LAX/DELTA FLIGHT # 1704 (smt)- The first eight games saw favorites advance to the second round but #11W-VCU put an end to that by putting #6W-Duke's season out of its misery. Unfortunately, VCU can't put an end to Coach K's commercials, but we'll take what we can get. Two #9's (E-Michigan St. & S-Xavier) were not shockers (according the pool picks) but pushed the number of "upsets" to a measly three for the day, in what some had considered a wide-open field. But some top seeds did struggle, led by #1E-UNC nearly blowing a 27-pt lead to #16E-Eastern Kentucky (who pulled with four) before turning up the heat at the end.

#4MW-Maryland (trailed by 8), #5MW-Butler, and #3S-Texas A&M struggled for most the game while #3E-Wash St., #7E-BC, and #3W-Pitt struggled early before crusing to wins. #6S-Louisville, #2E-Georgetown, #6W-Vandy, #1S-Ohio St., and #2W-UCLA (the local favorite) left no doubt while #7W-Indiana kept their distance from fan favorite #10W-Gonzaga for most of the game.

Butler scored just 29 pts in the first 28:44 of the match (trailing 32-29) before going on a 17-0 run in the next 6:09. Michigan St. (14-0) and Pitt (13-0) jumped to big leads but were eventually caught up. UNC was cruising 39-12 before allowing E. Kentucky to go on a 32-9 run. There is no excuse for allowing a #16 seed to outscore you at any point in the game by 23 points. And I picked this team to win it all? Sheesh. And someone online said to always pick against a Bobby Knight coached team because it's so fun to watch him when he's losing. That person was so right. Thanks for the tip.

Well, we set a new record for the third straight year with 98 entries. Of course this is unofficial pending collecting payments and such. The official tally should be available Monday when I get back from Boston. A record 58 entries were received on Wednesday and pushed us past last year's record of 85 entries with 87. A list of names to nicknames is posted on the Discussion Board so you can see who your competitors near the top are and who to make fun of for those near the bottom.

THE MISSING OSKY and THE RED DRAGON (both great nicknames BTW) were poised to join 2002's BLUEBERRY and BLOOMERS123 as the only entries to go a perfect 16-0 on a single day. Alas, Xavier stopped OSKY's streak at 12 and the Zags loss stopped THE RED DRAGON at 13. This left a seven-way tie for first with 30 points (15-1), which is impressive considering in the previous 601 entries, only 18 have gone 15-1 or better. Seventeen were actually 8-0 in the "boring" first part of the day. POSH SPICE'S GIGOLO must have bought into that "wide-open field" as he went just 8-8 (16 pts) and anchors our pool standings for the time being.

As for who everyone picked, Ohio St. (picked by 31 to win it all) was the overwhelming favorite with more than double the next pick, Florida (13). Twelve teams total were thought to win it all by our predictors with Kansas (12), UNC (11), and UCLA (10) in double-digits. Ten is surprisingly low for UCLA considering this HWCI NCAA Pool started 13 years ago in a UCLA apartment in Westwood when 10 of 12 entries correctly picked UCLA to win it all. Ah, where's the faith? Florida seems to have the easiest path to the Final Four as 68 think that will happen (65 for Ohio St.).

Curious picks? ARPS2 (41st-Tied, 24 pts) lost Duke and CHUMBALLS2 (68th-T, 22) lost Texas Tech in their Final Four. THE TOURNAMATOR (41st-T) inexplicably picked the Play-In winner (Niagara) to go to the Elite 8. Mistake, genius, or spite for Kansas? Well, spite should only take you to the second round. In a "wide-open field" should we be surprised someone picked Pittsburgh and Washington St. to win it all or that one person picked USC to make the Final Four?