For the 2019 NCAA Tournament, Dog O’Day put on the site’s first Barketology contest.
The 2019 NCAA Tournament has just concluded last night, with the ACC’s Virginia Cavaliers squeaking out a win in overtime over the Texas Tech Red Raiders from the Big 12 to become this year’s champions of the college basketball landscape.
Dog O’Day put on the site’s first-ever Barketology bracket contest, because that’s part of the fun of March Madness. Joining our site expert Wesley was Natalie Heavren, a contributor for women’s basketball site High Post Hoops. (There was also a ESPN spambot with the alias Kristen, but that wasn’t tracked.)
The rules were simple: everyone fills out a bracket, and schools with canine mascots scored double points.
Auburn, Baylor, Buffalo, UC Irvine, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Gonzaga, Houston, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Liberty, LSU, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Murray State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas Tech, UCF, Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington and Wofford all won in the first round.
That meant that Wesley scored 18 points, with double bonus points going towards the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Tennessee Volunteers (Smokey the Coonhound is their mascot), Washington Huskies and Wofford Terriers.
Natalie scored 21 points in the first round, with double points going towards Gonazaga, Tennessee, Washington and Wofford.
In the second round, Auburn, Duke, Florida State, Gonzaga, Houston, Kentucky, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oregon, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Virginia and Virginia Tech all won.
Natalie earned 7.5 points in the second round, with double points for Gonzaga and Tennessee.
Wesley scored 9 points the second round, with double points for Gonzaga and Tennessee.
With Natalie’s 28.5 points leading Wesley’s 27 going after the first two rounds, it was a close race.
In the Sweet Sixteen, the winners were Auburn, Duke, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Michigan State, Purdue, Texas Tech and Virginia.
That meant Wesley got 4.5 points this round, bringing his total to 31.5 points overall, while Natalie got 1.75 points, giving her 30.25 points.
In the Elite Eight, the winners were Auburn, Michigan State, Texas Tech and Virginia. Wesley got 2.5 points this round, and Natalie scored .25 points.
So the final score was Wesley 34 points while Natalie scored 30.5 points.
This was a fun contest to do, and hopefully next year there will be more contenders from across the FanSided Network.