Wow, the sequel

Well, the Saturday night games weren't quite as enthralling as the Saturday afternoon games, but they were close. UConn over Louisville by 3, Washington over Arizona by 2 in overtime, Akron over Kent by 1 in overtime. And the best game of the night had no pool or NCAA tournament implications whatsoever, as North Dakota beat South Dakota 77 to 76 in double overtime to win the Great West conference title.

We were unanimously correct in predicting Utah State would win the WAC, but don't get cocky. We also had four more conference champions where absolutely none of us believed in the winner (Texas-San Antonio, Connecticut, UC-Santa Barbara, and Alabama State), while including Utah State only 3 of today's 13 winners were chosen by a majority of our contestants (also Princeton and Kansas). Overall, a majority of us has been right in 8 conferences out of 27, and zero of us has been right in 8 others. Symmetry at its finest.

Tonight's conference breakdown: Kansas (picked by 62) beat Texas (13); San Diego State (19) hammered the celibate Cougars of BYU (56); Washington (16) edged Arizona (37) in OT, UConn (0) snuck past Louisville (5); Akron (6: M Kline 1, M Kline 3, M Peloso, M Paston 1, M Leach, and A Alberts -- although we're not sure how Alberts managed it without having a first initial of "M") survived Kent State (57) in overtime; UC-Santa Barbara (0) rolled in the tide on Long Beach State (74); Alabama State (0) topped Grambling (0) in a battle of zero heroes; and Utah State (82) pulled away from Boise State (0) in the last few minutes.

The last four conferences finish tomorrow. Dayton (chosen by, surprise -- 0) comes up against Richmond (4); Duke (67) takes on arch-rival UNC (12); Ohio State (50) is waiting at the state line for Penn State (0); and Kentucky (28) faces Florida (35).

L Schlegel is still holding on to the contest lead, with 13 correct conference champs and 77 points. Nipping at his heels are Coach Doc (73), M Paston 1 (73), and Quint (72).

About 16 hours until the field is set...