..
Fred
March 18th, 2011
2:18 pm
wow, my posts aren’t showing up.
Fred
March 18th, 2011
2:19 pm
lol that one did. Guess I won’t comment on Pearls status lol.
Fred
March 18th, 2011
2:24 pm
I can’t take anymore of that butt whooping. I’m moving on to George Mason and Nova……..
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
2:28 pm
It took 4 tries to get a comment in about Clemson deserving a night game.
It didn’t take it until I changed it to Uga/Clemson would have been a full house tonight.
Maybe someone who hates Clemson hacked in and entered it into the block list of cusswords.
Jackets 2011
March 18th, 2011
2:30 pm
I’ve tried 5 comments on Clemson and it has blocked four.
I think someone hacked in and entered Clemson on the cussword list.
JSS
March 18th, 2011
2:32 pm
@ Fred and Jackets…
That AJC filter is something else…
gdawginkalamazoo
March 18th, 2011
2:38 pm
Guy, Bill Knapp’s closed down years ago. It was a great place to eat too.
One good thing about UT going down is that “Rocky Top” won’t be heard anymore. I prefer “Hail to the Victors”.
JSS
March 18th, 2011
2:41 pm
Barkley is going off!
kral
March 18th, 2011
2:42 pm
go VOL’s…possible sweet 16 according to analyst…down by 30…told allerbammer…UGA…wasn’t your tourney frustration…it was the 5th place orange
kral
March 18th, 2011
2:43 pm
5th in the east
Guy Incognito
March 18th, 2011
3:01 pm
gdawgink’zoo
Oh no! Shows you how long I’ve been away from the “fatherland” (born east of you in tecumseh)
Nice win for M
Mark Bradley
March 18th, 2011
3:05 pm
How about those Vols? What a weird season.
Fred
March 18th, 2011
3:08 pm
Well luckily, I had Tennessee going no further than one win so it doesn’t hurt me too bad.
Fred
March 18th, 2011
3:08 pm
And in the early minutes Memphis is putting to Arizona…….
Fred
March 18th, 2011
3:09 pm
Wow Mark, you ARE alive…….
gdawginkalamazoo
March 18th, 2011
3:18 pm
Guy, I know where that is. Still cold as hell and snows a lot. So that hasn’t changed.
KevinM
March 18th, 2011
3:29 pm
It sure looks impossible for Pearl to keep his job now after hitting Michigan uup for 45 pts in 40 min. So much for being able to motivate.
He should have taken a full season suspension; they seemed more focused under Tony Jones.
-Looking ahead, don’t be surprised to see Larranaga and GM pull off a minor upset.
-Texas didn’t look good; Barnes is now 20-18 in the tourney.
-Duke has Irving back; more depth.
I hope to stay in the Top 50% of the bracket after tonight.
JSS
March 18th, 2011
4:35 pm
Thank you George Mason!!!
BB
March 18th, 2011
5:01 pm
Richmond over Vandy is a major upset? Cmon, man. Not even a mild one.
Tell the truth
March 18th, 2011
5:01 pm
Wow the SEC and ACC are shocking the world!!! Vandy and the Vols obviously had other fish to fry.
Redneckville
March 18th, 2011
6:03 pm
Ga goes out in round 1—book it, but fox is hailed as some kind of hero in athens and gets a huge raise.
Live from UGA-Washington: It's late night at the Big Dance! | Mark Bradley
March 18th, 2011
7:31 pm
[...] — and we’re only in (Full) Day 2! — but I have made a bit of a comeback from yesterday’s misdoings. I had Arizona over Memphis, George Mason over Villanova, Florida State over Texas A&M. (I also [...]
Delbert D.
March 18th, 2011
7:32 pm
18-6 for the 1st weekend, but Louisville killed me. Had them in the Final Four.
Tom Ryan
March 19th, 2011
4:58 am
I went 25-7 for the first round, giving me 50 points. The webpage says that my rank is 168 but that is obviously wrong. Looks like it should be about 271.
I Want All My Table Dance Money Back
March 19th, 2011
9:30 am
Tom
I have the same record and the same ranking. There’s probably a lot of us tied for the same record.
allen hott
March 19th, 2011
11:20 am
where do I find the standings on the leaders in the brackets game????
Eric
March 19th, 2011
8:42 pm
105th after the sd state game. just need butler and i will crack the top 15
Eric
March 19th, 2011
8:43 pm
btw whichever co does the calculations/ computing is pathetic.