With two games under our belt, the Real-Time Reports function and Leaderboard links are now active. If you are already behind, it’s a long tournament. If you are one of few who are Zero for TWO, I know how you feel…

Luka, like all EQE March Madness participants, expressing disappointment over tournament performance. 

If you feel like crying, like our sad friend Luka here, feel free.  Kenny Smith and Tom Hanks may not allow crying in their sports, but this year, of the 16 top seeds in the NCAA Tournament, ten have fallen by the wayside. And those results are reflected in the standings of the EQE March Madness Tournament where all but one entry has seen at least three Elite Eight choices get eliminated. Things are looking pretty good (at the moment) for N8DaGr8, who sits in first place in current points and in second place in possible points. But his choice of Baylor over Florida State in the Championship game goes against the grain of most of the other top entries, most of which have some combination of Gonzaga and Baylor. The way things are going, the chances for those two teams to advance in the tournament could legitimately be considered questionable.

Oddly, BCG2, who picked only half of the second round games correctly, sits atop the Possible Points standings, but sits in a six-way tie for eighth in Current Points. Only five entries bettered .500 in the Round of 32, the best showing coming from long time participant, EyeBrian, the only one to pick ten correct Round 2 games. Yeah, it’s been that kind of tournament.

Unfortunately, the dreaded asterisks have made their first appearance. 16 entries have been deemed to have no chance of finishing in the money. However, the race for the Brandy Award is far from settled. Maluri Fernandez has a commanding lead with 42 points and four teams still alive, but if Michigan can overcome the Big Ten curse and advance, look for Mal to climb out of the basement to salvage some small bit of dignity.

“Please don’t ask me what’s on my mind,
I’m a little mixed up but I’m feelin’ fine”

Elvis sang it, but it could easily apply to anyone who’s submitted an entry in this year’s tournament.  Yours and everyone else’s entry is certainly mixed up, but you have to be feeling fine after one of the most entertaining days of March Madness ever! Every game had either an upset win or came down to the final few seconds. And it is truly anyone’s tournament to win here at EQE March Madness. Of the eight games played today, only one entry fared better than .500, Shizcity3. Junior Gman still sits atop the standings….for current points. But change that sorting to best possible showing and Junior drops down to a tie for 40th.

All but four entries have lost at least one of their Final Four picks, and not surprisingly, those four lead in the Possible Standings sort, Pad Rat, BCG2, ThunderSnowGod3, and fittingly, SisterJeansNurse, in that order.

Should Gonzaga and/or Baylor falter, the standing will be thrown into such a tizzy that last place Maluri Fernandez could take it all. Indeed, the dreaded asterisks have failed to appear, so take heart – even though one entire side of your bracket displays those little red X’s, you still have a chance to place on the podium!

The shocking loss handed to top seeded Illinois by Loyola of Chicago has had a devastating effect on the EQE March Madness Tournament.  No less than 50 entries had the Illini going all the way to the Final Four, with 39 of them going all the way to the Championship game.  Yesterday’s leader, Junior GMan, still shows as the overall leader in points, but having picked Illinois to win it all means that in reality Junior GMan may actually see the dreaded asterisk next to his entry in the near future.  Oddly, SisterJean’sNurse picked Illinois to make the Elite Eight, but the good karma from the world’s most famous 102 year old tourney fan seems to have rubbed off as she sits in sixth place when sorted by possible points.  Something tells us the surprises are not yet complete.

With the round of 64 now complete we see confusion and disarray on a par with that of the new Taco Bell menu. Another three seed, Texas, was eliminated and similarly seeded Kansas came perilously close to dropping their game. Fourth seeded Kansas also fell, resulting in a two, a pair of threes and a pair of four seeds having now been eliminated. That’ll mess up anyone’s bracket.

And Madness Entries show no exceptions. The best performance at this point comes from Junior GMan, having picked 26 of the 32 games correctly. Following our leader is a nine-way tie for second among entries that nabbed 24 of 32 games, a batting average of .750. Just about every entry has seen at least one of their Elite Eight teams get eliminated. Only three still show an unblemished Elite Eight selection.

Early strong Brandy Award candidate, Maluri Fernandez, saw three more Elite Eight selections go down to defeat, leaving only one team still in the running. Yet surprisingly Mal has made 15 correct picks. It seems that Brandy’s 24 year old unintentionally remarkable low score record remains unthreatened.

