Too bad NCAA basketball isn’t professional. It’s amateur.
Well, the bracket is ready, just waiting for Florida A&M vs. Niagara game today, and the winner will play Kansas.
(url editted out so as to preserve sanctity of the challenge - 984)
Should we post our picks here or PM them to you?
Edit:Niagara just won, the last spot is filled now.
Right.
I’m in.
Who wants me to use their picks?
I’d love to have you pick mine. I picked the important sounding names!
The contestants:
The 984 with Mabatsekker and Trillian
Kaiser with Arac and Gamer5389
Ackbar with OmegaFlareX and GenericAngstyPoster
Seifer with Seraphim Ephyon and Gila Monster
First round is OVAH!
The first round didn’t produce much excitement upset-wise. The most entertaining game by far, I thought, was Duke/VCU. Virginia Commonwealth is just a fucking fun team to watch. Pretty uneventful. Most of the excitement came from lower seeded teams coming up with big leads (Davidson, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, etc) then pissing them away. For I believe the third time in 19 seasons, there was not a single 5-12 upset. That’s surprising. Here’s hoping the second rounds produces some upsets.
On to the Challengers!
The Thundering 98Herd
Trillian - 170/320 Final Four: Arizona, Duke, Boston College (wins it all), Stanford. Only BC remains.
Mabat - 150/320 Final Four: Old Dominion, Wright State (wins it all), Belmont, Xavier. Only Xavier remains.
DerKaiser Rolls
Arac - 190/320 Final Four: Florida (wins it all), Kentucky, North Carolina, Stanford. Only Stanford eliminated.
Gamer5389 - 160/320 Final Four: Maryland, Illinois, USC (wins it all), Virginia. Only Illinois eliminated.
Ackbar’s Admirals
GAP - 200/320 Final Four: Notre Dame (wins it all), UCLA, Texas, Texas A&M. Only ND eliminated.
OmegaFlareX - 180/320 Final Four: Jackson State, UCLA (wins it all), Boston College, Pennsylvania. Jackson and Penn eliminated.
The Seiflukis
Seraphim - 160/320 Final Four: Butler, Duke, Belmont (wins it all), Memphis. Duke and Belmont eliminated.
Gila Monster - 140/320 Final Four: Jackson State (wins it all), Kansas, George Washington, Xavier. Jackson and GW eliminated.
Outlook: Ackbar is in the best position right now, but it’s all close. Last year, I did bring it back to make a game of it in the end, despite the TD handicap. We shall see.
Trends: Holy Cross, Duke, Oral Roberts, Belmont, and Xavier were all trendy picks. I blame the names. Florida and Ohio State were the 1 seeds most often picked to be upset, Florida being picked 5 times and OSU 4. Kansas and UNC were each only picked to be upset once. Three people picked a rematch of the 2006 Rose Bowl by (correctly) having Texas and USC play in the second round. Two picked to restart the Arkansas/Texas rivlary.
Arac’s bracket, despite having one less pick right than GAP’s, appears to be in better shape because his wrong picks were concentrated really only on blocks affecting the second and third rounds. GAP’s bracket spread the destruction out among more branches, meaning he has more paths of getting screwed out of potential points. Gila literally only got two picks right of the eight games in the UNC bracket; he can only get 20 more points from that region.
The PPR, which predicts the most points left a team can get, has both Kaiser teams maxing out at 960. Omega’s not far behind at 940. Mabat has the lowest with 300; in fact, my team has the lowest combined PPR at 860. Everyone else’s aggregate PPR cracks 1100. I’m always dicked over by the Europeans.
My class did something like this, which was funny, can’t wait for round two.
Sad nobody picked me. I think I would like 10 games. <.<
I’m always last on the bench. ;_;
Update time!
Well, the second round is over. There were a few upsets, and a few near upsets. VCU unfortunately lost. Only four lower seeds won, three of them 5s over 4s and one a 6 over a 3.
On to the brackets!
The 984 Horsemen
Mabat - 170/640 No Final Four teams left. Can only get 40 more points if UNC beats USC. He has clinched last.
Trill - 230/640 No FF teams left. Can get 80 more points if UNC beats USC and Oregon beats UNLV.
