With less than 24 hours before the 2019 NCAA tournament tips off, here are some interesting takeaways from ESPN's Tournament Challenge entries:
No. 1 seed Duke remains the most popular team picked to win the national title by a wide margin, though the percentage of people picking the Blue Devils (37.7 percent) continues to slip a bit (down from 53.9 percent early Sunday evening, 41.4 percent Monday evening and 39.6 percent Tuesday afternoon).
All other No. 1 seeds continue to rise slightly in percentage of brackets chosen to win the title:
North Carolina: 16.3 percent (14.8 percent Tuesday/14.3 percent Monday)
Gonzaga: 8.5 percent (8.2 percent Tuesday/7.7 percent Monday)
Virginia: 7.7 percent (7.3 percent Tuesday/6.8 percent Monday)
No. 2 seeds Kentucky (5.2 percent), Michigan State (4.9 percent), Tennessee (4.4 percent) and Michigan (3.2 percent) remain about the same as they did Monday and Tuesday, and they round out the top eight teams picked to win it all. Each is well ahead of the next teams: No. 4 Kansas (0.9 percent) and No. 3 Texas Tech (0.8 percent).
No. 12 seeds are typically popular upset picks to beat a No. 5 seed in the first round, so it's perhaps not surprising 41.9 percent have No. 12 Murray State beating No. 5 Marquette and 38.9 percent have No. 12 Oregon taking down No. 5 Wisconsin. Oregon (18.0 percent) and Murray State (13.6 percent) are also holding steady for the following round, as they are being picked in more brackets to get to the Sweet 16 than all four 7-seeds, 8-seeds, 9-seeds, 10-seeds and 11-seeds.
No. 8 vs. No. 9 may seem like a coin flip, but 54.3 percent of brackets have No. 9 UCF "upsetting" No. 8 VCU. On the other hand, 66.1 percent of brackets are going with No. 8 Syracuse over No. 9 Baylor. No. 8 Ole Miss vs. No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 8 Utah State vs. No. 9 Washington remain about a 50-50 call with the 8-seed sporting a slight edge.
No. 6 Villanova continues to get some solid Final Four love, as more brackets (6.4 percent) have the Wildcats going that far than two 3-seeds, three 4-seeds, all 5-seeds and the other 6-seeds.
Finally, here are the top-10 largest Tournament Challenge groups (in order): ESPN's SportsCenter, ESPN Streak, ESPN's First Take, Tournament Challenge ESPN, Pardon The Interruption, Golic and Wingo, Fans of Duke, Quavo's Group, Fans of North Carolina and Stephen A. Smith's Group.