Tom Carpenter, ESPN Staff WriterMar 23, 2021, 04:24 PM
You really missed March Madness last year, right? The dunks! The buzzer-beaters! The busting of your NCAA brackets before the first set of games is over!
Well, if your Sweet 16 was wrecked by all of the upsets the first two rounds, you can still have fun watching the NCAA tournament this weekend, thanks to ESPN's Tournament Challenge Second Chance game.
You have until Saturday, March 27, at 2:40 p.m. ET, to make your NCAA tournament picks for the Sweet 16 and remaining rounds.
Grab some friends, family and coworkers to compete against -- or just autofill a bracket and join an open ESPN group to play for fun. Regardless, you'll have a chance to win a $5,000 Amazon Gift Card.
To get you ready for Tournament Challenge Second Chance, check out these interesting bracket facts:
How your brackets were busted
In the first upset of the 2021 tournament, No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes lost to No. 15 Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. A whopping 13,992,289 brackets picked the Buckeyes to win -- that's 95.2% of the 14.7 million brackets that entered Tournament Challenge.
5.1 million perfect brackets were busted by Oral Roberts' victory over OSU.
No. 10 Maryland Terrapins' upset victory over No. 7 UConn Huskies busted the final three perfect Tournament Challenge brackets, snapping their 27-0 starts. For perspective, one bracket started 38-0 in 2019 before being busted.
The biggest upset of Day 2 came last, as No. 14 Abilene Christian Wildcats took down No. 3 Texas Longhorns, a pick made correctly in only 8.7% of brackets.
To say that No. 8 Loyola Chicago Ramblers beating No. 1 Illinois Fighting Illini crushed a lot brackets would be an understatement. Illinois (15.2%) was one of the three teams picked in more than 7.7% of brackets to win the title (Gonzaga Bulldogs at 34.3%, Baylor Bears at 10.4%).
Did anyone get the biggest upsets right?
A minuscule 2,920 entries (out of 14.7 million) correctly predicted the four double-digit seeds who made it to the Sweet 16: No. 15 Oral Roberts, No. 12 Oregon St. Beavers, No. 11 Syracuse Orange, No. 11 UCLA Bruins.
About 250,000 brackets (1.7%) predicted we would see 11-seeds UCLA and Syracuse in the Sweet 16.
As for the double-upset matchup between No. 8 Loyola Chicago and No. 12 Oregon St. in the Sweet 16, fewer than 100,000 entries (0.7%) predicted that tilt.
Two Tournament Challenge brackets finished the 16 games of the second round with a record of 15-1, which was tops.
Notable Sweet 16 bracket facts
The only teams picked to reach the Sweet 16 in a lower percentage of brackets than No. 15 Oral Roberts (4.7%): 16-seeds Drexel Dragons (3.7%), Hartford Hawks (3.4%), Texas Southern Tigers (3.1%) and Norfolk St. Spartans (2.6%)
Only about 72,000 (0.5%) brackets predicted a Sweet 16 battle between No. 15 Oral Roberts and No. 3 Arkansas Razorbacks.
Not surprisingly, of the 29.4% of brackets that pitted No. 1 Gonzaga against No. 5 Creighton Bluejays in the Sweet 16, 91.1% predicted that Gonzaga would advance to the Elite 8.
No. 4 Florida St. Seminoles advanced to the Sweet 16 by taking down No. 5 Colorado Buffaloes, as predicted in 58.8% of entries. The only teams to be picked in more brackets than No. 4 FSU (8.9%) to get to the Final 4 are the 1- and 2-seeds and No. 3 Texas.
49.4% of entries correctly predicted that No. 1 Michigan Wolverines would face No. 4 Florida St. in the Sweet 16. Of those brackets, 70.1% picked the Wolverines to be victorious.
8.2% of brackets had No. 11 UCLA locked into the Sweet 16. The only other double-digit seeds picked in a higher percentage of entries to go that far: No. 12 Georgetown Hoyas (14.0%), No. 11 Syracuse (13.1%), No. 13 Ohio Bobcats (10.0%) and No. 10 Maryland (8.5%).
The Bruins were chosen as Elite 8 contestants in 2.5% of entries.
No. 6 USC Trojans was projected to move on to the Sweet 16 in 28.2% of entries. 9.0% pushed them on to the Elite 8.
Only No. 3 Texas and the 1- and 2-seeds were in more brackets as a Sweet 16 team than No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks (64.2%). They were advanced to the Final 4 in 7.5% of entries.
4.4% of brackets predicted that No. 6 USC and No. 7 Oregon Ducks would square off in the Sweet 16. Of those brackets, 51.2% picked USC to win.
No. 7 Oregon was picked to advance to the Sweet 16 in 14.6% of brackets. There wasn't much separation amongst the 7-seeds; UConn (14.9%), Oregon (14.6%), Clemson (12.0%), Florida (10.6%). The public pushed the Ducks to the Elite 8 in 6.2% of entries.
No. 12 Oregon St. (4.8%) was easily the least-picked 12-seed to make the Sweet 16; Georgetown (14.0%), Winthrop (7.8%), UCSB (7.3%). Only about 150,000 brackets (1.1%) gave them the nod as an Elite 8 team.
No. 11 Syracuse was picked to make it to the Sweet 16 in 13.1% of brackets, more than all 11-, 10-, 9- and 8-seeds, as well as 7-seeds Clemson and Florida. Also of note, the Orange are in the Final 4 in more brackets (1.2%) than all 11-, 10- and 9-seeds besides No. 9 Wisconsin Badgers.
7.5% of entries pushed Loyola Chicago to the Sweet 16, and 3.8% have them advancing to the Elite 8.
Percentage of brackets that correctly picked teams to advance to the Sweet 16:
No. 15 Oral Roberts (4.7%)
No. 12 Oregon St. (4.8%)
No. 8 Loyola Chicago (7.5%)
No. 11 UCLA (8.2%)
No. 11 Syracuse (13.1%)
No. 7 Oregon (14.6%)
No. 6 USC (28.2%)
No. 5 Creighton (31.7%)
No. 5 Villanova (38.6%)
No. 3 Arkansas (51.8%)
No. 4 Florida St. (58.8%)
No. 2 Alabama (73.9%)
No. 2 Houston (78.0%)
No. 1 Michigan (80.9%)
No. 1 Baylor (81.4%)
No. 1 Gonzaga (91.0%)
