CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Tomorrow brings Part II of the March Madness season. Fifty-nine (59) entries still have a chance for a top 4 prize and fifty-four (54) have a chance to win the $40 Bonus Prize. And after doing some cross-reference macro exchange mapping voodoo, that leaves 12 entries with no chance at money at all. But we can still watch some great basketball this weekend and with less stress, for those of us who are eliminated. Will LEAH'S LEAP OF FAITH, having only 2 of his Final Four teams alive, continue to lead the pack or will one of the 12 entries with all four Final Four teams overtake him?

As for the actual games, we get a rematch of the 1998 Final, Utah vs Kentucky (which was one of only two times no one in the HWCI NCAA Pool picked the correct champion (Kentucky)), the '00 champ (Michigan St.) vs the '01 champ (Duke), both in the Austin Regional (South). We get two matchup of non-top 4 teams, two great matchups in Washington-Louisville and Arizona-Oklahoma St, and two potential yawners with top seeds Illinois and North Carolina.

So, in no particualar order or done with any rhyme or reason, are sixteen thoughts on the tournament and the pool.

1) Eighty-two entries. That's two more than we our previous record in 2002. A record 32 came in by Wednesday setting an incredible pace. And what's more remarkable, is that 64 entries are those that particiapated in years past. Thank you!

2) Multiple confusion. We have two North Carolinas (UNC, NC St), two Wisconsins (Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee), three Wildcats (Kentucky, Arizona, Villanova), three six seeds, four one seeds, seven states (WA, WV, IL, AZ, WI, NC, KY, UT) and three "States" (OK St, NC St, Mich St).

3) Easy road. #6E-Wisconsin will play its third straight double-digit seed (beating #11 N Iowa & #14 Bucknell and faces #10 NC St).

4) Hard road. #2MW-Oklahoma St and #1W-Washington are the only top two seeds to play the lowest seeded opponent in each round, but only Oklahoma St, if it wins, could continue the trend.

5) Amazing picks. CREATIVE was the only one to pick Bucknell over Kansas (who if you think he's just picking upsets for fun, still has a chance for 2nd Place). MKULTRA was the only person to foresee Vermont's upset of Syracuse and he gets double credit as being one of two people (SOURCE) to pick Wisconsin-Milwaukee to make the Sweet 16.

6) Disamazing picks. REGGIEK945 was the only one to pick Winthrop over Gonzaga (not that bad a pick) but he also had Oakland (play-in winner) going to the Sweet 16. NOMEX had Fairleigh Dickinson going to the Sweet 16.

7) Home away from home away from home. Duke got to play near home in Charlotte, but unfortunately, was slated for the later game on both days, therefore, playing with an anti-Duke North Carolina crowd (who played the earlier games).

8) No parity. Thirty-eight (38) entries with with an ACC team (Duke, UNC, WF) and 27 went for Illinois. Only 12 teams were picked to win it all, the most curious being Penn (NOMEX). Also, just two picked #1W-Washington (similarly, just one picked #1E-St. Joe's last year).

9) Movers & Shakers. DARA moved from 60th after Round 1 to 22nd after Round 2. YANKEEAGLE went from 1st to 30th. LARZBY and ST.PAULCROTCHPOPPERS went from 20th to 53rd and elminated (two other had similar paths but are still in the hunt for money).

10) Amazing stats. Utah's Mike Gansey had more points in 2 five-minute overtimes (19) vs WF than New Mexico did in the first half (11). #6S-Utah committed 13 more turnovers (20) and shot the ball 29 fewer times than #3S-Oklahoma, yet still won by nine.

11) On a roll... down a hill. Potential #1 seeds Kansas (began 20-1) and Boston College (began 20-0) ended their seasons losing 5 of 8 and 4 of 8, respectively, and not surprising were bounced before the Sweet 16.

12) By seedings. If you picked a straight ticket bracket, you would be tied for 36th place but you would still have all of your Final Four teams alive.

13) HDTV. Love it. Love it. The HDTV broadcast is usually *different* from the over-the-air CBS broadcast, so I can watch TWO games side-by-side, which is awesome. Should work this Thursday and Friday when there are two games for each timeslot. And HDTV is free!

14) St.PaulCrotchPoppers. I'll get to this nickname next week, but since I don't watch or follow college basketball until the brackets are announced, I had no idea what this meant. All I knew was that Chris Paul is a name of a former co-worker of mine. So I guess it's sweet revenge that Paul's, ahem, crotch pop to NC State's Julius Hodge resulted in Wake Forest's early exit and NC State playing in the Sweet 16.

15) Past champions out. UConn ('99, '04) and Syracuse ('03) are out. For the pool, THE FABONEONE ('02), BIG LUTHER ('03), and TEAM SAMURAI ('01) are out. But FABIO ('04) and SAMPSON IS THE ANSWER ('00) have a chance to become the HWCI NCAA Pool's first repeat champion.

16) My goodness. The 2nd Round had seeds #1 through 14 and the Sweet 16 will have seeds #1 through 7 plus a #10 and a #12. These mid-majors seem to do a great job at attacking the lane late in the game than the favorites. Although no buzzer beaters (none last year), Bucknell, Vermont, and NC State all drove into the lane for the game-winning baskets. Bring it on!