Two-Man Race for All the Marbles

I just checked out the BS Bracket challenge and was kind of astonished at what has transpired. We've got two guys/ladies that are in the driver's seat...If UM wins, one of them will win, if Louisville wins, the other shall win:

I'm almost positive that we've never had a champ that was in the 99.9th percentile...but this year we shall.  Not too far down the charts, I see a few names I know; congrats to you guys too! To be in the top 95% in America in guessing who's the champ skillfully predicting the outcome of the tournament is saying something. Thanks to everyone who entered.

I'm not sure why an MSU fan would enter our challenge...nor am I sure why an MSU fan would pull for UM to win it all...if UM wins, I'm sure we'll find out from Spartante86...if L'Ville wins, it'll be dkboilerfan writing the guest post. Either way, the stakes are palpably-high.

BS Bracketgasm Update

We've now reached that part of March (April?) Madness where everyone has bracket fatigue. No, nobody really cares what's going on in your bracket, unless you correctly nailed this year's Final Four.

Before I get into the BS bracket challenge details, I did want to share a bracket story you might like. I play in one that is run by a former colleague and encompasses anywhere from 600 to 1,100 participants each year. He has tons of payouts, rather than winner-take-all, though the overall winner does get 20% of an impressive kitty. Well, this year, one entrant had FGCU in the Sweet 16 and Wichita State in the Final Four. And she only finished second overall. So if you think you had a bad beat somewhere, just imagine being that prescient and still not winning.

As for our little challenge, usually by now it's all but wrapped up with only a couple of possible scenarios left. But not this year -- this year there is excitement. Or something. 

Leading the pack is gregmc0532 1, who actually nailed three out of four (all but Wichita St) and can still gain points for Syracuse making the title game, though he has Syracuse losing to Ohio State. So if Louisville loses and Syracuse advances to the title game, I do believe Greg will wrap it up.

We have a two way tie for second, with JenPershing getting two of the Final Four correct -- she has Louisville and Syracuse correct, with Louisville winning the title.

Tied with JenPershing is spartane86 1 who, like Greg, correctly picked three of the Final Four with the only miss being Wichita St. However, spartane86 1 has Michigan beating Louisville in the title game, so if this happens, I think he will be our champion.

Right behind spartane86 1 is dkboilerfan 1 who has Louisville over Michigan in the title game and if that happens, dkboiler would be your winner. I think.

If Louisville does not advance to the title game, I think this opens the door for Purdueless Brandon to make a run at the title, as he has UM winning it all and Louisville not in the title game.

Everybody got all this? My head hurts. And I'm not even sure I exhausted all the possibilities -- I just got tired of it.

Remember, the winner of the challenge gets the opportunity to post at BS (subject to our approval -- no nudies!) as well as some Boiled Sports swag (basically, we rummage around the basement of BS HQ and find you some stuff).

Boiled Sports Bracketgasm Update

Devoted Recruiter

Two rounds are now complete -- sorry, three rounds -- and so it's time to take a quick look at your Bracketsaster and see how things are shaping up.

Oh, and as a quick aside on this second round/third round nonsense, I just have to give a big F U to the NCAA for continuing to insult people's intelligence. Thursday and Friday were not the "second round." They're only the second round if we expand the bracket to 128 and give 60 teams a "bye" into the second round. And isn't that just...ridiculous? Of course it is. Those are play-in games, or "opening round" games works, too. They can even go with their kitchy "First Four" and I'm fine with it. It would actually make sense when you look back in ten years and see that, oh yeah, that one year VCU played in the First Four and still made the Final Four.

But now? Now the NCAA has muddied the waters when you want to look back at a coach's history, for example as this link to Jaime Dixon's record shows. Do you immediately know when the second round became the first round? And thus when Dixon's Pitt teams actually advanced? I would imagine it's hard for Pitt fans to know. Although it's easy to assume when it comes to Pitt's performance in the tourney.

Why do I care? Because I don't like stupid crap that makes things less clear all because what? We don't want to hurt the feelings of the teams in the play-in games? Who cares? They're playing basketball and they have a shot at the big prize. I know many Boilermakers who would have gladly taken a slot in the First Four.

Anyway, as to the BS Bracketstravaganza, we've got leaders in the clubhouse who are on their own right now. There is no tie at the top, as entry "robertmw1789 3" sits alone. He (I'm assuming a he) has three of four Final Four teams remaining with only Georgetown out (eek). His title game is IU over OSU, so I think it's safe to say we're all rooting against him. Sorry, Robert.

Alone in second place as of now is "indyhudson6 5," who also has three of four Final Four teams in play, with their one miss being New Mexico (seems bdowd and I weren't the only ones wooed by Steve Alford's beautiful hair) and a title game of Duke over Kansas.

After those top two, we have glut of entries tied at third. Leading the BS staff pack is the Panda, who is hanging tight at 14th place, though he deserves far worse for picking Gonzaga to go to the Final Four. He does, however, have his other three FF teams, with da U over Louisville for the title.

