HOME OF IN IT TO NGUYEN IT'S MOM IN ALHAMBRA, CA / CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Before you could seemingly blink, #4S-Michigan built a 41-17 lead and when #3S-Florida was trying a comeback, the Wolverines got a layup, a steal on the inbounds, and a layup to shut the door.  The 20-point victory (79-59) put the Woverines into the Final Four for the first time since 1993 with the so-called Fab Five.

The last #1 seed, MW-Louisville, broke open a 42-42 tie with a 17-2 run to knock off #2MW-"Duke University", 85-63, to make their 2nd straight Final Four appearance.  Of course, the talk was the Cardinal's "grisly" Kevin Ware injury and while at Vi N's (In It to Nguyen It (15th-Tied, 99 pts)) Mom's house (TV not in HD), we (myself (The Fabone XIX (51st-T, 92)), Vi, Neil P (ScratchMyItch (9th-T, 103)), and Quang P (Krimsonguard (55th-T, 91)); Van P (Lastminute (6th-T, 104)) had already left to fly home) missed it and all we see are the players convulsing as if someone died.  We wondered what had happened and of course, the hapless CBS announcers didn't help.  Eventually, one of the CBS announcers finally managed to mumble "serious leg injury" and to me that's an ankle sprain and doesn't describe breaking it into two on a freak play.  So that was frustrating although I was glad CBS didn't keep showing the replay (which I never saw until I got home).  Our prayers are with Ware.  On more fun news, we had a Van vs. Vi battle as the former (who owns our all-time highest point total) needed Michigan and the latter (now winless for 14 years) needed Florida.

The Rat Pack (111) is alone in first and is guaranteed at least 2nd place with 5 of 8 chances to win the pool and its $530 top prize.  Bwakewey Cubed moved into 2nd place (107) and is guaranteed at least 3rd.  Shake N' Bake is tied for 3rd (105) and is guaranteed at least 6th.  Cliff Paul (26th-T, 96) can win the pool if Michigan beats Wichita St. in the Final while Chi-Town Mikey's (34th-T, 95) can win the pool if Syracuse wins it all.  Bwakewey Cubed, Poolraider (going from 22nd-T to 6th-T), and Suznana (going from 67th-T to 26th-T, 96) were the only three to go 2-0 today.  39 went 0-2 today.

Despite 3 regions being down to a 4 seed or worse, 3 can still win the pool and 10 can still win money.  In fact, if 9W-Wichita St beats Michigan in the Final, then 9 of the 10 entries (Chi-Town Mikey's left out) still alive have a chance to win money, with a 4-way tie for 6th to be decided on the total points in final tiebreaker.  In fact there are a lot of ties.  Full scenarios, including how many points will win the various ties, are now posted. 

In the Bonus1 race, the Big 10 now has 13 wins.  40 can still win the Bonus while 82 have been eliminated from both the top money and Bonus. The only possible outcomes for Winningest Conference are Big 10 with 13-15, the Big East with 14, or the Big 10 and Big East tied at 13.  There is a possibility that there could be a 4-way TIE for the Bonus, meaning each would get $10, the price of their entry fee.

           Teams  Curr  Max Poss
Conf.      Left   Wins  Wins
-------    -----  ----  --------
Big10        1    13     15
BigEast      2    11     14

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