Day 3 began with 370 of the original 890 entries alive and picking. So, yeah 58% of the entries were already dead after the opening round. But, the good news is that with those first round upsets in the book, surely Day 3 would be more formful and easier to pick right? Right? RIGHT?
Quick Links for the Lazy - Leaderboard Pick Form
Coming into Day 3 everyone was ready for things to settle down and the Cinderellas to head home. San Diego State understood the assignment and put away Furman with little trouble. There were 78 entries, 21% of the remaining picks, on the Aztecs. Those 78 move onto Sunday with little resistance.
But it didn't take long for things to get interesting. Duke looked like a juggernaut in Round 1, but, as we've seen over and over this March, past performance doesn't matter and everything is random. And 19 people passed up the alleged easy advancement options and fell on the Duke grenade. Shout out to SAMUEL HOUSTON2, the only one smart enough to pick Tennessee and the March Magician Rick Barnes!
So, we had the upset for the day, back to your planned programming with a nice safe number 1 seed Kansas, right? Wrong again muchacho! Kansas losing only took out 5 entries and the Arkansas advance helped literally no one, but it's still an upset, so it still matters.
But, surely taking Missouri over Princeton was safe right? It had to be safe, right? The SEC is winning every game, hell, Arkansas just beat Kansas! And Princeton isn't a basketball school. It's one of those academic schools! With a staggering 150 entries putting their faith in Mizzou, the Tigers laid an absolute egg and sent 40% of the remaining entries home just like that. And, really, it was never even in doubt. Princeton dominated this game from the word go and the 6 entries that swung for the fences with the 15 seed are now sitting very pretty heading into Sunday. The six of you deserve honorary degrees from Princeton for a move this savvy. If Kermit the Frog can get a Doctorate for doing nothing, y'all certainly deserve at least a Bachelors for this.
The last three games returned to normalcy and stayed formful. There were 11 entries that advanced with Houston, 15 with Texas, and 53 went ahead and burned UCLA in exchange for a relatively safe advancement. The losses of Penn St., Auburn, and Northwestern only claimed 9 entries.
I was really hoping Texas would lose because I was all set to pull out a nice, "Well I guess Texas choked, huh?" line in this recap. But, the joke is on Texas, because I just used it anyway.
I'm posting this recap before Alabama and Maryland finish because I'm going to bed, but just 11 picks on Bama and 0 on Maryland means not a whole lot will change with this outcome.
As of now, 175 entries will be moving on to Sunday (164 if Bama loses). So, 19.7% of the original entries are playing on Sunday. It's been an absolute blood bath. So bad in fact that we are seriously considering doing a second survivor pool this Tournament starting in the Sweet 16. Let's see if the chaos continues!
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