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.

The brackets for the 2017 March Madness Tournament have been revealed, and you are now free to make your official Hoops Madness Contest picks.  Simply click above on the “Create or Review Entry” link above and begin entering away!

There are a few changes that your Hoops Madness Administrators have instituted this year.  One is a new email address.  Our old email domain died, so if you desire to communicate with us via email, please note that the new address is hoopsmaster@eqemarchmadness.com.  We no longer have access to the prior email domain, so please update your address books.

Second, and most important, is a change in the way we will be collecting your “contributions.”  The past logistics and the accounting process have resulted in a lot of financial complications, so we are instituting one single collection point, and that is a PayPal account, the link to which is displayed below.  Because of tardiness by an increasing number of entrants (and admitted failures on the part of your administrators) we are establishing a hard deadline by which we will require payment.  And that deadline is a short one – March 22nd.  That is the day prior to  the start Sweet 16 rounds.  If we do not have your payment in hand your entry will be deleted.  Please help us in the accounting process (and your chances to win) by making your contribution promptly.

Make payment here.  (Note that PayPal will indicate that you are “purchasing Custom Hoop Rings,” a technicality that we have had to implement.  Don’t ask, just play along, and no, you will not be getting a ring.)

So with that, we urge you to get started on your entries (or if you see fit you may wait until the play-in games have completed – the website will automatically update and adjust for the play-in winners).  Good luck in this years contest!

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.

Holy cow, what a first round! 13 of the 32 lower seeded teams came out on top including a 13, a 14, and a 15, all on the same day – the first time that’s ever happened! And can you believe that our current first place entry, TKC2, picked 27 of the first 32 correctly? Don’t be surprised – that’s a former Hoops Madness champion. But now that we have those very high profile red/slashed marks in the Standings Reports, you’ll note that two of his Elite Eight picks have been knocked out, and that’s more than 23 other entries that still have seven entries alive. Perhaps most promising are the six entries whose Elite Eights are all still alive.

The DD3 entry has a very firm grasp on last place now that six of his final eight choices have been eliminated. The best possible score for DD3 is 79, despite having accurately selected 13 of the first round winners. Ominously DD3 is solidly in last in both the Current and Possible Points sorts.

On a positive note, the dreaded asterisks have yet to make an appearance on anyone’s entry, so it’s fair to say that it’s still anyone’s contest to win! Yes, even those who had Cal and Michigan State matching up in the Championship Game. Don’t break out your piccolos and tears just yet.

So you’re checking the standings and now you see teams marked in red in strike-through font. Yes, this is a new feature that provides a visual indication of just how many picks you screwed up. You may also take heart by realizing that many others also have many red marks among their selections, especially the entry labeled “Pac 12,” whose four total “red” teams demonstrates just how ill-advised it was to pick Pac 12 teams among the finalists. In general, more red marks to the left mean you’re probably not going to do too well. BUT!!!! With the huge number of upsets that seem to be occurring, that’s not in any way an absolute.

Another handy change is the fact that the Current Standings report and the Possible Points Standings report are now combined into one report. A handy little drop-down box allows you to toggle back and forth between the “sorted by score” option and the “sorted by possible score” option. Very revealing for entries like “Risky Business” who stands solidly on top in the “sorted by score” display yet is far down the list in the “sorted by possible points” display. Then again all of those red marks, primarily the one on the far left, might have foretold that discrepancy.

Finally don’t forget the Dynamic Report option that allows you to pretend that Stephen F Austin beats West Vir….ooops, bad example. With this report you can input any scenario and see how it might affect your entry and standings. Pretty cool, especially when you’re trying to justify to the family CFO how your entry might blossom into an untold fortune! You can access that report by clicking on the “Review or Print Entry” option on the banner menu then choosing View Reports.

The standings have shifted dramatically due to the plethora of upsets that have occurred today. And now the differences between the rankings by Current Points and Possible Points are significant. For instance under Current Points Risky Business stands alone in first place with 19 of 24 picks being correct. Unfortunately in the Possible Points sort, Risky Business stands alone in 87th place, ironically two places below Upset Central. Even the upset pickers can’t pick the upsets!

However, two DWG entries, DWG1 and DWG4, dominate the standings on both sorts! In fact by Current Points DWG entries constitute another three picks tied at ninth! It’s good to be a DWG…..right now.

In the race for the Brandy Award the competition is even fiercer. We have a new strong contender, yanncancook, whose two finalists, Michigan State and Baylor both got bounced in their first games. Former contender DD3 has jumped all the way to 95th place, but coming on strong is DD2 holding down position number 129. It’s not good to be a DD….right now.

With Michigan State going down to 15th seeded Middle Tennessee, every entry, yes EVERY entry in the Hoops Madness Tournament, got the pick wrong. With 119 entries predicting MSU going to at least the Elite 8, including 32 having Sparty going all the way to the title, bracket selectors throughout the Hoops Madness tournament resemble last year’s Villanova crying piccolo girl.

With lower seeded teams taking seven of the sixteen contests yesterday it should be no surprise that the entry labeled Risky Business is among the top entries. A look at the picks shows some bold choices indeed, but that’s what you have to do to stand out in the race for Hoops Madness glory. Along with TKC2 and Fensterrapin, only one incorrect pick exists among the leaders. Close on the heels are 16 more entries that got 14 of the 16 games right.

