We Have a New Champion

ROCK.

CHALK.

ASHLEY BROCK!

Congratulations to Ashley Brock for bringing home the 'Ship with 629 total points. 

Had a couple of those Caleb Love 3's actually fallen at the end, Patrick Jones would have tied her as he ended at 623. 

And in third is Chel, who finished at 590. 

SCORESHEET

We ended with 43 entries this year, so that's a break down of $301.00, $86.00, and $43.00. I am going to make sure I have all the entry fees over the next two days and will send out money via whatever service you chose. 

A side note, thanks for everyone's patience once again. The first weekend of March Madness usually puts me in a hole at work and it's harder to update when I'm running around trying to recover professionally and emotionally as my picks lose. Also, if any of you out there could tell my clients to start listening to me for once, I'd have less work to do and more time to spend here. 

HUGE thank you to my buddy Hart Man who does most of the Excel work. Thanks, pal!

Here is your All Player Point Team. If only you were smart enough to pick each of these guys, you would have won by a mile an would have immediately reached Nirvana and evaporated into the ether. 

	Best Player	Team	Points	Picked
1	Drew Timme	Gonzaga	82	19
2	Paolo Banchero	Duke	94	5
3	Bryson Williams	Texas Tech	55	2
4	JD Notae	Arkansas	70	3
5	Kyler Edwards	Houston	63	2
6	Marcus Carr	Texas	38	1
7	Malaki Branham	OSU	37	0
8	Caleb Love	UNC	113	3
9	Mike Miles	TCU	41	9
10	Kameron McGusty	Miami	77	13
11	Hunter Dickinson	Michigan	63	13
12	Teddy Allen	NMSU	49	3
13	Ryan Davis	Vermont	20	14
14	Nelly Cummings	Colgate	20	15
15	Darryl Banks III	Saint Peter's	54	1
16	Grant Basile	Wright State	21	3

Final Scoreboard

FINAL FOUR

 

CLICK ON COACH K'S WEASELLY FACE FOR THE FULL SPREADSHEET.

We've arrived to the final weekend of the best sporting event of the year. Of course the NCAA has given us UNC and Duke and has made us all root for the lesser of two evils. In my case this year, Duke is the lesser of two evils because of strictly financial reasons in another pool. In our pool, there are a bunch of UNC entries without Duke.

On the other side, we have seven Kansas selections and two Nova selections. Not as much chaos over there, but still enough to make a difference. 

Currently in first place is Chel. She only has UNC's Caleb Love left, so a UNC win is imperative. In second and 15 points behind her is Bill Bosta. He too has UNC, but is hoping Armando Bacot outscores Love by 16 over the remaining (potentially) two games. Dylan Ninos is one point behind Bill and can't come in first as he has the same player as Bill. 

However, sitting in 4th and feeling pretty good is Patrick Jones 1. He is one point behind Dylan Ninos and is one of three entries with 3 players left. A Nova/UNC final probably wins it for him. 

Currently in 5th and 12 points behind Patrick Jones is Ashley Brock, who also has 3 selections left. A Duke/Kansas final will likely propel her to victory, but she could also win with a Kansas/UNC final. 

If you look outside of the top 10, sitting in 17th is What Dude 2 with three selections left. A Duke/Kansas final and some high scoring games might let him sneak into the money. 

Here's a look at the leaderboard:

Sweet 16 Has Begun!

We're into the Sweet 16 and we were treated to 4 fun games last night. These games absolutely obliterated my negligible chances here, but Michigan lost. So overall it was a positive night. 

SCORESHEET

14 entrants lost Michigan Man Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson was kind enough to score another 15 points which gives him 63 for the tournament. Izaiah Brockington is 34 points behind him and teammate Eli Brooks finished with 53 points. Only two entrants chose a Villanova player and both of those entries look to be in contention. 

Arkansas upset Gonzaga, which also eliminated the 1-seed for 26 entries. With Arizona also losing, seven entries still have Kansas going tonight. Only one entry has Kansas and Nova. (Patrick Jones 1) Of the six entrants who selected a Duke player, three have Kansas and Duke. 

There are still nine Houston entries out there. One Houston entrant still has Kansas and Villanova (What dude 2). 

Projections are below with current rankings. Good luck!

St. Peter is the patron saint of Popes which doesn't apply to anyone here. 

Day three is updated and St. Peter's University has casted their nets and hauled in new followers. Let's see where we stand. 

SPREADSHEET (Let me know if you see any errors.)

To begin with, we've been able to update the spreadsheet. We've cleaned up some old stuff and added projections. Projections are being pulled from independent sources and then we're mathing it up. You can see that right now Plot is winning, but that entry is projected to end up in 7th. Whereas What Dude 2 is currently in 30th, but the math likes that entry to finish in the money at 3rd. 

