March Madness

[Vrede too]

I picked Yale in one of my brackets! If I win by one . . .
Butler & CT in 3 out of 4 worked out.
Did not pick Little Rock's upset of Purdue in any bracket.

[O Really]

I don't have a bracket this year. Lucky, I guess. I wouldn't have picked any of the first round of upsets.

[Vrede too]

99.999 percent of NCAA tourney brackets already busted

I picked Yale in one of my brackets! If I win by one . . .
Butler & CT in 3 out of 4 worked out.
Did not pick Little Rock's upset of Purdue in any bracket.

Picked 1-point winner Providence in all 4.
Did not pick Wichita St. to advance but had picked it and MI to win their play-in games.
I did pick losers Seton Hall & Baylor to make the Sweet 16 in 3 out of 4, not AZ in any and Purdue in 1 but none of them to make the Elite 8, so I should still be okay.

[Vrede too]

Had Mich. St. 1st, 2nd, Final 4 and Elite 8. I haven't played out the scenarios yet, but Miami winning it all may be my only shot. 80 some entries and I'm the only one to pick Miami.

[Vrede too]

N. Iowa had a historic choke, worth reading about if you didn't watch.

My best 'Miami wins' bracket still takes 1st by a wide margin.
My best 'Mich. St. wins' bracket, which now has Syracuse or Gonzaga winning it all, ties for 8th and no money. 7th gets its entry fee back.
My best 'OR wins' bracket wins, but not by a wide margin. Since it would require Syracuse or Gonzaga to take 2nd, it should get knocked out of the running before long.
Last also gets its entry fee back, not sure if I can still manage that.
Don't know about my work bracket, but since it's OR > Mich. St. it's probably dead.

Go 'Canes!

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My brother is currently tied for 8th.
President Obama is tied for 17th.
Kermit The Frog is tied for 25th.
My 'Mich. St. wins' bracket is tied for 33rd.
"picks-by-seeds" and my 'Miami wins' bracket are tied for 51st.
Katie Couric and my 'OR wins' bracket are tied for 59th.
Blake Anderson is tied for 75th.
Interestingly, in 88th place including the celebrities our worst picked OR > KY along with VA & AZ in the Final 4, which was not outrageous.

I want in both my Miami and OR brackets:
Seed underdog Miami > Nova
OR > Dook, of course
OK > TAMU
ND > WI, though with only 7% picking WI to reach the Elite 8 a WI win won't hurt that much.
VA > Iowa St.

Syracuse vs. Gonzaga doesn't matter. Only 1% picked either to reach the Elite 8 and I am not one of them.

I want in my Miami bracket:
KS > MD, likely
NC > IN, probable

I want in my OR bracket:
MD > KS, possible
IN > NC, possible

So, I'm in decent shape for this next round, but a Miami or OR loss may kill both brackets. I am not able to get my money back for worst bracket.

[Vrede too]

Oh well, 'Miami wins' is out of the money. 'OR wins' still has a chance at 2nd place money, but the night is young. Go Terps!

[Vrede too]

... Go Terps!

Too bad, now 'OR wins' only has a chance at 5th place money - 8%, roughly $33 back after putting in $15 for 3 brackets. We'll see, could be done after tonight.

Oddly, my 'MSU wins' is still my best bracket, tied for 33rd.

2 #1s and 2 #2s advance, so much for Cinderellas on that side of the bracket, and 2 #1s are still alive on the other side, NC & VA.

Silver linings: Won't care about possibly missing games and definitely missing the championship on my imminent road/paddle trip and Ducks > Dook!

Go Ducks, regardless.

[Vrede too]

I want in my OR bracket:
IN > NC, possible

Nope, NC kicked butt. IN's 86 would have won most games. I'm out now, best I can do is 7th. 4 #1s, 2 #2s, #6 ND & this year's Cinderella, #10 seed and controversial selection to be in at all, Syracuse.

[Vrede too]

Whoa, 2 #2s advance, NC is the only #1 left, bummer about OR.

Go Nova, ND & Syracuse.

[Vrede too]

... Brother takes 1st if WI wins, 2nd if Dook does, nice.

The last time WI played in the final, Pearl Harbor happened later that year, ut-oh.

Dook won in 2015. This year Brother took 3rd, would have been 1st if UNC won.

And another one: UConn (women) makes history with fourth straight title, 11th overall (and 75-game win streak)

Wow.

[Vrede too]

Remember in 2008 when North Carolina's Davidson College made their Cinderella run? They beat seventh-seeded Gonzaga, second seeded Georgetown (ranked eighth nationally) and third-seeded Wisconsin to advance to the Elite 8, barely losing there to the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks 57–59, and the Jayhawks went on to win the championship. I just learned that Charlotte's Stephen Curry was Davidson's point guard. Now it makes sense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_C ... ore_season

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Women:

... Terps > UConn in March Madness, hopefully the Championship Game. You heard it hear first.

They could meet in the Elite 8, unlucky seeding. fivethirtyeight.com predicts UConn (again ) > Notre Dame, with SC and Baylor losing in the Final 4. It gives #4 30-2 MD <1% of winning it all. Go Terps!

Men:
fivethirtyeight.com predicts Villanova > KS, with Gonzaga and KY losing in the Final 4.

My 4 pool pick sets, only $5 each:
UCLA > AZ, with Duke and OR losing in the Final 4.
Louisville > Villanova, with Gonzaga and UCLA losing in the Final 4.
Duke > UNC, with KS and AZ losing in the Final 4.
Gonzaga > KY, with KS and Villanova losing in the Final 4.

My free Yahoo $25K pick set: Gonzaga > Louisville, with Duke and UCLA losing in the Final 4.

