60.4%
60.4% of the world's population that participated in ESPN's renowned Tournament Challenge picked the #6 seed Creighton over the #11 seed Rhode Island. Thus, I felt the need to point out a handful of reasons for why that was foolish.
First of all, you did not need to read my "scouting report" or do any true scouting of your own to see the flaws in Creighton's gameplay. If you were able to catch at least 2 minutes of their play at any point in their games following Maurice Watson Jr's injury, you would know that they were simply not playing at the level of any NCAA tournament team, never mind URI. Also, in games that came down to the wire (without Watson), they did not fare well.
Second, Creighton came into the NCAA tournament having gone 7-8 in games without the services of Watson and that includes their miracle run in the Big East tournament. On the flip side, URI came into the game as winners of eight straight games and fresh off an Atlantic 10 championship. The only team hotter than the Rams before the NCAA tournament began was the Michigan Wolverines. Even from the perspective of a Creighton Bluejays fan, there should have been a large amount of hesitation before picking the Bluejays over the Rams.
Third, Creighton has had lackluster performances in big tournament games in recent history. In the 2014 Big East tournament, they lost to a middling PC team in the championship game. In 2017, they were blown out by Villanova in the Big East championship game, a day before Selection Sunday.
Furthermore, Creighton came into their first-round game just as inexperienced as Rhode Island was and that includes their coaching staff. In 2015 and 2016, the Bluejays were not in the "Big Dance". In other words, it had been 2 entire seasons before Creighton was back into the field of NCAA tournament teams.
In addition, the game was played in Sacramento, CA so the Creighton fan base would almost certainly not travel well from Omaha, Nebraska.
If you were one of the 60.4% people who chose Creighton over Rhode Island, I have no sympathy for you, to be quite honest. If you were one of the 39.6% of people who chose Rhode Island over Creighton, I applaud you.
