When the dust has cleared
And victory denied
A summit too lofty
River a little too wide
If we keep our pride
Though paradise is lost
We will pay the price
But we will not count the cost

Alex Lifeson / Neil Peart / Geddy Lee Weinrib

Medieval Madness: Wizards, Dukes, and Knights

The field of 64 is now 16, the Sweet Sixteen, as it is called, and this year’s Sweet Sixteen is historic in that, for the first time ever, all twelve 1 thru 3 seeds have survived opening weekend.

• Perhaps the committee got it right this time. After a bevy of upsets in the round of 64, the round of 32 belonged to the favorites, or the “chalk” as it is often called. The second round provided only a single bonus point in terms of our contest scoring courtesy of Auburn’s victory over Kansas. What’s more, the Sweet Sixteen consists of only two teams outside the expected 1 thru 4 seeds if things proceeded according to Hoyle – #5 Auburn and #12 Oregon. One has to wonder if the newly developed NET rating system was instrumental in what could be the most accurate seeding of teams in tournament history, or, if it’s simply a fluke. Nevertheless, contestants who stuck mostly to the chalk line in the second round are performing the best in the standings so far. The first round was the time to pick your upsets this year, not the second.
• It is the natural order of things. The Knight must always bow before the Duke. ICYMI, the game of the day, and arguably the game of the tournament so far, was the much ballyhooed showdown between The Big Burrito and Mount Zion, between the Master (Coach K) and the Apprentice (Coach Johnny Dawkins, who played for Coach K decades ago). With under two minutes to play, the game was UCF’s to lose, but when Dayon Griffin raced down the floor for what seemed to be the dunk that would put the exclamation point on their improbable victory, he was rejected by the rim, a mistake that lead to a 3-point basket by Duke’s Cam Reddish on the other end. The five-point swing turned what would have been a six point lead into just a single point. What happened next will become a permanent part of March Madness lore. After two free throws put UCF up three with 45 seconds to play, Duke’s next offensive possession led to what at first looked like a certain charge on Zion Williamson drawn by Tacko Fall, the unquestioned descendant of Goliath of Gath. But wait, Tacko’s large frame was his undoing, as replay clearly showed one size 22 shoe in the restricted area. Zion gets the and-one, and Tacko gets the DQ for five fouls. Zion then misses the game-tying free throw, but RJ Barrett gets the offensive rebound and the put back. Duke is now up one with 11 seconds left. Final possession – B.J. Taylor drives for the layup and misses. That’s when son-of-the-coach Aubrey Dawkins, who ended the game with 32 points, came sailing in with a perfectly-timed leap and a tip that rolled…around…the rim…and then fell to the ground. And thus did the Blue Devils snatch victory from the gaping jaws of defeat. What a game.
• K is for Klass. In Coach K’s post-game interview, he spent about 20 seconds commending his team and players, and the rest of his time pouring out effusive praise for the vanquished opponents. “They deserved a win tonight. I hurt for Johnny. I love him.”
• The one that almost got away. Tennessee seemed assured of victory after building a 25 point lead over Iowa only to see it evaporate in the second half when Admiral Schofield was demoted to captain and banished to the bench thanks to foul trouble. In overtime, the remaining Volunteers did yeoman’s work to S.E.A.L. the victory. See what I did there?
• Drought alerts in March – Scoring droughts, that is, and there were plenty today. Buffalo went an incredible 60 minutes of real time without scoring a single point. Oregon, though ultimately prevailing, needed almost 8 minutes of the second half to score their first points of the half. With 4:00 left to play, Washington had missed a whopping 31 shots. No wonder we have had so many blowouts.
• Add Steven A. Smith to the list of experts giving out bad advice. Early in the tournament, Tony Isch lodged his complaints against ESPN’s Jay Bilas via Twitter. Today, Heather Little voiced her regret over allowing Smith to influence her picks. These guys certainly know a lot about basketball, but they aren’t fortune tellers. On average, they are likely not that much better than any of us at picking a bracket.
• The funniest commercial I saw on TV today is the one for Uber Eats where the delivery driver talks about taking his order to someone’s Sweet Sixteen party. After waxing eloquent about the scene he expects to arrive to – a house full of hoops fans screaming at the TV – he is surprised to walk in to a family’s sweet sixteen birthday party for their daughter. “I get my sweet sixteens mixed up sometimes,” he quips. Speaking of commercials, the AT&T ads with Phil the “just OK” NCAA announcer are pretty good, as are this year’s crop of Capital One ads featuring Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Charles Barkley, and Jim Nance. Grab your Chucksedo and hurry to the Final Fourgasboard for some good eating before the next round of games begins.
• Liberty and Virginia Tech are schools separated by just 97 miles, but they were many more miles apart than that in terms of the final score. This was a popular upset pick that didn’t pan out for a sizable number of contestants. Add to that category Ohio State who were picked by 159 contestants to advance to the Sweet Sixteen as an 11 seed. A lot of B1G homers in the contest this year.
• The re-pick phase of the contest has officially started. You can find the detailed instructions for making your re-picks here and at the bottom of this commentary. Please, please, pretty please, read the instructions thoroughly before sending me hate mail claiming a) the re-picks don’t work, or, b) you picked a game correctly but the web site says you got it wrong and didn’t give you your points. Neither of those things are true. Again, it is all explained in the instructions. If you have questions or find the instructions confusing, send me email.
• Tacko puns abound among the aliases after UCF’s loss. Those crack me up…like a taco shell. Also plentiful on the contest’s Facebook page are wisecracks tying a certain 2-year investigation that has been in the news all day to suspicions that my success is due to cheating, manipulation of the data, or collusion with the Russians. I assure you, I would never do such things. Still, my good friend Brad Schafer has all but guaranteed that should I ultimately win, I will never hear the end of it from him. “Barndt (City of Champions in the contest) and I will ride you like a rented mule,” he warned.

