18 Mar 2014 NCAA Bracket Decided by Twitter
Who’s ready for March Madness? The 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament kicks off this week, and the field of 68 is now set in stone. Anybody could take the championship this year, from the top-seeded Florida Gators to one of the last four teams in, like my NC State Wolfpack (A guy can dream, right?). With such a wide-open field, I wanted to repeat last year’s social media bracket and make my picks based on each team’s Twitter presence.
Tweet and Advance: Methodology
- Only official university men’s basketball Twitter accounts were used.
- Teams with no men’s basketball Twitter account were automatically disqualified.
- This includes schools that use athletic department accounts to tweet for basketball. (Sorry, Wichita State.)
- Teams advanced based on owning the higher number in at least 2/3 of the following factors:
- Total followers as of January 1, 2014
- Klout scores
- Percent growth over conference play (January 1, 2014 to 9 p.m. after Selection Sunday)
Brackets Busted
Some of these picks look crazy, but choosing your winning teams based on Twitter is just as logical as making your picks according to cultural superiority, right?
The championship game here is a real possibility. The biggest surprise to me was the lack of an official men’s basketball Twitter presence from 15 of this year’s 68 NCAA Tournament teams. Based on these picks, 2014 will see the first-ever 16/1 upset with Cal Poly bringing the hammer down on undefeated Wichita State.
While this is unlikely to happen in reality, take a look at the bracket and think about some of the other upsets you see here along the way. It may be just mad enough to inspire a billion dollar bracket.
What do you think of the results? Who is your pick to win the tournament? Let us know in the comments below!
