Boston Sports Mania

@Hyperjack13 7/8. St. John’s will win

No need to overthink it Purdue Iowa Arizona Houston Duke Michigan UConn Iowa State

NL West 1. Los Angeles Dodgers 101-61 (1st seed) 2. San Francisco Giants 94-68 (4th seed) 3. San Diego Padres 86-76 (6th seed) 4. Arizona Diamondbacks 78-84 5. Colorado Rockies 64-98

NL Central 1. Chicago Cubs 96-66 (3rd seed in NL) 2. Cincinnati Reds 80-82 3. Milwaukee Brewers 73-89 4. Pittsburgh Pirates 69-93 5. St. Louis Cardinals 57-105

Happy 12 years of Boston Sports Mania! 12 years ago today I made my first post on bostonsportsmania.com with my 2014 MLB predictions. With Opening Day tomorrow, I figured it would be a great night to share my predictions for the 2026 season!

@FanDuel Michigan

NO CHEATING. Tell me where Jordan Poole went to college 🎓

@CollegeFBonX For my bracket’s sake, Arizona, but I’m a UConn fan so would love to see an Arizona vs UConn natty because then I’d be happy either way

16 teams left. Who do you WANT to win the national championship?

@danny74125 @CollegeFBonX This could theoretically be the Final Four

@CollegeFBonX No way you didn't do that on purpose

@theblockspot None of these are happening, but Tennessee is beating UVA

KEEP 1… CUT 4… SUNDAY UPSETS: • 9 IOWA over 1 Florida • 9 UTAH STATE over 1 Arizona • 7 MIAMI over 2 Purdue • 7 KENTUCKY over 2 Iowa State • 7 UCLA over 2 UConn Which UPSET are you KEEPING ???

@WreckEmMatt This tourney feels more like 2024 and less like 2025

I think people just like to complain. I can’t even imagine watching Vandy / Nebraska High Point / Arkansas VCU / UNC UConn vs Furman Santa Clara / Kentucky Utah State / Villanova Duke / Siena High Point / Wisconsin Etc and thinking this tournament sucks

@IonaGuyF Once is in instance. Twice is a coincidence. If we have this next year, it’s a pattern and that would be cause for concern

For the 2nd straight year, no teams seeded 13-16 won a 1st round game in the NCAA Tourney. The last time that happened was 1985 and 1986. NIL. Portal. NET. Take your pick, but the NCAA got what it wanted. And killed our greatest sporting event in the process.

@theblockspot A mix of both. I like one or two 13-16 seeds winning and one or two 10+ seeds in the Sweet 16

• Wild March Madness upsets. • Chalk to set up great games later on. Which do you prefer ???

@TheMaster_Plan_ I do have Vanderbilt over Nebraska but they are betting favorites

@TheMaster_Plan_ Definitely pulling for VCU today, had all favorites outside of them on my initial bracket. A win for High Point or TCU could be fun as well as I don’t have Arkansas/Duke in my Elite 8 but unfortunately I think Michigan and Gonzaga (from my Elite 8) are more likely to lose

March Madness R2 Bracket Hopes: In round one, I went 28/32 in picks (87.5%). My hopes for round two would be to keep all of my elite 8 teams alive and win 50% of the other games (or 75% overall). If you're keeping your deep run teams alive while being around 75%, you're setting yourself up well for the later rounds, where each game is worth more points. The only top seed I am truly rooting against today is Arkansas (because I had Wisco in the Sweet 16) Mandatory wins this weekend: Duke, Michigan, Arizona, and Illinois (Final 4). Important Wins: Gonzaga, UConn, Virginia, and Florida

@theblockspot VCU, Texas, Saint Louis strike me as the most likely

KEEP 3… CUT 3… SATURDAY UPSETS: • 12 HIGH POINT • 11 VCU • 11 TEXAS • 10 TEXAS A&M • 9 SAINT LOUIS • 9 TCU Which 3 Cinderellas are you KEEPING ???

@TheMaster_Plan_ Part of this is biased by the fact that I had VCU in my original Sweet 16. Illinois did look great against Penn but they’ve shown they’re breakable

@AndrewRoberts1 I think Illinois is a damn good team, and VCU was lucky to escape UNC. I prefer Texas over Gonzaga, who looked shaky in Rd.1

Ranking the most likely 3+ seed upsets to happen today: 1) VCU over Illinois 2) Louisville over Michigan State 3) Saint Louis over Michigan 4) Texas over Gonzaga 5) TCU over Duke 6) High Point over Arkansas 7) Texas A&M over Houston Comment with thoughts ⬇️

@mccavman_3 @GoodmanHoops Virginia still nearly lost to Wright State 🤷‍♂️

@AndrewRoberts1 @GoodmanHoops

Favorites went 16-0 yesterday. This year's first round had 13 of 32 games decided by 20+ points. High Point only true mid-major still alive, and its NIL is probably most of any team in 1-bid league. I hate to admit it, but due to NIL & transfer portal, Cinderellas may be dead.