The final perfect ESPN NCAA tournament bracket fell, just hours after discussing his strategy for the challenge with the world wide leader.
In the 35th game of the NCAA tournament — Malachi slipped up and picked Ohio State to upset the No. 1 seed — Arizona in the round of 32.
Malachi — who asked to keep his last name anonymous out of privacy concerns — said he had no true strategy or research for his brackets.
“Nothing,” he said Saturday, after his first two picks of the day, UCLA and Kentucky, advanced. “I actually haven’t watched a full game this entire year.”
Malachi got much further than anyone got last year as no entry on any of the major websites survived the Round of 64.
He said his brother called him Thursday morning to remind him that he only had 15 minutes to fill out a bracket. He filled out two.
“I knew I had to have some upsets, but I can’t really give you specific reasons as to why I chose certain teams over others,” he said.
In the Midwest and the East, Malachi chose all the favorites to win, with the exception of Dayton.
In the West and South, he then picked both 14 seeds, Georgia State and UAB, to beat Baylor and Iowa State, respectively. Other upsets included his favorite team, Ohio State, beating VCU, and UCLA beating SMU.
