Alright folks, here is your one stop shop for everything you'll need going forward. I'll continually update this post with forms, daily recap nonsense, payouts, and, of course, the Big Board...
Payouts TBD
Daily Recaps
Day 1 - Louisville Boots Out 76 and Kicks off a Formful Start
Day 2 - The Only Drama May Be in Shanghai
Pick Form (Form is updated for new days once previous day's deadline has passed)
I'm writing this as the late games for the night are starting. As of now, today has been pretty boring by Survivor standards. And, the F1 Sprint Race in China is about to start with Lewis Hamilton on pole in his 2nd race for Ferrari, so I have to watch that, obviously. So, here's what's happened today, it's pretty boring...
The Mississippi State loss only knocked out 12. La di da. Big deal.
Robert Morris loss eliminated no one. Lipscomb eliminated one person. Memphis took down just 9 with 59 people rightly choosing the lower seed there in Colorado State. Not a single person picked the Duke matchup. St. Mary's win moved on 56 and eliminated just 6 Vandy believers. Just 28 eliminated through the first 6 games, I'm not checking a calculator, but that's like 3% or something.
The first game of the day that made any real waves was when 56 people trusted yet another ACC school and were rewarded with their survivor road coming to an end. As of now, the three teams to take out the most entrants in the survivor pool of 2025 are...Louisville, Clemson, and North Carolina. The ACC, historically bad and the butt of 1 million jokes this year is souring the few people that believed maybe they weren't that bad. At this rate 200 people will pick Duke Sunday and watch them lose.
Then it got back to being boring again...Grand Canyon lost eliminating no one as Maryland advanced 72. Not a single person picked Florida v Norfolk. 81 picks advanced on UK while just one entry, Mike Mahoney3, took a shot on Troy...I love the idea, sorry for your loss. Similarly Arizona advanced 80 while just 3 picks were lost on Akron (including the writer, sometimes you gotta take a chance).
The only other really consequential game thus far came when Richard Pitino and New Mexico advanced 12 picks while knocking out 45 Marquette selectors.
But, maybe the late games will bring some drama!
Wrong again nerd. They also didn't do much damage. And, yes, I'm posting this before some games are finished because they look finished enough to me and it's midnight...
UConn just finished off Oklahoma in a close game, so the 72 people that trusted the back to back champs will move on, the 5 people that took their shot on Porter Moser over Dan Hurley are now done. And, sure, 10 picks were lost on Xavier while 17 advanced on Illinois, but that's not that significant. Oregon is up by 21 on Liberty, so, I'm assuming those 51 picks are moving on, while 5 people said give me Liberty, and Liberty gave them death (throw in a US History joke for y'all since they aren't allowed to teach it in schools anymore). And I'm assuming Michigan State will hold on against Bryant and move on those 17 chalk eaters.
The good news is Lewis Hamilton started with pole position and was able to win the Shanghai Sprint to provide some entertainment on what was a very formful day otherwise. No top 4 seeds were upset in Round 1. Just two 12s and an 11 move on to Round 2. In most years we have a 15 seed or something that everyone picks against on Day 3 or 4, this year is looking much more formful so far and, as such, this could prove to be a tricky Day 3....stay tuned to find out!
Day 1 is in the books, and we ended up with over 1100 entries for our humble little contest. So, for the 2nd consecutive year we have over $20k in the prize pool! And also, shout out to Phil Crone for posting the Pick Distribution chart and showing percentages on teams picked. Very nice. (Bet you were expecting Borat there).
But, of course, we end the day with a lot fewer than 1100 entries, and the first game of the day was one of the games that knocked out the most Survivalists...when, unfortunately, our Louisville Cardinals were the first team of the Tournament sent home. They took 76 bold dreamers home with them. And, while, yes, this is sad, as a Louisville fan that watched 12 wins in two years, I was just happy to be here. Sure, Louisville got screwed on seeding, and sure Creighton couldn't miss for about 10 minutes in the first half, and yes, those things are terrible. But, next year is for anger if we lose in the Tournament, this year is a celebration to have returned. I'll say this, y'all haters better enjoy this one, because we won't be out in the first round again for a long time. Oh, and 35 people I now hate picked Creighton, I hope you all lose in the 2nd round.
Purdue, in un-Purdue like fashion, did what they were supposed to do and beat an overmatched High Point team. That moved 77 participants to day 2, while 12 of you took your shot on Purdue pulling a Purdue, and were not rewarded.
Wisconsin, Houston, and Auburn all did as expected and moved on. Two people tried a shot on Montana, and while I do think that was stupid, I also do respect your courage and donation.
And, in what has to come as a huge shock to college basketball fans, another ACC team lost today, shocking! Clemson, forgot they were supposed to play basketball in the first half and, despite remembering that basketball requires scoring in the 2nd half, it was too little too late. Clemson moved the ACC body count to 131 suckers as they took 55 entrants home. Only 18 incredible geniuses trusted in Will Wade and Amir "Aura" Khan, and they each take their 12 tie breaker points to day two.
BYU and VCU made for a popular split game with 42 picks on the Stormin Mormons and 33 more on the...Rams. Sorry, I have no pithy little comment on VCU. But, pithy comments won't be needed as they're headed back to Virginia as losers. And, the BYU's teams kids will have to wait a few more days to get daddy home. Ya know, these jokes used to be funny when every BYU guy was 25 and every other team was all 18 year olds...but now every team has a bunch of 25 year olds, and it's not as funny. Or maybe it was never funny. I thought it was funny though. And as one of the three readers of these recaps, my opinion weighs heavily.
Gonzaga was the most popular pick of the day, and they made James Surowiecki proud advancing 135 combatants. Meanwhile the 7 SEC maximalists that trusted Georgia do not live to fight another day. Tennessee was equally boring, advancing 23 and knocking out no one.
Arkansas v Kansas was a game that pulled a lot of picks on both sides...but Arkansas found a way to overcome having Kenny Payne on their sideline and move on their 23 backers to pick another day. The 51 combatants that chose Kansas are sent home on day 1, it's sad to see Hunter Dickinson's 18th season in college end so prematurely. Really though, when Dickinson left Michigan for Kansas it felt like it was going to be the most impactful transfer in the sport and set Kansas up to be incredible. In two years at Kansas they got one Tournament win.
Texas A&M showed that Yale was just one of those academic schools and there's a joke here about the 24 people that picked them not being smart, and Yale being an Ivy League school, but I can't come up with anything good, it's late. Buzz has hair, a first round win, and moved 43 pickers to tomorrow.
Mizzou v Drake was the most evenly picked matchup of the day. There were 41 picks on Mizzou vs 45 picks on Drake. But it was Drake, and their 4 former D2 players as starters, that advanced to the next round. Mizzou became the 2nd of the 48 SEC teams in the Tourney to get sent home.
The late games are really late for me, and I'm tired. There will be no wit or banter here. UCLA crushed Utah State and 71 picks advanced while 17 dreams died. St. John's let Omaha hang around early, but eventually drew off. Texas Tech did as expected. The late game of real interest was UCSD vs Michigan and it lived up to the hype...Michigan got lucky and won by 3 over the popular upset darling, advancing 36 and slaying 54. And, in the final game of the night Texas Tech made it close, but advanced their 74 believers, while the 2 maniacs that took Wilmington got a thrill, but left as losers.
All in all it was a rather formful Day 1. In all 760 brave geniuses advance to day 2 while 374 suckers go home. Good luck on Day 2 to those who celebrate!
