Tag: NCAA



March Madness is getting a really early start thanks to a challenge posed by the Oracle of Omaha. Warren Buffet is offering $1 billion to anyone who can correctly predict every single game in this year’s men’s NCAA Division I basketball tournament.

Think you have a shot? Think again says Olin prof Mark Soczek. The odds are difficult to comprehend.

“There are actually more than nine quintrillion possible outcomes for the tournament,” says Mark E. Soczek, PhD, senior lecturer in accounting and avid basketball fan.

To put it another way, Soczek says, for the every single person on the planet there are more than one billion possible outcomes.

Written out, nine quintillion looks like 9,000,000,000,000,000,000. It is one billion times more than nine billion.

– post by Neil Schoenherr

Photo Credit: Eric Wong, Flickr, CubesAndPiii




Adam Putterman, BSBA’13, captured the 2013 NCAA Division III Singles National Championship with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Mark Kahan of Amherst College May 25 at Stowe Stadium in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Read all about the great finish to Adam’s four years of varsity tennis on Bear Sports.




March Madness is here, but before you fill out your NCAA tournement bracket, you might want to hear what Professor Mark Soczek has to say about the odds against predicting a winner.  He doesn’t want to dampen your spirits or enthusiasm for the annual hoopsapalooza. Just remember he is an accounting prof and really good with numbers.  Watch Prof. Soczek on Ch. 5 news video.

If know how many zeros there are in a quadrillion, comment below and tell us your picks for the final four!




The No. 17 ranked Wash U. men’s basketball team will host No. 10 Illinois Wesleyan University in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship Saturday, March 9, at the WU Field House in St. Louis. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

Washington University (21-5) advanced to the second round for the 15th time as an NCAA Division III member with a 70-61 victory over Spalding University Saturday at home. The Bears are making their 17th NCAA appearance as an NCAA Division III school and 20th overall, and sport a 31-14 (.689) all-time postseason record in Division III play.

Washington U. has made three Final Four appearances in school history, and captured back-to-back national championships in 2008 and 2009.

Illinois Wesleyan (22-5) posted an 80-71 win over Transylvania University in the NCAA first round Saturday in Bloomington, Ill. The Titans are making their fourth-straight and 22nd overall NCAA Tournament appearance and have a 48-21 (.696) record in tournament play. Illinois Wesleyan has made five Final Four appearances in school history – a national championship in 1997, third-place finishes in 1996, 2001 and 2006, and a semifinal appearance in 2012.

Washington U. and Illinois Wesleyan met once in the 2012-13 season – a 67-57 victory by Washington U. Dec. 1 in the championship game of the 29th Annual Lopata Classic. The two teams have met four previous times in the NCAA Tournament -1995, 1996, 2003, and 2010 – with Illinois Wesleyan winning all four matchups. The Titans have also won both meetings at the WU Field House in the NCAA Tournament – 85-73 in the NCAA Second Round in 2003 and 75-70 in the NCAA Second Round in 2010.

The box office will open at 5:45 p.m. Saturday. Ticket prices are $3 for students with an ID and $6 for adults. Washington University undergraduate students with an ID will be admitted free courtesy of Student Union. Tickets will not be sold prior to the box office opening.

Post courtesy of WUSTL Bear Sports.