It’s a good showing for the 2018 Hoops Madness Tournament, 106 total entries.  Indeed the economy has improved.  We’re trying to stay on top of the financial end of things so we remind you of our preferred method to settle your debts.  And sorry, but your response of “just take it out of my winnings” is not all that original.

You can go directly to our PayPal Collection point by clicking here.  It will appear that you are “purchasing” custom hoop rings, which is our slick method of sliding around the nasty paypal people who have tried to disrupt our tournament in the past.

If you have not paid up by the end of this Sunday’s games we will put you on the tardy list, issue you a strongly worded letter, and let Vlad Putin deal with you.  Don’t be late!

They don’t call them “play-in” games anymore, but that’s exactly what they are.  The loss by UCLA to St Bonaventure may have stunned some…..well, one maybe.  Will it alter your choice of a champion?  Probably not, but the more important news that might have you rethinking things is the University of Virginia’s loss of De’Andre Hunter, the highly regarded ACC Sixth Man of the Year.  Reports from talking heads (most of which are failed coaches turned “experts”) have Virginia falling from the ranks of most favored to no-longer-most-favored.

If you are suffering from “early picker’s remorse” and feel the need to make a change, we have just the solution for you – go back in and change your entry!  You can do this by clicking on “Create, Review, or Print Entry” on the banner above.  You’ll find the main menu there with several links.  Click on the “Update an Entry” link and you’ll be prompted to enter your entry name and password.  Remember to use your personal password, and not the DickieV password that you used to gain entry into the pick ’em site.  If you need a reminder as to what your entry name is, click on the Main Menu link, then “Find an Entry” and you’ll find a list of all entries.

Good luck and don’t forget to submit your payment via our convenient PayPal link.  If you haven’t done so already, you can pay here.

S-upset Sunday followed S-upset Saturday, leaving many brackets in shambles. The result of today’s carnage is most visible in the standings with the first appearance of the dreaded “asteriks of elimination” [AOE]. If you see an AOE next to your entry you can now relax and enjoy the tournament without being troubled by how the game will impact your retirement plan.

The opposite side of this coin is that if your entry isn’t tagged with an AOE there is a teaser indicating the highest finish possible for your entry. For example, DD2, currently ranked 104 in the status report, can still finish in first place. Given that DD2 was the only entry to pick Michigan to win it all I’m pretty sure that DD2’s fortunes ride solely on the backs of the Wolverines.

To get an idea of how tumultuous this weekends games were on our pool one only has to look at the Distribution report. Duke was the most favored team in our pool to win it all (22 entries) followed by Villanova (20). Doing some quick math these two losses represent over 1/3 of the pool having had their bracket champion lose in the 2nd round.

The Brandy award is still a conceptually wide open race – PadRat has a total possible score of only 105, and picked only 1/2 of the games correctly this round. 5 entries had a worse 2nd round, having picked 7 of the game winners. Ouch. Also at the bottom of the heap are “Boom Goes The Dynamite” and “BBJones”.

Among those entrants that had a slightly better weekend, the “Shizcity” series are looking particularly good in the possible points rankings (1, 3, and 5th place). “Big 10 Love” had the best weekend having picked 13/16 correct winners with Duke being the one blemish (picked to lose in the championship). “Team America” currently maintains a clean Final 8, impressive at this stage of the tournament.

If you are looking to get a probabilistic view of your chances, and your entry is still AOE free, the “Pool possibilities” report will give you the chances (assuming that each of the remaining possible 32,768 outcomes are equally probable. Which they’re not) of finishing in first or in the top 5. Based on this report, “Shizcity 4” and “Big 10 Love” (the top two most probable winners) together represent 21% of the winning game outcomes.

If the top seeded teams ALWAYS won their games you’d have saved a ton of time by clicking the “pick higher seeds to win” button and been done with it. As yesterday demonstrated this isn’t always a winning strategy. Without bemoaning the fact that Northwestern ALMOST won (almost happens all the time), the following significant upsets DID occur:
A) #8 Wisconsin defeated #1 and defending champ Villanova
B) #11 Xavier sent #3 FSU packing
C) #4 Purdue defeated #5 Iowa State (not technically an upset, but tell that to Purdue fans)

Looking at our distribution report, there were 7 entries that picked ‘Nova to bow out in the 2nd round, though 31 having them making it to the championship, 20 winning it all. You can guess who’s happier now!

Given the upsets the sorted by possible report is probably a better indicator than the standard status report- in the current point ranking 2 entries in the top 15 leaders have Villanova winning it all. That being said the leader, “Big 10 Love” DOES have a clean slate in the Great 8 (including Wisconsin). “Boiler Pete” was the beneficiary of two of the aforementioned upsets, but is going strongly against archetype picking Purdue to win it all (one of three such entries).

All 4 of the top entries in the status report sorted by possible points currently have clean G8s, 2 wistfully thinking of a Purdue victory, one Duke, and one UNC. Which is to say to the remaining 117 entries that there are many games left to play before you can give up on your entry.

Even current cellar dwellers “Starbucks Fan” and “rather be knitting” have respectable possible scores of 141 and 145 respectively. If you go to the hoopness site you can perform “Dynamic Status” reports to see what would happen if, for example, UCLA wins it all. Enjoy…

For many, it’s called disbelief. (This account hijacked by Admin…who is currently out and about…)

The Round of 64 is now complete and there is a five-way tie for first place, all of whom picked every contest but three of the 32 games correctly.  With no real notable upsets, perhaps this isn’t all that surprising.  We say “notable” because so many of the so-called upsets were actually somewhat predicted by Hoops Madness participants.  Indeed, 85 of 121 entries correctly picked number 10 Wichita State’s “upset” over Dayton, while 52 also went with number 12 Middle Tennessee State over number 5 Minnesota.  The inclusion of three “Kaos” entries among the five “Current” leaders appears to be somewhat suspicious in that there is a very close connection to control of the tournament.  The watchdogs that keep the administrators honest have been summoned.

If you rank the standings by Possible Score, you’ll see an ominous name among the four that are tied for first.  That TKC1 and TKC2 you see is none other than defending champion Tom Chan, also our only two time champion.  Fellow first place “possibles” J1 and BCG2 stand advised.  Evidently the secret to doing well is to ensure that your entry has a number in it.

As for the other end of the competition…….all we can say is poor Tom Crean.  Two crushing events, only 36 hours apart.  First he gets fired within the first hour of the commencement of the tournament, and after a special one-time late admission allowing him to get a Hoops Madness entry in, he goes and blows it when his championship pick, Marquette, gets blown out in their first game.  All of this and the embarrassment of being John Harbaugh’s brother-in-law.  How much misfortune can one person sustain?  Obviously Tom shoots to the bottom of the pile in possible points.  And we’ve made sure all forks and knives have been collected from his house.

OK, so you picked Middle Tennessee State to beat Minnesota, you only missed one pick at this point and you’re feeling even better about yourself that you did at lunch time.  Guess what?  You’re not alone – even remotely.  30 entries are among the leaders, having picked seven of eight games so far.  And there are two perfect entries at this point, both seemingly related.  Both Ren and Stimpy have defied the odds and have a clean bracket.  Uh oh!

It might be described as the most widely predicted upset ever as 52 or our entrants picked number 12 Middle Tennessee State to defeat the number 5 Middle Minnesota Tech.  That’s just short of half of all picks.  Are our tournament participants smart or what?  Wait, hold that thought, as one of our entries had the Golden Gophers going all the way to (ahem) the Final Four.  Cue the Price Is Right fail horn, Waa Waa!  That shoots entry 2Legit right into an impressive early lead in the race to the Brandy Award.  Still plenty of time though.

We’ll be back after the second half of the first half or if there’s breaking news.  Like Seth Davis admitting he made an errant prediction.

