Sweet

Well, the Sweet 16 is set. Two regions are bereft of both their #1 and #2. Worse than that, in an astonishing display of ineptitude, before a single Sweet 16 game has been played our contestants have LOST 52% of their Elite Eight picks, 53% of their Final Four selections, and 56% of their champions. Really.

All but two of our wild cards are gone, too, but one of those two is Kentucky, a team chosen by 43% of our entrants, meaning we've "only" lost 56% of our wild cards on top of everything else (the other productive wild card choice was Florida State, chosen by D'Zuro). And Friday's wild card controversy turned out to be much ado about very little, as both Rhode Island and Tennessee lost in the Round of 32.

Our current leader is Harlan, with 204 points. And while in a normal year the fact that Harlan chose a champion (Virginia) that was the first #1 seed ever to lose its first-round game might be considered an impediment to her chances to win the contest, in this case the fact that she (a) has Kentucky as her wild card; and (b) is competing against our contestants probably makes her the favorite. Reid and D Josephs barely trail Harlan, each with 202 points. Blane (196), L Donadio (195), Ed Leach (195), Baumgarten (194), and M Wanger (194) are all within an Elite Eight choice of the leader. Pogach (150), Howard (151), and M McAtee (155) linger at the bottom of the standings.

Tune in for more detailed analysis during the week.