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Well the 1st 2 rounds of the tournament are in the books. Tech didn't get past the 1st round, so our rooting interests now lie fully in our brackets, the conference, and the state (except the Aggies - unless you picked them). All the upsets, all the crazy games, and we've only played 2 rounds.
The Fox Bracket Challenge had 5 people sign up, and I managed to pick so well, I'm in last place
Blake is in the lead, but with picking MSU to win it all, his PPR (Possible Points Remaining) is the lowest of us. Will his early lead (tied with Grizzly) be enough to hold off the other challengers? The contest is still relatively close, with each game worth more points in the Sweet 16. The first round games were worth 1 point, the 2nd was 2, and now games will be worth 4 points a piece (doubling each round). With Drew, Adam, and myself all picking Kansas to win it all, the final will be a wash as we'll either all be right, or all be wrong. I got an email from Fox Sports after the 1st 2 rounds, and my 35 points were good enough to be in the 22nd percentile. Ouch.
For me personally, the Realtime bracket is more fun, and an entertaining way to pick the games. While having a team lose that you picked to go far can hurt (MSU for some, Kentucky for me), it doesn't kill you as you can change your picks, for fewer points in the end. Sometimes it helps to stick with your pick like I did with A&M against UNI, but it can hurt if the team doesn;t end up winning and you get zero points, like I did with Kentucky against Indiana. As of now the results look like this:
The graphic gives quite a bit of information. First off, it shows the rank by realtime score, and your original score. THEREALESTBRACKET has done a great job changing their picks, as they are a +331 with reference to their original bracket, and in this style of challenge you want to be a positive in that regard. Currently I am leading by 89 points, but the next set of games gives 120 points for a correct pick if the pick was made originally, so it really is anyone's game until some of the lower conttestant's possible points becomes near the higher's points gained.
Remember, these contests are all about bragging rights. Good luck to everyone in the final rounds and we'll have another update going into the Final Four.