Rory McIlroy looked like every fan with trashed NCAA Tournament bracket after one day of March Madness
It didn’t take long for Rory McIlroy’s 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket to go up in flames. Like almost every college baskeball fan in the world, the superstar golfer’s bracket was torched on the first day of last year’s March Madness, thanks to Jack Gohlke and one of the biggest upsets in tournament history. GettyJack Gohlke and the No. 14 Oakland Golden Grizzlies already wrecked Rory McIlroy’s NCAA Tournament bracket[/caption] While No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Iowa State easily advanced, John Calipari and the No. 3 Kentucky Wildacts suffered an all-time stunner as they fell to Gohlke and the No. 14 Oakland Golden Grizzlies, a little-known commuter school near Detroit. Some fans had Kentucky making the second round, then losing. Others had the Wildcats extending their 2023-34 season all the way to the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight. But McIlroy, who is No. 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings, backed Kentucky so hard that the famous PGA star had the Wildcats reaching the NCAA championship game. And that’s when McIlroy’s bracket went up in flames. According to the NCAA last year, only .00038 percent of all brackets remained perfect after the first day of the three-week tournament. While TaylorMade issued a humble brag that McIlroy ‘had Duquesne’ and the No. 11 Dukes upsetting No. 6 BYU in the first round — Duquesne won 71-67, to McIlroy’s credit — the Northern Ireland star was exposed in the same social media post for his devotion to Kentucky, which has become synonymous with NCAA meltdowns. “These picks didn’t age well,” one fan posted. McIlroy’s attempt at a perfect March Madness bracket last year went up in flames early onGetty McIlroy proudly picked No. 3 Kentucky to reach the NCAA Championship game against defending champ Connecticut Closer inspection shows that McIIroy had Kentucky winning game after game in March Madness “Tell me you don’t watch college (basketball) without telling me you don’t watch college (basketball),” a second fan said. “Dude hasn’t watched a game in his life (with) that bracket,” a third fan wrote. “I got bad news for him in that UCONN game,” a fourth fan commented. Kentucky’s faceplant saw the once-blueblood Wildcats fall to No. 14 Oakland and viral sensation Gohlke, who sank 10 3-pointers and took over social media. McIlroy, like most college basketball devotees, supported a talented SEC team with eight national championships and NBA prospects. But the NCAA Tournament is loved for mad upsets, and few had a small team from the Horizon League knocking out Kentucky. McIlroy doubled down on the Wildcats, though, picking Kentucky to beat Oakland, NC State, Marquette and Houston on the way to Atlanta and the NCAA Championship game. “Can you guys just let him get back to golf, good Lord,” a fan joked. To be fair to Rory, picking a perfect bracket is no easy feat. In fact, nobody has ever filled out the perfect bracket in the history of the NCAA tournament, and for good reason. March Madness Top Stories Ranking the greatest players in NCAA men’s March Madness history – from Michael Jordan to Magic Johnson ‘This sister is special’ – Stephen A. Smith identifies rising star who can challenge Caitlin Clark’s WNBA dominance NCAA March Madness is bigger and better than the College Football Playoff – the springtime phenomenon is bigger than ever Biggest March Madness upsets in history of NCAA Tournament – top seeds humiliated as small schools enjoy their moment According to the NCAA, the odds of predicting all 63 games correctly are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (or approximately 1 in 9.2 quintillion). Or 1 in 120.2 billion (if you know a little something about basketball). This year’s tournament has been just as difficult to predict. Millions of brackets were busted on Thursday in this year’s edition of the Big Dance when the 11th-seeded Drake beat No. 6 seed Missouri and when No. 12 seed McNeese beat No. 5 seed Clemson. Elsewhere, Creighton’s 89-75 win over Louisville busted 13,339,089 ESPN brackets. Fewer than 1 percent of NCAA Tournament brackets were still perfect after the first slate of games this year. ESPN’s tracker listed 25,802 perfect brackets remaining out of more than 24 million while the NCAA said 0.0938 percent of more than 34 million brackets were still perfect. How to watch March Madness in the UK *If you click a link in this box we will earn affiliate revenue March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans, with a total of 68 teams battling it out to become the Division 1 college champions. This year UConn have the chance to become only the second team ever to complete a March Madness three-peat, having emerged victorious for the last two years. talkSPORT will have the latest news on the tournament, but for UK basketball fans the way to w
It didn’t take long for Rory McIlroy’s 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket to go up in flames.
Like almost every college baskeball fan in the world, the superstar golfer’s bracket was torched on the first day of last year’s March Madness, thanks to Jack Gohlke and one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.
While No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Iowa State easily advanced, John Calipari and the No. 3 Kentucky Wildacts suffered an all-time stunner as they fell to Gohlke and the No. 14 Oakland Golden Grizzlies, a little-known commuter school near Detroit.
Some fans had Kentucky making the second round, then losing.
Others had the Wildcats extending their 2023-34 season all the way to the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight.
But McIlroy, who is No. 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings, backed Kentucky so hard that the famous PGA star had the Wildcats reaching the NCAA championship game.
And that’s when McIlroy’s bracket went up in flames.
According to the NCAA last year, only .00038 percent of all brackets remained perfect after the first day of the three-week tournament.
While TaylorMade issued a humble brag that McIlroy ‘had Duquesne’ and the No. 11 Dukes upsetting No. 6 BYU in the first round — Duquesne won 71-67, to McIlroy’s credit — the Northern Ireland star was exposed in the same social media post for his devotion to Kentucky, which has become synonymous with NCAA meltdowns.
“These picks didn’t age well,” one fan posted.
“Tell me you don’t watch college (basketball) without telling me you don’t watch college (basketball),” a second fan said.
“Dude hasn’t watched a game in his life (with) that bracket,” a third fan wrote.
“I got bad news for him in that UCONN game,” a fourth fan commented.
Kentucky’s faceplant saw the once-blueblood Wildcats fall to No. 14 Oakland and viral sensation Gohlke, who sank 10 3-pointers and took over social media.
McIlroy, like most college basketball devotees, supported a talented SEC team with eight national championships and NBA prospects.
But the NCAA Tournament is loved for mad upsets, and few had a small team from the Horizon League knocking out Kentucky.
McIlroy doubled down on the Wildcats, though, picking Kentucky to beat Oakland, NC State, Marquette and Houston on the way to Atlanta and the NCAA Championship game.
“Can you guys just let him get back to golf, good Lord,” a fan joked.
To be fair to Rory, picking a perfect bracket is no easy feat.
In fact, nobody has ever filled out the perfect bracket in the history of the NCAA tournament, and for good reason.
March Madness Top Stories
Ranking the greatest players in NCAA men’s March Madness history – from Michael Jordan to Magic Johnson
‘This sister is special’ – Stephen A. Smith identifies rising star who can challenge Caitlin Clark’s WNBA dominance
NCAA March Madness is bigger and better than the College Football Playoff – the springtime phenomenon is bigger than ever
Biggest March Madness upsets in history of NCAA Tournament – top seeds humiliated as small schools enjoy their moment
According to the NCAA, the odds of predicting all 63 games correctly are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (or approximately 1 in 9.2 quintillion).
Or 1 in 120.2 billion (if you know a little something about basketball).
This year’s tournament has been just as difficult to predict.
Millions of brackets were busted on Thursday in this year’s edition of the Big Dance when the 11th-seeded Drake beat No. 6 seed Missouri and when No. 12 seed McNeese beat No. 5 seed Clemson.
Elsewhere, Creighton’s 89-75 win over Louisville busted 13,339,089 ESPN brackets.
Fewer than 1 percent of NCAA Tournament brackets were still perfect after the first slate of games this year.
ESPN’s tracker listed 25,802 perfect brackets remaining out of more than 24 million while the NCAA said 0.0938 percent of more than 34 million brackets were still perfect.
How to watch March Madness in the UK
*If you click a link in this box we will earn affiliate revenue
March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans, with a total of 68 teams battling it out to become the Division 1 college champions.
This year UConn have the chance to become only the second team ever to complete a March Madness three-peat, having emerged victorious for the last two years.
talkSPORT will have the latest news on the tournament, but for UK basketball fans the way to watch is through Sky Sports. The broadcaster will be showing EVERY March Madness game through their Sky Sports + streaming service.
Click here to sign up to a Sky Sports subscription, or read our article on the best Sky Sports deals available now.