Kaiser and the Basaras
Gamer - 220/640 Only USC is left alive the FF. Aside from the USC points (480), can get 80 more points if Oregon beats UNLV and UCLA beats Pitt.
Arac - 290/640 Still has Florida and UNC in his FF. Besides those points (600), can only get 40 more points if Tennessee beats THE Ohio State University.
The Ackbarrio Putas
GAP - 340/640 Still has UCLA and Texas A&M in his FF. Besides those points (600, I think), Can get 120 points if Georgetown, Florida, and Southern Illinois win.
Omega - 280/640 Still has UCLA in his FF. Besides the UCLA points (480, I think), can get 80 points if UNC and OSU both win.
The Fighting Seillini
SE - 260/640 Still has Butler and Memphis in his FF. Besides those points (360), can get 40 points if Tennessee beats OSU.
Gila - 240/640 Still has Kansas in his FF. Besides the Kansas points (120), can get 80 points if Oregon and Pitt win.
I am fairly certain I have clinched last due to being 100 points behind Seifer and having 120 possible points. That 120 possible points is also covered by Gila-Monster sharing one of the picks (Oregon over UNLV). If Seifer got no more points except for the Oregon win, he would beat me by 20.
Wow, I’m surprised that I’ve done so well, even if it is at being the most lucky of the ignorant (so far).
984, exactly how much time did you spend calculating the points possibilities?
I look at the brackets and do the points in my head. It’s rather easy. ESPN.com does the real point tabulation. Given that so many people have horrid brackets, I only need to trace the remaining teams’ paths and tabulate it in my head.
I dunno. I guess it takes 5 minutes total.
Update time!
Well, the Sweet 16 is over. Vanderbilt got screwed on a bad travelling no-call by Georgetown. Ohio State once again escapes after playing bad all game. No cinderellas existed this year, which is sad.
On to the brackets!
A Mean Machine in Shades of Black
Trill - 310/960 Has no Final Four teams left. Can get no more points.
Mabat - 210/960 Has no Final Four teams left. Can get no more points. Escaped having a worse score than TD did last year since UNC won.
Da K!
Arac - 370/960 Still has Florida and UNC alive. Can get 640 points.
Gamer - 320/960 Has no more Final Four teams left. Can get no more points.
The Rambling Wreck from Ackbar Tech
GAP - 460/960 Still has UCLA alive. Can get 80 more points.
OFX - 400/960 Still has UCLA alive. Can get 560 more points.
Weifer Weifer War Damn Seifer!
Gila - 320/960 Still has Kansas alive. Can get 80 more points.
SE - 300/960 Still has Memphis alive. Can get 80 more points.
Arac is in the best shape since he still has two Final Four teams alive. If I wish to avoid having the bottom two representatives, I need Ohio State to beat Memphis. There’s a battle going on between Ackbar and Kaiser though. If Kaiser gets all of his points, he will have 1330 points aggregate, and Ackbar will have, assuming he gets all of his picks except for those that are head-to-head against Kaiser, 1020. If Ackbar gets all of his points, he will have 1500, and Kaiser will have 850 points. The overall winner will come from one of those teams, and that competition is now down to Arac and GAP.
Now, if Arac gets all his picks except for Florida winning it all, Kaiser will have 1010 to Ackbar’s 1020 (assuming UCLA wins in the Elite Eight). So, for Kaiser to have the most leeway (and not let those dastardly Gators win it all), UCLA must lose in the Elite Eight. Florida must then win in the Elite Eight (Kaiser is then 770 to Ack’s 860), and Florida must advance to the title game. If UCLA wins in the Elite Eight (giving Ack a minimum of 1020 points), then Florida must win it all no matter what UNC does to give Kaiser the win. Basically, UNC is of no consequence to this competition any more.
Update time!
The Elite Eight games are over. It’s Final Four time. Two 1 seeds and two 2 seeds made it into the Final Four.
On to the brackets!
The Purple Eagles
Trill - 310/1280 Bracket done. She escaped being in the bottom two thanks to OSU’s win over Memphis.
Mabat - 210/1280 Bracket done.
The Koosiers
Arac - 450/1280 Still has Florida left alive. Can get 480 more points.
Gamer - 320/1280 Bracket done.
The Squidbillies
GAP - 540/1280 Bracket done.