So let's the game out of the way that everyone was watching. St. Peter's takes down the Racers of Murray State. The Cinderella Peacocks took down 16 entrants with them. Plot is the only team to have a Peacock with Darryl Banks III adding another 6 to the total. 

Tennessee dropped their game to that team from the state north of Indiana. The Volunteers have 16 entrants asking God to take them to another place and to let them forget all that hurts them and to let them understand the plan. On the other side, the skunk bears notched a victory making 14 entrants very happy. 

With Richmond and New Mexico State dropping their second round games, the 12 seeds are all done. Congrats to the three entrants who selected Aggie Teddy Allen. His 49 points were 26 points higher than the next closest 12 seed player. It's a Teddy TKO. 

Day Two Updated

Lots of chalk on day two of the tournament, but a few minor upsets and a few narrow misses. 

Check out the SPREADSHEET for updated scores. Let me know if you see any errors!

To start with, Mike Brey has done what Brian Kelly could never do: Beat Bama in the postseason. Three smart people took the Irish for their 11 seed. On the other side, there were 13 entries who tried to Roll Tide and failed. No idea if Rolling Tide is a verb or not, but there
you go. 

Another 6th seed bites the dust with LSU. 13 people thought it would be a good idea to pick a team who just fired their coach about five days ago. 13 people regret that decision more than they regret getting the Big Breakfast after a night of drinking. Nine entrants are cruising into Round 2 with Izaiah Brockington from Iowa State as their 11 seed. 

18 people nearly saw their four seed go down with the Illini, but Kofi Cockburn just isn't ready to quit yet and you still have to explain to a casual basketball fan near you that, "No, that's not how's pronounced." 17 entries had Chattanooga, so that's a tough break since all of the other 13 seeds are out as well. 

First Day Updates!

Sad Kentucky fans have the best reactions. 

 The opening day of March Madness, which should be recognized as a federal holiday, is in the books! And man, what an opening day that lasted well beyond my bed time. 

Housekeeping: I am still updating the spreadsheet. We are trying to add some fun projection stuff in addition to some clean up. If you other excel nerds have any recommendations, we love of a challenge. Let's see if we can break Google! You can see the spreadsheet here:

SPREADSHEET

For the positives, Teddy Allen from NMSU lead the nation in scoring last night. I had multi-screen action going and every time I glanced at that game, it felt like he was shooting a FT. 3 entrants went with NMSU as their 12 seed. Conversely, 28 of our 44 entrants selected Trayce Jackson-Davis of Indiana as their 12 seed. Jackson-Davis disappointed with a mere 12 points. This is a pretty big edge for anyone picking Allen. 

Tyler Burton of Richmond, another 12 seed, chipped in 18, which made 3 people happy here. His direct opponent, Iowa's Keegan Murray, was kind enough to drop 21 points before bowing out. A whopping 32 entrants saw their 5 seed go down in flames with the Hawkeyes. With UConn taking out 2 more entries in their loss, we're down to 10 entries left with their 5 seed.

Possibly the most damaging loss goes to the 24 folks who lost their 2 seed with Kentucky. At least Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe was productive with his 30 points. Only one entrant selected Ste. Peter's Peacock Darryl Banks III and his 27 points.

Our current PPG leader is Always Be Closing II with 21.7 ppg. However, his entry lost 4 of 6 players last night including his 2, 5, and 6 seeds.  

Our first day leader is Plot, who took advantage of the rules like Ser Bron. Congrats on getting your entry fee back. 

AND THEY'RE OFF

While I organize my spreadsheet, please enjoy this hastily made photoshop of Chet Holmgren riding a a race horse. Chet is, by the way, and objectively hilarious name. 

Quick housekeeping: I had a number of emails on changing out the Bryant selection. I will get to those today and will email you to confirm. Thanks for your patience!

NCAA Player Pick 'Em Poll 2022 Sign Up

 ATLANTA, GA (March 14, 2022) - The following statement was released today by the NPEP, through their personal attorney and business manager Shane Setnor, Chairman of Bad Dad Jokes Enterprises, Inc. located in Atlanta, GA, in response to questions about their future plans:

"We're back."

    That's right, fellow degenerates. It's that wonderful time of year where you lie to your spouse/children/family pet about how much you're spending on gambling with internet strangers. This is a safe space. Unless you're a narc. I don't need to remind you about what snitches get. 

    If you've never played before, the game is simple. You select 16 players from the tournament teams. You can only select one player from each seed number. You cannot switch out for a lower seed. At the end of the tournament, the entry with the most points from those players wins. 

    All entries must be completed via the below Google Form. 

    Two rules changes from last year: 

    1. Maximum of 2 entries. 

    2. The high scorer from day 1 and the high scorer from day 2 will get their buy-in returned. 

    If you see any errors, please let me know ASAP! Good luck, everyone!