Ah, the vagaries of EQE March Madness. With half of the Round 2 games having been completed Newman2 continues to lead the overall current scores, having picked six of the eight games correctly. Only four other entries matched that efficiency, including……are you ready for this?……..malz11! If you need a reminder, when we last checked in on malz11, the Brandy Award loomed with Mal having seen three Final Four participants bowing out in Round One. An upset win by Michigan, Mal’s only remaining Final Four pick, resulted in a move from 99th place to a tie for sixth!! Now the reality check – when sorted by Possible Points, malz11 sits in 98th place overall. As for that domination by Newman2, that pesky little loss by what was supposed to be a Championship contender, Kentucky, mars an otherwise perfect looking bracket. It’s a bit like gazing at the beauty of Cindy Crawford, but then upon closer inspection finding a big ol’ hairy mole on her……oh, wait. Bad analogy.
The upset loss by Baylor and the surprising move by St. Peters into the Sweet Sixteen is throwing many brackets for a loop. Only one entry had St. Peters winning their first game and none had them going to the Sweet Sixteen, so fret not because you underestimated the Peacocks. And the Baylor loss affected fewer brackets than might have been expected for a number one seed. Only 24 entries had Baylor making the Final Four and only four had the Bears winning the title.
UCON All the Way remains the favorite for the Brandy Award, but with two correct Round 2 picks, a little breathing room was gained. At this point there is a two-way tie for last place between DD1 and TRR1 for a mere total of 43 points (by comparison UCON All the Way has 47), but in the Possible Points sort, our current favorite dominates with only three Elite Eight teams still alive and a best possible point total of 100.