No go, Izzo

We warned you. We could have warned him, but Tom Izzo wouldn't take our call. Our co-champion selection, Michigan State, chosen by 19 of us to win the natty, instead went down in the first round to 15-seed Middle Tennessee State in what some people are calling the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history. A grand total of 56 contestants liked the Spartans into the Elite Eight, and 45 thought them Final Four-worthy. Bill Self, if you're reading this, be afraid, be very afraid.

The only other selected champion to go down was Xavier (taken by Gorenstein and Rubinson), although at least it took a buzzer-beater in the second round to eliminate them. The X-men were also a popular Elite Eight (42 entrants) and Final Four (14) selection. We'll go into more Eight/Four detail later in the week.

Out of 67 contestants, 45 have received 6 wild card points (and counting), for choosing Duke (31), Indiana (9), Wisconsin (3), or Notre Dame (2). Another 11 entrants received a single wild card point, for Utah (9) or St. Joseph's (2). Meaning only 11 entrants failed to garner any points for their wild card selection. And we will cheerfully name them: George B, Grossman, M Josephs, Rybaltowski, Sciarabba, and B Whiteside, all of whom took first round loser California; Karlsruher, who took First Four loser Vanderbilt; Tharp (South Carolina) and J Whiteside (St. Bonaventure), each of whom selected NIT teams; and Biebel 2 and T Joseph, each of whom attempted to select ineligible wild card teams. Either Wisconsin (Su Leach, Serri, Steinhardt) or Notre Dame (Gorenstein, L Schlegel) will necessarily earn at least another 20 wild card points, since the Badgers and the Irish play a Sweet 16 game on Friday. Those who chose Duke or Indiana can only hope to pile up more wild card points as well.

Since almost everybody has won wild card points, the standings haven't changed much. Harlan still leads, now with 204 points, followed by Gorenstein (196), M Peloso (195), Serri (195), Su Leach (192), Crotty (191), and R Schlegel (191).

At least one commissioner is out of town, so we'll all have to wait for the nitty-gritty for a couple days. Until then...