Games in this tournament resume Thursday evening, but you of course have the option of seeing your boys in Black and Gold tonight at 7 PM on...well, AXS.tv (formerly HDNet) has been covering the CBI, but my DirecTV channel guide tells me I get Houston/George Mason tonight, followed by Western Michigan/Wyoming. So if anyone has any intel on where to see the Boilers tonight (aside from Mackey Arena), please feel free to share.

BS Bracket Time!!

Get excited..It's tourney time!!!

I've got whatever sickeness LBD had a few days ago- I can barely see out of my right eye because of all of the gunk in it, my nose is running, I'm coughing...AND my Boilers have been asked to play in the CBI; not an ideal morning in March.  All that said, I still love this time of year and am excited to to have my wife kick my ass fill out a bracket for the in the yearly BS bracket challenge.

If you're not, you're either a Communist or a Communist, because there is simply no higher achievement than winning this very bracket.  To create a bracket and enter, CLICK HERE!!

In case that link didn't work, or you're phobic of clicking things, the bracket name is "BS March Happy Fun Smile"...group #106391 in EsPN's Tournament Challenge page.

We usually get around 1,000,000* entries, so your odds of winning are better than the powerball...but the prizes are better than a Powerball winner** because our contest makes you rich AND famous***!!!

In all seriousness, the winner of our Bracket Challenge will win a few things; one might be a chance to post on this site...a prize that has more value than cash; you can't simply buy it**** plus you'll win a few other things in J's parents' basement.



*We've never had close to 1,000,000 entries
**Our prizes are no where near as valuable as winning the Powerball
*** "rich and famous" are based on the author's opinion of wealth and fame
****you actually could buy it; name a price...we're listening.

Your NCAA Basketball Bracket Master and Overlord Finally Speaks

[You may recall that winners of the BS Handsome Bracket Challenge get a chance to post here, if they so choose. This year's winner, Kirk, not only has a decent post, but also uses this opportunity in front of BS's roughly 2.3 billion readers (again, I might have to check the figures) to promote his new site. Check it out to feed your ongoing hunger of all things Purdue and keep him honest. And now, please welcome Kirk.]

A guest post at Boiled Sports?  All for putting the smart money on Kentucky in the NCAA tournament (and narrowly beating J in the process)?  Talk about a dream come true. I mean it.

Not to get all hipster on you, but I’ve been reading the site since 2006 (back when some dude named Tim wrote posts).  As a bored graduate student and university employee, I was kicking myself for not starting a blog like Boiled Sports.  I would have fit right in, you see, my story is all about being Boilermaker.

I was born to two Purdue alums who both grew up in West Lafayette but found teaching jobs in suburban Chicago.  As a kid, we’d make the 2.5 hour drive most fall weekends to visit my grandparents and go to football games.  I grew up celebrating the back-to-back-to-back Big Ten champions in basketball, hating Jim Colletto (learning some new curse words thanks to fans in the stands) but loving Mike Alstott, and wearing my Purdue pride on my sleeve as I combatted all the Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Indiana fans that lived near me.  I still remember how nervous I was as I saw Glenn Robinson, still in high school, at Ross-Ade watching a game and meekly asked for his autograph.

Despite my roots as a Boilermaker, it took some fortuitous financial incentive for me to enroll.  My bags were packed for Duke (yep, make fun of me all you want, I deserve it), and it seemed odd as I sat in Cameron Indoor Stadium in the spring 1999 as a pre-frosh on a recruiting trip, surrounded by faithful Duke students and watched on the jumbotron as the Purdue women’s basketball team won the national title against the Blue Devils.  I almost got murdered as my silent rooting for Stephanie and Ukari sometimes manifested in loud claps and shouts of “yes!” (I still believe the only thing that saved me from a beating was the fact that the Duke men’s team would be playing the next night for the national title, so most of the Duke fans weren’t too torn up with the women losing).

Apparently that was the sign that I couldn’t resist the siren song of Purdue.  I was incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to spend a glorious 8 years on campus, completing a variety of undergraduate degrees and grad school.  Call me a geek, but it was hard to leave the place and the friends I’d made. 

The Handsome Bracket Challenge

With one game to go in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, the potential winners are now clear in the Handsome BS Bracket Happy Times Extravaganza.

I'd like to point out that at least one of the BS editors (ME) has lived up to knowing something about college basketball. I'm currently in 7th place overall and with a Kentucky win, I can finish as high as 4th. Or first, if the three people who would be ahead of me resign due to illegal campaign contributions.

If UK wins, the current leader -- PurdueKirk -- will claim victory and lay claim to his rule over all of you, his soon to be loyal subjects. If KU pulls off another weird victory, it'll be schaefd2146 who brings home the hardware.*

So enjoy your last college basketball game of the season (err, sorry, you're last men's college basketball game) and if you're one of the two aforementioned dudes, contact us after the final buzzer to discuss your prize. We used to offer a chance to post here and an appearance on the podcast, but since that doesn't seem enticing enough, you can choose from a night of passion with absentee editor Tim, Boilerdowd's riding lawn mower (it cuts Purdue "Ps" in the lawn!) or my bottle cap collection.** 

*Note, actual hardware not included.
**Prizes subject to availability

BS Bracketalysis Time!!!

