Madness Update

Thanks to the play of this year's higher seeds in the NCAA Tournament, we now have tournament pools where people have gone from the NCAA ashes and are now rising from those ashes as the proverbial Phoenix.
Many of us were knocked out of contention on the first round of the regionals, some still had Final Four teams still alive in the Sweet 16, but that was the point where many that were still remaining with high hopes were pushed off of the college basketball ledge.
For me, the first upset that dented my armour was when Ohio State was booted in the second round by Georgetown. That didn't hurt all that bad, because I still had many teams still alive; especially those that I had picked to go deep into the tournament. When it came to the Sweet 16 round, I had a chance to win seven of the eight games. But that was the round that stuck a dagger in my heart. LSU beat Duke, which under normal circumstances I would have been jubilant, being a Tar Heel fan, but I had chosen the Blue Devils to go to the championship game versus UConn, so that one hurt.
Gonzaga was beaten by UCLA, another killer. I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched that game. Gonazaga completely gave the game away to the Bruins. They didn't score a single point from the seven minute mark until there was about two minutes left in the game. They just kept turning the ball over. I was stunned.
On the other side of the bracket, there was the UNC-Tennessee game...oh wait, no there wasn't...they both got tossed out in the round before, so the matchup ended up being George Mason-Wichita State.
Connecticut and Villanova held up their end of the bargain for me, but the Florida game was useless to me since I had them losing that game to Ohio State.
So, moving to the Elite Eight, I could have been in worse shape. I had my eventual winner, UConn, still alive, and so was 'Nova, so I had that upcoming matchup where I wanted it.
On the other side, I had Texas in the Elite Eight, but I had them losing to Duke, so that game was also useless. Memphis was in, but they were supposed to lose that round to Gonzaga, and since the Bulldogs were out, this was another game which had no meaning to me.
So we come down to the Final Four. I have Duke playing Gonzaga and UConn versus Villanova. Then UConn beats Duke 72-69 for the whole bunch of bananas. Pretty good, huh? Well, it sounded good when I made the selections, but like so many of you out there, my sheet ended up looking like most of my high school report cards....LOTS of red ink!
Don't let me be miserable on my own this tournament...misery loves company, so let me know how you did. Were you knocked out early? Do you ACTUALLY still have a team alive (I'll bet SOMEONE out there has either LSU or UCLA)? Have you already been declared the winner? Let me know.
Till next time, good luck to those of you who still have a chance at the ol' office pool, and for those of us who don't...theres' always next year.