NCAA Tournament Bracket, How's Your Bracket?

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NCAA Tournament 2016: Ranking the Biggest Bracket-Busters Through the 2nd Round - Bracket-busters thrill some observers but annoy others.

The bracket-buster is a spoiler, a team that knocks off a favored team that was expected to go deep into the NCAA tournament. The surprising result creates the kind of excitement the NCAA tournament is known for.

But it also ruins the brackets of prognosticators or fans who had picked the beaten team to advance through several more rounds. People who filled out a bracket for fun or profit may see their chance for success foiled by a bracket-buster.

The difference between a bracket-buster and a Cinderella is that any low-seeded team can bust a bracket. It does not have to be a little-known team from a low-profile conference, as is the case with a Cinderella.

We selected and ranked nine bracket-busters from the first week of the NCAA tournament. The rankings are based primarily on four elements:

• How far the eliminated team was expected to advance.
• How early in the tournament the favored team was ousted.
• The discrepancy in the seeding between the bracket-buster and the losing favorite.
• Whether the bracket-busting team advanced to the round of 16 and is capable of causing additional havoc.

In one case, a team's surprising advancement to the round of 16 without producing any major upset was enough to earn it a spot in the rankings.