Let The Madness Begin!
Well, the Selection Show (TM?) is over, and we have our field. As expected, Kentucky is the overall #1 seed and poor, sad Northwestern is left on the outside looking in for the 900th consecutive year. My own Michigan Wolverines got shafted when Florida State beat North Carolina, and now they’re stuck on the 4 line staring down an overrated Temple team (KenPom has them ranked 36th overall). Here’s hoping your team is in good shape too! (Unless they’re Northwestern, in which case I’m sorry.)
Here is the link to the League bracket competition. It’s on Yahoo, because I think they do a nice job and because all right-thinking people have a moral objection to ESPN. I set it up as a public group, so it should be open to everyone. Let me know if it doesn’t work.
Scoring is traditional by round (1, 2, 4, 8, etc), with a multiplier bonus for correctly picking lower seeds. The winner gets a post on a topic of his or her choice by an author of his or her choice, as well as control of Mark Thompson’s Gravatar for a year.
May your picks be extraordinary!
UPDATE: Picks are due by noon on Thursday, March 15. It appears that we don’t pick the play-in games.
I am assuming since this is not a “pitch in $5” that we are expected to enter only one bracket, yes?Report
It should be set up to prevent you from entering more than one.Report
Can it be set up to make me not look like an idiot after the first two rounds?Report
When do we need to have our picks in?Report
Good catch. I added that to the post.Report
I love this time of year. Basketball tournaments, glimpses of spring weather, Opening Day creeping closer by the day….Report
The snowdrops in our backyard have sprung. The crocuses will be appearing soon. It’s one of the most special moments of any year.Report
Hmm, what happened to my gravatar? I don’t look like a hat.Report
Ah, that’s better.Report
It’s been spring here since the middle of January.Report
I follow other sports much more closely than college basketball. My Gauchos got knocked out of the tournament yesterday by Long Beach State. (But the NIT is gonna be our bitch!) So I’m not making any particular claim to any expertise.
When I didn’t feel confident in a guess I asked Mrs. Likko where she’d rather go for vacation, and when she couldn’t pick, her favorite team mascot name.Report
I like your bracket. I hope you win! Rock Chalk!!Report
Let no ass be unkicked! Let the ground tremble! Let the lucky fear Vegas and the Reckoning!Report
Despite the lurking “team who’s name starts with a B” in their bracket (Belmont), I like Kansas’ draw. I’d love to see a Kansas/North Carolina matchup in the Final Four.Report
I’m in. I confess to knowing next to nothing about college basketball, but that hasn’t stopped my husband, the Russian, who knows and cares even less about basketball than I do, from winning his office pool in the past. My previous prediction attempts have generally been laughable, which should make Tod look like less of an idiot after the first couple of rounds.Report
I went crazy. 3 of the final 4 are #1 seeds, so not that crazy, but my last one is crazy.Report
Count me in. Go Crimson Devils.Report
Just so long as the Devils you root for aren’t blue, we’re good.Report
I was a blue-covered moron the winter of ’06/’07. The Gods did not deliver.Report
I have joined and foreseen the hour of disappointment for my Badgers.Report
Oh, ye of little faith.Report
As have I. May it come late in the tourney.Report
We should ask Erik if we can make this post sticky for a few hours tomorrow afternoon/evening, for those that missed it last week. (I haven’t gone back to yahoo to see how many folks are signed up.)Report
It’s not many, so keep it down here. I like my odds of owning Mark’s gravatar for the year.Report
I’m in, and already hating myself for my national champion pick.Report
I filled this out in about 2 minutes. If I win, you should all be ashamed.Report
I filled mine out in about two minutes too, but I don’t know if there’s any statistical advantage to be gained from actually doing research in these things, especially since there is a multiplier (which means that we all should have all twelves beating all fives in the first round).Report
Crap, I didn’t notice the multiplier. Ah well, too late since I can’t access my bracket from the office!Report
Me too. I realized this morning that the games were this afternoon and am pretty sure that what I input this morning isn’t the same as what I picked yesterday – I’m just in it to try to win Mark’s gravatar. Somehow I don’t think I’m the only one.Report
Clearly, that is the greatest prize.Report