OK, March Madness is a cute little nickname for a tournament that occupies three weeks of our lives, giving us a chance to test our knowledge of college basketball and brag about how well (or badly) our brackets are doing. But whomever came up with the term “madness” probably did not expect how definitive that term would end up being in the year 2022. With the Elite Eight still yet to be played, over three quarters of our entries have been eliminated from any possibility of winning anything at all. Realizing that we pay out the top five spots, this is really quite extraordinary. You might even say it’s total madness! The remaining contenders are made up of a 15 seed, a 10 seed, and 8, and 5, a 4, pair of 2 seeds and just one top seed. With only 24 entries having any chance of coming away with a payday, inexplicably the leading team is one whose Final Four picks have all been bounced. That would be the resilient Quackquack2022. Oh, wait, that’s Current Points. Sorted by Possible Points, Quackquack2022 is solidly in last place. With the “Possibilities” report now available we see that Quackquack2022 has zero chance of winning it all, but has a 28% chance of finishing in the money. Madness indeed.
Actually only nine entries are eligible to win it all, the leader being Ssandro, with a 36% chance of taking the overall title and a 52% chance of finishing in the money. The consensus among the leaders is generally Kansas or Duke to finish the tournament on top, with a Villanova or Arkansas sprinkled in here or there. If St. Peters should continue to defy the odds, well, there’s no telling how screwed up things could get.
At the other end of the standings we see TRR1 leading the way no matter what sort you choose. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Brandy Award is wrapped up, though. If Villanova is able to survive and move on then early leader UCon All The Way is back in contention, having already missed on all Elite Eight selections. The pressure on Villanova is immense.