Bracket Buster Bonanza

How about Ben Howland (UCLA's head coach) going against his former Pitt team?

Here's a little twist to this year's pool. For those of you familiar with golf or poker......we're going to analogize this to "pressing" or "buying back in", respectively. For those of you who are luckily unfamiliar with those two matters this will be considered an elective option that you can choose to go with in order to improve your score. Of course, there's always the chance that you could hinder your score as well......

If you choose this option, your score as it stands now (see yesterday's post below) and the picks that you made prior to the tournament will be wiped clean and you will have the opportunity to complete an abbreviated bracket that has been reset to reflect the sixteen teams that remain in the tournament. Since your current score is wiped clean, and because this is an elective option that anyone can take, the point values for each win will be increased if you choose to elect into the bonus pool. However, the new point values will only apply to those who take the option and will be in reverse staggered order (5 pts. for any win in the Sweet Sixteen, 3 pts per win in the Elite Eight, 2 in the Final Four, 1 in the Championship).

So.....

If you're at the bottom of the leaderboard and want a fresh stab at the teams ......this option may be for you!

If you're at the top of the leaderboard and you think that the enhanced point values can give you a boost at this point or you think that with all of those Cinderella teams out of the way that picking will be easy the rest of the way......go ahead and elect!

And now for the mechanics of electing:

(1) Click here to view the amended bracket, compare it to the picks you have and see if this is the right choice for you,

(2) Send me a quick email or post a comment on this page requesting an "edit-able" copy of the new bracket,

(3) Fill it out all the way through the Championship game,

(4) Send it back to me at jdorfman82@yahoo.com by 7:00pm on Thursday March 22nd.

As soon as I hear from people, I will keep a running tally on this page of those who have elected, in case this helps in your decision-making/positioning.

Best of luck choosing what's the best option for you!

Postscript: This option will not be made available after any subsequent rounds, choose now or stay the course with what you have.

Well, the last two games are all but finished at this point.....Kansas is making its last few free throws and USC is finishing off the Longhorns (if only I could have been saying that about last year's Rose Bowl). The standings are as follows so far:

Ray, clearly using everything that his son taught him about picking basketball games, is leading the pack after having had at least a share of the lead for the entire pool so far. Susan is in a close second, but can't seem to shake Beth off her tail who is rounding out the top 3. As for the tournament itself, all 4 number 1 seeds are still alive and 3 out of the 4 number 2 seeds are still kicking. The SEC and the PAC-10 both have 3 teams advancing to the Sweet Sixteen, while the Big 12 and the Big East both have 2 teams each advancing.

With the damage from the first two rounds done it appears that 5 out of the 11 pool participants have their Final Four "intact". With that said, keep checking back to this site this week as I'm contemplating a bonus Sweet Sixteen pool........

Wow, three overtime games (one of which went to double overtime).....pretty exciting day in the tourny. Looks like everyone took a gigantic "swing and a miss" on the Maryland game, pretty impressive that Butler is in their second Sweet 16 in 4 years. If Butler makes it to the Final Four this year in Atlanta, with just over 3,600 students in their undergraduate program, they could manage to get about 20 times their student body into the Georgia Dome to watch the game.

Luckily for everyone, I just saw that the UCLA game went final with the Bruins holding off the late Hoosier run. And with the UCLA win, Janet has now tied Sue's single day winning percentage record with her 7-1 performance.

Here's the updated leaderboard of where we all stand at the moment:



Tomorrow's the last day when win's are 1 point each, after that this contest is back up in the air and is anyone's ballgame!

Alright, games tip-off at 1:10pm Eastern time today. Here's a link to a new sheet of everyone's picks for the Second Round.

Interesting tidbits:

(1) Beth, with her love for the Colonial Athletic Association, not only picked VCU to upset Duke, but she has them advancing today as well.....gotta love it; for the record, George Mason is also a part of the CAA

(2) There are two games today getting a Shamrock stamp of approval for what should be outstanding match-ups: Louisville/Texas A&M and Georgetown/B.C.

(3) Sue so far has the best single day record with a 14-2 performance yesterday....not too shabby

(4) Every single person has picked UCLA to advance past today, this is the only team that can boast a unanimous vote, including the number 1 seeds.

(5) Beth and Janet are the only two people that have their brackets "intact" going into today, meaning all of their picks for today are still possible.

Good luck everyone and keep an eye out for those Shamrock games!

Just got back to Northern Virginia after having flown in through a snowstorm en route from the 90 degree temps of Vegas, so really quickly here's the leaderboard:

Tomorrow, check back in between rounds of green beer for new updates. Good luck to everyone in the second round, may the luck of the Irish be with you!

With 1 day in the books, here's how things have flushed out:

The first day yielded 3 upsets, two stemming from that perennial hotbed of tough competition, the 8 vs. 9 match-up. The historical streak of Number 1 seeds never being beaten by Number 16's is still in tact with two more on the line today: Kansas and Florida.

Some games to keep your eye on today:

-UVA and Albany: I can't believe Bob and I are the only ones sensing upset here

-Illinois and VA Tech: the Hokies haven't been in the Big Dance since '96, time to make a stand and play on thru to the next round.....too bad you have to play in Illinois' backyard

- The 2 outstanding 8/9 match-ups (Villanova vs. Kentucky and Purdue vs. Arizona): as an aside, I dare you to find me another year where 3 out of the 8 teams in the 8/9 match-up have the same mascot. Anyway, which Wildcat team(s) is/are going to advance to Sunday?

-Can this be the Holy Cross Crusaders year, their first test comes against the Salukis of So. Illinois (by the way, this is what a saluki is..... I can't say that I'd want this as my mascot).

-And finally, will the defending champs, the Florida Gators, make it past their first game to continue their title defense?

Games tip-off at 9:15, get your score tickers fired up......Day 2 is upon us!