March Madness is always unpredictable, but that is especially the case this year if the CBS Sports brackets are any indication.
With the Elite Eight matchups now set, every CBS Sports men's bracket has been busted, but the chaos of this tournament goes well beyond nixing perfect brackets after the first weekend. Of the eight teams remaining in the tournament, none of them were popular picks to win it all.
Gonzaga is the most popular national title pick still standing, and fewer than 6% of brackets had the Bulldogs cutting down the nets. Still, the Bulldogs look like a massive favorite compared to five Elite Eight teams that were picked to win a national championship by fewer than 1% of brackets.
- Gonzaga: 5.9%
- Texas: 5.7%
- UConn: 1.9%
- Kansas State: 0.6%
- Miami: 0.4%
- Creighton: 0.19%
- San Diego State: 0.15%
- FAU: 0.04%
One reason that brackets might look even rougher than usual is that the two most popular national champions got knocked out in the Sweet 16. Alabama was the top pick to win it all as 80.8% of brackets had the Crimson Tide in the Elite Eight, and 22.6% of brackets chose them as the national champs.
Houston was a close second with 71.6% of brackets predicting that the Cougars would advance to the Elite Eight and 14.9% of brackets picking them to capture a national title.
When it comes to the teams left in the South and East regions, one of them will reach the national championship despite being an afterthought by a vast majority of brackets. Kansas State, Miami, Creighton, San Diego State and FAU were picked to hoist the trophy by well under 1% of brackets.
We'll see how many more CBS Sports brackets fall apart when the Elite Eight concludes Sunday