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#1-Michigan vs #2-UConn into the final on Monday night. Both teams won convincingly on Saturday. Will Michigan bring the Big-10 its first NCAA title since the year 2000? Or, will UConn win its 7th title in a 27 year span? If so, UConn will move into third place on the list of total NCAA titles. They will be just 1 behind Kentucky's 8 titles and 4 behind UCLA's 11 titles.

I grew up next to the University of Illinois and was really hoping to see them make the final.  If you had been looked at the Final Four Combinations page, you would have seen that my Mom would have won the whole pool if Illinois met Arizona in the final. It didn't matter who won the final as long as those two won on Saturday. It was like a no-hitter in the 7th inning. I didn't text her. I didn't call her. I didn't email her. I didn't mention it in any way so that I would not jinx it. Well, it didn't work. There must be some other scientific jinx rule that I violated.

On the Big Leaderboard, Andrew Korb keeps the top spot with UConn as his champ. Andrew takes home the $250 prize for being the Round 5 Leader. Larry Bolden sitting within striking distance in second place with Michigan as his champ. Stephanie Solis is in third place with UConn as her Champ.

In the Sweet-16 Leaderboard, Jim Heinle takes over the top spot with Michigan as his Champ. The nearest person with UConn as Champ is Jon Balousek in 24th.

In the Women's tournament, the Mighty #1-UCLA Bruins will face #1-South Carolina in the Championship game on Sunday. Rayce Kopach has been the wire-to-wire leader and still stays at the top of the Women's Leaderboard with South Carolina as his Champ. He has such a big lead, nobody can catch him. He will take home the $700 prize for first place. The second and third place prizes are still to be determined.

Wow! Awesome! Unbelievable! I was looking forward to watching some good games today, but neither seemed to have any drama. The Michigan game was essentially done before halftime, and I thought to Duke/UConn game was over also when UConn went down 19 points early. UConn showed some energy in the second half, but I thought it was too little too late, especially with UConn still down 9 points with 5 minutes remaining. What an unbelievable final 30 seconds! One of my favorite advertising campaigns of all time is the Dos Equis "Most Interesting Man in the World". They quit showing those ads about 8 - 10 years ago. Several weeks ago, they brought him back. When I saw the new ads, I knew Duke would lose this year. The basketball gods wanted me to bring it back:



Two of the #1-seeds make the Final Four (Arizona, Michigan) and will match up on Saturday. That will be a great game. On the other side of the bracket, we will have #2-UConn vs #3-Illinois. Cannot wait. The Big-10 continues to be top conference with 2 of the 4 remaining teams.

I now sit in 611th place with #1-Duke as my Champ. I was thrilled to go scorched-earth and move down below 600th. I had been feeling a little blue about my performance this year, but don't worry since I am coping just fine.



In the BIG LEADERBOARD, Andrew Korb leaps to the top with #2-UConn as his Champ and and takes home the $250 prize for being the Round-4 Leader. Jon Balousek moves up to the second spot but has #1-Duke as his Champ. Larry Bolden is now in third and is the highest with #1-Michigan as his Champ. Ryan Tibble is on fourth but has #2-Houston as his Champ. Cory Goligowski is the highest with #1-Arizona in 5th. Previous leaders Dan Merry and Derek Wolf fall to 8th and my mom slides out of top 10 to 11th.

With Duke out, about 52% of the brackets still have their Champ alive. Do you think you climb into the Top 10? No need to run all the scenarios. The FINAL FOUR COMBINATIONS page will show you the final 8 combinations.

In the SWEET-16 LEADERBOARD, Tony Pacelli jumps to the top spot. Izzy Saridakis no longer has a perfect bracket and drops to 2nd along with three others.

In the Women's Bracket, half of the Final Four is set. The #1-UCLA Bruins made me nervous early, but pulled away to move onto the Final Four. #1-UConn also makes the Final Four as expected. In the WOMEN'S LEADERBOARD, Rayce Kopach keeps his grip on the top. He has #1-South Carolina as his Champ while the next 20 behind him have #1-UConn or #1-UCLA.

There is a $250 prize for the best combined 3&4 which goes to Larry Bolden. Congratulations.

