The first round of the Sweet Sixteen saw a number 2 seed, UCLA and a number 4 seed, Tennessee go down and with them went another 21 entries in the EQE March Madness pool. The UCLA loss was especially hurtful to the previous leaders, the Junior GMan picks, both of which had UCLA as part of their Final Four picks. However, that’s not necessarily a death sentence for Junior GMan or anyone else, as there remain only two entries that have not seen at least one of their Final Four picks suffer a loss.
One of those is the new Possible Score leader, CONNba Walker, one of only two entries batting more than .500 for Thursday. The other entry with all four surviving Final Four picks is DERPS, but because the other four Elite Eight picks are out, DERPS stands at sixth presently in the Possible Score sort and 27th in Current Points.
In the Current Points sort, a new name, Longshot, has shot to the top, sharing the lead with MF1, each of which has 90 points. But if the higher seeds keep falling like they have – and probably will – look for more upheaval (and new pool leaders) as the second half of the Sweet Sixteen gets under way tomorrow.
In the much more interesting battle among Badgers for the Brandy Award, Badger04 one-upped Badger03 by picking one of the Sweet Sixteen games correctly, shooting way up to 64th place (presently – and actually surpassing Badger02) but stubbornly handing onto last place in the Possible Points sort. Maintaining some of that Badger command, however, is indeed Badger 03, solidly in last place with only four teams remaining in tournament contention.