Only 53 points separates the Top Four on the leaderboard as we enter the Conference Championship Week. Will they go for the safety of chalk ... or pick risky high-point-potential upsets?

Here's a look:

XX---XX Third-place UM Ftball Tiger is all-in for chalk. His only remotely unpopular pick is 2-seed Florida to win the SEC.

XX---XX I've picked first-round wins for Charlotte/10 and UTSA/9 as well as UCLA/3 and VCU/2.

XX---XX Second-place backcourt is counting on UAB/7 riding its homecourt advantage all the way into the championship game. His other picks are more conventional, with Florida/2 and UCLA/3 the only semi-outliers.

XX---XX Fourth-place Monkey Phonics is all-chalk in the C-USA tourney, but chose Baylor/3, Virginia/6, Michigan/8 and Rhode Island/4 in the others. If he gets two or more of these right, he may well vault into the lead. If not, he might be more than 53 points behind.

XX---XX If Kansas and Maryland win titles, some of the farther-back folks will move closer to the top.

XX---XX Good luck to all!!



Posted: 3/8/2017 11:38:50 AM

baldingblazer is the only one to pick Marshall in today's C-USA semifinal ... and the Herd is leading LaTech early.

Monkey Phonics' 8-seed Michigan knocked off top-seeded Purdue! He'll get 200 points if Big Blue wins the Big Ten.



Posted: 3/10/2017 1:18:44 PM

Saturday's prospects:

Not even baldingblazer (211 points so far! WTG!) has Marshall winning tonight's C-USA title. Fifteen of the 21 who put their picks in chose Middle Tennessee.

In the other conferences:

Big 12: West Virginia vs. Iowa State. (Baylor & Kansas are out.)
ACC: Duke vs. Notre Dame. (MTDieHard gets 125 if Duke wins.)

Big East: Our Top 9 all have Villanova, which will face Creighton for the title.

Big Ten: Purdue and Maryland are out. Monkey Phonics' 8-seed Michigan is still playing, along with Wisconsin, Northwestern and Minnesota. Four of us chose Wisconsin. No one has the other two.

SEC: Florida's out, but six of our Top 10 chose Kentucky, who's still playing, along with Vandy, Alabama and Arkansas. (Motley Blazer has Vandy!)

Pac 12: The choice of three of our Top 4 and six of our Top 8 -- UCLA -- is out. Top seed Oregon meets #2 seed Arizona in today's final.

AAC: Four of our Top 5 have #2 seed Cincinnati, which is still alive, along with top-seeded SMU (the choice of 12 of our 21 contestants), UCF and UConn.

A-10: Top-seed Dayton is gone, along with the hopes of 11 of our entrants. #2 seed VCU (7 picks), Rhode Island (2 picks), Richmond (1 pick) and Davidson are in today's semifinals.

Good luck to all!




Posted: 3/11/2017 9:07:40 AM

Big Blue blitzes the Badgers. Wow. Monkey Phonics is the only one here cheering. Good call, MP!



Posted: 3/12/2017 1:55:20 PM