Matt, Rob, Drew and some of their cohorts make fun of me for using WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows (1991) as my word processing software and tell me I should use the CBS or ESPN apps to run this Pool and get with the modern-day world. I say "Never", and here is what AI can do to a man's legacy...
VERSION 1The total number of entries in this year's Pool is 410. The total pot is $3,660 once all entry fees are paid.
Congratulations to BadBaker1, who leads after Week One with 99 points. Close behind are Justin Hackney and Logan Stanley at 98 points each.
Many strong contenders remain in the hunt, with several brackets holding high possible points based on their Final Four and champion picks (Michigan appears frequently as champion pick).
PeePop sits at rank 64 with 79 points after a tough first week. Better luck in future rounds.
Thanks to all participants for another great year. Good luck as the tournament continues—fortunes can shift quickly.
Thanks for playing and enjoy the games.
VERSION 2The total number of entries in this year's Pool is 410, which is down just a bit from last year's record 418 but still an outstanding turnout for our 38th annual running of the Madness. The total pot sits at $3,660 once all of this year's participants pay their entry fees - I am still waiting on a handful of you to pony up - and I have sent a friendly reminder email to the stragglers.
I added some additional pages this year which some of you may enjoy reading regarding the history of the Pool and the challenges of AI and you can find them when you click the About tab on the menu bar above. As I say every year, the Pool remains a work in progress and I will continue to work on making it user friendly and easily accessible across multiple devices – it is still not where I want it to be but there are limitations to what I am able to make it do for this year. In case any of you have doubted what I have said about the programming challenges I have faced over the years, you are going to hear things straight from the horse's mouth this time around as I will be interviewing Drew Martin during the Sweet Sixteen and posting that interview for everyone's information. I know I am going to enjoy that interview and I hope that anyone who chooses to watch it will, too.
There are a number of participants with a chance to win a good bit of money and the standings page provides you with all the information you need to determine whether you are in the hunt and what you need to go your way to increase your chances of winning, including the ability to view participants' picks for each round by clicking their names. Use your mouse to click around (including at the tops of the columns) and use some of the sort and reveal features to do things like sorting yourself against others with the same National Champion picks and finding out who really has the most possible points heading into this week's games.
Congratulations to BadBaker1, who sits atop the standings after Week One with a very solid 99 points and leads the way into the Sweet Sixteen. Hot on his heels are Justin Hackney and Logan Stanley, both sitting at 98 points. A number of you are bunched right behind them, and with Michigan showing up as the National Champ pick in so many of the top brackets, this thing is wide open.
Your humble pool commissioner (PeePop) finds himself down in 64th place with 79 points after a pretty rough first week. I guess I was too busy with family Easter stuff and not paying enough attention – embarrassing, but that's why we play the games. Better luck next year for this old dog.
Congratulations also go out to the many who nailed high first-round scores. Special shout-out to those who picked 28+ in the opening round: Justin Hackney (29), CoachC (28), and several others who kept their brackets alive. The first two days were full of surprises, upsets, and some heartbreak for those who went heavy on favorites that didn't show up.
As in years past, thanks goes out to the Hansard Family for their generous donations to this year's pot, as well as to perennial participants the Gastons, the Raleys, the Scharbers, the Finleys, the Steinmans, the Hozas, the Kings, the Pollards, the Hepburns, the Beutasses, the Bornhorsts, the Oldhams, the Otwells, the Thomases, the Howards, the Olsons, the Weisbeckers, the Armbrusters, the Contes, the Gessners and all of the other new blood that helped keep this tradition rolling strong. Thanks also to everyone who entered multiple brackets and kept the energy high.
I always enjoy the aliases that participants use each year and the clever ones keep coming. I will spend some time in next week's results listing my favorites and providing some of the back stories that I know about them, so stay tuned.
While many of us took a bit of a beating in Week One, some fared much better than others and we still have dozens of brackets with a realistic shot at the big money. Several have the possibility of going 15 of 16 in the Sweet Sixteen with the chance to accumulate up to 62 additional points. It should be well into next week before the contenders are separated from the pretenders.
One never knows where the Road to the Final Four might lead and a number of us just might be a few dollars richer come April. Good luck to all of the contenders who have a chance to finish in the green and thanks to everyone else for their generous donations, which make all of this possible.
Thanks for participating this year and good luck in Week Two, where fortunes have been known to change drastically within stretches of no more than a few minutes. Remember, even if you are not doing as well as you had hoped, there are several categories you may still have a chance to win.