My free work pick set for redeemable points: Villanova > OR, with MD and KY losing in the Final 4.

[Vrede too]

... Duke > UNC, with KS and AZ losing in the Final 4...

Former President Barack Obama picks UNC-Duke final in his NCAA tournament bracket

"Obama picked rivals Duke and North Carolina to reach the final with the Tar Heels prevailing."

... with KS and AZ losing in the Final 4. Close, great minds . . . Go Dook!

"In the women’s bracket, Obama is rolling with UConn, which is once again the overwhelming favorite."

Nope, my Terps > UConn in the Elite 8 then winning it all, as Michelle probably knows.

Men:

Middle Tennessee beats Minnesota for a March Madness upset that wasn't really an upset

Picked it in 2 of my 6 brackets.

... with MD ... losing in the Final 4.

[O Really]

Your damn Terps flopped on me again!

[Vrede too]

Yeah, the men did in an upset, but few thought that they would go very far.

[Vrede too]

My 4 pool pick sets, only $5 each:
UCLA > AZ, with Duke and OR losing in the Final 4. 13/16, missed MD, VT & MN.
Louisville > Villanova, with Gonzaga and UCLA losing in the Final 4. 13/16, missed MD & MN, had both in the Elite 8 , & VA.
Duke > UNC, with KS and AZ losing in the Final 4. 14/16, missed MD & Vandy.
Gonzaga > KY, with KS and Villanova losing in the Final 4. 13/16, missed MD, MN & Vandy.

My free Yahoo $25K pick set: Gonzaga > Louisville, with Duke and UCLA losing in the Final 4. 14/16, missed MD & MN.

My free work pick set for redeemable points: Villanova > OR, with MD and KY losing in the Final 4. 13/16, missed MD, VT & VA.

Worst bracket ever: One entry went 0-for-16 on Thursday

... As for those of us attempting to pick each game right, almost a full one percent of Yahoo Tourney Pick’Em entries went a perfect 16-for-16 on Thursday.

One percent may not seem like a lot but the first day of last year’s tournament was a lot more chaotic: 99.999 percent of Yahoo entries were busted by the end of that day thanks to wins from two No. 11 seeds and two No. 12 seeds.

Meanwhile, 6.1 percent of us made at least 15 correct picks, 17.8 percent recorded 14 wins (including me) and 24.1 percent tallied 13 right selections....

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(Cincinnati restaurateur) Jeff Ruby will buy all Northern Kentucky students steak if team beats Kentucky

... Ruby estimates that this could end up costing him more than $1 million if the Norse win Friday.

Go Norse!

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My 4 pool pick sets, only $5 each:
UCLA > AZ, with Duke and OR losing in the Final 4. 13/16, missed MD, VT & MN. 27/32, missed Seton Hall & SMU (by a point!). No losers in the next round yet.
Louisville > Villanova, with Gonzaga and UCLA losing in the Final 4. 13/16, missed MD & MN, had both in the Elite 8 , & VA. 24/32, missed Marquette, Miami, Seton Hal, Dayton & SMU, my worst set.
Duke > UNC, with KS and AZ losing in the Final 4. 14/16, missed MD & Vandy. 27/32, missed Marquette, Miami & SMU (only loser in the next round).
Gonzaga > KY, with KS and Villanova losing in the Final 4. 13/16, missed MD, MN & Vandy. 25/32, missed Marquette, Seton Hall, Creighton & SMU (only loser in the next round).

My free Yahoo $25K pick set: Gonzaga > Louisville, with Duke and UCLA losing in the Final 4. 14/16, missed MD & MN. 27/32, missed Marquette, Seton Hall & SMU. 9 players are still perfect, including "joyce's 100% Guess" and "Beast's Brakcet [sic]".

My free work pick set for redeemable points: Villanova > OR, with MD (only loser in the next round) and KY losing in the Final 4. 13/16, missed MD, VT & VA. 26/32, missed Dayton, Creighton & SMU.

[Vrede too]

In my brother's pool after Round 1, out of 87 sets (will change slightly when snail mail arrives):
One player only got Kansas St wrong. Me:
11th: UCLA > AZ, Duke > UNC
38th: Gonzaga > KY
56th: Louisville > Villanova

Correctly picked WV > ND in 4 of my 6 sets , including Yahoo!. Yahoo! is down to 4 perfect sets in this $25K game (it has other ones).
With the MD loss it does now eliminate both my West Region Elite 8 picks in my work set. Odds are I'm already done.

WI > Villanova by 3, wow! Got it wrong in 5 of 6, but so did almost everyone else. Only 5% picked it in the pool. Another nail in my work set and hurts my Louisville > Villanova, but great for my UCLA > AZ (tied for 2nd by a point with one other) and neutral or better for the others. No one is perfect in Yahoo! now.

Correctly picked Gonzaga > Northwestern in all 6 sets.
Mixed impact pool-wise, but it's always good to see FSU get crushed.
Picked AZ in 5 sets.
Picked FL in 4 sets.

Gonzaga > Louisville: 31/40, 10 points out of the Yahoo! lead, 6 Elite 8 and all 4 Final 4 still alive.

UCLA > AZ: Tie for 5th, one point from the tie for the lead, have all 8 Elite 8 still alive while none of the leaders or others in 5th do.
Duke > UNC: Tie for 23rd, 5 points out of the lead, 7 Elite 8 and all 4 Final 4 still alive.
Gonzaga > KY: Tie for 23rd, 5 points out of the lead, 7 Elite 8 and 3 Final 4 still alive.
Louisville > Villanova: Tie for 52nd.

Good thing that I didn't count heavier on the favorite, Villanova.