After disregarding homework completely on “Selection Sunday,” I read blog after blog of statistical analysis on the most likely upsets. I watched Digger Phelps point his stupid Sharpie Marker at me for two straight hours during ESPN’s Bracketology special at 6:00 and 8:00 p.m.

I was certain Murray State and their 30-1 regular season record were an elite eight lock. Not so fast. I tried to get cute picking 14 seed Belmont over Georgetown and 12 seed Long Beach State over New Mexico. So wrong; those teams lost by a combined 22 points.

And then of course Duke and Missouri dump to Norfolk State and Lehigh. I couldn’t tell you what state, let alone conference, either of those schools is from. After losing Duke, St. Mary’s and Murray State I am left with only Kentucky, Michigan State, Syracuse, Ohio State and North Carolina.

So this is what’s left of my bracket: a sheet with more scribbles than a third grader’s homework.

Unexpected upsets excite underdogs, but frustrate gamblers

In the month of March, 40 million NCAA March Madness brackets are filled out. Those 40 million brackets mean that 3.5 billion dollars are gambled on bracket pools and American workers will spend almost 8.4 million hours watching March Madness games they bet on. After 48 games, no one on earth has a perfect bracket.

With 63 games in the tournament and two possible outcomes per game, the odds of having a perfect bracket by the end of March are one in over 18 quintillion. That is 50 billion times less likely than winning the Mega Millions 241 million dollar Jackpot.

This year’s tournament has held an unnatural amount of upsets, even for the NCAA tournament. Nine double-digit seed teams advanced to the third round of the tournament. For the first time since 2001 a 15-seeded team knocked off a two seed.

Norfolk State University defeated the University of Missouri in the West region and Lehigh University overcame Duke University in the South region. Las Vegas sports-books had the odds of both Norfolk State and Lehigh coming out with victories at over 300-to-1.

If somehow it was managed to pick Norfolk State and Lehigh, it is unlikely that VCU, Colorado, Xavier, USF, Ohio, NC State and Purdue were also picked as upsets.

Competing in the tournament and pulling off upsets themselves were recent Minnesota high school graduates Royce White, Nate Wolters, Jordair Jett and Jordan Taylor.

White is a former University of Minnesota Golden Gopher and a Hopkins High School graduate. He posted 38 points, 22 rebounds and only missed six shots in the first two rounds of the tournament, much to the dismay of all Gopher basketball fans.

This weekend’s games highlight a rematch of Indiana University’s Dec. 7, 2011 upset of the University of Kentucky. Indiana overcame Kentucky on a Christian Wofford buzzer-beater that gave the Hoosiers a 73-72 victory over the Wildcats. The loss was Kentucky’s only regular season defeat.

The biggest underdog left in the tournament is the University of Ohio. Ohio is poised for a matchup versus the Tar Heels of North Carolina. Ohio entered the tournament as a 13 seed and,with two more victories, could be the first ever seed higher than 11 to reach the final four.

UNC lost sophomore star Kendall Marshall to a broken wrist in the third round, and will likely be out for the remainder of the tournament. John Henson, the Tar Heels forward, is also nursing a left wrist injury that hindered him in the Tar Heels matchup versus Creighton.

The tournament’s last remaining 11 seed is North Carolina State University. NC State has been led by first-year coach Mark Gottfried and behind the raw talent of C.J. Leslie the Wolfpack, looks to compete with the University of Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen.

Kansas has national player of the year contender Thomas Robinson. At 6’10” and 237 pounds, Thomas Robinson is averaging 13 rebounds per game in the tournament and is a likely top pick in this years NBA draft.

The fourth Friday Sweet Sixteen matchup is between Xavier University and Baylor University. The Baylor Bears and Xavier Musketeers were not teams with particularly high expectations entering the tournament.

Kenny Frease of Xavier has dominated the post in Xavier’s first two matchups, amounting 35 points and 17 rebounds, while Baylor’s Brady Heslip had the game of his life, draining nine of 12 three-pointers in the round of 32. With continued hot shooting, the Bears enter the game as a heavy favorite.

However, if last weekend proved anything it is that being a favorite means very little. The tournament is single elimination and that is what makes March Madness attractive. By Sunday night, the Final Four will be determined and no one has the least clue what the four will actually look like.