ESPN Tournament Challenge: Fans Get a Second Chance
With brackets busting all over the 17.3 million in ESPN’s Men’s Tournament Challenge game, fans may think their chances to win bragging rights, if not a grand prize, are over. Not so. ESPN has fans covered with the ESPN Tournament Challenge Second Chance game.
It’s a do-over, starting with the Sweet 16. Any fan – especially those accounting for the 16.8 million brackets that did not pick No. 16 UMBC’s historic upset of overall No. 1 seed Virginia – can choose winners for the remaining 15 men’s tournament games and enter for a chance to win a grand prize $5,000 Amazon Gift Card.
Fans can submit Tournament Challenge Second Chance brackets until Thursday, March 22, at 7:00 p.m. ET, before the start of the first Sweet 16 game, No. 11 Loyola-Chicago vs. No. 7 Nevada in the South Region.
In the meantime, following are a few highlights from the Men’s Tournament Challenge “People’s Bracket” heading into the Sweet 16:
- Of the top 11 teams picked to win the championship, six (Virginia, Michigan State, North Carolina, Arizona, Xavier, Cincinnati) failed to reach the Sweet 16.
- Only three brackets out of 17.3 million got 15 of 16 Round of 32 games correct; none got all 16 correct.
- Of 17.3 million Tournament Challenge brackets, 5,969 entries correctly predicted No. 5 Kentucky, No. 11 Loyola-Chicago, No. 7 Nevada and No. 9 Kansas State making the Sweet 16 in the South Region.
- On the other hand, 31.1 percent (5,384,973) of brackets predicted that No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Cincinnati, No. 3 Tennessee, and No. 4 Arizona would advance to the Sweet 16 in of the South.
- Just 1.1 percent (191,342) of the 17.3 million Tournament Challenge brackets called the Sweet 16 matchup of No. 11 Loyola-Chicago and No. 7 Nevada.
Percentage who picked these Sweet 16 teams to advance to the Elite Eight:
- No. 9 Kansas State: 1.4 percent
- No. 5 Kentucky: 12.3 percent
- No. 11 Loyola-Chicago: 1.9 percent
- No. 7 Nevada: 3.1 percent
- No. 9 Florida St.: 2.3 percent
- No. 4 Gonzaga: 35 percent
- No. 3 Michigan: 32.0 percent
- No. 7 Texas A&M: 2.4 percent
- No. 1 Villanova: 74.2 percent
- No. 5 West Virginia: 10.5 percent
- No. 3 Texas Tech: 18.9 percent
- No. 2 Purdue: 58.9 percent
- No. 1 Kansas: 73.8 percent
- No. 5 Clemson: 6.8 percent
- No. 11 Syracuse: 1.4 percent
- No. 2 Duke: 48.2 percent
