Gonzaga is the pick. Again.
For the second year in a row, the Bulldogs are the most popular national champion among Men's Bracket Challenge Game users. Among completed brackets, 30.26 percent of MBCG entries have Gonzaga winning it all, one season after almost 39 percent had the Zags as champs.
Though Gonzaga doesn't go into the tournament undefeated like it did last year, it is the No. 1 overall seed for the second season in a row.
Here are other notable tidbits:
- Arizona is the second-most picked champion at 13.76 percent. Kansas is third at 7.87
- Two No. 2 seeds — Duke and Kentucky — rank ahead of No. 1 Baylor, though it's close: 6.52 for Duke and 6.01 for UK. Baylor follows at 4.31.
- Tennessee is the top No. 3 seed, coming in at 3.73 percent
- Iowa is the favorite selection outside a top-four seed. The No. 5 Hawkeyes are national champions on 1.59 percent of brackets.
Going back to 2014, the top BCG selection and the actual national champion last matched in 2018, when 17.52 percent correctly predicted Villanova would win its second title in three years.
But the most popular pick ever among BCG users was in 2014, when Kentucky walked into the tournament undefeated — and 46.57 of BCG brackets had the Wildcats taking home the title. But after Wisconsin upset UK in the semifinals, Duke instead won it all and made the 10.54 percent that picked the Blue Devils very, very happy.
The biggest shock came in 2014, when UConn won the title as only 0.23 percent of BCG brackets had the Huskies.
We'll see how this year ends up, but here are all the teams picked by at least 1 percent of complete MBCG brackets:
| Team | Percent picked to win title |
|---|---|
| No. 1 Gonzaga | 30.26 |
| No. 1 Arizona | 13.76 |
| No. 1 Kansas | 7.87 |
| No. 2 Duke | 6.52 |
| No. 2 Kentucky | 6.01 |
| No. 1 Baylor | 4.31 |
| No. 2 Villanova | 3.87 |
| No. 2 Auburn | 3.85 |
| No. 3 Tennessee | 3.73 |
| No. 3 Purdue | 2.58 |
| No. 4 UCLA | 1.95 |
| No. 3 Texas Tech | 1.66 |
| No. 5 Iowa | 1.59 |
| No. 3 Wisconsin | 1.43 |
