CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #1E-UNC seemed to be the only top seed this year to realize to blow our your low-major brethren early and then keep it that way. Less stressful. #2MW-Oklahoma St., #2E-UConn (#15E-Central Florida U was within 4 late), #4W-Louisville, #4E-Florida (#13E-Ohio had tied it at 60), and #1S-Duke needed their starters well into the 2nd half to prevent being upset. #7MW-S Illinois, #6E-Wisconsin, #5W-Georgia Tech, #5E-Villanova, and #5S-Michigan St also struggled but picked up the "W". Unfortunately, #4S-Syracuse and #3E-Kansas weren't so lucky.

Syracuse can bitch 'n' moan about how you deserved a higher seed because ESPN analysts love them, but apparently #13S-Vermont doesn't watch ESPN. It looked like Syracuse was playing down a "man", in that their name is now "Orange" instead of "Orangemen". Vermont forced overtime then T.J. Sorrentine hit some seemingly almost half-court 3-pt shot to give the Catamounts a lead they never lost. #14-Bucknell nearly blew a late 5-pt lead to Kansas but held on to become the first team from the Patriot League to win a tourney game and the first #14 seed to win since Weber St in 1999. The ending was classic though, in that Kansas actually got the Hail Mary pass to Wayne Simien with 2.4 seconds left, who turned a la Christian Laettner, and shot it just short off the front of the rim. Simien hoped to answer back after Bucknell's Chris McNaughton banked a shot over him for the winning basket.

The loss snapped Kansas' 21-game 1st Round winning streak. #8S-Stanford also had their 10-game 1st Round winning streak snapped by #9S-Mississippi St. Also joining the upset parade were #10E-NC State and #9E-Iowa St. So what's with the long stretches of poor shooting? Duke had an 8 minute stretch where they didn't make a field goal, Kansas ended the game with zero field goals in the last 8:44 and Villanova nearly blew a 34-11 halftime lead by going without a field goal in the last 12:16 of the game! And I don't think I've seen more dribbling off the foot, passing up open shots late in the game, and the infamous trying to lean into a defender to try to get the 3-pt foul than actually trying to make the shot. Sigh. And, and, still no buzzer beaters (and none last year either).

OK, back to what matters. FLIP FIGHTERS (6th-Tied, 50 pts) flipped out of first and left a logjam of five entries with 52 pts (TROY SOLDIERS 2, LUCKORBUST, STRETCH, KRISPY KREMER, and YANKEEAGLE). Fourteen others are just 2 pts behind and a total of 59 entries are within six points of each other at the top. The past two leaders after Round 1 have finished 67th and 21st so don't get oo smug, but a little smug is okay. KRISPY KREMER SECONDS went 14-2 to move from a tie for 58th to a tie for 6th. Three went 8-8 but TEAM SAMURAI still brings up the rear with 34 pts.

In terms of bragging rights, CREATIVE (36th-T, 46) was the only one to pick Bucknell. Why would someone do that? Well, someone tried to pick Oakland, Fairleigh Dickinson, Winthrop, and Vermont. Whoops, Vermont did win. Well, MKULTRA (20th-T, 48) even has them going to the Sweet 16. And, if you think there's something in the water, both CREATIVE and MKULTRA worked together for the same project at Raytheon. I try to avoid the drinking fountain over there.

No one has their Sweet 16 intact but 11 do have 15 of 16 teams alive. Thirty-three have all 8 Elite 8 teams alive and 57 have all four Final Four teams. On the flip side, REGGIEK945 (76th-T, 40) has just 9 Sweet 16 teams alive, three have just 5 Elite 8 teams remaining, and three have seen their Final 4 cut in half. DBCHALMERS (Kan, 60th-T, 44), NOMEX (Pen, 76th-T, 40), and RAW DAWG (Syr, 36th-T, 46) have lost their Championship team and face a huge hurdle.

Loyalties now change. Those who had Kansas going far are hoping UNC and/or UConn gets upset to even things up. So you are now not only rooting for your teams, you're rooting for teams you need to lose. There's still 31 games left and 132 points up for grabs. After Sunday's games, we'll know officially whether or not you have been eliminated or not. Also on Sunday, the announcement of the prize distribution.