See how everyone did against Charlie.
December 28, 2021 by Ultiworld in Fantasy with 0 comments
The 2021 College Championships have come and gone, bringing the close to an unusual fall Series just as the holidays have come up on the calendar. Each championships is a chance for Charlie to flex his mental muscle, but the Beat Charlie Challenge let you try to outshine the Editor-in-Chief. Let’s see how the hundreds of challengers did.
For those who outscored Charlie, they’ll be entered to win an Ultiworld Greatest bag or a free month at our Full Subscription level.
Here’s the scoring as a reminder:
- Pick the following for each of the D-I women’s and men’s division
- Quarterfinalists (1 pt. per correct answer)
- Semifinalists (1 pt.)
- Finalists (1 pt.)
- Champion (3 pts.)
- 2021 Bonus: D-III Champion (1 pt.)
Charlie’s Picks
Oh man, Charlie is going to be insufferable after tying or out-picking all but three of the 165 entrants. His entry scored 26 points. That’s the 97th percentile, his best score yet.
D-I Women’s
- Quarterfinals: No.1 Carleton, No.2 North Carolina, No.3 UC Santa Barbara, No.4 Washington, No.5 Colorado, No.6 Pittsburgh, No.7 Western Washington, No.8 UC San Diego
- Semifinals: No.1 Carleton, No.2 North Carolina, No.3 UC Santa Barbara, No.4 Washington
- Final: No.1 Carleton, No.2 North Carolina
- Champion: No.2 North Carolina
- Scored: 14
Did Charlie phone it in with the chalky picks? Everything to seed until the final? Really going out on a limb. But it was also mostly right. No.9 Virginia and No.14 UC Davis crashed the quarterfinal party in place of Colorado and Western Washington, and Washington took Carleton’s place in the final, but this was all spot-on otherwise. The points of contention between Charlie and the field were mostly No.8 UC San Diego vs. No.10 Texas, sticking with UC Santa Barbara and Washington to make semis over Colorado and Pittsburgh, and taking UNC to finish with a title, which 37% of entrants did not.
D-I Men’s
- Quarterfinals: No.1 North Carolina, No.2 Colorado, No.3 Washington, No.4 Brown, No.5 Pittsburgh, No.7 Cal Poly SLO, No.9 NC State, No.11 Georgia
- Semifinals: No.1 North Carolina, No.2 Colorado, No.3 Washington, No.4 Brown
- Final: No.1 North Carolina, No.2 Colorado
- Champion: No.1 North Carolina
- Scored: 12
Again, Charlie got six of the eight quarterfinalists, but he did get a Georgia team only 27% of entrants selected. He also benefited greatly from fading Carleton, who almost 77% of entrants chose. While Colorado and Washington to semis was wrong, the most popular alternatives (Pittsburgh, Carleton) also missed out, so Charlie avoided punishment on that front.
D-III
Women’s Champion:
- #2 Carleton
Men’s Champion:
- #3 Middlebury
A close one in D-III, but ultimately, a pair of misses for Charlie on the bonus picks.
The Field
While Charlie scored more in D-I women’s than D-I men’s, and no bonus points, he gained about equal advantage over the field in both. The average D-I women’s score was 11.3, while the average D-I men’s score was 9.3
D-I Men’s
The top seven seeds were the clear favorites to make quarterfinals (although Brown was slightly more popular than Washington), while No.9 NC State outpaced No.8 Texas. But the eighth slot was pretty well dispersed. No.19 Cornell was the only team completely shut out, while No.12 Michigan, No.11 Georgia, and No.10 Ohio State all garnered strong interest, in that order.
The relationship of pick rates maintained throughout most of the rest of the bracket. The top six seeds were clearly well ahead of the rest, and North Carolina was picked by 50% of entrants to win the whole enchilada. The rest of the title calls were dispersed across that top six.
Of course, one of the keys was to avoid having deep run picks for Pittsburgh (35.8% to semifinals) and/or Carleton (31.8%).
D-I Women’s
There was a lot of confidence from the crowd in the top six seeds, and to a lesser extent, No.8 UC San Diego. The team folks did not have faith in: No.7 Western Washington. My guess is that the small roster scared people off, though it also might be attributed to the crossover with No.6 Pittsburgh or No.10 Texas, the latter of which nearly equaled WWU’s quarterfinal selection rate. Speaking of a lack of belief, people slept on both No.9 Virginia, who only 18.5% picked to reach quarterfinals.
The rest of the game was defined by whoever backed Washington. UNC and Carleton were both over 95% to reach semifinals and over 80% to reach the final. The other semifinal slots were spread across the next four seeds, with No.5 Colorado (36.4%) and Pitt (34.1%) trailing Washington (50.3%). But only 7.5% of the entries correctly pegged Washington to play on Monday.
D-III Champions
For whatever reason — probably brand recognition — No.2 Carleton Eclipse claimed a dominate 52% share of the picks to win. The other top four seeds were all between 10 and 15%, and nobody else had any real sizable slice.
On the men’s side, the top three seeds were all densely packed between 20% and 28%, while future champion No.4 Oklahoma Christian was just under 10%. The only other team to attract much attention was No.6 Whitman, at 4.6%. Only a single entrant liked No.5 Franciscan.
The Winners
We have so few this time! Ben K-M, Dan H, and David P each beat out Charlie by a single point, each scoring 27.
By random selection, Ben K-M will get an Ultiworld Greatest Bag. It doesn’t feel right to leave our just a single winner, so the other two will both receive a Free Month of Full Subscription.
