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Facebook’s NCAA tournament bracket is here

Mar 15, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari after winning the SEC Conference Championship game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky won 78-63. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari after winning the SEC Conference Championship game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky won 78-63. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The popular social networking site recently published its own version of the NCAA men’s tournament bracket, with team wins determined by mentions.


It is everyone’s favorite time of the year. March madness is once again upon us, as the NCAA tournament gets underway. The round of 64 kicks off on Thursday, with 16 glorious match ups of college basketball goodness. Always on the trendy side of culture, Facebook decided to hold its own version of this year’s bracket.

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How were their winners decided? Well, this is social networking. And in that realm of the internet, popularity triumphs over all. Teams ultimately advanced through the various stages of the bracket by maintaining a higher tally of mentions than their opponent.

This method of determining winners and losers provides for an interesting look into how fans promote their own schools. It also gives us a few surprising outcomes. For instance, here is what your final four looks like. Kentucky, Duke, Louisville, and Ohio State.

Okay, we will give you Kentucky and Duke. In fact, the two schools are favored on many brackets as an exact finals match up. Louisville has a tough, but winnable region with Villanova possibly being the weakest out of all four number ones, and a recent head to head victory over two seeded Virginia.

But Ohio State? That is quite the stretch to say the least. Never mind the fact that they are a 10th seed. You can even ignore that their realistic best case scenario is losing in the round of 32 to Arizona.

In order for the Buckeyes to make a final four run, they would likely have to take out Wisconsin or North Carolina. While the latter presents a formidable task for most teams, the Badgers spanked OSU 72-48 in Columbus as recently as March 8th.

This is, however, ultimately a popularity contest. Ohio State, regardless of their basketball standing, has one of the most vocal fan bases in all of college sports. For that, we cannot be too surprised on their social media presence.

H/T Sports Illustrated

Next: Updated NCAA Tournament Bracket

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