CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #64A-Niagara won their 12th in a row beating #65B-Florida A&M in a game the Purple Eagles felt they shouldn't have had to play. Although it's the "Opening Game" which opens up the NCAA Tournament, most consider it a "Play-In" game which doesn't sound like it's part of the NCAA Tournament. Regardless, Niagara picks up its 2nd-ever tourney win and has momentum facing #1W-Kansas. Could it happen? 0-88 overall for #16 seeds. I'd put $5 on that.

Meanwhile, what the heck is CSTV? Is that like Channel 914 or something? They will be televising two games (one each on Thursday & Friday). At least there is March Madness on Demand. Of course, you can't watch the "local" game on TV which kinda defeats the purpose of getting it to watch during my IEEE meetings. But it's better than nothing.

I will be in BAHston this weekend (yes, over St. Patty's Day) which means I'll get to see little of games (though games will end past midnight which will be an interesting experience) and updates will likely be a day late. But David will be updating standings each day and posting everyone's picks by Friday. I'll have internet access so I'll try to update when I can. Again, in-day updates will be posted to the Discussion Board for the impatient ones.

So far, 26 people have entered 27 entries, which is a little off our pace in 2006 despite tying a record with 15 entries on Monday. Of course most people wait til the last minute (raises hand) as evidenced by an average of 53 entries in the last 33 hours over the past three years. You have til 9 AM PDT Thursday to submit your picks. You can change your picks (either by emailing the changes to ncaa(at)hwci.com or redoing the bracket (use something like "Nickname-update" or "Nickname-Revise" or "Nickname Rev A" so we know you aren't entering twice)) as many times as you want til 9 AM PDT Thursday. But the more you change, the more you psyche yourself out of a good pick (raises hand again).

You can mail your entry fee (email me for snail mail) or give your $10 (per entry) to someone who will give the money to David or Scott. Despite the PayPal threat, we are still accepting PayPal (check or PayPal funds only) to "[email protected]" or credit card PayPal payments to "[email protected]" (but the entry fee is $10.61 (61 cents in PayPal fees... damn them!)).

Enter online now! You can also fax your entry to me at (720) 368-0816 or email us for a snail mail address (postmarked by Thurs AM). Make arrangements (such as PayPal) to send in your $10 entry fee(s) by March 16th. Complete rules and daily pool information can be found on the official site: http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa.