With the Second Round complete it’s what we at headquarters consider severe disappointment. Why is that? Well, the tournament is at its most fun when upsets are prominent and brackets are completely blown up. However of the 16 teams moving on, all but two of them are 4 seeds or higher. Not that some of the games weren’t exciting – Houston made it more exciting than needed (for their sake – and that of 13 entries that have them winning it all). And Marquette made a few people uncomfortable before taking the W. The lone Sunday upset was Clemson toppling Baylor, but even that game had a minimal impact on our brackets. 95 entries had Baylor moving on, but nobody had them winning overall and only one entry had the Bears advancing to the Championship game.
The standings are virtually unchanged with the Research Triangle picks, i. e. the three XXGoodBracket picks, leading the day, as they did yesterday. Two of the entries missed on just one game for Round Two, missing on only the Clemson win.
Even the Brandy Award standings are virtually unchanged as Nathan Detroit still leads the way with both current and possible points, but at least Nathan went .500 for the Second Round. That’s two games better than Zoe and Natester, who both got only six of sixteen games right, but Nathan’s lead is so strong that Zoe and Natester’s horrible performance barely made a dent in the bid for the Brandy Award.
With the end of Round Two, sadly we are beginning to see the appearance of the dreaded asterisk. Nine entries finish the first weekend of play with that nasty little indication that the competition is over for them. Also making its appearance is the Best Finish column. Though most entries still have a chance of finishing in first place, several can do no better than second, some third, and even a few have entries so hopeless at this point that their best possible finish is 4th. On the bright side, with the large number of entries this year, even 4th place might pay enough to at least cover the cost of entering.
Regarding that cost of entering notion, we’ll be reaching out to you over the next few days with instructions and requests to pay up. For any questions, please note that you can contact us at our common email address, hoopsmaster@eqemarchmadness.com