(Bloomberg) -- Some of Wall Street’s biggest names are betting that the University of Connecticut will defend its national championship title in this year’s NCAA March Madness tournament, and hoping the University of South Carolina women’s team will remain perfect in a so-far undefeated season.

Among the 58 participants for this year’s Bloomberg Brackets for a Cause charity competition, each person pledged $20,000 to pool a total of about $1.1 million dollars to be donated to various charities split between the top three brackets in both the men’s and women’s tournaments.

About 52% of participants who submitted a bracket picked the Huskies to win it all, becoming the first team to defend its title run since the University of Florida completed the feat in 2006 and 2007. Pershing Square Capital Management founder Bill Ackman, Goldman Sachs’ CEO David Solomon and Carlyle CEO Harvey Schwartz are among those who picked UConn.

Bloomberg’s 2024 March Madness Brackets for a Cause

Early losers in yesterday’s first day include No. 3 seed Kentucky who were upset by 14-seed Oakland University, busting the bracket of Ares Management Executive Chairman & Atlanta Hawks Principal Owner Tony Ressler who had picked the Wildcats to win the title. Oregon, an 11 seed, beat No. 6 South Carolina and 11-seed Duquesne was the first upset of the day, beating No. 6 BYU.

For a second year in a row, the majority of participants think the South Carolina women’s team will hoist the trophy after only having lost one game — to Iowa — in the last two seasons. Just 14% think Iowa, led by NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, Caitlin Clark, will win the title. 100% of brackets have both teams making a run to at least the final four. 

Perhaps Wall Street will learn its lesson if the Gamecocks can’t get over their March Madness hump despite two back to back perfect regular season records.

Citadel Founder & CEO Ken Griffin is one of the names to have picked South Carolina alongside Blackstone President & COO Jonathan Gray. NJ/NY Gotham FC Governor & Lead Owner Carolyn Tisch Blodgett and TCW Group President & CEO Katie Koch are among the eight who are locked in on Iowa.

Of all the champion picks on either side, the most surprising and loyal comes from Tisch Blodgett who has her alma mater Yale University winning the title for the men’s side along with a surprising final four lineup consisting of Arizona, Yale, Texas and NC State — a team coming off the back of a historic ACC title run beating five teams straight including Duke, Virginia and North Carolina to win the conference championship. NC State backed up their momentum last night by comfortably beating Number 6 seed Texas Tech by 13 points.

Games to Watch Heading into the Weekend:

Mens:

  • No. 1 UConn vs. No. 16 Stetson
  • No. 4 Auburn vs. No. 13 Yale
  • No. 1 UNC vs. No. 9 Michigan St.
  • No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 7 Dayton

Womens:

  • No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 16 Presbyterian
  • No. 3 LSU vs. No. 14 Rice
  • No. 8 UNC vs. No. 9 Michigan St.
  • No. 1 Iowa vs. No. 16 Holy Cross

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