Below are the $250 prize winners for the Best Regional Brackets:

SOUTH: Kristen Murawski
WEST: Andrew Bunnin
MIDWEST: Joey Neill
EAST: Split prize by Rob Wangler and Brett Cassidy

In the old days, I was nervous that the IRS would consider this pool a gambling site and felt donating to charity made it above board. Now its an integral part of the pool, and it does feel good that this pool does some good in the world. Today, I sent $1000 to the Jimmy V Foundation on all of our behalf. Thanks to everyone.

I had a good feeling that the Big-10 would get at least one team into the Final Four on Saturday. #3-Illinois didn't look good early, but looked late beating #9-Iowa in the first game of the day. The state of Illinois is well represented in this pool. 30% of the entrants are from the State of Illinois, which can be seen on the map at that bottom of the main page. I think most of you know I live in the Chicago area, but I grew up in the town of Monticello just outside the University of Illinois in Champaign. I grew up a big Illinois fan so am very excited to have Illinois advance to the Final Four. My little town of Monticello is also well represented in the Top 10 with Dan Merry at the top and my mom, Sharon Williams, in 9th.



#1-Arizona powered by #2-Purdue in the late game. Arizona was the most picked Champ in this pool at 28% of the brackets.

In the Big Leaderboard, we still have the same tie at the top with Derek Wolf and the aforementioned Dan Merry. Both have #1-Arizona as their champ. Still lots of Arizona in the top 10 Leaderboard but now many more have moved up with Duke as Champ, including Jon Balousek now in third. Andrew Korb has #2-UConn alive as his Champ but dropped to 7th. Michelle Vorwerk jumps from 23rd to 9th with the #1-Michigan as her Champ.

On the Sweet-16 Leaderboard, Izzy Saridakis and David Templer are tied for the top spot and each still have a perfect bracket. Izzy has Arizona as Champ and David has Duke. The top 3 spots pay out in the Sweet-16 pool, and we have 7 people currently tied for third.

In the Woman's Leaderboard, Rayce Kopach has held the top spot since the first day. My site doesnt allow me to run scenarios on the Womens leaderboard, but Rayce's dad Mike is in 5th, and may have a chance to knock him off the top. The top 3 spots get prizes in the Women's bracket. Eric Vrooman sits in 2nd with #1-UConn as his Champ, and Evan Whetstone is in 3rd, also with UConn. Half of the Final Four will be determined today. Go Bruins!

My awesome cousin-in-law Kristen Murawski has the best SOUTH bracket and takes home the $250 prize. Andrew Bunning (a Bruin and also awesome, but not related) has the best WEST bracket and also get a $250 prize. The other two regional prizes will be determined today. Once a prize goes final, the prize winners can be seen winners on the FINAL RESULTS page.

The Elite Eight is set. The BIG-10 looking amazing with 4 teams into the Elite-8. No other conference has more than one team.

In the Big Leaderboard, we have a tie at the top with Derek Wolf and Dan Merry. Both have #1-Arizona as their champ and will split the $250 prize for being the Round-3 Leader. Lots of Arizona in the top 10 Leaderboard. Andrew Korb in third with #2-UConn. Jeff Criley and Jon Balousek tied for fifth with Duke. Greg Hague has #2-Purdue at 17th. #1-Michigan doesn't show up until 23rd place. Highest #3-Illinois in 127th. Nobody took #6-Tennessee or #9-Purdue as Champ.

In the Sweet-16 Leaderboard, 4 people still have perfect brackets. Congratulations to Tony Pacelli, Izzy Saridakis, David Templer, and Amanda Wright. They all have different Champs picked, so they cannot all stay perfect.

In the Women's Leaderboard, Rayce Kopach still sits at the top again. Can he go wire to wire and take the victory. He has South Carolina as his Champ, so I expect Rayce to have a dramatic fall in the Final Game when they lose to the Mighty UCLA Bruins. The top 3 get a prize in the Sweet-16 pool. Evan Whetstone and Eric Vrooman are tied for second with UConn. My nephew, Charlie Williams, the highest with UCLA as Champ in 7th.

Don't forget that you can still win an award for the best REGION. Those awards get determined this weekend. That is always the prize that people are most surprised when I tell them they won money. You can always find a consolidated list of the winners on the FINAL RESULTS page.

