Day 7 Recap - And Then There Were 25

Leaderboard Link for the guy who doesn't know how to bookmark

Sunday Pick Form for the few of you still picking

Twas the night before Easter and all through the pool, not a creature was stirring, not even the fool. The selections were made on the pick form with care, it hopes that some 2 seed would still be there....

This is what this devolves into at this point in the Tournament. I know the few of you still alive are only giving this a cursory glance at this point. The opening weekend effort just isn't there any more. The wit gets duller, the links get less relevant, and some other thing probably happens too, but I can't think of what it might be.

In a lot of ways this is shaping up to be the exact opposite of every tournament ever. The teams that always choke, the Villanova's, and Notre Dame's, and Virginia's are still around. The teams that always seem to make runs either got sent home early or decided to stay home and study hard because basketball isn't the most important thing in life, right?

Meanwhile, the past two days have shown us that the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. So many of us felt so smart a few days ago. Everyone seemed to be cruising along picking winners. The pool was like perforing like a legit fortune teller, the hive mind just picking winners once after another. And then Syracuse made that come back and blew everything up. The people that avoided it were faced with a difficult choice: Pick a very tough Oregon v Oklahoma match-up, or roll the dice on Kansas v Villanova.

It seems like a lot of our scions of holiness had been working toward a Kansas v Oklahoma Final 4. They were half right.

Tonight's match-up between Oklahoma and Oregon attracted 31 of the 49 picks. Of those, 18 went on Oklahoma while Oregon was selected by 13 sad pandas. It was never really in doubt. Buddy Hield just crushed the dreams of the Ducks and those who aligned themselves with the Church of Phil Knight.

Meanwhile Villanova v Kansas drew just seven selections: six on Villanova and silverfox all alone on Kansas Island. Silverfox will be remaining on that lonely island as their Survivor Pool dreams have been dashed like so many before them.

Heading into Sunday we are down to just 25 warriors for redemption. Last year at this point we had 39 alive, so the past two days have taken us from well ahead of last year's pace, to now falling behind it. Maybe we aren't so smart after all. Meanwhile, the leaderboard remains the same with Alvin and the Chipmunks! (I love that we get such a cute name in a survivor pool) and Steve Fiscus (also a cute name) on top of the tie breaker standings with 47 points.

To those still alive, we wish you good fortune, for those who are no longer around we wish that you find peace in this hour of darkness, and for those about to rock, we salute you.