CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Close games and high scoring affairs highlighted the day but in the end, 14 of 16 top seeds still advanced. The top seed of the #1 seeds, #1MW-Kentucky, had to fend off a pesky #16-Florida A&M team (who won their Tuesday Play-in Game) who ran right with the Wildcats (for a half at least), winning 96-76. #3W-NC St., #6MW-BC, #6W-Vandy, #4S-Cincy, #3MW-Georgia Tech (the win making the ACC a perfect 6-0 thus far), #2E-Oklahoma St., #6E-Wisconsin, #7S-Xavier, and #3E-Pitt all struggled to put away their opponent. #12MW-Pacific provided the big upset of the day, beating #5MW-Providence. That's the second #12 seed to win and the 8th #12 seed to win in the past five years. #9MW-Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) beat #8MW-Washington, the only team to beat Stanford, in a wild shootout, 102-100. #5S-Illinois, #7E-Memphis, #2S-Mississippi St., and #4MW-Kansas picked up victories as well. Kentucky's 60 1st half points were more than 13 of today's team's total points and the 60-52 (112) score at the half was more than the Pitt-#14E-Central Florida (53-44, 97), Memphis-#10E-SC (59-43, 102), and BC-#11MW-Utah (58-51, 109) final scores.

We officially have 79 entries (with JUGGERNAUT and GLASSER24 dropping out), making the pot $790. The prize breakdown will be announced on Monday (or check the discussion board on Sunday). There will be prizes for the top four entries and a bonus prize (same as last year).

With just two upsets, four people (BINGO (2nd-Tied, 56 pts), JODON007 (58), PINKBUBBLES (2nd-T), and SMORGGLE (2nd-T)) went 15-1, tying a record for a Friday. Twenty-two (22) went 14-2. JODON007 ends the first round in first place with a 29-3 record. M25LEE started the day with 12 straight wins (14 overall) before Washington faltered. Just ten points separate the top 60 entries. Three went 9-7 and ALL HAIL SANT and SKRATCHNSNIFT are tied for last with just 36 points.

A good 20 entries picked Pacific and only 28 picked UAB, probably reflecting the west coast bias (BTW, the entry WEST COAST BIAS sits tied for 30th (50)) most entries have. With just four upsets in the 1st Round, 22 entries have all 16 Sweet 16 teams alive, 61 have their Elite 8 intact, and 72 of 79 entries have all their Final Four teams. BRENT (61st-T, 46) is the only entry to lose two Final Four teams (Washington, Arizona). It's far from over, however, as only three times has the leader or co-leader of the first round won it all. And of the 15 leaders or co-leaders, just 4 went on to win money. Last year, BLUEBERRY went 16-0 the first day and 29-3 overall in the 1st Round only to end up finishing second to last (62 of 63 entries). So there's always hope. And if not, there's always false hope.

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An uneventful first round...
Scott