It is finally, blessedly, officially BRACKET SZN.
Which means that it's time to fill out some brackets and pick some winners (and some upsets, of course) to help make all the March Madness action even more fun. So let's get our picks on.
As Iowa fans, I'm sure a lot of us are inclined to pick the Hawkeyes to make a run in the NCAA Tournament -- given their success this year, we have even more incentive (and, perhaps, some rational basis in doing so) to do in this year's bracket. If you do that route, though, you certainly won't be alone, if these futures bets are any indication:
The 10 most popular NCAAT Champ futures by total tickets since the bracket was released at @BetRivers:
— Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) March 14, 2022
1. Iowa (15%)
2. Arizona (12.3%)
3. Tennessee (10.6%)
4. Gonzaga (7.4%)
5. Kansas (7.2%)
6. Auburn (5%)
7. Duke (4.5%)
8. UCLA (4%)
9. Villanova (3.5%)
10. Houston (3.2%)
Iowa -- yes, Iowa -- is one of the hottest items at the party this year. Gulp!
But we can't exactly control that. All we can control is our own picks, so get ready to show off your bracket-picking prowess. We're going through ESPN for this year's game, as usual. Sign up here.
GROUP: GoIowaAwesome 2022 Picks
PASSWORD: none -- I'm setting it up as a Public group again this year, since that seemed to work OK last year (as I recall).
If you were in last year's group (GoIowaAwesome 2021 Picks), you should be able to just re-join this group. After you make your fill out your bracket, click on the "Add Group" button the near top-middle of the screen -- GoIowaAwesome 2022 Picks should be one of the options for you to select there.
ALSO... this year we're gonna do a Bracket Pick 'Em for the women's basketball tournament, too. Frankly, we should've been doing it the last few years anyway -- ESPN's offered it for a while now -- but we dropped the ball. No more excuses, though, and with Iowa also having a truly kickass women's team too -- perhaps you've heard of Caitlin Clark -- we have even more incentive to want to fill out a WBB bracket. The game is available at ESPN here.
GROUP: GoIowaAwesome 2022 Picks
PASSWORD: none (this is also a Public group)
So go ahead and make your picks for this contest as well!
As for prizes... the immense esteem and undying respect of your fellow Iowa fans isn't enough? Okay, okay... there will probably be a prize of some sort of available for the winners of each game, likely through Go Buyowa Awesome. We'll get that sorted at the conclusion of the contest. (I think I dropped the ball on that for the Bowl Pick 'Em, so mea culpa... I'll do better for the Bracket Pick 'Em games, I promise.)
Let me know if there are any problems joining up, or other issues.
Go Brackets Awesome.
