CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Kevin Love and Darren Collison combined for 40 of #1W-UCLA's 51 (er, 53) pts as the Bruins rallied from 8 pts down to beat #9W-Texas A&M, 53-49.  As has been their custom all season, UCLA fell behind and rallied to win, outscoring the Aggies 17-5 to end the game.  Fellow Pac-10-mate #3S-Stanford outscored #6S-Marquette 12-6 at the end of regulation to force overtime, where both teams kept trading baskets and leads before the Cardinal prevailed on a last second shot (not a buzzer beater).  The other remaining Pac-10 team, #4E-Washington St. joined #3MW-Wisconsin, and #1MW-Kansas with easy wins.  Both #3W-Xavier and #5S-Michigan St. blew 10-pt 2nd half leads (Xav down by 1; MiS down by 2) before putting the game away with late runs (Xav 15-5; MiS 23-10).  The biggest upset was #7W-West Virginia giving Duke-haters a gift by beating the #2W-Blue Devils and clearing a path for UCLA to the Elite 8.

First round leader WOKIM (63 pts) lost five Sweet 16 teams to fall to a tie for 23rd which now leaves five entries tied for first with 70 pts (interestingly, none of the five picked UCLA to win it all).  Six entries went 7-1 for the day while QUICKPICK MCGRAW (33) went 1-7 (tying a record) and likely will continue to occupy the cellar for the rest of the tournament.  FC RACINE 1634 (61) won the first six games before settling for 7-1 and moved from tied for 85th to tied for 40th.  UCLA's come-from-behind win saved 86 entries who had them in the Final Four.  Eight correctly picked West Virginia and 31 picked Michigan St.  BIG HURT (1st-Tied, 70 pts), KOOL KATS (47th-T, 60), and FC RACINE were the only entries to pick both Wisconsin & West Virginia early on.

After this weekend, we will announce that we officially have 101 entries (everyone has paid or will pay (confirmed)), set the prize breakdown, and explain the Bonus Prize (same rules as last year).  With the 101 entries, some lucky person is going to win the first-ever 5th place prize (it ain't gonna be me; I need a prize for 61st or something).

Notes / 注意事項:  Of the 3 teams with perfect first round records in our pool (minimum 4 games), only Purdue continued that streak (9-0) while Kentucky (13-1) and UConn (10-1) lost for the first time... What's with the very poor 3-pt shooting?  Duke missed 15 straight at one point and #11MW-Kansas St. went 0-for-13.  It's just going to get worse when the 3-pt line is moved by 12 inches next year; I wonder how this will affect the picks next year... only 15 still have their Elite 8 intact while 84 still have their Final Four alive... QUICKPICK MCGRAW lost his champion (Texas A&M - oh, how close he was) while FABIO lost Pitt in his final and six lost Duke in their final... Duke has been picked the most times to win it all (121) but no one has picked them the past two years...