Final Bracket Update: When Kansas wins, we all lose

Worst March Madness ever? I’m submitting this year as such.

Look, nothing will ever top the pure devastation of Mizzou’s loss to Norfolk State. It’s the worst sports moment of my life to this point, and it tainted the rest of Frank Haith’s tenure at Missouri. Hell, it feels like the origin story of Mizzou’s ineptitude for the past decade.

But in terms of the whole NCAA Tournament , I can’t think of one that was worse. Sure, St. Peters running to the Elite Eight was a great story — it might have been the only saving grace, too! While I’m no longer emotionally invested in brackets, the chaos of the first few rounds was enough to fully remove me from any sort of passing interest in my brackets. The best teams — the ones that play the best basketball — were out too early, and it zapped some of the enjoyment from the experience.

Not to mention, that chaos didn’t lead to anything substantial in the end! Four modern blue bloods ended up making the Final Four. The Duke-UNC game was very cool, but it led to a worse team facing off with Kansas in the championship, which the Jayhawks were able to capitalize on when coming back from a big deficit. Add in the fact that the officiating was at an all-time low, and this whole thing turned out to be a messy dump of March.

Anyway, let’s check the final standings, shall we?

Only three brackets in our group of 100-plus picked Kansas to win... now that’s commitment to a rivalry! Deweyniner ended up taking the whole shabang as I mentioned he might in the last bracket update, and our very own Parker Gillam ended up sneaking into the top three by virtue of his championship pick. He definitely got some grief for it in the Rock M Slack, so I’m sure he’s feeling only slightly vindicated this morning. Congrats to Deweyniner on their win! Here’s your prize!

And how did our staff end up? We know Parker landed in a prime final spot, but how about everyone else?

3. Parker

T-20. Levi

T-25. Sammy

T-30. Lauren

T-41. Matthew Smith

T-48. Aaron

T-60. Nate

T-74. Matt Harris

T-78. Sam

T-90. Kortay

T-97. Karen

T-99. Josh

Tough look for me!

As a group, we finished 39,000! Great work, y’all!

Thanks for playing, everyone! Hopefully we’re all a little more invested next year as Dennis Gates leads Mizzou into the promised land!