Euro Bracket Final Results

Okay, it’s April.  The nets are down, people are done thinking about college basketball for another 6 months minimum, but I wanted to make sure I followed up on the Euro Bracket Challenge so those of you keeping track at home can compare.

And Diana ran away with it.  Her strategy of being conservative and picking favorites really worked well for her this year, in what I think was one of the least interesting tournaments in recent history.  She took a calculated risk in eliminating Kentucky somewhat early, and it paid off, as she was the only person to have Duke as the champion.  Similarly, Helen, who had Duke in the Championship game, came in second.  Poor Stefano, the only one to pick Purdue to win, came in last.

I compared this pool to the one at my former workplace in the US.  The results were alarming:

European average bracket score beat American average bracket score by almost 2 full points.

This further confirms everything you already knew about filling out a bracket.  It takes no skill at all, and often those who know the least do the best.  And in the interest of full disclosure, I had 77 points, assuring I did not owe my employees any free lunch.  USA! USA! USA!

Here are the full results