Half of the Elite-8 is determined, and the BIG-10 looking really strong with 3 teams winning last night. A little surprising to see 9-seed into the Elite-8. #9-Iowa becomes only the 6 team as a #9 seed into the Elite-8.

On the Big Leaderboard, Derek Wolf moves back to the top with Arizona has his Champ. Dan Merry also has Arizona but drops back to second place. Six of the top Ten have Arizona as Champ. Greg Hague is in third with Purdue. Andrew Korb is 8th with UConn. Sheila Clarke is the highest with #1 overall seed Duke in 10th place. The highest with #1-Michigan is in 17th place by Michelle Vorwerk and Pete Keskey. So, there could still be a lot of movement in the big leaderboard.

In the Sweet-16 Pool, 77.5% of the eligible brackets submitted a Sweet-16 bracket. 60 people were perfect on the first four games.

Rayce Kopach still sits at the top of the Women's Leaderboard, but the Round three games don't start until today (Friday).

MLB regular season started Thursday, and Chicago Cubs already in last. Darn. Its a long season, so I wont worry yet.

Thanks to everyone who has paid. Venmo is again the most popular option by a wide margin. I haven't even yet sent our reminders to pay and only have 14 people unpaid: WEASELS. If you know them, text them today and call them a weasel.

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER YOUR SWEET-16 POOL (SWEET-16 FAQ)

The Sweet-16 is set, and the first #1-seed goes down. The defending champs #1-Florida go down to #9-Iowa in a dramatic finish. Florida was the least picked #1 seed (6.5%), but it still busts a few brackets. With only 38% picking the Gators into the Final Four, many brackets can recover from the Gator loss. All of the other #1 and all the #2 seeds are still alive. Half the #3 seeds are out after #6-Tennessee beat #3-Virginia on Sunday, and #11-Texas beat #3-Gonzaga on Saturday.

The BIG-10 looking very strong with 6 of the Sweet-16. SEC have 4 teams in and the BIG-12 has 3. BIG EAST has 2 of their 3 into the Sweet-16. ACC struggling with only 1 of their 8 teams left. Details on the CONFERENCE STATS page.

Dan Merry moves to the top of the Big Leaderboard with Arizona as his Champion. With the top spot at the end of Round 2, Dan takes home the $250 prize for being Round 2 Leader. Derek Wolf drops to second place and is one point back also with Arizona as his Champ. Greg Hague is in third with Purdue, and previous pool champ Mitch Grubisic is in fourth with Duke. Eight people tied for the best over best overall Round 2 and will split the $250 prize. Once prizes are final, they can be seen on the FINAL RESULTS page.

Check out the MOST SWEET-16 TEAMS page to see who else correctly picked most teams in their bracket. 10 people got 14 of the 16 correct. This is always a good indicator of who still has a chance to make big moves up the leaderboard.

Don't forget to submit your Sweet-16 bracket. I created the Sweet-16 for people who needed a second chance after their other brackets went bust. Every original bracket entered gets a free chance in the SWEET-16 pool at no extra charge. Log in to your home page to make your picks. Your new Sweet-16 picks do not affect your original bracket in any way. If you have questions, see the SWEET 16 INFO page.

In the Women's Bracket, Rayce Kopach stays at the top with South Carolina as his Champ. He has only missed one game so far in the Women's bracket.

BIG POOL BRACKETS PER ENTRY:
1 bracket 65%
2 brackets 20%
3 brackets 8%
4+ brackets 7% 

I only entered one bracket this year (a.k.a. "The Sheet of Integrity" for you old Mike & Mike fans). The majority of people do enter only once as shown above. I have no issue with people who like to enter multiple brackets. Many like to diversify since they hate to have their single bracket bust in round one. It also allows a bigger pot and bigger prizes. I always debate entering more than one but thought it gives more bragging rights to claim I only needed the one to win it all. In the other pools that I enter, I always use the dad joke that I am turning in the answer key. I think that is funny every single time. But, when I see myself sitting in 558th place, I do wish I had entered another. I just want hope. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things! 

Are you Andy or Red?

Half of the Sweet-16 is set. Seven of the eight teams are the top-seeded teams. But, we do have one surprise with one double-digit seed into the Sweet-16. #11-seed Texas beat #3-Gonzago to get into the Sweet-16. #11-Texas had to win a play-in game just to get into the tourney. Do you remember that last #11 play-in team who went deep into the tourney? It was UCLA in 2021 who made it to the Final Four. Since 1985 when they went to 64 teams with seed numbers, #11-seeds make it to the Sweet-16 move than 17% of the time. I am not sure if other people are like me, but I like go look up that data and then try to remember some of those team. So years ago, I built the SEED HISTORY page so I didn't have to go search the internet. If you think you can remember some of the #11-seeds into the Sweet-16, check HERE. There are 28 of them. NC State was the most recent in 2024 with big big man DJ Burns.

No new prize awards determined on Saturday, but we did have some movement in the Big Leaderboard. Derek Wolf moves to the top of the leaderboard and has Arizona as his Champ. Brad Milnes drops one spot to second place, also with Arizona. And Daniel Merry moves up to third. And a big shout out to Andrew Bunnin in fourth. Andrew was the Champ in my Inaugural pool back in 1989.

In the Women's Tournament, the first Round is complete. Rayce Kopach has a perfect bracket still and sits at the top of the Leaderboard.

Don't forget that once all the Sweet-16 is determined, you can enter the second-change Sweet-16 Pool for another chance to win. It is independent of your full 64 team bracket and is just another way to win prizes. See the SWEET-16 FAQ page if you are not familiar with it.

Round 1 is done. No major drama on the second day. The higher seeds won in all but the #8 vs #9 games. The only real drama I remember is #7-Kentucky banking in 3-pointer from 35 feet at the buzzer to send the game against #10-Santa Clara to OT. I felt bad for my Santa Clara friends who thought they had won that game.

The first round Friday of March Madness is one of my favorite days of the year. For me, that means I get to go out and watch basketball with my friends all day. And I also got to see #7-UCLA move to the second round. But, that also means I fall asleep on the couch during late games and don't get to publish the latest news until Saturday morning. 

At the top of the Big Leaderboard is Brad Milnes who takes home the $250 prize for the best overall First Round (a.k.a. The TJ Marriot Rule). Other notables in the top 10 include 3 previous Pool Champions: Mark Shapland in fourth, Mitch Grubisic in eighth, and Kristine Cornwell in 10th. And a special shout out to my home town of Monticello with Daniel Merry in fourth.   

There is also a $250 prize for the Best Second Day. With the top seeds winning all but the 8/9 games, there is a log jam at the top. 15 people had a perfect second day and split the prize.  There are too many people to name them all here, so I will just randomly select one to highlight. My nephew J. Scott Williams is one of the 15 who will get $16.67. Make sure your Dad doesn't let you spend it all in one place. 

The Women's tournament started on Friday. There were 265 people who entered a Women's Bracket to win the $700 prize. 45 people are still perfect after the first day. 

For the Last Place prize, I am already calling it final. Sean Tousigna is at the bottom and cannot get and cannot earn any more points. Congratulations. He takes home the $250 for that feat. I love watching this battle. Every year there is a specific crew who really tries to win this prize. For Mark Rangell who missed by 1 point this year, I am confident that next year will be your year.

Regarding the CONFERENCE STATS for the big multi-bid conferences, the SEC (10-bids), Big10 (9-bids), and Big 12 (8-bids) have only lost two teams each. The ACC (8-bids) is the only notable under-achiever half (4) of their teams out already.

We have a record 694 brackets this year across 411 people. Oddly, that is almost identical to last year's numbers. With the big numbers, the big prize will a great payout to the winner. As most of you know, I love finding more ways to share the wealth with more prizes. Last year I added one Woman's bracket for every person. Surprisingly, only 265 Women's brackets were entered this year. I am fine with that, since that makes it easier for me to win a decent size prize when the mighty Bruins Women's team wins it all.

Some exciting games today. It stared with a #12 beating a #5 seed in the early afternoon when #5-Wisconsin lost to #12-High Point. This happens nearly every year lately. Check out the SEED HISTORY page where you can see that the #12-seed wins in the first round almost 36% of the time. And then #11-VCU beat #6-North Carolina. A #11 upset in the first round isn't that crazy. It happens 39% of the time.  But, the craziness here was that UNC had a 19 point lead. I wasn't even paying attention since I thought it was over. The ESPN site showed a 99% probability of a UNC victory with about 6 minutes remaining. I switched back when VCU cut it to 5 points.  What a collapse by UNC.  

One of the biggest surprises today was the #1 overall all seed Duke being down 11 points at half to #16-Siena. Oh was I hoping to see that upset. I really struggled with my decision when I picked Duke as my Champ in my bracket this year.  If you have been in this pool for many year, you know that I celebrate every time Duke gets knocked out. I decided to hedge myself emotionally. If they win it all, maybe I get a shot at the big prize. But, I so so hope to have my bracket busted early.  

No perfect brackets remaining. Brad Milnes wins the $250 prize for the best first day with only one loss.

Check out the BRACKETS STATS page to see which Champs were the most picked. You can also drill down to see who picked each team in every game. #1-Arizona was the most picked Champion with almost 28% of the brackets picking the Wildcats. #1-Duke was next with 21.6% of the brackets picking the Blue Devils. #1-Michigan had 17.1%. #1-Florida was the #1 seed with the least respect. Only 6.5% picked the Gators. All the #2 seeds followed next with a decent number of picks. The lowest seed picked to be champ was #7-UCLA. An awesome pick by a true Bruin, Cory G.

The main reason I picked Duke in my pool was that I just couldn't pick Arizona.  I have had so many years where I succumbed to my PAC12 bias and picked Arizona to go deep. They have crushed my bracket many times.  Check out the ARIZONA TEAM PAGE. They have been upset in the first round while seeded #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #8. They have never been a #7 seed or otherwise would have probably lost that game also. I was too afraid they will try to keep the pattern and get knocked out on Friday as a #1 seed.  

I am still upset that UCLA got sent to the EAST as a #7-seed in Philly. Not complaining about the #7, but why couldn't the committee give them the #7 in the WEST. During the season, UCLA Coach Cronin complained about all the unfair travel for west coast teams in the BIG10. I think getting sent to the EAST bracket was a secret punishment for being a complainer. But speaking of the EAST bracket; it is loaded with the perennial blue blood programs. There have been 86 NCAA Championship titles ever, and the teams in the EAST represent 32 titles: #1-Duke (5), #2-UConn (6), #3-Michigan St (3), #4-Kansas (4), #6-Louisville (3), #7-UCLA (11), #8-Ohio St (1).  The next closest region was the MIDWEST with 10 titles, but that is mostly due to #7-Kentucky having 8 titles.  

We have 19 brackets going low. I love that prize. Its harder to win that you would think.

Who is Grateful Red? There were a couple of opinions, but it is Bill Walton. A picture of him below seeing the Grateful Dead at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Go to the MESSAGES page to read a more detailed explanation and see a great picture of mighty Tim Sheehan.

 

With electronic payments being so easy now, I already have over 81% of brackets paid on first day. Don't be a weasel; send you entry fee today. Details on how to pay are on the PAYMENT OPTIONS page.

We are off! Numbers look almost identical to last year. 694 brackets are in, barring one accidental duplicate entry that might get deleted. That is two more than last year. The big numbers make a big payout for the big winner. We also have 19 going low this year.

#1-seed Arizona is the most picked Champ at 27.9% with #1-Duke just behind at 21.6%. Check out the STATS pages to see the breakdown.

A large majority of entry fees are already in. Thanks.

More news to come tonight!

Good luck this year.

Scott's March Madness is back! The brackets will be announced this Sunday evening.

The price per bracket is again $20. Like last year, there is also a prize for the Women's NCAA Tournament. Every person that enters will get to fill out a bracket for the Women's Tournament. All the prize payouts will be dependent on the number of brackets entered. Please see the POOL RULES page for the details.

The tournament has 4 play-in games on Tuesday and Wednesday. These games will not be counted in the pool scoring. You have until first tip-off on Thursday, March 19th to enter your brackets.

As always, all the entry fees that come in will go back out prizes to the winners. The one exception is a charity donation to the Jimmy V Foundation.

If you have any questions, please email me at scott@scottandlis.com. Please put the word "NCAA" in the subject line so that I don't miss your email in my spam.

Good Luck!