March Madness - Day 2 Recap

Well, the first round of the NCAA Tournament is now in the books and what a round it was. Thursday's action featured an upset at seemingly every turn and then Friday's games played out more true to seed with a few minor surprises along the way. If your bracket took a beating like mine did, don't feel bad. ESPN.com reports that out of the nearly 4.8 million brackets filled out online that not a single one made it through the first round unscathed. In fact, only three brackets finished 31-for-32 and I'm amazed that anyone could be that lucky or good.

As has been the case at each stop of the bracket contest so far, we have a new leader on top of my pool's standings - Kristin Adams, a 2005 Georgetown alum and the newest member of the Digital Royalty team. Kristin correctly picked 26 of the 32 first round games and has a one-pick lead over seven people (Mark Colachico, Julie Burke, Tim Cary, Kyle Schwerin, Wade Foley, Steve Miller, and Troy Current).

A look at Kristin's bracket (below) shows that she went fairly conservative in the first round to have the success that she did although she did pick all three No. 10 seed upset winners Georgia Tech, St. Mary's, and Missouri. Unfortunately for Kristin, though, her beloved Hoyas bowed out in the first round to No. 14 Ohio and she had picked them to go all the way to Indianapolis to cut down the nets. (Note: I personally think the hardest part of picking a bracket is figuring out how to keep your heart out of it, especially when the team you like is good and has a shot at going really deep into the tournament.)


In other notes regarding our tournament bracket contest, I'm pleased to report that I went 14-for-16 on Day 2 to make up for a horrible 8-for-16 Day 1. However, I still trail my wife by one pick as we enter the second round. How does she do it? It's also interesting to check out the column of possible points remaining as it shows who still has a legitimate chance to compete for the bracket title. While Kristin is in first place right now, she actually has the worst chance of winning the $25 gift card now as she's the first person in the 50-person contest to lose their eventual national champion. Meanwhile, Eric Smith, who is dead last with only 19 correct first round picks, is tied with five other people including my wife for the best chance to win based on most possible points remaining. It should be an interesting race.

Well, it's almost time to sit back and watch the second round get under way. I have a feeling we could see another upset or two today and I wouldn't be all that surprised if all five of the double digit seeds pull another upset and advance to the Sweet Sixteen. I can't wait to watch the Madness again!