True Story

I filled out my office bracket the night before it was due. I had Missouri going all the way to the championship. I slept on it, and then decided that was stupid. So I switched the pick to Memphis and put Memphis all the way to the championship. I felt pretty good about my decision, especially after listening to everyone heap praise upon Memphis for a solid week. So imagine my dismay when Missouri whipped Memphis the other night. Paired with my bad Wake Forest pick, the left side (Midwest/West) of my bracket is now officially done. However, I'm still in good shape on the right (East/South), having picked all four of the final 8 teams on that side correctly.

The real star of the show, however, is Elizabeth, who had kind of a mediocre bracket for the first two rounds but then successfully picked 7 of the final 8 teams. Maybe next year I will have her fill out my office bracket. . .

Moral of the story - sleeping on it doesn't help when it comes to filling out brackets.

Second Round

I did pretty well on my bracket for the second round: 13-of-16 in both brackets. Sounds impressive, until you consider that if you had gone with a lazy approach and simply filled out your brackets according to seed, you would have gone 14-of-16 in the second round. All 13 of my correct 13 picks were seeded to reach the second week of the tournament.

Brackets Take a Hit. . .

Not a real stellar first round for me. I was 22-of-32 on my home bracket and 21-of-32 on my office bracket. The big hit came on my office bracket, where I picked Wake Forest to the Final Four. Nice work, Demon Deacs. At least I wasn't like my co-worker who picked Wake to go all the way. . .

Picks. . .

On day one of the tournament, I went 11-for-16 on both of my brackets - one home, one work. Not bad, not bad. I didn't lose any of my Final Four teams, so I'm still in good shape.

So far today, I'm 3-for-3 on my office bracket, so I'm feeling pretty good. . .

I Knew I Shouldn't Have Done it. . . But I Did

On my bracket, I put BYU down to win their first-round matchup with Texas A&M. I knew it was the wrong choice. I even looked it up - BYU hasn't won a NCAA tournament game since 1993. They've lost in the first round in each of their last six appearances.

But I figured, hey, I went to school there, and they've got to win one of these years, right? Besides, isn't Texas A&M a football school.

Make that seven straight first-round NCAA tournament exits , after Texas A&M easily beat them 79-66 today.