OK, so you picked the first four games correctly and you’re feeling pretty good about your picks.  Well, you have company, because 86 others are similarly perfect at this point.  The predictable “12 seed beats 5 seed” upset (as 37 entries predicted), though close, has not panned out after two tests.  Oh, and we made a rare exception allowing one special late entry under very special circumstances.  Suddenly finding himself with nothing to do, former Indiana Coach Tom Crean begged to get into the EQE March Madness Tournament.  Although we viewed his pick, Marquette, as nothing more than a patronizing attempt to get rehired, we still figure he’ll do nothing more than add to the kitty.

Good news!  Your odds of winning the tournament are the best that they’ve been in years!  Each person has a 1 in 120 chance of taking the grand prize.  Of course those odds will settle themselves out more precisely as the tournament progresses and as the 22% who picked Duke to win it all slink back to their mother’s basements.

Links to all of the picks and up to the hour tournament standings can be accessed by clicking on the “Quick Reports” menu item on the banner above.  In the meantime, please be sure to submit your payments so that you can continue to participate.  A reminder that entries without corresponding payments by the time the Sweet Sixteen rounds begin will not count.  If you need any assistance please don’t hesitate to contact tournament headquarters at hoopsmaster@eqemarchmadness.com.

[Snarky Comment added by Admin]

As the midnight hour passes, we have an even 100 entries in this year’s tournament.  But as procrastinators throughout our midst know well, the rules are always bent to allow even later entries – all the way up to tip-off of the first game on Thursday in fact.  That REAL deadline is 9:30 a.m. when the first game (not to mention the endless Capital One commercials) gets under way.  Don’t be a Dougie and try to sneak an entry in post-tipoff.  And don’t forget to get your payment in via our PayPal link, which seems to be flying well under the PayPal fun sucker police force radar.

Well that was one heck of a second Round 2 half! Simultaneous last minute buzzer beaters, a miracle comeback for Texas A&M, and Spike, Samuel, and Chuck still haven’t gotten out of that car as they head to the games! In the end few of the favorites have been eliminated, but those who are out have shaped possibilities greatly. And if you are dismayed about all of the red marks on your bracket, here’s some encouraging news – even the top spots in our pool have at least two red marks in their Elite Eight. With the second number two seed, Xavier, going down, brackets have become as jumbled as Charles Barkley’s analysis. The best any entry did was 12 correct Round 2 picks and only three did that well.

Sitting at the top (using the Possible Points sort exclusively now) is DWG4, although likely related entry, DWG1, moved strongly into contention as one of those few that nailed twelve of the sixteen Round 2 picks.

As for those picking the underdogs, only ten entries have Wisconsin going to the Sweet Sixteen and only four have Syracuse moving on that far.

Notable at the bottom of the selections is the fact that contender Bekbil2sr got four picks right while DD3, who managed only three correct Round 2 picks, greatly enhanced his chance of nailing another free entry when finalist choice Iowa was knocked out of contention. The lone remaining Elite Eight pick for DD3 is Indiana and with North Carolina as their next opponent, the Brandy Award is just about locked up.

The brackets somewhat righted themselves with only 2 upsets- Gonzaga(11) beating Utah(3) and Indiana (5) beating Kentucky (4). Reviewing the pac-12’s performance this was perhaps not such an upset, and since when did Gonzaga fall back to Cinderella status ?

The top 5 entrants all have 7 of the final 8 still viable – pretty impressive at this point! The Michigan State loss has had immense impact tournament-wide, the result being that every Hoops Madness entry has at least one incorrect Elite Eight pick.

Meanwhile, the race for the Brandy Award has taken on new urgency with Bekbil2sr swooping in from out of nowhere to contest DD3 for the lead. His/her predicted champion, Butler, faltered like a Kentucky three point attempt and with six of eight Elite Eight teams gone, presents a real challenge to early favorite DD3. They both got a mere two picks right in the first half of the second round and at this point DD3 is just two points ahead, but they’re tied in the Possible Points option. We’re happy to report, though, that the original Brandy total score is safe once again as both teams managed to surpass the threshold score of 30.