The most endangered species in the tournament appears to be those teams with a little “1” next to their name. With Arizona joining Gonzaga in defeat in the Sweet Sixteen the only top seed remaining is Kansas, and they still have to prove themselves tomorrow night. The result of a shocking number of upsets is a rash of EQE March Madness entries that have 99 of the 101 entries with two or more Final Four picks that have fallen by the wayside. The plethora of early losses is rivaled only by those of the Russian army – and it’s not over yet……for either!
And this is the point where we see those pesky asterisks make their unwelcome appearance. And there are many of them…..with only half of the Sweet Sixteen games having been played. 46 entries sport that little symbol at this point, and more are certain to appear after the completion of tomorrow’s games.
Of those 55 entries still alive, the Current Points sort has Quackquack2022 alone in first place. But with all four Final Four picks having been eliminated Quackquack2022 falls to 51st in the Possible Score sort, only five slots away from tournament elimination. The more meaningful and realistic Possible Score sort shows RaleighGoodBracket with a commanding lead and three Final Four picks still alive. Not surprisingly RaleighGoodBracket has Duke taking it all, one of only three with such hopes. Most of the others at the top have either Kansas, UCLA or Purdue winning it all. Now watch Houston or North Carolina or Iowa State get in there and really screw things up.
Rivaling the fight for the lead in EQE March Madness is the exciting race for the Brandy Award, the ever evolving battle that has nine teams that have seen seven Elite Eight picks go down. At this point last place is held by the ironically named “THE BEST BRACKET,” which predictably is currently the worst overall bracket, having whiffed on all four Thursday Elite Eight games (not the only one to sport such a claim, by the way). Leading the way in Possible Score, however, is a much more appropriately labeled pick, Carson Wentz. Should Carson Wentz end up taking the Brandy Award, your EQE March Madness committee will lobby the Superdome to erect a statue of Carson outside of the rear entrance – an attempt at making up for the injustice suffered by Carson when the Philadelphia Eagles erected a statue of Nick Foles after their Super Bowl win.