March 19, 2007

Failure... If you're following the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, then you're probably well aware of how crazy the weekend was. Hopefully you've also entered our Elite Eight Contest and, if you're doing better than I am with your picks, you've got a good chance to win a really beautiful pearl necklace from Magnum's Jewelers. It's worth $500, so even if you're not a huge basketball fan, you really have no excuse not to enter.

Saturday saw three games that went into OT, but Sunday came with the sad realization (at least for Shawn and I) that the upsets were not to be. Aside from UNLV's win over Wisconsin and perhaps Vanderbilt's narrow triumph over Washington State in the Battle of the Derricks (Byars and and Low), it was par for the course. To put my own spin on a common sports writer's cliche, Goliath went home with David's little slingshot as a trophy.

I won't go into detail with my picks for the Elite Eight, mainly because I'm extremely shamed by Maryland's early defeat at the hands of... Butler?! Ugh. I will say that with Maryland out of the picture, my prospects look pretty bleak. If Carolina doesn't pull through and win everything, I may slap my forehead in frustration hard enough to warrant a creepy Psycho T mask.

An interesting aside: Shawn and I are probably the two people in the ROI offices most excited about tournament b-ball. Want to guess our rankings in the bracket pool? Well, here's a hint... since we've both got absolutely no chance whatsoever of winning, we're competing to see who will come in dead last. Sad, huh?

You've got until 7:10pm, Thursday to submit your picks. When the Jayhawks or the Salukis win that tip-off, all bets are off. Best of luck to you!

Posted by Michael Harrison, Analytics and Optimization Specialist at 6:21 PM

Social Bookmarks: