Bracket IQ

basketball-men-d1 flag

Adam Hermann | krikya18.com | March 24, 2018

How many people picked Loyola Chicago to reach the Final Four?

Loyola Chicago beats Kansas State, 78-62

Loyola Chicago's run to the Final Four has been one of the most unexpected NCAA tournament developments in years. When the field was announced, few actually believed the Ramblers would emerge from the South Region and head to San Antonio.

But exactly how many is "few"?

MARCH MADNESS SHOP

In this year's , out of the millions of brackets submitted, the Ramblers were chosen just 5,532 times, good for the 12th-most-popular pick in their region โ€” nearly fitting, considering Loyola Chicago is an 11-seed. Seems like some people underrated the Ramblers.

RELATED: We analyzed all three of Loyola's game winners this March

Interestingly enough, Kansas State โ€” the Ramblers' Elite Eight opponent Saturday night, and a 9-seed โ€” was the ninth-most-popular Final Four pick from the South, clocking in at 9,391 selections.

The most popular selection from the South? Overall 1-seed Virginia, which... well, you know what happened there.

Sorry, Cavaliers fans.

UMBC upsets Virginia, 74-54
The least-popular pick to emerge from the South region was 14-seed Wright State, which faced 3-seed Tennessee in the first round. Wright garnered just 1,695 brave votes, a fair mark considering they were felled by the Volunteers in the first round. But Loyola Chicago scored one for the underdogs when it toppled Tennessee in the next round, despite nearly 86,000 more brackets choosing Tennessee to win the South region and advance to the Final Four.

Picking a bracket is always an imperfect science, but this year Loyola Chicago and the South Region turned it into a fool's errand โ€” except for 5,532 brilliant minds.

College basketball rankings: Even unranked teams find success in the NCAA tournament

Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 โ€” its modern format โ€” only five of 38 national champions were unranked to start the season.
READ MORE

March Madness: One stat shows AP No. 1 is far from a championship lock

It seems like a safe pick. But itโ€™s happened only four times since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
READ MORE

How recent eventual March Madness men's champions did in their conference tournaments

Here's how every DI men's basketball national champion has done in its conference tournament since 1994.
READ MORE