Round Two Awards

• The Picked To Perfection award goes to three contestants who picked all sixteen of the Sweet Sixteen correctly: Rick Morgan (70th), Ethan Hoeft (204th), and Ray “The Rainman!” Walker (20th). Great job, gentlemen!
• The Positive Attitude award goes to last place contestant Desaray “Smile girl” Schwarz. Just keep swimming, Desaray.
• The Hey I Should Have Gotten An Award award goes to Braden Murray who alerted me to the fact that I missed him in an earlier award given to folks who picked all three of the 12-over-5 upsets correctly.
• The I Really Needed Those Upsets award goes to Wayne Murray who could have been at or near the top of the standings had only Ohio State or Liberty pulled off a victory.
• The Best Inside Joke award goes to Dennis “Where are my pants?” Livingston, whose new alias stems from an exchange on the contest’s Facebook page.
• The Mistaken Identity award goes to Giuseppe “Not First Place Giuseppe” Moore, currently tied for 624th. No doubt he updated his alias whilst Giuseppe “G-Funk” DiIulio was still in first, so if it makes you feel any better, the other Giuseppe is now in 5th. I also think it’s totally crazy that we have two dudes named Giuseppe in the contest field.
• The Leggo My Eggo award goes to Maureen Proffit who insists she should have received yesterday’s What Are You, A Prophet? award.
• And finally, I humbly receive the How Sweet It Is award for leading my own contest, for the first time in 24 years, after the round of 32. I think my chances of taking home the grand prize are reasonably good, but I am fretting over a few of my remaining picks. I now must decide, as all of you must as well, whether to change any in the re-pick round (and pay the re-pick tax, as Brad Schafer calls it), or let my original picks ride.

Speaking of re-picks, again, please pay close attention to the instructions given below and on the web site. The best advice I can give regarding the re-picks is as follows:

• Always re-pick games where the original winner you picked has already lost. This is a no-brainer. It gives you a chance to score points where you otherwise would not.
• You cannot re-pick games that have already happened. I know, thanks Captain Obvious, but it is a point of confusion sometimes.
• Finish your re-picks by 7:00 PM on Thursday.

Now stick a fork in me, because I am done for this weekend. Look for the next edition of this commentary after Thursday night’s game. Good luck, minions!

The Wizard of Whiteland

Contest Home Page

Re-Pick Round Instructions

Here are the steps you need to follow to enter your re-picks for the final 15 games of this year’s contest.  NOTE: DO NOT attempt to click on the “Enter Your Picks” buttons in the FAQ section.  You will just confuse yourself and send me email saying, “The re-pick doesn’t work.”  The “Enter Your Picks” buttons are ONLY for the beginning of the contest, not the re-picks.  Follow the instructions below to enter your re-picks.

1. Go to the Contestants Picks page and click on the link for your entry.  You will be asked to enter the password you entered when you originally made your picks.  If you forgot your password, use the “I forgot my password” link on the page where you enter your pasword, If that doesn’t work, Email me, and I will reset it for you.
2. You will be presented with your re-pick screen.  Now, it is important that you understand what you are looking at on this screen.  The teams listed in the grid for rounds 1 and 2 are the teams that ACTUALLY WON the games, not necessarily the teams YOU PICKED.  Any games that you MISSED will appear in RED, and games that you got correct will appear in GREEN.  PLEASE NOTE:  All the teams shown in the Re-Pick Screen for rounds 1 and 2 are actual tournament game winners.  If a team shows up in RED for a round 1 or round 2 game on your Re-Pick Screen, it does NOT mean that team lost.  It means YOU picked some other team for that game, and therefore you got that game WRONG.  It is set up this way so that the 16 teams listed in your Re-Pick Screen are the actual remaining teams, which allows you to pick ANY team to win ANY of the remaining 15 games by clicking that team’s button.
3. The teams listed in the grid for round 3 through the championship are the teams YOU ORIGINALLY PICKED for those games.  Any teams that have already lost will appear in RED.  These are the games you definitely want to change.
4. The re-pick screen will only allow you to change picks for the remaining 15 games in rounds 3 through the championship.  To change a pick for any game, simply click on a button to advance the team to the next round, just like you did at the beginning of the contest.  As I stated before, you should at least change your picks for any RED games you have in the remaining rounds.  In fact, if you attempt to update your picks WITHOUT changing all your remaining RED picks, your updates will not be entered, and you will be asked to re-enter.
5. When you are finished making changes, click on the Update Picks button.  Your picks will be checked for errors.  If your updates are successful, you will get a confirmation screen.  If there was a problem, you will get an error screen or a pop-up error message.
6. If you return to your Re-Pick Screen before Thursday, you will see your latest picks for the final 15 games along with the ACTUAL WINNERS for rounds 1 and 2.  You can continue to make changes, even changing a pick back to your original choice, provided your original choice has not already lost, through the Thursday 7:00 PM deadline.

You will only be able to view your own picks during the re-pick phase of the contest.  This is so that your changes can be kept secret, making the contest as fun and competitive as possible.  Certain reports that would give away information for picks in the remaining rounds will also be disabled until the re-pick phase is over.

After 7:00 PM on Thursday, the Contestant Picks links will return to normal.  You will be able to view anyone’s picks, and the grid will show each contestant’s actual picks for the entire contest, including any changes made in the re-pick phase.  As the contest completes, games you miss will appear in RED, and games you get right will be marked in GREEN.