After the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, one single bracket remains standing.
Given the drought of upsets in women’s basketball, especially with NIL and the portal filtering talent towards top teams at never-seen-before levels, the women’s bracket has become slightly more predictable than the men’s bracket.
There were only two upsets in the entire first round, with one being a No. 9-over-No. 8 win (which, in all seriousness, should barely count as an upset). However, Virginia’s presence in the Sweet
16 folded the bulk of the remaining brackets. The Cavaliers are a No. 10 seed, and upset No. 7-seed Georgia and No. 2-seed Iowa in back-to-back games.
Only one bracket predicted that alongside the rest of the results from the first two rounds.
So, let’s take a look. What needs to happen for the first-ever perfect bracket to be sealed?
Will the Sweet 16 bedevil (or Blue Devil) the perfect bracket?
In the upcoming Sweet 16, the still-perfect bracket has No. 1-seed UConn, No. 2-seed Vanderbilt, No. 1-seed UCLA, No. 3-seed Duke, No. 1-seed South Carolina, No. 3-seed TCU, No. 1-seed Texas and No. 2-seed Michigan all advancing to the Elite Eight.
Besides No. 3-seed Duke taking down No. 2-seed LSU, those predictions all favor the higher seed in the respective matchup. So, in theory, it shouldn’t be shocking if the final bracket remains alive until the next round.
Although Virginia has proven to be good enough to take down top teams, the likelihood that they do it three rounds in a row is always low. Vanderbilt and No. 6-seed Notre Dame will also be a tense matchup, with Hannah Hidalgo and Mikayla Blakes squaring off in an All-American guard matchup.
Duke vs. LSU and Michigan vs. No. 6-seed Louisville could go either way, but the bracket certainly hasn’t made any outrageous picks.
Can TCU preserve the dream of bracket perfection in the Elite Eight?
Yet.
If the final bracket connects on its Sweet 16 predictions, we enter the Elite Eight of doom. Like most brackets, they have a mass of No. 1 seeds in the Final Four: UConn, UCLA, and Texas. Great!
And then, the all-knowing creator of this bracket strayed from the beaten path. A vision of Olivia Miles came to them in a dream, and they decided that TCU would take down South Carolina to advance to the Final Four.
Now, let’s make two things clear.
First, TCU will have a very difficult time beating South Carolina, assuming both teams win in the Sweet 16.
Second, this bracket didn’t get to this point by being safe. That’s what makes it so difficult to get a perfect bracket! South Carolina isn’t the indomitable bastion that it’s been in years prior, nor is it as strong as UCLA or UConn on paper. Unlikely sure, but a TCU upset is far from impossible.
Will the Huskies hook the perfect bracket or will the Horns make it happen?
If the bracket survives all the way to the Final Four, it will need UConn to defeat TCU and for Texas to defeat UCLA.
UConn would be a heavy favorite over TCU, but if the Horned Frogs defeat South Carolina then we may be having different conversations about them. Texas will also likely be underdogs to UCLA, but that matchup is closer to even. UCLA has dominated their respective competition more than Texas, but Texas has the scoring and depth to shake UCLA’s foundation on any given night.
Texas will also have to defeat UConn in the national championship to complete the first ever perfect bracket. UConn is absolutely the safer pick, but so was Iowa in the Round of 32.
If this bracket had South Carolina winning in the Elite Eight and UConn winning the national championship, I would confidently say that it is very possible that we see the first ever perfect bracket this year, men’s or women’s.
However, the faith they put in TCU and Texas could either elevate this bracket to a feat of prophecy, or tear it apart for taking too many risks. If your bracket is busted and you don’t have any vested interest in any of the remaining teams, it will certainly be fun to root for history.
