After the first two rounds of the tournament we were able to get a good look at how bracketeers were shaping up in our bracket challenge. It seemed all too sure that heroes like Drawcm with “mattsbracket” were going to continue to stride in the front and maybe Brent’s Raiders or TMerch23 would get the upperhand for second place. Well, forget everything you thought you knew.

Before we get an update on the new table, let’s take a quick peek at who rose, who dropped, and who was removed entirely in last week’s top 20 along the way. (survivors are in bold)

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1. Mattsbracket,” Drawcm (fell to T-25th)

T-2. “Brent’s Raiders 3,” Brent’s Raiders (fell to T-16th)

T-2. “TMerch 23 5,” TMerch23 (absorbed by the GPGP, T-6th)

T-4. “J. Jason Jonas 5,” J. Jason Jonas (fell to T-111th)

T-4. “Beard’s Bracket Busters,” espnfan3095801433 (fell to 11th)

T-6. “1MLM,” RaiderRed 2013 (fell to T-12th)

T-6. “Matts 1,” matthewh1616 (fell to T-66th)

T-6. “Brent’s Raiders 2,” Brent’s Raiders (fell to T-35th)

T-6. “Tamara4878 1,” Tamara4878 (fell to T-66th)

T-6. “Ball Out,” will_thomas (rose to 3rd)

T-11. “Zionasty,” espn94736517 (fell to T-123rd)

T-11. “Chris Beard CotY,” Austin907 (rose to 5th)

T-11. “First Bracket,” espn6525738 (fell to T-94th)

T-11. “Stephen3443 8,” Stephen3443 (dropped to 15th)

T-11. “Wreck Em,” AndrewMaloney30 (rose to 1st)

T-11. “The GOAT,” Mike644487 (fell to T-123rd)

T-17. “espn49494306 1,” CobyMoteDesigns (fell to T-131st)

T-17. “eddy gibson 1,” eddy gibson (fell to T-29th)

T-17. “B.Doran27 1,” B.Doran27 (fell to T-131st)

T-17. “Correct Bracket Selections,” iPeaMyPants (rose to T-6th)

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Only 45% of last week’s top 20 survived and some of you dropped to near the bottom! We’re all victims to the ebbs and flows of March Madness, but while many fall there are those who rise. Let’s take a look at this week’s champions.

No. 1: AndrewMaloney30 with “Wreck Em”

There’s no such thing as a perfect bracket anymore, but AndrewMaloney30 is out hustling the competition with points. As we look back to Drawcm’s bracket, a majority of the slips came from the Elite Eight where their bracket incorrectly picked 3/4 games. In “Wreck Em,” the strength came from nearly nailing the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight groups with the only error coming from the Midwest bracket. Honestly we were all surprised by Auburn’s charisma and effort when it came to handling North Caroline AND Kentucky.

Looking forward, AndrewMaloney30 has placed a lot of faith in Texas Tech to beat out Michigan State and advance to the finals. On the other side, however, they have a substantial penalty: choosing Kentucky (now eliminated) to advance to the final over Virginia. With the remaining two games set, AndrewMaloney30’s bracket has a max potential of 1520 points, with their current total at 1040. The hunter (or huntor, really) in second isn’t far behind... and has a much higher max potential.

No. 2: huntor96 with “Give her the onion”

Right behind AndrewMaloney30 is huntor96 with 1030 points. Despite a difficult round of 32, huntor96 has bounced back to relevancy by accurately choosing the victors of every Sweet 16 game. Auburn! War damn Eagle, right? And we’ll continue that chant as they kept the faith that Auburn would deal Kentucky a fat L. Their mistake in the Elite Eight was expecting Duke to beat a very balanced Michigan State team, and that consequentially penalized them in the Final Four. But their max potential is higher than AndrewMaloney30’s (higher than everybody’s actually) because their Final sees both Texas Tech and Auburn, rather than Texas Tech and an eliminated Kentucky.

(AndrewMaloney30’s final games)

(huntor96’s final games)

Basically if Auburn picks up the dub against Virginia and Texas Tech picks up the dub against Michigan State, huntor96 will leap into the first position. That’s some serious chess-thinking so big shout out to huntor96 for his long game.

No. 3 and beyond

Outside of the top-two dogs, we have will_thomas in third place, Ryan41056 in fourth place, and Austin907 in fifth place. Each of these competitors made a long-draw pick that didn’t pan out such as Ryan41056 picking Cincinnati to make it to the Sweet 16 (whateryouthinking?!). The 3-5 position is pretty much a toss-up because they’re separated by a small margin (1010, 970, 960 respectively). BUT GET THIS... Ryan41056 is the sleeper pick you want to keep your eyes on. Outside of hunto96, Ryan41056 has the second highest max potential at 1600 points. That means if Texas Tech and Virginia advance to the Final and Tech wins he could very well finish in first place. BETTING IS OPEN!

Now I know you remember our old pal the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Since our last article it has expelled and absorbed at will. Our previous tied for second, TMerch23, was not so lucky with their choices and ended up sinking into 6th with the rest of the GPGP squad. Currently it’s made up with TMerch23, iPeaMyPants, TCline, raider49, & Brent’s Raiders. Remember that even though we’re two games removed from crowning a champion - the GPGP will come for anybody. Beware!

The new top twenty looks like this.

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1. “Wreck Em,” AndrewMaloney30

2. “Giver her the onion,” huntor96

3. “Ball Out,” will_thomas

4. “RyanC1,” Ryan41056

5. “Chris Beard CotY,” Austin907

T-6. “TMerch23 5,” TMerch23

T-6. “Correct Bracket Selections,” iPeaMyPants

T-6. “Glass Slippers,” TCline

T-6. “ESPNFAN249502010 1,” raider49

T-6. “Brent’s Raiders 1,” Brent’s Raiders

11. “Beard’s Bracket Busters,” espnfan3095801433

T-12. “WreckEm254,” espn15872569

T-12. “1MLM,” RaiderRed 2013

T-12. “The Spiciest of Meatballs,” Dylan_smyth

15. “Stephen3443 8,” Stephen3443

T-16. “Culver MVP,” AndrewMaloney30

T-16. “Ro Bamba,” insanebballmasta

T-16. “Brent’s Raiders 3,” Brent’s Raiders

T-19. “Bang! A guns up 3 ball,” PJ92490

T-19. “The Ghost of Bob Knight,” Jacob54745

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First place loser: Natalie1Clark1 with “Wreck Em”

Disclaimer: the actual last two brackets are BOTH coin flip brackets. Hilarious. Never flip a coin to make a decision again. Now let’s get on to the bracket that did their best to choose winners but just came up short. So, so short. Let’s get a look at the bracket choices below:

Credit where credit is due, Natalie1Clark1 picked Minnesota to beat Louisville so you’re better than me. Unfortunately the cards just didn’t fall in the right place and instead of riding the high of actually choosing Minnesota you’re wallowing in the pit of misery along with the coin flip brackets. Listen, Natalie1Clark1, we love each and every one of our fellow Red Raiders so I tell you what. Either reach out to us on Twitter or Facebook and we’ll get you on the podcast for the Final Four or Championship game. The airwaves deserve to know more about your thought process in choosing this bracket.

We’ll have one last article after the championship game to see how things in the VTM Bracket Madness shake up. Good luck to all and wrrrreeeeeck em, Tech!