March Madness is down to 16 teams each in the men’s and women’s tournament, and there has been no shortage of games that have gone down to the wire.
M: Michigan State (2) v. Middle Tenn. (15) is 76-79 with 2:52 left. Watch on @CBS. #MarchMadness https://t.co/esDNLQsnx3
— Nailbiter Bot (@NailbiterBot) March 18, 2016
Our definition of "nailbiters" are games that are within 8 points with three minutes left, 6 points with 1:30 left or within 4 points in the last 30 seconds. The NailbiterBot Twitter account we created in 2014 tweets alerts to these close games, along with information about where to watch them on TV or online.
In the first two rounds, there have been 27 nailbiters in the men’s tournament and 14 in the women’s tournament. That’s out of 48 games each, so more than half of the mens' games have been nailbiters. Last year there were even more nailbiters by this point — three more in the men’s tournament and ten more in the women’s tournament.
The 13 upsets in the first round of the men’s tournament tied the all-time record last week. Eight of those were nailbiters.
The women’s tournament continues to have fewer nailbiters than the men’s tournament. In the latest round however, more of the nailbiter's in the women's tournament led to upsets. The Connecticut Huskies (who've won the women's tournament the last three years) continue to dominate unlike any other March Madness team, scoring 41 points in the first quarter of their first round game and winning their last game 97-51.
To get alerts for the remaining games, follow Nailbiter Bot on Twitter. And you can get an alert when it tweets by turning on mobile notifications.