CERRITOS, CA (smt)- We had the battle of the Bruins in the first round, won by UCLA (v Belmont). There were three Wildcats (#8E-Kentucky, #8MW-Arizona, #1MW-Villanova) playing today but only Villanova came out victorious, beating fellow namesake Arizona. Kentucky battled hard but its rally from 15 down fell short to #1E-UConn, in the first-ever meeting between these two powerhouses in the tournament. And in the third round, we'll have the battle of the Huskies, as UConn will take on #5E-Washington.

#11E-George Mason upset their second straight '05 Final Four team beating defending champ #3E-North Carolina. #13W-Bradley outplayed #5W-Pitt through most of the game as did #7MW-Georgetown against #2W-Ohio St. #1W-Memphis, #6E-West Virginia, and #2S-Texas cruised to easy victories. Ohio St.'s loss left the Big 10 with no S16 teams, the first time since 1996 (this is important to know for the Bonus Prize).

Why beat up on a team you're supposed to beat early? Cause when you struggle, you have a cushion. UNC had just a 7-point lead at halftime so when they started the second half with 7 straight turnovers, they had trouble bouncing back. In contrast to West Virginia, who had an 25-point lead early in the second half, and then went FG-less for 12:44 but still had an 8-point lead and managed to hold off #14E-NW State.

THE MIGHTY MOBELFAKTA went 6-2 to go from a tie for 26th place to a tie for 6th place (80 pts). He was one of 4 to go 12-4 for the 2nd Round. BASKETBALL JONES was one of them and she now leads with 84 pts. SHRINER (6th-Tied, 80 pts) and JINX (11th-T, 78) were the others to position themselves in the fight for a money spot.

No one picked Bradley or George Mason but 19 picked WV and 15 Georgetown. However, only 3 picked the both (THE MM, WAYWARD (33rd-T, 73), and KILLER (66th-T, 66 (yipes, what a numerical combination!))). ANGRY HAWAIIAN had a really bad day (not that the previous 2 days were any good to her) as she could've picked up some valuable points but saw Bucknell, Kentucky (only one to pick them over UConn), and Pitt lose. She did, however, get Georgetown correct to salvage the end of the day. But she's still last (49). DTERP (80th, 60) had a bad round, losing 8 of 12 active S16 teams and finishing 4-12. And PAC10ATTACK (62nd-T, 67) only has 2 Elite 8 teams remaining.

We now know who is eliminated. Twenty entries have no chance of the finishing in the top 4 spots but 38 still have a chance for 1st place. KEEP CHIEF ILLINIWEK (33rd-T, 73) is the highest entry to be eliminated while THE FABONOUS DOZEN (boo!) and KRISPY KREMER (both 11th-T, 78) are the highest entries with no chance at 1st place. On the flip side, VENDETTALESS and KANAKAKIDZ (both 81st-T, 58) actually still have a chance to win it all. Really. A very slim chance, but a chance nonetheless (see THE FABONOUS DOZEN and KRISPY KREMER).

BBALL JONES has the best chance for 1st (17.5%) and money (34.6%). BIX PIX (8th-T, 79) is the only other entry with a >10% chance (11.5%) of winning it all. Four others have a >20% chance of winning money. Out of 32,768 possible outcomes, SUZNANA (58th-T, 68) has two possibilities of claiming 1st place and BOROTH CHAY and THE RAT PACK have just four chances to win any money (0.01%).

The prize money breakdown and Bonus Prize details will be revealed next week on the forum and then later that day in the email update.