CERRITOS, CA (smt)- So you blew a 14-point lead with 6:50 left and an unfortunate free throw miss allowed you to blow a 5-point lead with 21 seconds left.  But you've dominated the paint (finishing with 60) yet in a tie game take your time to take a 3-pointer?  Then in overtime, after getting new life with 9 seconds left down by 2, you fake a makeable layup to kick out for an awkward 3-pointer?  It's a Scooby Doo mystery to me.  You are the "better" team so why go for the win and not the sure tie?  Only underdogs should go for the win because they realize they're living on borrowed time.  #1S-Kansas should've tied it to send it to a 2nd OT.  But it was a great game and #4S-Michigan somehow found life in the last part of the 2nd half and OT to stun the Jayhawks, 87-85.  I almost forgot how much I love the Wolverine fight song (to the point I almost rooted for Michigan over UCLA in the Rose Bowl in '83).  They'll face #3S-Florida who won the battle of the Floridians and shut down Dunk City (#15S-Florida Gulf Coast or Florida State to some) for good, 62-50.

While we may have been denied Indiana-Miami, in the Midwest Regional we are going to get Pitino (6 Final Fours) vs Krzyzewski (11 Final Fours) as Pitino kept his perfect Sweet 16 record intact (11-0) leading the lone #1 seed Louisville into the Elite 8 by beating a tenacious #12-Oregon, 77-69.  The Cardinals nearly blew an 18-point lead with 8:45 left (cut to 6) but quickly brought it back to double-digits.  In the Izzo vs Krzyzewski battle, #2-Duke used a 9-0 run to break a 38-38 tie to beat #3-Michigan St, 71-61.

ChasCroix and The Rat Pack were 2 of 9 to get all 4 teams correct (but are the only ones to go 6-2 for the round) and are our co-leaders (105 pts).  Shake N' Bake also went 4-0 to from a tie for 16th to a tie for 3rd (99) with yesterday's leader DenverDunks1.  How odd:  Bwakewey Squared and Jason97782-1 both went 4-0 to move up from a tie for 28th to a tie for 9th (96) and Bwakewey Cubed and  Jason97782-2 both went 4-0 to jump from a tie for 39th to a tie for 13th (95); usually, people pick different teams with 2nd and 3rd entries.  SEC Glory may be loyal to the Gators (his only win) but he fell from 5th to a tie for 27th (91).  Kona Coast Sliders and Buckeye23 were the only two to get no teams correct with the former taking over last place (59) and the latter falling from a tie for 85th to a tie for 119th (74).

The Rat Pack and ChasCroix and are near locks for money at 86.7% and 72.7%, respectively.  ChasCroix has the best chance for 1st (41.4%) with The Rat Pack (28.9%) and Jason97782-2 (12.5%) in double-figures.  In fact, only 8 people can win the pool and this guarantees we will have a 18th different winner in our 19 pools (Robinson C being the only 2-time winner).  Shake N' Bake (42.2%), Jason97782-1 (34.4%) and Jason97782-2 (33.6%) all have a better than 1 in 3 shot for money.

In the Bonus1 race, the Big 10 now has 12 wins ensuring that Bonus2 won't be used.  71 can still win the Bonus while 40 have been eliminated from both the top money and Bonus. The only possible outcomes for  Winningest Conference are Big 10 with 12-17, the Big East with 13-14, or the Big 10 and Big East tied at 12, 13, or 14.

           Teams  Curr  Max Poss
Conf.      Left   Wins  Wins
-------    -----  ----  --------
Big10        2    12     17
BigEast      3     9     14

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