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          Men's College Basketball Blog

          Tournament Challenge: 2,108 go 8-for-8 on Saturday

          • James Quintong, ESPN.comMar 22, 2015, 05:01 AM
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            • Editor for ESPN.com
            • Member of Fantasy Sports Writers Hall of Fame
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          Through the first set of Round of 32 games in the NCAA tournament Saturday, 2,108 brackets out of the 11.57 million (or .018 percent) entered in the ESPN Tournament Challenge correctly picked the first eight teams to reach the Sweet 16.

          Of those 2,108 brackets to go 8-for-8 Saturday, one of them went 31-1 in the first round, missing only Georgia State.

          The No. 8-seeded NC State Wolfpack's upset over the No. 1-seed Villanova Wildcats busted plenty of brackets, as 30.4 percent of brackets had the Wildcats in the Final Four and 3.5 percent had them winning it all. However, Villanova was the least picked 1-seed to reach the Sweet 16 at 83.4 percent. The Wolfpack were picked to reach the Sweet 16 in 9.5 percent of brackets, the second-least picked team among those that won Saturday.

          Among the current Sweet 16 teams, here are the ones that got less than 50 percent bracket support to win their first two games:

          UCLA and Xavier both benefitted by playing No. 14 seeds in the Round of 32. Their Sweet 16 numbers are low because of the No. 3 seeds in their bracket (Iowa State Cyclones, Baylor Bears) that got knocked off Thursday.

          A total of 9,137 brackets took all four of those lower-seeded teams to reach the Sweet 16.

          The bracket that went a perfect 32-0 in the first round ended up going 5-3 on Saturday. The Arizona Wildcats' win over the Ohio State Buckeyes officially ended his perfect streak, and then he later lost with Villanova and the Butler Bulldogs. He is currently tied for 720th place.

          President Obama went 4-4 Saturday, losing one of his national title game picks in Villanova, as well as a Sweet 16 pick in the Georgetown Hoyas. He's already down five Sweet 16 teams. His bracket is in the 61.6 percentile.

          The all-chalk bracket that did so well in Round 1 wasn't as successful on Saturday, going just 4-4, although that's due in part to Thursday's major upsets knocking out higher seeds ahead of time. The bracket ranks in the 90.9 percentile.

          Looking ahead to Sunday's action, here are the biggest longshots to reach the Sweet 16, and could be major bracketbusters if they win: