And the Forecast Is In

In the case of a Florida vs. Ohio State final, with Florida winning it all:
1. Adam - 886
2. Andy W. - 854
3. Jim M. - 852

In the case of a Florida vs. Ohio State final, with Ohio State winning it all:
1. Andy W. - 914
2. Brooke II - 874
3. Nate - 865

In the case of a Florida vs. G'town final, with Florida winning it all:
1. Alexis - 864
2. Andy D. - 854
3-t. Curt I - 852
3-t. Jim M. - 852
(this would result in $5 each to the 3rd-place peoples)

In the case of a Florida vs. G'town final, with G'town winning it all:
1. Me - 887
2. Alexis - 864
3. Andy D. - 854

In the case of a UCLA vs. Ohio State final, with UCLA winning it all:
1. Alexis - 924
2. Andy D. - 919
3. Nate - 855

In the case of a UCLA vs. Ohio State final, with Ohio State winning it all:
1. Nate - 915
2-t. Alexis - 864
2-t. Andy W. - 864
(here, the two 2d-place finishers would get $40 each)

In the case of a UCLA vs. G'town final, with G'town winning it all:
1. Alexis - 919
2. Andy D. - 909
3. Curt I - 852

In the case of a UCLA vs. G'town final, with UCLA winning it all:
1. Alexis - 979
2. Andy D. - 969
3. Curt I - 852

So, clearly, Alexis stands in the best position right now. 4 of the 8 scenarios have her winning. However, there are 5 people with a shot at first still. So, I'm sure everyone will hate each other by next Wednesday, which is really what this is all about.

The Final Four & Predictions...

So, we have only 3 games left, so I can start telling you (Reminder and disclaimer: all point totals on this page are preliminary AND ARE IN NO WAY FINAL. I will be putting out the points after I go through them at the end, and those will be the final points. Also, any predictions I have will be nothing more than what I'm pretty sure will happen. There may be mistakes, so I'm sorry if I get your hopes up.) how this is gonna turn out. Last year, we had three potential results. This year, there are 8, so at least all the favs winning has made it interesting.

1. Alexis - 809 pts.
2. Andy D. - 804
3. Curt I - 802
4. Nate - 755
5. Andy W. - 754
6. Jim M. - 742
7. Jocelyn - 728
8-t. Nadia - 726
8-t. Adam - 726
10. Andy - 721
11. Brooke II - 714
12. Aaron - 698
13. Joe R. - 694
14. Andy Z. - 692
15. Curt II - 681
16. Ross - 678
17. G.W. - 672
18. Brooke IV - 667
19. Vince - 666 (he's evil! shit!)
20. Renee - 651
21. MB - 632
22. Brooke I - 622
23. Brooke III - 621
24. Bill - 611
25. Bek - 596
26. Elsie - 570
27. Amol - 465

3-25-07

Scores after the Saturday games -
1. Nadia - 726 pts
2. Alexis - 725
3. Andy D. - 724
4. Curt I - 718
5. Nate - 715
6. Andy Z. - 692
7. Jocelyn - 688
8. Curt II - 681
9. Brooke II - 674
10. G.W. - 672
11. Andy W. - 670
12. Jim M. - 662
13. Joe R. - 654
14. Adam - 642
15. Me - 637
16. MB - 632
17. Brooke IV - 627
18. Vince - 626
19. Brooke I - 622
20. Aaron - 618
21-t. Bill - 611
21-t. Renee - 611
23. Ross - 598
24. Bek - 596
25. Brooke III - 581
26. Elsie - 570
27. Amol - 425

Jocelyn needs to calm dahn

Seriously, I do have other things to do than update points for our pool. I know it may amaze you, but I'm gonna need you to take it down a couple notches. I'm just kidding - here are the points:

1. Andrew D. - 590 pts.
2. G.W. - 572
3. Vince - 566
4-t. Brooke I - 562
4-t. Andy Z. - 562
6-t. Jocelyn - 558
6-t. Curt I - 558
6-t. Jim M. - 558
9. Nadia - 552
10-t. Bill - 551
10-t. Brooke III - 551
10-t. Alexis - 551
13. Nate - 541
14. Andy W. -540
15. Ross - 538
16. Aaron - 528
17. Brooke IV - 527
18. Joe R. - 524
19. Renee - 521
20. Curt II - 517
21. Adam - 512
22. Bek - 506
23. Me - 503
24. Brooke II - 500
25. MB - 488
26. Elsie - 456
27. Amol - 395

Things Are Starting to Clear Up.

1. Andrew D. - 500 pts.
2. Jocelyn - 498
3. Andy W. - 480
4. Ross - 478
5. Vince - 476
6. Brooke I - 472
7t. Aaron - 468
7t - Curt I - 468
7t - Jim M. - 468
10. Joe R. - 464
11. Nadia - 462
12t. Bill - 461
12t. Brooke III - 461
12t. Renee - 461
15. Curt II - 457
16t. G.W. - 452
16t. Adam - 452
18. Andy Z. - 442
19. Brooke IV - 437
20. Alexis - 431
21. Nate - 421
22. Bek - 416
23. Me - 413
24. Brooke II - 410
25. Maribeth - 398
26. Elsie - 366
27. Amol - 365

One Game Can Make All the Difference

A couple of games today really came down to the wire. Sure everyone saw the Pitt game, but that would have little impact either way - since there wasn't a person in the pool with VCU in the Sweet 16. However, two other OT games had major impacts on the pool. Only two people picked Vanderbilt over Wazzu - a win worth 26 points. They now sit in 1st and a tie for 2d. That's a 46-point advantage over all the chumps who picked Washington State. One one person had Xavier taking Ohio State - which would have been worth a whopping 36 points (and would've provided a 56 point advantage on the field, all of which had OSU moving on). And that was Mr. Heckman's first bracket. By my math, that win would've had him in first at this point...

Through St. Patty's Day's games...
1. Bill - 399 pts.
2-t. Aaron - 388
2-t. Andrew D. - 388
4. Jim M. - 386
5. Nadia - 382
6. Brooke III - 381
7. Ross - 376
8-t. Jocelyn - 374
8-t. Vince - 374
10. G.W. - 372
11. Brooke I - 370
12. Joe R. - 362
13. Renee - 361
14. Andy W. - 360
15. Bek - 356
16. Alexis - 351
17. Curt I - 346
18. Curt II - 337
19. Brooke IV - 335
20. Andy R. - 331
21. Brooke II - 330
22. Adam - 328
23. Andy Z. - 320
24. Maribeth - 316
25. Nate - 311
26. Elsie - 306
27. Amol - 285

Koooooostelnik - UPDATED!

Ah, Nate. It's nice to know that you still are clueless when it comes to college basketball... Just in case you were worried, I'ma put the scores first and then I'm gonna rip on everyone's bracket.

Through the first round (with Brooke's scores!)....

1. Jocelyn - 272 pts.
2. Brooke I - 270
3. Jim M. - 266
4-t. Joe R. - 262
4-t. Nadia - 262
6. Brooke III - 261
7. Andy W. - 258
8. Ross - 256
9. Brooke IV - 255
10-t. Vince - 252
10-t. G.W. - 252
12. Brooke II - 250
13. Adam - 248
14-t. Aaron - 246
14-t. Curt I - 246
16. Renee - 242
17. Andrew D. - 240
18. Curt II - 237
19-t. Bill - 231
19-t. Andy R. - 231
19-t. Alexis - 231
22. Elsie - 226
23. Andy Z. - 220.
24. Bek - 216
25. Amol - 205
26. Maribeth - 196
27. Nate - 191

It's still pretty tight in these standings. In fact, the top 17 people are all within about 2 second-round games of each other, so there's clearly a lot more that could go on. Props to the few, the proud, who were actually perfect on one of the regions (8-0) - Alexis (South), Jocelyn (East), G.W. (South), Jim Mersich (South), Andy Wood (Midwest) and Ross (South). Shockingly, no one had the West perfect, where the only upset was VCU over Duke. But generally, it was very consistent. Nate has the honor of being the only person to get a majority of picks from a single region wrong (you pick the 9, 10, 12 and 13 seeds from the West; and the only upset is the 11?!?! that's just plain bad luck). Also, it stays interesting since while a small handful of Elite 8 teams are gone, no one has lost any Final Four picks.

But, Round 1 is in the books; and now all we can really do is root for a Winthrop-Virginia Commonwealth-Vanderbilt-Nevada final four. If nothing else, the ratings in the Nashville-Richmond-Rock Hill triangle will be through the roof.

Beware the Ides of March

So, on the day that Julius Caesar was infamously murdered (I don't know whether he actually was killed on March 15th, or if that's just some Shakespearean drama going on, but whatever), another tyrant went down. With all due apologies to Brooke, it was a big day for anti-Duke fans, because them losing before the Sweet 16 hasn't happened since I was 13.

It was a good day for the rest of the group, with Pitt, Ohio State, UNC and IU winning. UVA, Arizona, Holy Cross, Florida and Notre Dame play today. But there's no shame in competing, win or lose. Even if, say, you enter an eating contest and finish dead last; at least you had a shot at glory. Then, there's Michigan, who unfortunately are playing in the NIT. But you Michigan fans can rest easy, knowing that Princeton, Penn State AND FIU aren't even in the NIT!!!! Also, both of my parents think that the Michigan student section looks like a bunch of vibrating bananas.

Further apologies to Brooke, but your brackets are still at school in my locker, so I don't have your scores yet. I seriously hope you don't hate me now for giving you a hard time about Duke (just remember, you guys invented the jumping student section thing that everyone else does now; and frankly, it looks ghey when everyone else does it - everyone hates you because, deep down, everyone wants to be you)....

Scores, as of Thursday night after all 16 of the day's games:
1. Jocelyn - 152 pts
2-t. Ruben - 136 pts
2-t. Jim M. - 136 pts
4-t. Renee - 131 pts
4-t. Bill - 131 pts
4-t. Ross - 131 pts
7. Joe R. - 127 pts
8-t. Adam - 122 pts
8-t. Andy W. - 122 pts
10-t. Andy R. - 121 pts
10-t. Curt I - 121
10-t. Alexis - 121
10-t. Nadia - 121
10-t. Vince - 121
10-t. G.W. - 121
16. Andrew D. - 120
17-t. Curt II - 111
17-t. Elsie - 111
19-t. Maribeth - 106
19-t. Bek - 106
21. Nate - 101
22. Andy Z. - 100
23. Amol - 90

So, mad props to Joce for swinging 15 of 16 correct picks. Also, props to Vince for losing an Elite 8 team on the first day. I mean, I'm all about ballsy picks, but Texas Tech over G'town?! Didn't we watch the Pitt-G'town game a few weeks ago?!

I still maintain that any and all hicks from Indiana could kill a bear.

Welcome, welcome

A little welcome to everybody, I'm gonna use this to keep track of points, and let everyone know where they stand. I can't say how often I'll be able to update this point list, but it'll at least be after every round, hopefully every day, and, if I'm bored, more often.

In case anybody's unclear about the scoring system, this is how it'll work. Correct picks are worth 10 points in the first round, 20 in the Round of 32, 30 in the Sweet 16, 40 in the Elite Eight (or Great Eight, if you will), 50 in the Final Four and 60 for the Championship game. There are also bonus points available for picking upsets. The first requirement for bonus points is that you have both teams picked to be in that game (so if you pick a 12 and 13 to meet in the second round with the 12 to win; but instead the 4 seed beats the 13, you won't be able to get the bonus points for the 12 beating the 4, even though you have the 12 correctly picked). For the first round, you get the difference between the seeds (so like 15 points if a 16 beats a 1 or 1 point if a 9 beats an 8), and that bonus will be multiplied by the round (so Round of 32 upsets are worth double, Sweet 16 worth triple and so on).