We are now able to provide you with the rankings by Possible Points in addition to the leaders by Current Points. This is unfortunate news for four of the bottom ranked entries that had Purdue either going all the way or in the finals. This also means that there is a temporary reprieve for leading Brandy Award contender, DD3, who staged a huge comeback in the late games, having now picked seven total games correctly. Also noteworthy is 130th ranked zona zoo, who predicted a now departed U of A win plus a tiebreaker final tally of 15 points. In the Dean Smith days of the four corners offense this might have been possible, but today it would make for a very unpopular Championship game.

The highlight of the day, at least to viewers who frequent Twitter and to courtside announcers, was the abuse sustained by Arizona coach Sean Miller’s shirt. The nattily attired coach quickly became quite unnatty by thoroughly soaking through his shirt, leading many to compare his endocrine system to that of Airplane pilot Ted Striker. Admittedly it is Spring Break for many right now, but Sean would do well to refrain from the wet t-shirt contest participation until after…..oh, that’s right, he is in fact free to participate in such frivolities.

3 teams are tied for first place having made only one incorrect pick, each making an incorrect pick on a different game (TKC2 having picked Baylor, Fensterrapin Arizona, and Risky Business picking USC). A pretty impressive start to the pool. But a long way to go – for some reason it’s rare to see one entry run the table end to end. At either end of the spectrum. But even DD3 has a potential score of 202, so the first day’s tally of 7/16 still isn’t enough to put the Brandy Award on the mantel. Yet.

Although we are accustomed to prattling on about the “Status by Possible score” at this point in the tournament, this report is no longer pre-packaged by our hoopness friends. It IS possible to pull it up using the Dynamic Status Report which offers many other fun opportunities for those of you home … “sick”. You can put in results that didn’t happen (say, for example, that you’ve had “Tribute” ricocheting between your ears but you missed the last few minutes of the game and wanted to live, at least for an instant, in a world where USC made a freethrow or two at the end of the game. Fear no longer – go ahead and Enter that victory (and make Risky Business’s day perfect, even if only for pretend). All results will be updated in your little fantasy world. You can also enter game outcomes before they’re official…

Using this tool to look at the status report isn’t too informative at this point – with relatively few entries having picked Purdue (78 – this one hurt the most entries), Baylor (42), or Seton Hall (19) to go beyond the second round the carnage caused by their losses is limited. However, in terms of potential scores there are the top three tied for first, and then only 6 more teams tied for 4th (as opposed to 15 teams having picked 14 or 15 game outcomes correctly so far). Don’t fail to check out the dynamic status report – it’s fascinating.

With one quarter of the first round’s games complete underdogs are at .500. And our leading teams number three who sport a perfect record at this point. The highly reliable 12 beats 5 struck again, dashing the hopes of three of our entrants who had the Boilermakers going all the way, and maintaining a perfect batting average for 12th seeded teams.

Meanwhile, perennial Brandy Award contender, Dave Ditlevsen, is strongly in contention to grab yet another free entry, having picked only two of the first eight games correctly. Adding credence to his first place standing is the fact that he has Purdue in the Final Four. Can anyone else step up and pick as badly as the DD3 entry?

The always reliable 12-beats-5 seed has struck and a mere 17 of our entries picked it – Yale over Baylor! Incredibly six of our entries remain undefeated. One of those should not surprise you, former Champion “ratherbeknitting.” Apparently knitting and basketball skills are closely related. Not to be outdone, another former Champion, Utter Kaos, sits among the elite six. With six games complete, lower seeded teams have won half of their contests. Are you lamenting your choosing to click the “Start with Higher Seeded Teams” button?”

After two games it’s an 80-way tie for first place! OK, it’s early, but that’s a promising start. Only two entries have all goose eggs so far. Competition for the Brandy Award looks to be a true free-for-all!

More importantly, we stumbled onto what may be today’s greatest find, the lyrics to the CBS Madness Song, so named because the frequency of its performance will induce madness to any devoted viewer. Regardless, we think you’ll enjoy finally figuring out (and identifying with) the meaningful words that accompany this horrific tune.

Sing it with us now! #MarchMadness #2PointLead pic.twitter.com/JlvxnmJgJU

— 2 Point Lead (@2PointLead) March 17, 2016

Enjoy the new Reports. For many of you, this may be the only time you’re in the Number 1 position! Enjoy it while it lasts!

(There are 133 entries.)

The pool closes at first tipoff.  Pool HQ has a difficult time reading clocks and managing time zones – it’s up to you to beat tip-off  with any last minute entries!!  Best of luck, and for those of you staying home to recover from a mid-March illness, get better soon (by Monday, perhaps).

As if you needed a reminder, real games begin tomorrow while many of us who chose NOT to feign illness earlier this week will be at work.  Expect slower internet performance while your back is to the millstone, but fear not we (may) be rapidly providing you with updates.  Assuming that our internet performance at work isn’t suffering.

Don’t forget that our recently dormant Twitter feed, @Hoops_Madness has been resurrected and is sure to provide you with all you need to enhance your March Madness experience. Entertaining and useful tweets will be passed along, one for instance that provides you with eight hacks that will enable you to follow March Madness while pretending to work!