EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- #65-Oakland ran over #64-Alabama A&M to secure their humiliation against #1S-North Carolina, winning 79-69 in Dayton. But, if Oakland does win the tournament, they will finish 19-18! Nah. In other news, this seems to be a pretty good field of teams. Not too much controversy (quiet, Wake Forest) and several teams are peaking at the right time (Florida, Syracuse) making this a tough tourney to predict. In a normal year, this is Illinois' year (like Michigan St in 1999) but for some reason, their 32-1 record doesn't seem overpowering (I'll probably still pick 'em though).

As of 12:01 am Wednesday, we got 36 entries, which puts us ahead of pace of our record year of 80 in 2002 and 79 last year. But last year, we also had a record 50 entries on Wednesday, which isn't likely to be duplicated. And we still have to wait for payments to come in. Welcome to all the newcomers who were suckered in by friends of friends of friends of us. Good luck to all (but only up to 5th place).

It'll be interesting to see where loyalties lie. Gator fan Ken B was burned by Florida when they reached the final in 2000 (picked Fla low) and burned by Florida when they've flamed out the past 3 years (picked Fla high). Now a seemingly average Florida team has beaten Kentucky twice in a week. what to do? Or of the many UCLA fans... do they dare pick them to reach the Sweet 16, much less beating Bobby Knight's Texas Tech team? Well, that's makes this March Madness!

Enter online at http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa/entry.html. You can also fax your entry to me at (707) 221-2715. Make arrangements (such as PayPal) to send in your $10 entry fee(s) by March 18th. Complete rules and daily pool information can be found on the official site: http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa.