Four Teams, Eight Scenarios Remain

This is it, the final weekend of games. Four teams remain and there are now only eight tournament outcomes remaining. I've enjoyed the tournament this year having three new teams playing in the final weekend. Or at least it has been a while since they were last here. I am still surprised that the Florida vs Wisconsin game was the first overtime game of the tournament this year. How does that happen?

And a reminder, the games shift to Saturday and Monday this weekend. I know the Saturday games are on CBS, I'm unsure about the championship game. However, if it's similar to last year, it was TBS for the general broadcast and a tailored school broadcast on two other channels.

With just three games to go, here are the final eight scenarios and where you will finish in the standings depending on the outcome:

If South Carolina beats Oregon
If Oregon beats South Carolina
If South Carolina beats North Carolina
If North Carolina beats South Carolina
If Gonzaga beats Oregon
If Oregon beats Gonzaga
If Gonzaga beats North Carolina
If North Carolina beats Gonzaga
Our current Top Ten pick sheets are as follows:

1. Smitty 2
2. Smitty 1
3. Kevin Jorgenson 1
4. Kevin Jorgenson 2
5. Colette Kraft
6. Jay Erickson 1
7. Jessie Forga
8. Kelly Crazz
9. Todd Swank
10. Regina Johnson 1
10. Jean Quinlan

If you are still in it, good luck!

Still Anyone's To Win

With only sixteens remaining in the 2017 Tournament, it's still anyone's Championship to win. The games start back up today with four games tonight and four games Friday night. That will complete our third round in the office pool bracket contest.

There are only three #1 Seeds and two #2 seeds. We have four #3 and four #4 seeds. Lastly there is one #7, one #8 and one #11 seed to complete all sixteen teams. Aside from three teams, if you picked #4 seeds or lower, you are sitting great in the standings as this was not the year of the lower seeded teams shaking up the bracket like in years past.

Looking into the numbers. Out of the 87 pick sheets, who is picked to win between some of the match ups in round three:

Wisconsin - 0 (picked to win)
Florida - 3

Baylor - 7
S. Carolina - 0

Gonzaga - 69
W. Virginia - 2

Kansas - 79
Purdue - 3

UCLA - 40
Kentucky - 42

Each correctly picked game is worth 5 points. UCLA vs Kentucky is almost evenly split, so half will be happy with that outcome and help shape the standings.

That's all I have right now. Enjoy the games and be sure to check out the Player Scenarios to see what your best place finish, worst place finish and which teams you need to root for in your field of eight teams.

Round One In Progress

Ahhhh, the games have begun and the Gophers are already out. All that wait to be included in the field of 64, and they are done. Is there a silver lining to all of this, you tell me. Just would have been nice to see them play in an evening game or the weekend.

We are half way through round one of the 2017 Bracket64 Challenge. Nothing to exciting to report today as the higher seeded teams won 14 of the 16 games that were played today. Yes, the Gophers were one of the two higher seeded teams that lost today. They did lose to Middle Tennessee State, the team that defeated Michigan State last season. Michigan State just happened to be my 2016 Championship Winner! So, the good news is, Middle Tennessee did defeat another Big Ten team, but I did not lost my championship team because of them! Yes, there is a silver lining after all.

If you're new to the Bracket64 Challenge, the current standings can always be found on the right column of this web site under the 'Current Standings' link. From there, the menu of everything office pool related can be found. After the second round is completed, look for the tournament scenarios link to see who you need for your last four teams and your odds of winning.

Finally, I have payments from about half of you so far. I know many are arriving via mail and there are a dozen or so I have not had contact with on how you will pay. The raw numbers to be collected are $750 with the winner receiving half of that. I will pay out the top five brackets once again. When I have a good handle on the payments, I'll give the official payout numbers at that time.

That's all I have for day one, plenty more basketball to be played Friday and over the weekend. Best weekend of the year for sports....

2017 Bracket64 Contest Has Begun

Deadline: Tip-Off, March 16 @ 12:30 PM [EST]
Entry Fee: $10.00

Enter Your Picks Here

Make sure you hit the SUBMIT PICKS button at the bottom of the page or your picks will not be entered into the pool.

NOTE: When entering multiple times, please place a number after your name to make it unique [or it will over write you last submitted picks] For example: Timmy 1, Timmy 2, Timmy 3

2017 Tournament Office Pool Brackets
Office Pool Bracket
Printable Office Pool Bracket