Bijan Robinson, who ya got? My NCAA Tournament bracket needs you | Bohls

Kirk Bohls, Austin American-Statesman

We always considered Bijan Robinson perfect or the closest thing to it.

And I have to say I’m tremendously impressed when the former All-American running back for Texas nailed the first 19 games in the NCAA Tournament.

Not sure how he did it or what homework he did. But the Atlanta Falcons rookie, who was the eighth pick of the 2023 NFL draft and ran for 946 yards and four touchdowns in his first season, did better than almost anyone I know.

I was close to duplicating Bijan’s success. I only picked the wrong team in 11 games out of 32 in the first round. Uh, yeah.

Bijan didn’t gloat as he could have, but did post, “Perfect day 1 haha kinda dope.” Real dope.

Winning is hard. Picking the winners is even harder. Except for Robinson.

More: In my NCAA Tournament bracket, North Carolina will win it all | Bohls

Former Texas Longhorns star Bijan Robinson could teach us all a thing or two when it comes to filling out a NCAA Tournament bracket. The Atlanta Falcons running back got the first 19 matchups of the tournament right on his bracket.
Former Texas Longhorns star Bijan Robinson could teach us all a thing or two when it comes to filling out a NCAA Tournament bracket. The Atlanta Falcons running back got the first 19 matchups of the tournament right on his bracket.

But the odds of filling out a bracket and naming all 63 winners is one in nine quintillion. That’s roughly the number of Instagram followers Taylor Swift has. The NCAA reported that there are no more perfect brackets after Utah State got past TCU. After Yale upset Auburn and Texas A&M toasted Nebraska, there were only eight remaining.

More: Bracket advice? UConn will repeat as champs, but be wary of the Texas Longhorns | Golden

The difference between my bracket and Bijan's? Huge.

My bracket bit the dust quickly.

Damn those refs for robbing Samford of a win over Kansas.

Who knew Kentucky would forget how to play basketball? John Calipari might want to think about playing a sophomore or two.

Had too much faith in the Mountain West. Hey, Nevada, what happened? You led Dayton by 17.

Auburn? Hello. I trusted Bruce Pearl. The SEC went 3-5 in the opening round. Guess it really is a football conference.

Kentucky coach John Calipari paces the sideline in front of his bench during a SEC Tournament quarterfinal game against Vanderbilt on March 10. His No. 3-seeded Wildcats were ousted by No. 14 Oakland 80-76 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky coach John Calipari paces the sideline in front of his bench during a SEC Tournament quarterfinal game against Vanderbilt on March 10. His No. 3-seeded Wildcats were ousted by No. 14 Oakland 80-76 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

BYU let me down in the Big 12, but Houston didn’t. Got the Cougars going to the Elite Eight before losing to — gulp — Kentucky.

Of course, Robinson is human. His perfection came to an end when Marquette came back and crushed Western Kentucky. Bijan, you doubted Shaka? Hell, even I got that one right.

I still have three teams alive in my Final Four with champion North Carolina, defending champion UConn and Creighton. At least for the moment.

Bijan did show a lot of Big 12 love, picking Houston, Baylor and Texas to join UConn in the Final Four and being true to his school by going with the Longhorns to cut down the nets.

He may not have to stick to his day job because the former Longhorn clearly has a future as a handicapper. Just don’t ask Shohei Ohtani for a reference, Bijan.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Former Texas football star Bijan Robinson knows his NCAA brackets

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