Well, March Madness isn’t quite the March Craziness of last year. All of the One and Two seeds survived intact, some with a little less comfort than others, but all have lived to play another day so far. Of the Three’s and Four’s only one of each was eliminated, the latest being Auburn, crumbling many a bracket.

Below that, however it was the usual mix of 11 and 12 seeds overcoming their favored opponent. At present four entries lead the way with 25 correct picks, with another eight right behind with 24 correct picks. However, in the Possible Score sort, XXGoodBracket seems to have secured a monopoly on top spots. RaleighGoodBracket, HillyGoodBracket and DurhamGoodBracket, rank one, two, three, respectively, each with vastly different Final Four picks. Now that’s covering your bases – as well as the entire Research Triangle area.

So the previous post brought you the strange case of Teardrops On My Bracket, the selection that simultaneously occupied both first and (next to) last place at the same time, depending on the sort. Well, now we have the opposite, a selection so horrendously bad that it occupies last place no matter which sort criteria one uses. Making a strong early bid for the Brandy Award is Nathan Detroit, with four of the entry’s Elite Eight picks having already been eliminated, including Nathan’s projected winner, Auburn. Sharing that dubious accomplishment is Karma is a Cat, whose chosen winner, Wisconsin, also is heading home from competition. Also making a bid for consideration in ineptness recognition is perennial bottom dweller, Pope’s Picks. Nathan and the Pope each failed on 17 matchups, which believe it or not is actually pretty good considering Brandy Award History. Still a long way to go though.

The fun continues tomorrow and the point values for correct picks increase, so look for some separation as we move through the round of 32.

If you happened to look in on the Status Report following the first four games on Friday and your entry happened to be Teardrops on My Bracket, you probably would have been quite please to see that the Status Report had you listed as tied for first place with 17 of 20 correct selections. However, had you changed that sort from Current Points to Possible Score you would probably not be quite as pleased as the sort would have your entry in 124th place! Why the vast difference? Well, take a look at the selected winner. Yes, that’s the Kentucky Wildcats and we all know what happened to them yesterday.

This example underscores the importance of checking the standings using both sorts – and also gives hope to those who think they are hopelessly out of the running. Hey, it’s early yet, and you only earn two points during the first round with the point value progressively increasing with each round. Lots of surprises are certainly in store and the standings can shift dramatically. Everyone still has a chance to win it all!!! Well, unless you had Kentucky winning it all, to be honest.

With half of the first round games having concluded we have a four-way tie for first in the current standings, two of them coming from a certain Shizcity. We’re not sure where Shizcity is located exactly but apparently the residents really know their basketball, because they’re 14 of 16. Somewhat surprising is the fact that all but one pool entries are batting at least .500, which is either commendable given the number of upsets on the first day, or incredibly lucky given the number of favorites who are packing their bags for the trip home.

Had you simply picked eleven seeds to win over their opposing six seeds chances are you’d be leading the standings. Three teams seeded sixth were defeated by their corresponding eleven seed during the opening round. The biggest surprise, however, Oakland taking down third seeded Kentucky, also resulted in the biggest shakeup in our EQE March Madness rankings. A total of 103 entries had the Wildcats getting at least to the Sweet Sixteen, with two of them having Kentucky winning the whole thing. That would make for two very badly busted brackets. And somehow six entries actually picked Oakland to prevail in the first round. Makes you wonder what they knew.

Oh, and a Public Service Announcement on behalf of those six who picked Oakland over Kentucky. A certain John Calipari wants to know if he can come stay with one of you for a few days until the heat dies down in Lexington. Warning – that stay could be a while.

With eight of the 16 Thursday games complete we can now project that there will be no perfect brackets coming from EQE March Madness. With three of the eight matchups resulting in lower seeded teams grabbing the W every entry has at least one incorrect pick. On the bright side, we presently have a 24-way tie for first place, all of whom have only one loss among their bracket picks. Taking a big hit in the possibilities is the entry labeled Patrick, which saw two Elite Eight picks suffer losses, one of which, Nevada, was slated to make it to the Final Four. And that officially marks our first serious contender for the Brandy Award. Too early for such talk? Never!

A few tips at this point to help you track your entries and standings:

• The Status Reports menu selection above shows the standings ranked by current points at any given time during the tournament. Click on either the Score Sort or the Possible Score Sort to figure out how you’re doing relative to other entries.
• The Reports menu selection gives you more options on scoring selections. See how many people picked UConn (spoiler – it’s 48) or Kansas (a mere one) to win it all.
• The Archives menu selection has the history of our tournament, dating back to 1988, and stories from past tournaments. Don’t forget to browse the Brandy Award winners to see who makes horrendously bad guesses.
• If you’re stuck at the office and the boss made you turn off the TV that you stashed on your desk, tune into live action or view interesting videos in your downtime by clicking on the next two menu items. So much info available right from your Headquarters home page!

Well, it seems we’re in for another tournament filled with upsets and surprises. After just two games, the lower seeded teams are undefeated (although Michigan State overcoming Mississippi State is by most definitions far short of an upset). For our tournament 117 of the 125 entries have at least one wrong pick, making the odds of a perfect bracket rather long. As for the 48 entries that are oh-fer, do not despair as you are doing better than Charles Barkley already.

The interest in EQE March Madness is at its highest since Charles Barkley and Clark Kellog shared a comb, 125 entries! It promises to be a fun, competitive few weeks filled with pounding that remote, crossing out our bracket losers and endless Capital One and Wendys commercials. Very soon we’ll update the Choice and Distribution Reports, enabling you to see how many of your competitors made the same Final Four picks as you. Check back often, send us your comments and questions and let’s enjoy the greatest sports tournament in existence!

Entries are beginning to pour in and the play-in games are underway. It’s sure to be another tournament filled with upsets, surprises and brackets that get blown up by the round of 32. The key to winning is picking the right upsets…..or if you’re like last year’s winner, turn the lights out, and make your picks at random while shrouded in darkness!

Note!!: The email inviting you to play went out on Sunday evening. If you have not received the invite, first check your spam folder. We are aware that some were filtered directly, Yahoo and Gmail accounts among those, and if you still haven’t received the invite and need the password to create your entries, please let us know at headquarters, hoopsmaster@eqemarchmadness.com

Entries are due before Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 9:15am PDT!