After the first half of the round of 64, picks and possibilities are all over the map. We haven’t seen this many upsets since Milli Vanilli’s got the Grammy. Another huge upset saw fourth seeded Purdue go down to the North Texas Mean Green, while a fifth seed, Tennessee, and sixth seeded San Diego State also came up short. The result was a slew of wrong picks among tournament contestants, with the best showing coming from none other than defending Champion, Gerald Eggink, who was the only individual to have fewer than three wrong picks.

Bracket Busters wreaked havoc on just Day One such that only 14 entries have not seen at least one Elite Eight or better team eliminated. So do not despair if your Ohio State or Purdue late round pick is already gone. You have lots of company. However, if you are one of the 18 who had for reasons unknown either the Buckeyes, Boilermakers or Tar Heels going all the way to the Championship game, well, you might want to start pulling very hard for an upset of Gonzaga.

And if you still are feeling hopeless, just be glad you are not Maluri Fernadez, who has already lost four teams of the projected Elite Eight on top of going 6 and 10 on Day One. And there’s more to come tomorrow!

The first big upset of the tournament is in with Ohio State, a number two seed, going down like Biden trying to board Air Force One. Bad news for the three picks that had the Buckeyes going all the way and the five who had them making it to the Championship match. Great news, however, for two entries that picked Oral Roberts to pull off the upset!

The upset leaves us with just one entry showing a perfect record after six games, TRR2, whose name we suspect symbolizes either a love for the sauce he puts on his fried fish or a struggle to properly enunciate the work turtle.

Trailing badly already, and early favorite for the Brandy Award, is English Bulldog, who saw projected Championship Game contender, Drexel, lose in their first round game. But should Oral Roberts continue their hot play and make it into the Elite Eight, English Bulldog will be looking prettier than French Poodle.

So you picked Gonzaga to win it all in this year’s tournament. You, and almost 50% of the other entries did just that. About as original as picking Harry and Megan as couple of the year.

We have am impressive 87 entries for the 2021 tournament – not bad after a very late start in getting things together here at headquarters. We can all agree that tournament play was sorely missed.

The various reports are now available for you to mull over. Feel free to check your entries, in the likely event that you forgot whether or not you picked Iowa to beat Grand Canyon. In the distribution report, you will see that of the 87 entries, 41 of them have Gonzaga taking it all, with Illinois the second most popular choice at 18. Evidently Ayo Dosunmu’s mother is quite a fan of the EQE March Madness Tournament. After that, we have Michigan with 7 picks and Baylor with six picks. If Gonzaga somehow gets upset along the way, look for things to get very interesting.

To view the reports, click here.

We’ll be back with periodic updates and commentary. How good is it to have March Madness back?!?

Congratulations. Everyone is currently tied for FIRST PLACE. Enjoy it while it lasts. (Good Luck!)
Reports will be updated periodically in the NAV BAR by looking under REPORTS or by going directly to the Hoopness Site.

2021 Dynamic Status Report for Pool: EQE March Madness (Hoopsmadness) Results as of 2021-03-19 12:44:05 AM EDT

# Correct     |<--------- Final 8 --------->|Curr. Poss.--by Round---- |<--Final 4-->|
Rank  Entry Name           Score Score  2  3 4 5 6 7 1st 2nd                         tie
---  --------------------- ----- ----- -- -- - - - - --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