Omega - 480/1280 Still has UCLA left alive. Can get 480 more points.
The Seiferbacks
Gila - 320/1280 Bracket done.
SE - 300/1280 Bracket done. Got second to last due to OSU beating Memphis.
Well, we have a race for the overall winner. The winner of Florida/UCLA will determine the single highest representative. If Florida wins, Arac will get that honor with a minimum of 610 points. If UCLA wins, Omega will get that honor with a minimum of 640 points.
That said, there’s also a race for the winning team. For Kaiser to win the team challenge, Florida must win the championship. If Florida loses in the Final Four or in the championship game, Ackbar wins the team challenge. So, since I hate the Gators, I am pulling for Florida to lose, preferably in the Final Four. Let’s go Bruins, let’s go Hoyas/Buckeyes, let’s go Ackbar’s Team.
My girlfriend says that we’re “a bunch of pussy wusses” (direct quote) for not playing for money. 
Update time!
Well, Ohio State and Florida won. Boo on both accounts. It’s a rematch for the football mythical title in the NCAA basketball final. Florida won the regular season game 86-60, but OSU’s Greg Oden was hurt at the time.
On to the brackets!
The 98Force
Trill - 310/1520 Bracket done.
Mabat - 210/1520 Bracket done.
The Kaisaroos
Arac - 570/1520 Still has Florida left alive in the title game.
Gamer - 320/1520 Bracket done.
The Ackies
GAP - 540/1520 Bracket done.
Omega - 480/1520 Bracket done.
The Seifamores
Gila - 320/1520 Bracket done.
SE - 300/1520 Bracket done.
Well, I thought winners in the Final Four would be worth 160 points. It turns out they’re worth only 120 points. That changes the outlook of the overall team winner. The winner of the title game must be worth more than 130 points for Kaiser to have a chance to win the team competition. I imagine that it’ll be worth 240, but I dunno. So, for Kaiser to win the team aspect of the challenge, Florida must beat Ohio State AND the title game must be worth more than 130 points.
As for the individual aspect, Arac won due to Florida beating UCLA. He can widen the margin with a Florida win in the championship game. I, however, am pulling for the Buckeyes to win. Fucking Gators.
My heart swells with an inhuman pride. This is second only to the time a girl told me I looked like Snake Plissken if I didn’t shave for a few days.
Go Gators! The only thing in nature that kills you is your own laziness! Beat the shit out of those lame nut-things that fall out of trees.
And the late Steve Irwin.
The Gators did it! I told you they’d beat those stupid tree-things. Woo! Yeah!
Update time!
Well. Florida beat Ohio State, 84-75. Florida becomes the first team to win both the football and basketball national championships in the same year, both by beating Ohio State. Fuck the Gators. Florida also becomes the first team to repeat as basketball champs since the '91 and '92 Duke teams. If the Florida Fab Five juniors all stay one more year, and coach Billy Donovan doesn’t jump ship to Kentucky, there’s a very good chance Florida could threepeat. sigh
On to the brackets!
The 98Fourth Place - 520 points
Trill - 310/1680
Mabat - 210/1680
K for Victory - 1050 points
Arac - 730/1680
Gamer - 320/1680
Sackond - 1020 points
GAP - 540/1680
Omega - 480/1680
Seithird - 620 points
Gila - 320/1680
SE - 300/1680
Well, the championship game was worth 160 points. Due to being worth more than 130 points, Kaiser wins the team challenge. So, the final standings went Kaiser first, Ackbar second, Seifer third, The 984 fourth.
As for the individuals, Arac obviously won. However, the order is as follows
- Arac
- GAP
- Omega
T4. Gamer
T4. Gila Monster - Trillian
- Seraphim Ephyon
- Mabat
Most of the people bunched together at the low 300s, which I expected. Mabat sucked it up. GAP and Omega both did well. Arac won solely because of the Florida run to win it all. Without Florida’s Final Four and championship points, he would have only 450. GAP actually had the best bracket overall, being the sole points leader in the first and second rounds while tying for the points lead in the third and fourth rounds.
It seems Arac’s strategy of picking teams by mascot (when could be supplied) worked. Next year, if he competes, I’ll have to make sure all mascots are known.