As Day One draws to a close we have a four-way tie for first place among teams who correctly picked 13 of the 18 games. With upsets galore, even if you whiffed on five games you are considered to be elite…….sort of. It gets better. One of those in first place has two picks already eliminated from his Elite Eight while another picked Kentucky for the Championship game. This underscores the fallacy in looking at the rankings while only considering the current score. To get a more realistic feel for your chances, it would behoove you to look at the standings ranked by Possible Score. Doing so at this point results in MF2 standing alone in first place with a potential score of 238.
The disarray is a result of the many upsets that took place on Day 1, the most notable of which was the upset of the second seeded University of Kentucky along with the defeat of fourth seeded Iowa. 19 entries had one or the other in the Championship Game with six of those picking Kentucky to win the whole thing. And a total of 50 entries had one or both in their Final Four. There really is no reason to despair yet, though, because all indications are that the surprises and uncertainty will continue……..unless you happen to have an entry ominously named “UCON All the Way.” This unfortunate entry has both Kentucky AND Connecticut in the Championship Game. With both teams bowing out in their respective first games, UConn All the Way suddenly becomes a massive favorite as a Brandy Award contender.