Saturday, April 9 -- Payout Schedule is at right.

Make contact with your bag man to collect your winnings. Be sure to acknolwedge that Michigan will be playing for it's 10th NCAA title tonight at 7pm to insure and prompt and timely payment.

Monday, April 3 -- It's the third shiny moment in a dozen years for the UConn Huskies.

There were more dog analogies than points in the final as the Huskies put down the Butler Bulldogs.  Put down - get it?

Jim Nantz actually said "Huskies are top dogs", and if my ears didn't hurt enough then - I'm pretty sure I heard Fat Head Gumbel say something like "Huskies win the dog fight".  Quick - get those writers a bonus...  Truth be told, these two marquee teams spent more time sniffing each others' rear ends than putting the ball in the hoop. But I guess you can't say stuff like that on national TV.

In fairness, it wasn't the TV coverage that took down the Butler dream - they have no one to blame but their own 18% FG shooting - and they were leading at half time.  That kind of bulldog turd won't cut it in the big game.   And it stayed close until UConn broke it open midway through H2.  The offense on both sides was so pathetic that I actually got a solid 20-minute nap and only missed a 3-0 run by the Bulldogs.  Final score was something like 12-5.  At least it felt like that.

Congrats to the lucky pool winners.  We're still reconciling total prize money, but checks should e coming out within a week.   1st prize will be $700-$750 because we're going to go flatter and deeper on payouts this year by popular demand and decision of the Board.

Saturday, April 2 -- It's Huskies versus Bulldogs on Monday.

Next year, follow the experts when making your picks because it's much less embarassing if you can blame someone else.

Since I've never seen a bulldog that looked as good as a husky, I'm going with UConn.  Butler ended the VCU dream, and Kentucky imploded under freshmen nerves and shooting like you see at the Boys Club on Monday nights, including a Shaq-like 33% in the FT column.

Meanwhile, last year's Cinderella the Butler Bulldogs think they belong in the final game - unfinished business from last year. Note to Brad Stevens: With a graduation rate north of 70% don't even think you can compete with the powerhouse teams. You're still dreaming, and until you start recruiting from the local courthouses, you're going nowhere. But it's fun to watch.

As for the pool, no one cared about the VCU/Butler game, and the only hope for anyone to move up on Monday night is RuPaul's My Daddy who is standing around hoping that Butler wins so that no one else collects final game pointage. TechGuy has 1st prize locked up, but since we don't know who he is nor where his $10 went, we're still deciding if he gets a payout. Not likely at this point. In any case, we'll be spreading the payout schedule deeper than ever and are looking to pay out to all finishers in the top 10. It's really too bad when pool participants can't seem to follow the simple instructions and get their money in on time and with a clear list of which sheets they are paying for. They think Carnac the Magnificent is running this pool with nothing else to do for a month.

And a special shout to The GRIZ who has had a balanced attack throughout the pool. You might remember he was in first place after the first round, and it's truly rare that someone is always around the top through all rounds.

Final update on Monday night.  Good luck.

Sunday, March 27 -- Jayhawks are gone. #8 Butler vs. #11 VCU and #3 UConn vs #4 Kentucky.

From the MMIOP vault, here's a snapshot of the current leader's picks.

Don't dis the Ram.  VCU ran off to a big half-time lead and held on to burn Kansas and send the Jayhawks home.  In the East Region Final, Kentucky shut down the Tar Heels.

As far as the Pool goes, the battle lines are drawn.  There are about ten people who come into some cash if Kentucky wins, and a different ten if Connecticut wins.   Doesn't matter whether they play VCU or Butler because no one had those two teams getting this far.  See the Rooting Sheet at right to see which team is your BFF for the next 7 days.

Saturday, March 26 -- Butler continues to wreak bracket havoc

Church-goers in Chapel Hill prepare for Easter and the UNC/Kentucky game on Sunday.

#8 Butler advances to the Final Four for the second straight year after knocking off #2 seed Florida in OT. Over in the West Regional Final, #3 UConn knocked off #5 Arizona to move on to Houston. Something tells me that Kemba will not be denied, and that's good news for all you Huskies fans who have them in the finals.

Brackets are all busted.  19 peeps had Florida in the final game; those sheets are sinking like bricks.  Shamrock temporarily moves into first place because of UConn, but he has OSU/Florida in the finals, so his sheet is officially NFW.  Big Test Icicles suffered a setback with the Florida loss, and we're starting to like all those sheets scattered through the pool that have a UConn/Kansas final game.