  1 TKC2..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 OkS Iow Tx  Bay Gon LSU Ark SDS 135
  1 TKC1..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon OhS FlS Ill USC Ala Bay WVU 135
  1 Ren...................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon Tx  Bay Iow FlS TxT HOU 150
  1 SisterJeansNurse......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay Ala HOU Kan FlS VaT Ill 145
  1 shizcity 1............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic Bay Kan Tx  OhS WVU 136
  1 DWG1..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Ala Ark Iow Mic Pur HOU 142
  1 DWG2..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon HOU Ala Pur Iow Mic Ark Ill 149
  1 DWG3..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon Ala Bay Iow FlS OhS HOU 152
  1 DWG4..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Iow Ill Ala OhS Gon Mic Bay HOU 148
  1 dfs...................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon Mic OhS Iow Con Bay HOU 140
  1 Big Gay Al............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Mic Ill Gon Pur Iow Tx  OhS WVU 141
  1 LimpingTiger..........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Pur Mic Ill Kan Ala OhS WVU 129
  1 King Thomas...........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Pur Gon Mic WVU Iow Ala Ark Ill 128
  1 ThunderSnowGod........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon OhS Mic OkS Iow BYU Bay WVU 132
  1 Petey1................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Pur Ala Ill Iow Mic TxT HOU 142
  1 Petey2................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Mic Iow Bay Gon Ala OhS HOU 142
  1 ThunderSnowGod2.......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Mic Bay Iow WVU UVA Tx  OhS Ill 139
  1 Pad Rat...............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon HOU FlS Bay Iow MD  OhS Ill 154
  1 ThunderSnowGod3.......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Bay Iow Ala HOU Gon Mic Ark OkS 156
  1 Brinkley500...........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay Mic Ill Iow Ala OhS HOU 130
  1 Kid Bro Sweets........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic OhS Kan P4  Vil SDS 127
  1 Mandalorian1..........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 HOU CSB Tx  Wis Kan Geo OhS GaT  99
  1 Boilermania...........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic Pur Iow Ala OhS HOU 158
  1 Boilermania2..........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon Ala Bay USC FlS OhS WVU 164
  1 Time to get ILL.......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Iow CO  OhS Gon BYU Bay SDS 138
  1 Making Me ILL.........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon Ala Bay Iow CO  OhS WVU 138
  1 Tyrone Shoelaces......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay Mic WVU Iow Tx  OhS Ill 143
  1 B1G n B0LD............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Mic Gon OhS Iow P4  Pur Rut 144
  1 My Dogs Picks.........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon OhS Mic HOU Iow Ala Bay Ill 149
  1 My Cats Picks.........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon TxT Ala OkS Iow Mic Bay SDS 149
  1 Da....................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Ala Bay Iow Mic OhS WVU 175
  1 Big 10 Love...........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon Mic OhS Iow Ala Pur HOU 168
  1 Sailor C..............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon HOU Mic Pur Kan Ala OhS Ill 135
  1 Hudson C..............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay FlS Ill Kan P4  OhS HOU 132
  1 donn stout............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay Ala OkS Iow Mic TxT SDS 151
  1 Madness4..............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Mic UNC Gon WVU Kan Tx  OhS Ten 155
  1 UNCLE JOE.............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Iow Mic OhS Gon BYU Pur WVU 169
  1 Junior GMan...........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon Ala Bay Iow Mic OhS HOU 132
  1 WayneO................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Cre Mic Bay Kan Tx  UtS WVU 150
  1 Beast Mode 24.........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay Tx  HOU Kan Mic OhS OkS 141
  1 Rawdog................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay Mic Clm Iow Con OhS Ill 131
  1 FreeBritney...........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Tx  OhS Iow Mic Bay WVU 158
  1 Ragged Again..........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Ala Iow Bay Gon Mic Ark WVU 156
  1 klahc.................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay Mic Ill Iow Ala OhS HOU 160
  1 FitzMagic.............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic Pur Iow Ala OhS HOU 160
  1 FitzTragic............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Mic Iow Bay Gon Ala OhS HOU 160
  1 Gerald 23.............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Iow Mic TxT Gon BYU Pur WVU 188
  1 BCG1..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic Bay Iow Ala OhS HOU 150
  1 BCG2..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Bay Gon Mic HOU Kan Tx  Ark Ill 150
  1 Jeanne................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 OhS USC CO  SDS UVA Ala Bay OkS 138
  1 N8DaGr8...............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Bay FlS Gon WVU USC Tx  Ark Ill 131
  1 Bruins1...............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Bay Gon Mic WVU Iow Tx  Clg Ten 136
  1 LA Al.................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Mic HOU UVA Bay Kan Tx  TxT Ill 143
  1 LA Al 2...............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Mic HOU UVA Bay Ore Tx  OhS Ill 143
  1 maluri fernandez......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 UNC Con UVA Clm VCU Mic VaT Ten 142
  1 Stimpy................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Tx  Bay Iow FlS TxT HOU 150
  1 Johnno Blotto.........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic Bay USC Tx  OhS HOU 176
  1 Eyebrian1 ............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic Bay Iow Tx  Ark HOU 137
  1 Eyebrian2.............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon UNC Tx  HOU Kan LSU TxT Ten 142
  1 Boiler Ball...........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Pur Gon Ala HOU Iow FlS OhS Ill 140
  1 Eyebrian3.............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ark Tx  Ore HOU Gon Mic Bay OkS 162
  1 DD1...................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon Tx  Bay Iow Mic Ark SDS 159
  1 DD2...................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Mic Ill Iow Bay Gon Tx  OhS SDS 159
  1 DD3...................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon OkS FlS Ark Iow Ala Bay WVU 159
  1 Nathan Detroit........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Bay Mic Ill Iow Ala OhS HOU 128
  1 Everlovin Adelaide....     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 OhS Gon Mic HOU Iow Ala Bay Ill 128
  1 TRR1..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon HOU Mic OhS Iow Tx  Bay OkS  68
  1 TRR2..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill BYU Ark Iow Mic Bay HOU  78
  1 ZoeY..................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 UNC Con Okl Ill USC Mic VaT Clm 114
  1 KAOS Picks............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill FlS Bay Iow Ala OhS HOU 145
  1 KAOS Agent............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Tx  Bay Iow FlS OhS HOU 142
  1 KAOS and CONTROL......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Gon FlS Bay Iow Ala OhS HOU 142
  1 Newman1...............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Mic OhS Iow Ill Gon Ala Bay Syr 126
  1 Newman2...............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Ill Mic Gon Ark Kan Tx  Bay HOU 122
  1 snorkelgal............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic OhS Iow Ala Pur HOU 165
  1 BottomBracket.........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon WVU Mic OhS Kan Tx  Bay Ill 127
  1 English Bulldog ......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 OhU Drx BYU NTx Iow FlS OrR WVU 186
  1 Fightin Fomites.......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Pur Gon Mic SDS USC MD  Ark LyI 142
  1 Sidecar Stanley.......     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon OhS Ala Ill Iow Mic Bay HOU 143
  1 LTaylor1..............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill FlS OhS Iow Ala UNC WVU 161
  1 Stealth Entry.........     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Bay Gon Ala HOU Iow Mic OhS Ill 150
  1 DERPS.................     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon Ill Mic OhS Iow Ala Bay SDS 180
  1 shizcity 2............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 OhS Kan Mic Ill Gon Ala Bay HOU 143
  1 shizcity 3............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Bay Gon Con HOU Kan Mic Fla Ill 143
  1 Shizcity 4............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 UVA Ill Ala Ark Kan Mic Vil HOU 143
  1 n8DAgr8ist............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 Gon WVU Tx  OhS USC FlS Bay Ill 143
  1 Shizcity 5............     0   247  0  0 0 0 0 0 FlS OkS UVA OhS Kan Ala Vil HOU 143

