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Congratulations to the eleven folks who picked UConn to win it all. John Sichter takes first place by three points with a total of 83. This is two less than last year's champion and one point better than the 1997 champion. Steve Franke came in second with 80 points and four entries tied with 78 points. Chris Calavitta was the odd person out on the tiebreaker. The top four entries picked UConn as well as the entries in 7th, 9th, 19th, 20th, 26th, 41st, and 105th place. Who's number 105? Me, that's who. How do you pick correctly the finals and the champion and still finish 105? I don't know. At least I beat KP and that means I've got a free lunch coming. It already tastes good. Shawn Bolton finished 160th with 40 points. Thanks to everyone who participated.

The big news of the day - my wife has moved from last place to second to last. Things are less tense here at home now. Thanks, Shawn Bolton, for clinching last place. The finals are set and its Duke (148) versus UConn (90). No big surprise there.

Both number one seeds advance today. Duke (157) and Michigan St. (57) both advance to the final four. Chris Calavitta and David Estrada currently lead the pack going into the semifinals. I've run the various scenarios and it looks like this:

Champion	Runner Up	Pool Winner
Duke	Ohio St.	Paul Williams
Ohio St.	Duke	Paul Williams
Ohio St.	Michigan St.	Mary Quinn/Paul Williams
Michigan St.	Ohio St.	Mary Quinn
Connecticut	Duke	John Sichter
Duke	Connecticut	Chris Calavitta/David Estrada
Connecticut	Michigan St.	John Sichter
Michigan St.	Connecticut	Lee Borton

Gonzaga nearly does it again but doesn't make it to the final four. UConn (112) and Ohio St. (6) are heading there though. One of the six who picked Ohio St. was Chris Bruner and that win catapulted him to first place. There are still fourteen entries within four points. Looking forward to Sunday, there were no entries selecting Temple and entries were split 57 to 56 between Michigan St. and Kentucky. That game will have a major impact on the standings.

No real upsets on Friday. Michigan St. (119), Kentucky (89), Duke (159), and Temple (8) win. This weekend's games are worth four point each. There are currently 29 entries within four points of each other with five entries tied for first. The Ohio St.-St. Johns game could shake up the standings some.

Gonzaga does it again. Only four entries had either Florida or Gonzaga winning the game and only one had Gonzaga. Psychlones was the lone Gonzaga entry and now is tied for 147th. Well, at least you can say you called it. 143 entries correctly picked UConn, 32 picked St. Johns, and 18 picked Ohio St. Theo Shu is now in first place, one point in front of past champion Maria Gorski. The biggest game tonight is the Purdue-Temple game as a couple of the top 15 entries can gain points on many of the competing entries.

The Sweet 16 is set. Five lower seeds win today. Only one entry predicted the OU win and only one predicted the Miami, Ohio win. Congratulations to Chris Calavitta and Justin Grubbs. After it was all said and done Mary Quinn was still in first place by one point over Chris Motes and Theo Shu. Chris Calavitta and Mike Drake have the potential to score the most points. Other winners included: Duke (160), SW Missouri St. (6), Temple (18), Purdue (7), Michigan St. (156), Kentucky (147).

First day of the second round is finished and scores are updated. No big upsets today other than Gonzaga making it to the Sweet 16 as a ten seed. Four entries correctly predicted a Gonzaga win in the second round. Other winners included: Connecticut (158), Iowa (27), Florida (16), Auburn (138), Ohio St. (85), St. Johns (130), and Maryland (155). Mary Quinn, who correctly predicted the Weber St. upset of North Carolina is in first place. She only missed one game today.

Day two results are posted. You would think I have learned by now. I repeat to everyone I see, "Don't pick with your heart, pick with your head." So why did I pick UT to win three games. Stupid. This is where is pays to be an Aggie. They never have to worry about how many rounds to pick their basketball team going through. Lucky dogs. Speaking of Aggies. Chris Motes is in first place by one point over Chris Perkins (not an Aggie but very simple). A lot may be determined this weekend. Biggest upset of the day was turned in by OU and four entries correctly predicted an OU win. The other winners and the number of correct entries: Duke (160), Tulsa (47), SW Missouri St. (27), Tennessee (139), Temple (134), Cincinnati (158), Purdue (37 Yankees), Miami, Fl. (158), Michigan St. (160), Ole Miss (61), UNC Charlotte (116), Kansas (153), Kentucky (159), Miami, OH (84 - more than half the entries predicted the 10th seed would win this game), Utah (160). Back with the next update tonight or tomorrow morning.

Day one is in the books and I'm tied for 142nd. Another year with the same results. My wife also entered. She's in last place and picked North Carolina to win it all. The Rowe family knows college basketball. Speaking about North Carolina, congratulations goes out to Mary Quinn. She was the only person to correctly predict the Weber State upset. Other winners and the number of entries correctly predicting are as follows: Auburn (160), Oklahoma St. (67), Detroit (31), Ohio St. (152), Indiana (101), St. Johns (157), Creighton (34), Maryland (158), Connecticut (160), New Mexico (62), Iowa (143), Arkansas (154), Florida (137), Gonzaga (73), and Stanford (159). First place after day one are Chris Motes and Granger Huntre. Another update tomorrow night.