Michigan's Lee Moffie had a goal and an assist as the Wolverines put down the CC Tigers to advance to the Frozen Four.

Here's some late-breaking Hockey news for all you NCAA Frozen Four fans - Michigan has spanked Colorado College 2-1, earning a berth in the Frozen Four in St. Paul. They'll meet the winner of the North Dakota - Denver game tomorrow in a match-up of the two dominant collegiate hockey conferences, the WCHA and the CCHA.   Notre Dame plays UNH on the weak side of the bracket tomorrow to see who gets Minnesota-Duluth out in St. Paul.

Friday, March 25 -- Elite Eight

#1 seeds Ohio State and Duke have been sent packing. Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats with the negative SAT scores upset OSU, and Duke was overrun yesterday by the other Wildcats from AZ.

Disrespected play-in team Virginia Commonwealth went to OT to beat perennial party school Florida State. In the early games, UNC squashed the sons of D-Wade at Marquette, and #1 Kansas destroyed #12 Richmond. I'm watching the highlights of that game right now on Sportscenter, and there are none.

So about your sheets. Kiss 'em goodbye. 103 of us had Ohio State in the final game, 68 had Duke. Put a fork in them. The sheet sitting pretty right now is Big Test Icicles who is in second place but has both teams alive in the final game - the next nearest sheets that can make that claim are down in 31st place.  So hold on for the ride - with OSU and Duke gone, the pool is wide open and your picks in the championship game are key.

In other sports, BC won the Hockey East championship a couple of weeks ago, beating Merrimack College, a finishing school for young women, at least as far as hockey is concerned.   They are a #2 seed in the NCAA hockey tournament and will match up with Michigan tomorrow - oh hold on... ...never mind - Colorado College trounced BC today and will be playing Michigan tomorrow afternoon to advance to the frozen four.   That's really too bad; many of us in the area were looking forward to a BC-Michigan rematch of the 1998 Championship game played at the FleetCenter when Michigan won in OT by a score of 4-3.  Thrilling game.

Sunday, March 20 -- Sweet Sixteen

In major upsets, Notre Dame had no luck against party school FSU;  the heavily favored Orange were crushed by Marquette, and Michigan lost at the buzzer to the inbreeding hillbillies from Duke.  If you've ever wondered why Duke never gets hit with recruiting violations, it's because they don't recruit - they just grow their mutant folk in a tar-paper shack over in the foothills of Appalachia.  Same with UNC who survived their encounter with #7 Washington on the back of Tyler Zeller, the product of some Hansbrough/Montross mating experiment gone wrong.

Jimmer Fredette threw in 39 during the BYU beatdown of Gonzaga. Here he orders two Buds from the concession guy working the press row.

Hold on a sec... Magic Johnson is on the tube again, talking about Dove underarm deodorant, and how that and his dad made him who he is today.  Compelling story. I'll have to run out tomorrow and buy some, then call my old man and tell him how good I smell.

Did I mention that Gene Hackman and Butler are back?  They showed #1 Pittsburgh the door.   So much for many of us with Pitt in the finals.  OSU and KU held up their #1 seeds and moved on.  The play-in kids from #11 VCU made #3 Purdue look silly.

Rick Pitino.  Really?  Was there a limo waiting for you outside the arena on Thursday to rush you over to the studios at TruTV after your loss to #13 Morehead State?  One second I'm watching you weep at the post-game conference, and no sooner do I come back from the frig with a fresh provolone sandwich, and I see you with your hand up Greg Gumball's skirt!  Man, you move faster than Barkley going through the spicy-wing buffet at the nightly afterparty.

So we have a Sweet 16.   The Pool didn't change too much over the weekend since most upsets affected everyone equally.  Cinderalla maintains sole possession of first place, but is going nowhere now that ND lost.  Tied for second are Dual County Champs - proving that playing every combination of the top two seeds in every region pays dividends - and P HANDS 4, followed by 5 peeps tied for third and 7 tied for fourth.  The next shakeout happens when a couple of #2 or #1 seeds go bye bye.

If you're not in the top half of the pool, your best hope is that your final game has a couple of low seed teams that make a miracle chapionship game to put you in some cash.   That's a nice way of saying "thanks for playing".

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