With less than twelve hours before the first tip-off, it’s encouraging to see the return of old friends and their tournament entries.  62 submissions as of this writing, and the promise of 62 so more just minutes before the deadline.

So it seems we gave players a bad payment link in the original email that we sent out.  Huge apologies for that.  The correct link is below.  You should see a form that asks for your quantity of entries, your name, email, and spaces for the entry names for which you are paying.  Click at the bottom on the “Next” button, and you’ll be taken to a payment choice, either PayPal or good ol’ paper check.

The proper link to use for payments : https://fs12.formsite.com/straymutt/form9/index.html?1616127471585

Big time apologies for the confusion.  Any questions, hit us up on the hoopsmaster email address: hoopsmaster@eqemarchmadness.com

We are under way with a total of 116 entries in the tournament this year. That’s our best showing in many years, and the winner (obviously we all think it will be our own entry that will win it all) stands to come away with a substantial profit – maybe not enough to get your kid into Stanford, but plenty enough to pay that kid’s phone bill for a month or so.

We want to advise you that some reports are now available for you to look over and browse at this point. The “Pool Choice” and “Pool Distribution” reports display all of the picks for each entry and summarize the picks by school. Just click on the Quick Reports link above and peruse to your heart’s content. You might note that 47 entries have Duke winning it all and then there is a substantial drop off to the second favorite pick, Gonzaga, with a mere 16 picks as the champion. Interestingly, 89 of the entries, 77%, have one of the four Number One seeds taking the title. Our league statistician Numlock MacGeek has informed us that four number one seeds have all graduated to the finals only once in the entire history of the tournament and furthermore, in the tournament’s 56 year existence only 21 number one seeds have come away with the title.  Good luck!

