The madness officially began as of 11:20 AM this morning, Thursday, March 20th. The first round is well underway, and the pool is closed to further entries.
For the second year straight, there are a record number of entries. Last year's 57 entries from 44 different people has been eclipsed. For 2008, we have 61 official entries from 45 people. The last two places will earn their $6.00 entry fee back, and after the administrative fees are deducted, the remaining $324.00 will be split among the top 4 finishers and the winners of the first 2 rounds according to the percentages stated in the rules.
This of course, assumes that everyone who entered eventually pays their entry fee. If people don't pay, I will drop their entry from the pool, the resulting total money available will be less than the expected $330.00, and the public humiliation and fear of reprisal from an angry March Madness Mob will haunt the delinquent participants well beyond July.
Once again, I have included a Pick By Seeds and Random Coin Toss entry so you can track your progress against either complete randomness, or blind faith in the rankings/ESPN/NCAA Selection Committee. Sadly enough, technology moves forward too quickly, and Mopey the Xbox 360 is no longer with us. We shall not know this year how our human brain stacks up dollar for dollar against a microchip.
Because everything is nicely computerized and online again this year, after each round when the pool has been updated, you will receive an email with the URL link to the appropriate round update on this website. Individual Round Update links will be added as games are completed, and can be found here:
Round 1A - 16 First Round Games played Thursday, 3/20/2008
Round 1B - 16 First Round Games played Friday, 3/21/2008
Round 2 - 16 Second Round Games played Saturday and Sunday, 3/22/2008 and 3/23/2008
Round 3 - 8 Regional Semifinal Games played Thursday and Friday, 3/27/2008 and 3/28/2008
Round 4 - 4 Regional Final Games played Saturday and Sunday, 3/29/2008 and 3/30/2008
FINAL FOUR - 2 National Semifinal Games played Saturday, 4/05/2008
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - National Championship Game played Monday, 4/07/2008
Now in my sixth year of running this pool from Illinois State University, the pool's loyal following continues to add new faces. I did very little "beating the bushes" (I took care of that as a teenager...*rimshot*) to drum up interest (*another rimshot*) in entering, but there is a new record of 61 entries.
Many who entered last year have entered again. There are still a quite a few mainstays from my days at the University of Iowa, many of whom are scattered around the country. Donna Smith is back to defend her title after winning the pool last year. In fact, the past 5 winners are all back: "Dr. K" Ken Brown in 2006, Jay Ansher in 2005 (and tied for 1st last year, but lost the tiebreaker), Charles Su, the 2004 champ, and Erik Severson who won in 2003. Kris Strauch was a winner way back when, and along with Dr. K and Decaman Jake Drewry is among the most dedicated participants, having entered regularly since about 1994 or 1995. Jon Kozeliski and Erik Severson, last year's 3rd and 4th placers are entered again. Other returning former placers include Steve Kilker, Valerie Hackstadt, Nick Burger, Rick Quinn, Eric Dors, Rod McElvain and Nick LaMattina. Good luck to all of them, as well as everyone else.
Of the 61 entries, 29 are local (Central IL area including Peoria, Bloomington/Normal, and Champaign). Newcomer Jake Gregory is in the Chicago area (at least his phone number is, but who can tell these days with cell phones??), as is Jason Letcher, and my childhood buddy Mike Rubin, while Erik Severson is up in the Minneapolis area. Chris Wilkins (masquerading as porn star Ron Jeremy), Phil Forbes, kids Lucas and Alex Forbes, Nick Francisco, kids Alyssa and Teft Francisco, and Rod McElvain are all in Iowa City, IA. Scott "Squat" Schumacher is in Des Moines and Chad Thompson is in Ames, IA. Kris Strauch is in Kansas City, MO, while Justin Hansen is on the Kansas side of the river.
Moving beyond the midwest, Eric Dors sends his entry from Los Alamos, NM. Rick Quinn, another long-time participant sends his from New Hampshire. Jake Drewry is in Jacksonville, FL, and my cousin Ryan Lieber is in West Palm Beach, FL. Heading out to the left coast, Ken Brown makes his home in the LA area, and Nick LaMattina dials in from Modesto, CA. Jersey Brian and his lady Sarah enter from Boring, Oregon (near Portland). Bruce Farneti is in Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Carlton Watson again sends two entries from the Bahamas. Thanks to everyone for entering!!!
Current Men's Tourney Results Bracket
Champs: The top four seeds, not surprisingly got most of the attention and therefore 86% of the votes for champion with North Carolina the most popular (18 votes), and Kansas and UCLA with 14 votes each. Six entries picked Memphis to win it all. Four picked Tennessee. Other picks for National Champ included one vote each for Texas, USC, Georgetown, Duke, and long shot Arizona.
Final Four highlights: Twenty different teams were picked to reach the Final Four. The most common picks to make it that far were the top eight seeds (UNC, KAN, UCLA, MEM, TEX, TEN, DUKE, and G'TOWN). Multiple entries have different lower seeds (#3, #4, #5) making it to the Final Four. Seven picked #3 Wisconsin, while 8 picked #4 Pittsburgh as their dark horse. One lower seed picked to advance to San Antonio included #12 Temple.
Among the teams picked to make it to the championship game were such surprises as #5 Notre Dame, #4 Connecticut, #4 Pitt, #3 Stanford, and #3 Xavier.
Cinderella: Very few Cinderella teams are being picked to make it very far, but many entries have low seeds winning 2 or 3 games. Among the more interesting picks to get out of the first or second rounds are #16 UT Arlington and #16 Mississippi Valley State, #14 Boise State, #13 Winthrop, all four #12 seeds Western Kentucky, Temple, Villanova, and George Mason, and all four #11 seeds Saint Joseph's, Kentucky, Kansas State, and Baylor.
Two bold entries picked a #1 seed to lose the first game despite the fact that since 1985, when the tournament seeded 64 teams as they do now, it has never happened.