After the first-round, my lead over UM Ftball Tiger has increased to 309 points (4,737 – 4,428). But with the 2nd highest score of the round (282), Mike77 (4,407) is closing in on 2nd place.
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All of the leaders, however, lost some of their 2nd-round picks to 1st-round defeats. For me, they’re Belmont & Iowa State. UM Ftball Tiger is missing only one: Wisconsin. (His still-alive Auburn pick is his only other non-chalk choice in the 2nd round.) Along with his good 1st-round score, Mike77 lost four of his 2nd-round choices: ODU, New Mexico State, Belmont & Mississippi State. AEOS lost three 2nd-round picks: ODU, Iowa State and Syracuse. Motley Blazer is missing three 2nd-round predicted winners: Nevada, Wisconsin & Iowa State. (Motley also has Nevada and Iowa State winning Sweet 16 games!)
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Aside from my already-lost 2nd-round picks, there are only three 2nd-round “difference-maker games” – in which others can gain on me. They are today’s Villanova/Purdue game (Motley & I have ‘Nova; UM Ftball has Purdue) and Sunday’s Texas Tech/Buffalo and Oregon/UC-Irvine contests (UM Ftball, Mike77 & I have Tech; AEOS & Motley chose Buffalo ... and Mike77 has UC-Irvine).
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Kudos to fellow Rice fan dragon2owl for having the highest score so far: 296! He picked four double-digit-seed winners -- Minnesota, Murray State, Iowa & Florida – three 9-seed winners and only one double-digit-seed loser, St. Mary’s.
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Good luck to all!




Posted: 3/23/2019 11:20:35 AM

Wow, wow, Wofford!! The Terriers lead 2-seed Kentucky until the last minute of the first half ... and keep it close the rest of the way. But Wofford can't overcome the 0-12 shooting of their 3-point specialist, and Kentucky escapes into the Sweet 16. - - - + + - - - And AEOS can breathe again. :-) (He has the Wildcats winning it all.)



Posted: 3/24/2019 11:38:08 AM

Tennessee started Sunday's action by nearly blowing a 25-point lead. But after Iowa forced overtime, with a last-minute jumper and two free throws, the Vols got serious again in overtime ... winning on a lovely last-second running-scoop layup.
- - - + + + - - - North Carolina (monarchfan91's champion prediction) never trailed in beating Washington, going away.
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Duke got some bad -- and then good -- luck down the stretch. Zion was called for a phantom foul, then a clear post-shotclock UCF basket was allowed, despite video review. But UCF promptly bricked a runaway dunk and, after Zion sank a driving layup that drew Tacko Fall's 5th foul to pull within 1 point, he missed the free throw, but Barrett snared the rebound and put it back to put Duke up by 1! Inbounding with 8.1 seconds left, UCF saw two tough shots -- a running-floater layup and then a contested put-back -- both rim out. The Blue Devils won, 77-76. CBS announcer: "Duke survives! Just barely!!!" And now I can breathe. Whew! :-)



Posted: 3/25/2019 1:07:16 AM