Eight in the books

The Elite Eight has been decided, as Duke (chosen by 67 contestants), Gonzaga (58), Louisville (7: Barone, Booth, J Broder, T Cristinzio, Crotty, Mahalko, Joe Mc), and Michigan State (1 -- M Peloso -- plus 17 who took the Spartans as wildcard) have rounded out the field.

Dale Dye has jumped back into the lead with 274 points, followed by Brenner (266), Baumgarten (264), Harlan 2 (262), Bill Acchione (261), and Mahalko (260).

One thing that the six above-named contestants have in common is they all picked Michigan State as their wildcard, and thus all picked up the bonus points for having a wildcard hit the Elite Eight. This is the fourth time in contest history that such a thing has happened, after 1990 (Texas into Elite Eight), 1996 (Mississippi State into Final Four), and 2013 (Wichita State into Final Four). And it's probably safe to say it'll be hard to finish in the money unless you're one of the 17 entrants wise enough to go Green with your wildcard. Without going into too many permutations, the Final Four for each of the top six in the standings are as follows:

Da Dye: Kentucky, Iowa State, Maryland, Virginia;

Brenner: Kentucky, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Virginia;

Baumgarten: Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin, Iowa State;

Harlan 2: Kentucky, Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia;

Bi Acchione: Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, Villanova;

Mahalko: Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin, Arizona.

Seven (7) of us correctly guessed six (6) of the Elite Eight (8): Geo B, Brenner, Selig 2, Mahalko, Karlsruher, T Joseph, and M Peloso. 35 of us got five right out of Eight; 29 were right on just four. Six hapless souls managed only three (3) of the Eight (Burch, Serri, S Leach, K Ripley, E Pogach, D Josephs). And the prize for Elite Eight cluelessness goes to A Cristinzio, who accurately predicted only one (1) Elite Eight (8) team (Duke) and thus edged out Sciarabba, who lucked into two (2) Elite Eight teams (Kentucky and Wisconsin).

Kentucky (72), Duke (49), Wisconsin (39), Arizona (26), and Gonzaga (25) are fairly common Final Four choices. Other than Michigan State, the only contestants who have even an outside shot at gaining ground are the three who chose Notre Dame as a Final Four team (Brenner, T Joseph, M Kleiman), and Booth, who took Louisville.

After romping her way through her first three contests, Steinhardt has fallen on hard times. Fallen far enough to land in second-to-last place, with 186 points. Fortunately for Steinhardt, she's still 30 points ahead of cellar dweller A Cristinzio (156).

Full standings may be found here, or from the Standings link on the right hand side of the page.