March Madness more than lived up to its name once again with an absolutely insane Round of 64. The first two days were littered with overtimes, close calls and major upsets galore. Two No. 11’s prevailed, as well as three of the four No. 12’s (and No. 5 St. Louis needed a furious comeback to survive). And of course, the biggest upset of all was No. 14 Mercer taking down mighty No. 3 Duke.
The top dogs continued to fall in the Round of 32, as No. 10 Stanford, No. 11 Dayton, No. 8 Kentucky, and No. 11 Tennessee all played their way into the Sweet 16.
Because of all those huge upsets, every single entrant in Warren Buffett’s billion-dollar bracket challenge had busted before the end of the second full day of games. The so-called experts obviously didn’t do so well either,especially given Duke’s quick exit.
Still, brackets aside, there is lots of meaningful basketball to play, so let’s check in with those experts’ picks for the Elite Eight of 2014’s March Madness tournament.
[sc:MarchMadness ]Updated 2014 March Madness Expert Predictions
CBS Sports
| Expert | Elite Eight |
|---|---|
| Gary Parrish | Florida v Kansas, Michigan St v Iowa St, Arizona v Creighton, Wichita St v Duke |
| Matt Norlander | Florida v Kansas, Michigan St v Iowa St, Arizona v Creighton, Wichita St v Duke |
| Gregg Doyel | Florida v Kansas, Virginia v Iowa St, Arizona v Creighton, Wichita St v Michigan |
| Jerry Palm | Florida v Kansas, Michigan St v Iowa St, Arizona v Creighton, Louisville v Michigan |
[sc:finalfour240 ]A couple of CBS experts picked Stephen F. Austin as this year’s Cinderella team, and the Lumberjacks came through with a major upset before losing to No. 4 UCLA by almost 20.
All four were all in agreement with over half of their Elite Eight, but so far their consensus picks have been shakey at best. They all took No.1 Florida, No. 1 Arizona, and No. 3 Iowa State to advance past this round, but also agreed on the now-eliminated No. 2 Kansas and No. 3 Creighton.
Of the bunch, Jerry Palm was easily the most accurate, correctly predicting 11 out of the 16 teams still standing. Palm also has six possible Elite 8 teams still in contention, though he has the Jayhawks to stay alive into the Final Four.
Sports Illustrated
| Expert | Elite Eight |
|---|---|
| Seth Davis | Florida v Kansas, Michigan St v Iowa St, Arizona v Creighton, Wichita St v Duke |
| Pete Thamel | Florida v Syracuse, Virginia v UNC, Arizona v Oregon, Louisville v Duke |
| Brian Hamilton | Florida v Syracuse, Michigan St v Iowa St, Arizona v Wisconsin, Wichita St v Duke |
| Luke Winn | Florida v Kansas, Michigan St v Iowa St, Arizona v Creighton, Wichita St v Duke |
Hopefully you didn’t pick the teams Sports Illustrated was high on this year.
Three of the four SI writers accurately foresaw No. 7 Connecticut advancing past No. 2 Villanova. However, Luke Winn was the lone person who presciently predicted that this year’s Cinderella team would be Dayton. He had the Flyers occupying a surprise Sweet 16 spot, as opposed to the other three who went for Syracuse and New Mexico, both now eliminated.
While the Sweet 16 mostly went Illustrated‘s way, the Elite 8 isn’t looking good for their prognosticators. Only Brian Hamilton has as many as five possible Elite 8 contenders still kicking, and only one (Pete Thamel) has even a single contender standing in the Midwest.
ESPN
| Expert | Elite Eight |
|---|---|
| Jay Bilas | Florida v Kansas, San Diego St v Wisconsin, Louisville v Duke, Michigan St v Iowa St |
Jay Bilas has put money in the bank for bettors who have followed him this Madness. Two of Bilas’ three Sweet 16 sleeper picks (No. 11 Tennessee and No. 6 Baylor) came through, and his Elite 8 features six teams that are still dancing going into the second weekend.
So where does Bilas think the tournament will lead us next? In short: underdog country. Unlike most of his colleagues from other media outlets, Bilas has prediction that Florida will be the only No. 1 seed left standing in the Elite Eight.
Top Bet
| Expert | Elite Eight (Revised Picks) |
|---|---|
| Top Bet Sportsbook | Florida v Dayton, Michigan St vs UConn, Arizona v Baylor, Louisville v Michigan |
Just like everyone else’s, Top Bet’s own bracket has taken some pretty bad hits. The Ohio State vs. New Mexico Sweet 16 match-up looks particularly egregious in hindsight. The No. 7 UConn pick in the Sweet 16 is probably the only one worth mentioning, though we did predict them to make it one game further.
Still, with the benefit of what we know now, we are prepared to make some additional picks for the second weekend of the Madness.
Since neither the Buckeyes nor the Lobos will be making the Elite Eight, Top Bet will now adopt the University of Dayton to continue their Cinderella run all the way to the Elite Eight to face mighty Florida.
We also like UConn Shabazz Napier to top No. 3 Iowa State, Michigan State to keep their hot streak alive at the expense of Virginia’s, Baylor to cover +2.5 and shut down Wisconsin, and Louisville to survive a suddenly-good Kentucky team. And while the Volunteers have played beautifully but all good things must come to an end, we like Michigan to roll on.
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