Games have been close and exciting up to this point, but no huge upsets. Still, with six games complete only 10 entries are perfect, so don’t fret if you’ve got a few clunkers at this point…..well, maybe except for Tripstersmatilda, who has managed only one correct pick so far.

March Madness explained before we start…

As of 8:30 PM PDT on March 19, 2019, we’ve tallied a total of 38 entries. While this is typical of entry patterns of years past, recent events have raised concerns here at pool headquarters that a public service announcement is in order:

THERE IS NO “SIDE DOOR” to EQE Hoops madness glory. If “Side Door Singer” has been telling you otherwise, you may wish to reconsider your choice of consultants. Or perhaps you are mistaking this pool for an education at USC. To which we reply: we’re better than that.

We would ALSO counsel all prospective entrants to keep your eye on the clock – the pool clangs shut right before tip-off of the first game. According to THIS website, that first tip is scheduled for 12:00 PM EDT, March 21, 2019. If you are in other time zones, continents, hemispheres, or states of mind we leave it to you to figure it out.

Best of luck, enter often, and remember that everybody’s fake SAT scores are ignored equally and without prejudice here!

At the completion of today’s games we’re down to the final four teams in the tourney, and 21 viable entries in the pool.  Both games today were exciting, with the Kansas victory over Duke being decided late in OT.  The excitement in the first game was much more short lived (mid first half?).

In our pool all of the possible remaining outcomes can be viewed in the Final Four report .  Of the 8 possible outcomes remaining, KirkWho comes in first in 3, DD1 and Petey2 come in first in two scenarios each, and hailphire wins it all only if Kansas beats Michigan in the final.  KirkWho is in the nice position of finishing in the money in 7 of 8 outcomes remaining.

In a shocking display of poor outcome picking, Gerald 1 has come out of anonymity (bad, but not bad enough to be mentioned before) to grab hold of the Brandy Award.  Gerald 1’s score of 60 is not historically horrible, but is considerably worse than last year’s winner (76).

Hey, if we can have the Elite Eight and Final Four, we might as well slap an appropriate name of the tweeners, and thus we christen those teams remaining as of Saturday night the Studly Six.

With Michigan and Loyola of Chicago moving on to the Final Four we are down to 36 entries that can finish in the money, only nine of which have a chance of finishing in first place.  At this point, KirkWho is looking pretty strong with a 69% chance of finishing in the money and a 28% chance of a first place finish.  Should Villanova and Duke win tomorrow, those odds go up even more.

Looking at the current points, Worst Nightmare leads the way with a score of 109.  Should Texas Tech slide by Villanova on Sunday, the Nightmare could become very real.  Speaking of Worst Nightmare, much will depend on this lovable soul.

Of course if he wasn’t already America’s most despised college basketball player, followed closely by Grayson Allen, he could become even more disliked if he ends up beating America’s favorite 98 year old sweetheart, Sister Jean.  That just ain’t right.

Some clarity is coming to the Brandy Award winner too.  If Villanova wins, New Name is almost a sure lock.  However, if Villanova loses, Big East Final will complete a clean sweep of no Final Four and only one Elite Eight picks.  That’s harder to do than you might realize.

Friday’s action followed the seeder’s expectations much more closely than Thursday’s games:  3/4 games went to the top seed, with the only seeding “upset” being (close your eyes, Ron) the marginally lower seeded #3 Texas Tech Red Raiders defeating the #2 seed Purdue Boilermakers.

Looking at the brackets, the East ended up relatively true to form (#1 vs. #3), the South is upset city (#9 vs. #11), the West is moderately upset (#3 vs. #9), while only the Midwest played true to form (#1 vs. #2).

What does that mean to YOU?  If you are among the 45 remaining entries with a chance, you’ve got more to root for than the rest of us.  The current leader is “Worst Nightmare” with 99 points, but picking UVA to win it all.  “Worst Nightmare” does finish in first place in 24 of the remaining 128 outcomes (check out the possibilities report).  Leading the odds for a first place finish is KirkWho who is first in possible score ranking, and 3rd in the current point ranking.

Things are still roiled at the bottom of the sediment heap, with the lowest current point total (“Big East Final”) currently with only 55 points, but with the potential for 105 points.  There are a number of entries who have already reached their potential, with the lowest scoring of those being “New name” at 66 points.