While we had to wait and see whether Butler could complete its Cinderella run or whether UConn could close out an incredible postseason streak, the winner of the 2011 Chicago Tournament Challenge was never in doubt as not one competitor had either Butler or UConn winning the NCAA Championship. Now that UConn has cut down the nets, we can officially declare our winner. more ›

Well, the weekend's play sure didn't play out as expected. By the time the Final Four was decided yesterday, all of the one and two seeds were sent home. Top seed Duke exited on Thursday and overall number one Ohio St. was eliminated on Friday in the Sweet Sixteen rounds. Two seeds Florida and North Carolina, as well as one seed Kansas were bounced in the Elite Eight. Meanwhile, Butler surprises by making the Final Four again and Virginia Commonwealth, an eleven seed who had to play into the field of 64, joins them. UConn and Kentucky round out the Final Four. Needless to say, the chaos has wrecked everybody's brackets! Of the six million entries in ESPN's Tournament Challenge, only two correctly picked the Final Four. more ›

With the first weekend's slate of NCAA basketball tournament games complete, the Sweet Sixteen is set. We saw local teams like Illinois and Notre Dame bow out, as well as top-seeded Pitt. Meanwhile, a quarter of the Sweet Sixteen is filled with double digit seeds -- including three in the Southwest region. more ›

On Monday night, we wanted Butler Bulldogs put up an incredible fight against the Duke Blue Devils, with Duke escaping with a 61-59 victory to claim the NCAA Men's Basketball title and capping one of the craziest, most entertaining tournaments ever. Taking the title in the Chicagoist Tournament Challenge is K. Oser's "crow930us" entry. His bracket accumulated 1,310 points, placing in the 99.9th percentile of all entries in the ESPN Tournament Challenge. Congrats! Contact me at benjy(at)chicagoist(dot)com to claim your prize. more ›

We're now down to the Final Four teams in the NCAA Tournament -- Duke, West Virginia, Michigan St. and Butler. The craziness continued to wreck havoc with everybody's brackets, as Duke alone survived to the Final Four from the one seeds and two five seeds found their way into the semi-finals. In the Chicagoist Tournament Challenge, K. Osar's crow930us 1 entry stands in first place with 830 points and a 99.7th percentile rank of all ESPN.com entries. He's picked Duke to win it all, so he's in good shape to take home the prize we'll award next Tuesday. As for us, I've climbed back into respectability by jumping from 80th to 19th, while Marcus' Better Than Benjy entry is, in fact, 20 spots below me [Ed's Note: Stupid Duke]. more ›

By Sunday night, many of us had turned our attention from the hardwood to the health care reform, which was only appropriate given that many of our NCAA brakcets are on life support. A weekend that saw more upsets since 1991 - including number one seed Kansas fall to Northern Iowa - meant that many of us have brackets that are quite ugly. But many of you are doing better than we are. Marcus is currently in a tie for 30th place and I'm currently sitting in 80th place in the Chicagoist Tournament Challenge, out of 112 active entries. After getting burned by picking too many upsets in tournaments past, we went conservative this year... and now the likes of Northern Iowa and Cornell decide to pick off the big guys. Like many, we also thought Kansas would hoist the trophy at tourney's end, so we can't even make a comeback in the big point rounds. more ›

With Kansas' victory, we now have a winner in the Chicagoist Tournament Challenge. Out of 90 entrants, l.meuller's el #1 entry took top prize! He compiled 1260 points, which placed him in the 97.9th percentile. Chicagoist is quite impressed... especially considering that we just squeaked into the fourth quintile overall and 70th in our own damn pool. more ›

To enter, click this link to go directly to the group, or go to ESPN's Tournament Challenge, register or log in, and search for Chicagoist. The password is: chicagoist. One entry per person in the Chicagoist pool, please. more ›

Monday night, the University of Florida Gators beat the Ohio St. Buckeyes 84-75 to capture their second consecutive NCAA men's basketball title. Florida also became the first school ever to win both the college football and basketball championships in the same school year. more ›

We want to remind you to join Chicagoist's Tournament Challenge! Compete against Chicagoist readers, staff and our own stable of college basketball analysts. more ›

If you're anything like Chicagoist, you spent Sunday evening poring over the brackets for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. And if you're anything like Chicagoist, you'll repeat this ritual daily until your picks must be turned in for your office pool later this week. Sixty-five teams will fight for a trip to the Final Four. All have hopes and dreams, but only four teams will make it to Atlanta, and only one team will cut down... more ›

The NCAA Tournament never turns out like we think it will, and this year's tournament had even more unepected twist and turns than a typical year. From the numerous upsets, to all the top seeds missing the Final Four, to George Mason making the Final Four, to the large margins of victory in the the Final Four and Championship games. Last night, Florida defeated UCLA 73-57 to claim the NCAA basketball title. With the conclusion... more ›

Tomorrow is the bid day for college basketball fans, and even many who don't necessarily follow the sport the rest of the season. The NCAA Tournament kicks off with the first 16 games, running from late morning to nearly midnight. With those 12 hours of non-stop basketball overlapping a good part of the workday, it comes as little surprise that the tourament impacts workplace productivity. Supposedly $3.8 billion in lost as a result of March... more ›

The winter sports doldrums from which Chicagoist has suffered since the Super Bowl are almost over. Sunday's announcement of the NCAA Tournament field kick off the beginning of the new sports season, as college basketball leads us into baseball, which leads us back into football. Illinois is represented by three teams in the field of 65. Southern Illinois made the field as an 11th seed after winning the Missouri Valley Conference. Bradley is a... more ›

Illinois got a rude awakening from its dream season, as North Carolina won last night's NCAA basketball tournament 75-70. The Tar Heels took a 15 point lead early in the second half before Illinois staged a furious comeback. The Illini fought back to tie the game at 65-65, but could not get over the hump to take a lead. They had their chances towards the end, but the shots wouldn't fall and ultimately, the Illni... more ›

As any sports fan knows, the biggest story of the weekend was college basketball. The conference tournaments wrapped up Sunday afternoon, leading to the NCAA tournament seedings announcement. As expected, Illinois received a #1 seed on account of their 32-1 record and their winning the Big Ten tourney. But the mood was perhaps more subdued that for most teams in their situation. Friday evening, following Illinois' 68-51 victory over Northwestern, coach Bruce Weber's mother passed... more ›

Chicagoist is announcing our first annual NCAA Tournament pool. We'll be piggy-backing on our friends over at ESPN.com, where Chicagoist has set up a private group in their Tournament Challenge. more ›