The Round of 64 is now complete and there is a five-way tie for first place, all of whom picked every contest but three of the 32 games correctly. With no real notable upsets, perhaps this isn’t all that surprising. We say “notable” because so many of the so-called upsets were actually somewhat predicted by Hoops Madness participants. Indeed, 85 of 121 entries correctly picked number 10 Wichita State’s “upset” over Dayton, while 52 also went with number 12 Middle Tennessee State over number 5 Minnesota. The inclusion of three “Kaos” entries among the five “Current” leaders appears to be somewhat suspicious in that there is a very close connection to control of the tournament. The watchdogs that keep the administrators honest have been summoned.
If you rank the standings by Possible Score, you’ll see an ominous name among the four that are tied for first. That TKC1 and TKC2 you see is none other than defending champion Tom Chan, also our only two time champion. Fellow first place “possibles” J1 and BCG2 stand advised. Evidently the secret to doing well is to ensure that your entry has a number in it.
As for the other end of the competition…….all we can say is poor Tom Crean. Two crushing events, only 36 hours apart. First he gets fired within the first hour of the commencement of the tournament, and after a special one-time late admission allowing him to get a Hoops Madness entry in, he goes and blows it when his championship pick, Marquette, gets blown out in their first game. All of this and the embarrassment of being John Harbaugh’s brother-in-law. How much misfortune can one person sustain? Obviously Tom shoots to the bottom of the pile in possible points. And we’ve made sure all forks and knives have been collected from his house.
