Once again, it's time for Raymond to come up with an absurd, arbitrary criterion for filling out his NCAA bracket.

This year, we go to the well-known dispute arbiter Google Fight. The criterion is the number of Google hits for the quoted phrase "%s basketball", divided by the school's seed. (I would have used Bing hits, except Bing's numbers are highly erratic. Only 291 hits for "Arkansas-Pine Bluff basketball"? The results may be more meaningful, but I'm not looking for meaningful results; I'm looking for numbers I can plug into my bracket-o-matic.)

Once the field has been narrowed to eight teams, the results are determined by a coin flip.

Update:

  • Correct predictions are in green.
  • Incorrect predictions are in red.
  • (!) marks upsets correctly predicted.
  • (*) marks upsets predicted but did not take place.
  • (x) marks actual upsets not predicted.

Opening Round Game

Arkansas-Pine Bluff(80,900) Arkansas-Pine Bluff
(80,900)
Winthrop(29,200)

Midwest bracket

1Kansas(94,200) Kansas
(94,200)		 Kansas
(94,200) (x)		 Kansas
(heads)		 Kansas
16Lehigh(1,400)
8UNLV(43,875) Northern Iowa
(57,444) (!)
9Northern Iowa(57,444)
5Michigan State(15,120) Michigan State
(15,120)		 Maryland
(27,750) (x)
12New Mexico State(11,083)
4Maryland(27,750) Maryland
(27,750)
13Houston(6,784)
6Tennessee(11,550) San Diego State
(17,272) (*)		 Georgetown
(24,766)		 Ohio State
(tails)
11San Diego State(17,272)
3Georgetown(24,766) Georgetown
(24,766) (x)
14Ohio(2,057)
7Oklahoma State(2,857) Oklahoma State
(2,857) (x)		 Ohio State
(34,700)
10Georgia Tech(2,750)
2Ohio State(34,700) Ohio State
(34,700)
15UC Santa Barbara(4,746)

West bracket

1Syracuse(131,000) Syracuse
(131,000)		 Syracuse
(131,000)		 Syracuse
(tails)		 Pittsburgh
16Vermont(5,312)
8Gonzaga(5,325) Gonzaga
(5,325)
9Florida State(1,644)
5Butler(26,000) Butler
(26,000)		 Vanderbilt
(61,750)
12UTEP(7,600)
4Vanderbilt(61,750) Vanderbilt
(61,750) (x)
13Murray State(6,761)
6Xavier(26,500) Xavier
(26,500)		 Pittsburgh
(54,666) (x)		 Pittsburgh
(heads)
11Minnesota(3,427)
3Pittsburgh(54,666) Pittsburgh
(54,666)
14Oakland(1,728)
7BYU(6,785) BYU
(6,785)		 Kansas State
(25,000)
10Florida(5,850)
2Kansas State(25,000) Kansas State
(25,000)
15North Texas(7,066)

East bracket

1Kentucky(285,000) Kentucky
(285,000)		 Kentucky
(285,000)		 Kentucky
(tails)		 New Mexico
16East Tennessee State(3,687)
8Texas(24,250) Texas
(24,250) (x)
9Wake Forest(3,022)
5Temple(32,600) Cornell
(60,000) (!)		 Cornell
(60,000) (!)
12Cornell(60,000)
4Wisconsin(8,325) Wisconsin
(8,325)
13Wofford(2,192)
6Marquette(15,283) Marquette
(15,283) (x)		 New Mexico
(17,633)		 New Mexico
(heads)
11Washington(4,009)
3New Mexico(17,633) New Mexico
(17,633)
14Montana(1,778)
7Clemson(4,885) Clemson
(4,885) (x)		 West Virginia
(10,800)
10Missouri(3,700)
2West Virginia(10,800) West Virginia
(10,800)
15Morgan State(5,686)

South bracket

1Duke(363,000) Duke
(363,000)		 Duke
(363,000)		 Duke
(heads)		 Duke
16Arkansas-Pine Bluff(5,056)
8California(2,487) Louisville
(17,444) (*)
9Louisville(17,444)
5Texas A&M(156,000) Texas A&M
(156,000)		 Texas A&M
(156,000) (*)
12Utah State(0,883)
4Purdue(12,000) Purdue
(12,000)
13Siena(0,900)
6Notre Dame(14,450) Old Dominion
(14,454) (!)		 Old Dominion
(14,454) (*)		 Villanova
(tails)
11Old Dominion(14,454)
3Baylor(11,100) Baylor
(11,100)
14Sam Houston State(4,671)
7Richmond(5,714) Saint Mary's
(9,900) (!)		 Villanova
(18,000) (x)
10Saint Mary's(9,900)
2Villanova(18,000) Villanova
(18,000)
15Robert Morris(13,000)

Finals

Kansas(tails) Pittsburgh
(heads)		 Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh(heads)
New Mexico(heads) New Mexico
(tails)
Duke(tails)