CERRITOS, CA (smt)- When the seedings were announced, #2E-Oklahoma St.'s conference tournament win came too late to change the four top seeds, giving #1E-St. Joseph's the #1 seed despite losing in the first round of their conference tournament. Well, the only difference was that St. Joseph's got to wear their white uniforms instead of OK St. The top two seeds did meet and in a classic battle, John Lucas matched St. Joe's Three with his own with 6.9 seconds left giving the Cowboys a ticket to the Final Four, 64-62. And for the 13th straight time, the buzzer beating shot to tie/win failed to fall (this time for St. Joe's). #2W-Connecticut blew out their opponent for the fourth straight game, this time oustshooting Cinderella #8W-Alabama, 87-71. UConn has won their four games by an average of 17.5 points. #1S-Duke will try to make sure at least one #1 seed makes it to the Final Four tomorrow (never has no #1 seed advanced).

Very little change in the standings as 8 of the top 9 entries got both games correct (17 did overall). BINGO (118 pts) still leads by four points over RANDOM PICKS. SHIBBY SHAKE (103) moved from a tie for 31st to a tie for 12th. BINGO has a 40.6% chance to win 1st and a 84.4% (27 of 32 possible outcomes) chance to win money. FABIO (4th, 111) has a 28.1% chance for 1st and a 56.3% chance for money. Just 17 entries can still win one of the top 4 prize spots and just seven (7) can win 1st.

UConn's win was picked by 35 entries and eliminated five entries (including yours truly) from money contention. Ok St.'s win was picked by 39 (only 13 had St. Joe's going to the Final Four) and eliminated six more entries. Twenty-two entries went 0-2 today. St. Joe's loss also ruined ELDO's (38th-Tied, 94) chance to go a perfect 4-for-4 in the Final Four. So that means just 2 in 434 (0.46%) entries have ever picked all four Final Four teams correctly. St. Joe's loss also meant that SKRATCHNSNIFT (79th, 67) will be only the 2nd person to ever to be last (or tied for last) after every single day of the tournament (BETHEON in 2000 was the other).

In the race for the Bonus Prize, the ACC still leads with 11 wins, followed by the BigEast and Big 12 with ten apiece. No conference will win more than 16. The Atlantic 10 dropped out of contention with St. Joe's loss. Sixty (60) entries (minus the 4 who win the top 4 prizes) can still win the Bonus Prize. A complete summary of the Bonus Prize possibilities will be posted after Sunday's games.

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Amazingly, the last minute of the OkS-StJ's game really lasted one minute!...
Scott