Women’s NCAA Tournament - Top bracket trends
Ros Gold-Onwude, Isis Young and Cassandra Negley take a look at some of the standout stats from Yahoo ‘Bracket Madness’ entries so far and whether the choices are on the path to victory.
Video Transcript
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- The best part of March Madness, it's got to be the brackets, right? I mean for all of us who are not actually playing on the court. So let's check in on Bracket Madness trends and for all of you that might be wondering what that actually is, it's from folks who have filled out a bracket on Yahoo. And we've got some results already coming out. So let's check in on them.
South Carolina, 39% of Yahoo brackets have them winning it all. Ice, too high, too low, or is that just right?
- I'm going to say too low. I'm in the 39%. I think we should be around 47, 48. I think almost half of us should believe that South Carolina is going to win. They're undefeated. Nobody has beat them. And they play in the SEC. They've been battle tested. And still, no problem. Kamilla Cardoso can bank in a 3 and still win.
- Right.
- So I say it's a little too low for me.
- They find ways to win. That's low for a team that's literally undefeated.
- Yes.
- Like statistically speaking. I'm not a mathematician, but--
- Right.
- --what are the odds?
- Probability. I don't know. I don't know. We'll get more on our side before we start hooping.
- All right, all right, Iowa, looking at any storylines and trends around them coming out of Yahoo brackets. 32% of them have them winning it all. So, Cass, now is that number, 32%, for Iowa-- is that too high, too low, or just right?
- That's too high. That's way too high. I think a lot of people want the story of it, of Caitlin Clark winning a championship, and that's great. That's what March is about. That's the excitement of a bracket. But this region is absolutely brutal. They're going to have to go through possibly UCLA, LSU, Kansas State, Colorado just to get to the Final Four. And then you've got two more games. That's a lot for Iowa to go through. I think it's a little too high.
- OK, well, let's go to another bracket trend then and look at some upsets. OK, not the favorites. But upsets, not the top seeds. Let's get in the mushy gushy. The most-- [LAUGHS] the most popular 12 over 5 upset, the brackets have spoken, and they're taking Drake over Colorado just under 20%. Ice, too high, too low, or just right for that upset?
- I think it's just right. One, I love a 5-12 upset. I feel like we see it every year in the tournament too. Drake, historically, known as one of the best mid-major schools in the country. And if you don't come to defend and play defense for 40 minutes, they're going to shoot the lights out. So I think Colorado has been put on watch. They've had a couple of games they've lost this season that they shouldn't have. Drake might be the right one.
- We love the madness. Bring it on. Be sure to get in on the action with Yahoo's Bracket Madness game for both the women's and the men's tournaments. You could win $25,000 in our Best Bracket Contest. It's free to play, so head to Yahoo.com/tourney to sign up.