Round 2

Hoop fans, Apologies for keeping everyone in the dark until now, no excuses, you all deserve better. Since we’re now a full 3 rounds into the madness, there’s quite a bit of catching up to do, not to mention unveiling the most important details, the CD VA tourney challenge standings. Stay tuned for a 3rd round update, but for now, I’ve got to give props to those who dominated the 2nd round on Thursday and Friday, the two most glorious days of the year. We saw a total of 7 upsets with double digits seeds advancing: (10) Stanford, (11) Dayton, (11) Tennessee, (12) Harvard, (12) North Dakota State, (12) SF Austin, and the most shocking of all (14) seed Mercer knocking out (3) seed Duke, adding to the extensive list of disappointing first round exits of the infamous blue devils. While many in the pool correctly picked Dayton, Harvard, North Dakota State, even SF Austin, only 1 was able to summon the basketball Gods and roll the dice on Mercer, that one was Beth, who was able to utilize the 5 bonus points to catapult her into second place after round 2. Incredible job, without a doubt THE pick of the second round. While most brackets are still very much alive, the first two days proved crushing to a select few including Deborah who picked VCU and Duke to the final four with VCU winning the whole thing, ouch! And yours truly, who, despite my better judgment picked my beloved and beleaguered Cowboys to reach the final four. Picking with the heart can prove demoralizing, especially when OK State has NEVER beaten those white boys from Washington, unreal. I will say, that I appreciate the sentiment from those who went out on a limb to pick against Gonzaga, including fellow alums Ashley, Jennifer, and Carrie. The only consolation is that they went on to get stoned by number 1 Arizona last night. But, I might just take an 8 point loss over that gut wrenching, last minute 2 point loss, the favored Buckeyes of Ohio State had to endure, after what looked like a sure victory was in hand. I feel your pain Lindsay and Andrew. All in all, bad weekend for the OSU’s. At least Preston got to savor the second rounds only buzzer beater, as his Longhorns downed Arizona State on a last second tip in. Unfortunately, the horns ran into Michigan two days later. Surprisingly, that monumental Duke collapse, was but a small ripple in this years tourney challenge, as only 3 picked the devils to the final four, Deborah, Katie, and Ed. However, the weekend games proved much more disastrous, but that’s for another email, sit tight. The champion of the second round was the Flea Flicker himself, John Forgy, guy went absolute nuts, picking 5 of the 7 upsets correct, missing only Mercer and Stanford, unreal. Also, props to those who had perfect regional brackets. Jennifer, Scott T, Josh, Will and myself correctly picked all 8 matchups in the East. Molly, Deborah, Beth, Mike Z, and Rodell nabbed a clean slate in the West, but most impressively Preston, by some divine force beyond himself, picked a perfect South region, including all 3 upsets in that bracket: SF Austin, Dayton and Stanford. Well done PT, well done. See below for standings. Note, these are not current standings, just after two rounds of play. 3rd round update as well as compiled and scored PDF bracket to come later this evening. I’m sure everyone is eager to see just how they stack up against the competition. Sadly, we have to wait 3 more days for more basketball. Until then, keep the madness alive!! Second Round Standings: 1. John F (39 pts) 2. Beth R (38 pts) 3. Chad B (34 pts) 4. Lindsay M (33 pts) 5. Preston T (32 pts) 6. Matt T (31 pts) 7. Will D (31 pts) 8. Molly B (30 pts) 9. Bob F (29 pts) 10. Mike Z (29 pts) 11. Greg T (29 pts) 12. Deborah M (29 pts) 13. Rodell P #1 (28 pts) 14. Rodell P #2 (28 pts) 15. Katie T (28 pts) 16. Erik M (27 pts) 17. Josh W (27 pts) 18. Scott T (27 pts) 19. Kristal E (26 pts) 20. Jennifer B (26 pts) 21. Chris H (26 pts) 22. Brent A (26 pts) 23. Andrew B (26 pts) 24. Scott D (26 pts) 25. Peter M (25 pts) 26. Rebecca F (24 pts) 27. Ed A (24 pts) 28. Carrie P (23 pts) 29. Barbara A (23 pts) 30. Abby (23 pts) 31. Greg K (22 pts) 32. Ashley D (22 pts) 33. Justin T (21 pts) 34. Kelly M (20 pts) 35. David P (20 pts) 36. Ryan M (20 pts) Chad (March Madness MC)