2006 March Madness: NCAA ESPN Bracketology

Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas, and Dick Vitale host ESPN Bracketology in preparation for 2006 March Madness.
The 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2005-06 basketball season. It began on March 14, 2006, and concluded on April 3 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.
None of the Tournament's top seeds advanced to the Final Four, the first time since 1980 that this occurred. For the second time in history, a team seeded 11th advanced to the Final Four as George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association won the Washington, D.C. region. They were joined by Atlanta region winner LSU (who was the first team to advance to the Final Four as an 11-seed in 1986), Oakland region winner UCLA, who had not made the Final Four since they won the National Championship in 1995, and Minneapolis region winner Florida, who had not made the Final Four since their runner-up finish in 2000 also in Indianapolis.
Florida won its first-ever national basketball championship by defeating UCLA 73-57 in the final game. Florida's Joakim Noah was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament.
George Mason's run was one of several upsets by lower-seeded teams in the tournament. For the second consecutive year, a No. 14 seed beat a No. 3 seed as Northwestern State defeated Iowa. No. 13 seed Bradley also defeated No. 4 seed Kansas and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by defeating No. 5-seeded Pittsburgh in the Second Round. Two No. 12 seeds won as well, as Montana and Texas A&M both won their respective First Round matchups. For the second straight year, Milwaukee won as a double-digit seed, this time as the No. 11-seeded Panthers defeated Oklahoma in the First Round.
The futures of two of this year's Final Four teams would be polar opposites of the other two in 2007. Both George Mason and LSU would fail to receive a bid to either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT, while both Florida and UCLA would return to the Final Four (the two teams would have a rematch, this time in the semifinals, with the same result, a Florida victory).
George Mason became the first team from a "mid-major" conference to reach the Final Four since UNLV's loss to Duke in 1991.
This was the second of three Final Fours to feature no No. 1 seeds (1980 and 2011 being the others).
Duke was the last team before Florida to win back-to-back titles, and like Florida, they won their first of the two in Indianapolis at the RCA Dome.
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[@christopherbua1416]

UConn absolute walk. That didn’t age well! 😂

[@naswii4360]

They were walking…then George Mason happened 😂

[@SonicTheo]

Dicky V said it himself that he didn't trust UCONN and that no team has won after losing 1st round coference tournament, he should have listened to himself lol

[@roguegust8832]

My god all of this analysis ended up going sideways

[@SonicTheo]

Nobody really predicted Florida's run

[@christopherbua1416]

@@SonicTheo or LSU’s!

[@SonicTheo]

@@christopherbua1416 fact

[@AdamKlownzinger]

It always does

[@asianfireflie]

Cool news 🤖👹👺