March Madness: it's baaaack!!

Our (three-day-)long national nightmare -- in which all we had to satisfy our hunger for college basketball was the NIT, the CBI and the largely upset-free opening weekend of the women's Big Dance -- is over. The Sweet 16 begins tonight. Whee!!!

All I can say is: GO WESTERN KENTUCKY!!! BEAT FUCLA!!!

(Also: Go Tennessee! Go Xavier*! Go Wazzu!)

*Or West Virginia. Whatever.

UPDATE: Xavier won in overtime; North Carolina won easily, again.

In the 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool presented by UCLA, Ryan Morgan still leads, but his margin is down to 4 points because of West Virginia's loss. Everyone else in the Top 7 -- Khalil Aboukhaled, Matt and Danielle Thomsen (brother and sister, tied for third), Chris Mulvey, Jeff Belisle and Joe Swiderski -- picked both of tonight's early-game winners. Morgan only picked the Tar Heels.

If Louisville beats Tennessee, Aboukhaled will take the lead. If the Vols win, Morgan will remain on top.

Complete standings here and after the jump.

13th annual men's NCAA pool presented by the UCLA Bruins
1. Ryan Morgan - 231
2. Khalil Aboukhaled - 227
3. Matthew Thomsen - 224
3. Danielle Thomsen - 224
5. Chris Mulvey - 222
5. Jeff Belisle - 222
7. Joe Swiderski - 220
8. Denise Reidy - 219
8. Ken Wagner - 219
8. Bill Reece - 219
8. Lisa Velte - 219
8. Dan Port - 219
8. Mark Gardner - 219
14. Liz Janelle - 217
14. Amir Sadaghiani - 217
14. Robert Dokes - 217
14. Alex Whitfield - 217
18. Nathan Evangelista - 215
18. Joshua Carpenter - 215
18. Joseph Hiegel - 215
18. Jeff Morrison - 215
22. Kevin Hauschulz - 214
22. Chuck Wessell - 214
24. Matt Kagan - 213
25. Conor Sullivan - 212
25. Kevin Pilz - 212
25. Shari Long - 212
25. Ernesto Lopez - 212
25. Amy Greca - 212
30. Weston Cross - 210
31. Russell Caplin - 209
31. Justin Vale - 209
33. Ryan Dalidowitz - 208
33. Melanie Peralta - 208
33. Jeremy Kwock - 208
33. Jennifer Elam - 208
37. Jeff Cultrera - 207
37. Jay Schwartz - 207
37. James Devine - 207
37. Scott Robertson - 207
37. Nick Surmacz - 207
37. Larry Caplin - 207
37. Scott Loomer - 207
37. Jeff Dickens - 207
37. Jason Rogers - 207
37. Dave Whelan - 207
37. Danny Pilz - 207
--. *ALL FAVORITES BRACKET* - 207
48. Rick Boeckler - 205
48. Matt Scarborough - 205
48. Keith Evans - 205
48. Brian Rogers - 205
48. Jay Johnson - 205
48. Ken Stern - 205
48. Mark Saviola - 205
48. Christopher Drewry - 205
48. Ken Inadomi - 205
57. Bridget Saviola - 204
57. Dean Thornton - 204
57. Gary Atkinson - 204
60. Jeff Vaca - 202
60. Steve Hartranft - 202
60. Rachel Wetherill - 202
60. Tyler Condon - 202
64. Jeremy Gist - 200
64. Patrick Cullen - 200
64. Drew Smith - 200
64. Derek McDonald - 200
64. Cath Doo - 200
64. Eric Soskin - 200
64. Tony Gjolaj - 200
64. Gary Kirby - 200
64. Joe Resper - 200
64. Tom Caputi - 200
64. Marlene Saviola - 200
64. Jackie Wilson - 200
76. Jeffrey Ferguson - 198
76. Abby Smagula - 198
76. Charles Susano - 198
76. Ryan McBride - 198
76. Gordon Strickland - 198
76. Lauren Moy-Kim - 198
76. Mike Deeds - 198
76. Dave Martins - 198
84. Kristy McCray - 197
84. Andrew Hunter - 197
84. Soren Hammerschmidt - 197
87. Joel Thrift - 196
87. Greg Plank - 196
89. Logan Pugh - 195
89. Joe McDade - 195
89. Paul Lucht - 195
89. Kay Torg - 195
89. Jay Eysol - 195
89. Colin Son - 195
89. Tom Greca - 195
89. Peter Timbrell - 195
89. Trent Kelso - 195
--. *AGGREGATE PICKS BRACKET* - 195
98. Bob Lutts - 193
98. Ben Eng - 193
98. Jeff Freeze - 193
98. Jenna Auriemma - 193
98. Patrick Roach - 193
98. Keith DeMonstoy - 193
98. Brian Dupuis - 193
98. Dan Dinunzio - 193
98. Carolyn Blessing - 193
98. Adam De Guire - 193
98. Roger Snyder - 193
98. Marty West - 193
98. Brian Neudorff - 193
98. Scott Paine - 193
98. Cam McLachlan - 193
113. Robin Crocker - 192
113. David Mathues - 192
113. Chai Park - 192
113. John Chung - 192
113. Leanna Loomer - 192
113. Tristin Thomsen - 192
119. Greg Kagan - 191
119. Michael Hale - 191
121. Dennis Chow - 190
121. Sean Sullivan - 190
121. Ginny Zak - 190
121. Joshua Krause - 190
121. Ted Zak - 190
121. Kelly Strutz - 190
121. Jon Schoenwetter - 190
121. Brian Newbold - 190
121. Ian Drayton - 190
121. Quvondo Johnson - 190
121. Pat Caplin - 190
121. Johanna Cummings - 190
--. *BARACK OBAMA'S BRACKET* - 190
133. Duane Homan - 189
133. Brandon Minich - 189
135. Mike Marchand - 188
135. Jon Benski - 188
135. Willie Wheaten - 188
135. Katrina Lewonczyk - 188
135. Akash Patel - 188
140. Jim Wall - 187
141. Esteban Coca - 186
141. Nick Genco - 186
141. Gerry deSimas - 186
141. Lauren Taylor - 186
141. Randy Styles - 186
141. Jake Burke - 186
141. Matt Higgins - 186
141. Stacey Dubois - 186
141. Barry McGinnis - 186
141. Greg Shtraks - 186
151. Dmytro Aponte - 185
151. Steve Leys - 185
151. Andrew Long - 185
151. Bea Duque Long - 185
151. Mark Jordon - 185
151. Antonia Namnath - 185
157. Dave Roberts - 184
157. Blake Hanson - 184
157. Kevin Curran - 184
157. Sandy Berman - 184
161. Kristen Wall - 183
161. Michael Tran - 183
161. Katherine Kirkpatrick - 183
161. Beth Milewski - 183
161. James McGinnis - 183
161. Joey Perucki - 183
161. Jim Hu - 183
161. Jessica Fortuna - 183
169. Jeff Sklar - 182
170. Hannah McLaughlin - 181
170. Brian Nicholson - 181
170. Cody Groeber - 181
170. Rick Garnett - 181
170. Bill Pancoast - 181
170. Matt Wiser - 181
--. *JOHN MCCAIN'S BRACKET* - 181
176. Pat Gonzales - 180
176. Keith Stefanczyk - 180
176. Brian Kiolbasa - 180
176. Stephen Copenhaver - 180
176. Crys Dalangin - 180
176. Emily Wood - 180
182. Benjamin Rumery - 179
182. Tom Keck - 179
182. Michael Walsh - 179
185. Chris Aemisegger - 178
185. Andrew Hiller - 178
185. Phillip Price - 178
185. Chris Evans - 178
185. Darby Shaw - 178
190. Sharon Lee - 176
190. Frank Rooney - 176
190. Chris Bravo - 176
190. Carol LaPlante - 176
190. Rachel Luberda - 176
190. Jon Caplin - 176
190. Kristy LaPlante - 176
197. Joe Loy - 175
198. Oanh Tran - 174
198. Meredith Steffen - 174
200. Eric Gobel - 173
200. Steve Koppitsch - 173
200. Rosalie Town - 173
200. Rob Atherton - 173
204. Josh Rubin - 172
205. Colleen Duggan - 171
205. A.J. St. John - 171
205. Jaime Duque - 171
205. M.T. Swanson - 171
209. Michael Rosenkrantz - 170
210. Trisha Neudorff - 169
211. Jessica Cowans - 168
211. Joanna Rubin - 168
211. Becky Loy - 168
214. Diane Krause - 166
214. Yvette Webster - 166
214. Kristin West - 166
214. Ian Auzenne - 166
218. F. X. McGahee - 164
219. Mike Wiser - 163
219. Neil Waechter - 163
219. Scott Schmidt - 163
222. Don LaPlante - 162
223. Brendan Loy - 161
224. Todd Stigliano - 159
224. Lauren Davis - 159
224. George Heidkamp - 159
227. Courtney Tawresey - 157
228. Steve Duvernay - 156
228. Shireen Garcia - 156
230. Brenden Roche - 155
231. Andrew Leyden - 154
231. Neil Rampal - 154
233. Bonnie Stone - 153
234. David Kreutz - 151
234. Mike Dagen - 151
236. Jen Ham - 149
237. Barbara Cross - 143
238. Toby, Sasha and Butter Zak Loy - 142
239. Jessica Osborne - 137
240. Robbie Loy - 133
241. Susie Ogden - 132

Comments

[Andrew]

You know how every team usually has a theme song that is played during the team's entrance, introduction, or warmups? I submit to you that fUCLA should use "A Little Help From My Friends" as their song:

"...Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, Gonna try with a little help from my friends"

How many more games will the 'ruins get help from the zebras to help them to another championship?

[Mike T]

Very classy

[Marty West]

GO XAVIER!!! GO NOVA!!!! GO SPORTS!!!

[David K.]

Mike T, once is luck, twice is a coincidence, three times is a conspiracy :)

[Alasdair]

Brendan - in the way-back-when, it used to be possible for those few of us who were not died-in-the-wool (sp intentional) US Sports fans to pick an option whereby the blog entries we would see would be the non-sports ones ...

Is there any chance of that particularly elegant feature being re-introduced to your excellent blog ?

[Brendan Loy]

Alas, Alasdair, no. Because of the switch from WordPress to TypePad back in August, which was necessitated by server demands, I don't have that kind of flexibility anymore. Sorry :(

[JD]

Now that Pittsnogle is gone from West Virginia, can a team still be "Pittsnogled"?

[Marty West]

West Virginia got Pittsnogled.

[4-7]

If your picks stink to high heaven but you pick the surprise champ, do you score extra major points ?

[Brendan Loy]

Just 25 points, alas.

[B. Minich]

But maybe you get 25 Extra Major Points. They don't count for anything extra, but they are cooler than points. They feel more satisfying than getting the regular 25 points for picking a non-surprise champ.