So, you think you're smarter than J or boilerdowd? That's unpossible.

But, you can try to prove that you're better at guessing the outcome of athletic contests than the Handsome Duo.  Good luck, you're gonna need it.

Plus, there's a chance you'll win a bazillion dollars* or a chance to rub J's achy body parts!!!!  Other prizes might include a possible chance to write a guest column on this very site, a beautiful pendant keychain, Indianapolis Firebirds box seats and an opportunity to fight boilerdowd in a prison-style brawl**.

Click Here...it'll make you fell good...everyone else is doing it...Matty wants you to do it.




*Give or take one bazillion dollars
**boilerdowd might or might not actually be a real person who fights somewhat like a four year old girl

History Made In The Bracket Extravaganza

Well, you should all be really ashamed of yourselves. Not only did you lose the bracket extravaganza, you lost to a girl. A girl who has watched less college basketball than my 15-month-old. Yes, the winner of the BS Bracket Extravaganza is none other than my lovely wife.

Sure, when she filled out her bracket and had UConn winning it all, I scoffed at her. However, she wound up better than 97.2% of the six million brackets filled out on ESPN.com. So there's that.

For her skills, she wins a guest post on the site, an appearance on the Handsome Hour and to sleep with me. (Would have been really awkward if Boilerdowd's wife had won.)

We'll definitely let you know when to expect her brilliance to infiltrate the site.

The BS Bracket Challenge Extravaganza: Join Now

Can you believe it's that time again?

In just a matter of days, the seeds will be set, the brackets will be revealed, and Becky in accounting will win your office pool and piss you off.

But fret not. Because there's another group to play with and it's right here, the Boiled Sports Bracket Challenge Extravaganza. (Group 14992 if you need it.)

Join and play against us...and each other. For every entry that beats Boilerdowd, he has promised to do a lap around the Purdue campus carrying Tim on his shoulders.

And for the winner, you get some Boiled Sports swag, the option to do a post here at Boiled Sports and a guest appearance on our final podcast of the season in early April. And if that's not enough, you could also win $10,000.*

So join up, bizznatches. It's on.



*If you beat everyone in the entire Tourney Challenge, not just in the BS Challenge.

The BS Bracket Challenge Extravaganza Contains Some Drama

Usually by now, things in most bracket challenges are wrapped up. Not so here. The leaderboard could look very different tomorrow. And regardless of what happens, Jaun Moore run 4 Kramer, our current leader, who is currently in the 99.9 percentile, will not win.

If Duke wins tonight, current second place entry, jmpurdue5117 1, will take the prize. Not sure how you feel about "winning" if it means Duke is the national champion, but I'm sure they'll take it.

However, if Butler wins one more, entry Andrew Mizener 1 will jump from 57th place to champ. Andrew only had one Final Four team correct but he's also the only one in the 338 entries to take Butler to win it all. Not sure what percentile that will put him in, but I bet it'll be damn near the top.

Whichever of you wins the BS challenge, send us a note tonight or tomorrow morning at BoiledSports@gmail.com to discuss claiming your prize.

BS Busted Bracket Contest Update

Well, quite honestly, nobody deserves to win this thing. Seriously, how insane is it that Boilerdowd -- with a pretty crappy bracket -- is in the 99.3 percentile out of ESPN's 4.8 million entries?

In the BS version of things, there is definitely still some variation that can happen. Jaun Moore run 4 Kramer is leading things, but with Ohio State as their national champ, it's going to take a winner like Butler or Michigan State to keep things where they are. Now, I could sit here and study all the permutations, but I really don't have that kind of focus. However, I do see the following:

jmpurdue5117 1, currently in fourth place, can still gain 480 points and has Duke winning it all. A win or two by Duke and this entry has a good chance.

Chris kramer is the man, to their credit, has Butler in the Final Four. They also have Duke winning it all, but being behind jmpurdue5117 1, cannot catch up.

JojoWagz43 1, currently in 18th place, has Duke and WVU correctly in the Final Four and WVU winning it all.

Fuzz18500 1, currently in 25th place, has WVU winning it all, but also the only correct Final Four team. So if WVU loses in the semis, it's over for Fuzz.

It would also appear that if Michigan State pulls it off, Total Hummeliation could vault from 83rd to the winner's circle.

And honorable mention to Andrew Mizener 1, who, yes folks, has Butler winning it all. Can he win? I don't think so, since enough guys ahead of him have either Duke or WVU making the title game and would thus still have more points than Andrew even if Butler does take it home. Still, big nuggets picking Butler.

And one more honorable mention, to Coin Flip (no really) for...well... it appears to be flipping a coin for each and every game. I really hope that's what happened, because if he chose Tennessee, Marquette, Gonzaga and Richmond, with Marquette winning it all, well... we'd recommend counseling.

I've scanned a number of entries, but have not seen anyone with more than two Final Four teams correct in our group. If you succeeded in this and I missed you, please let me know. (Although I'm pretty sure you'd be winning -- by a lot -- if this happened.)

Remember, the winner of the BS Bracket Extravaganza gets valuable prizes.* You get a free post on the site to ramble about anything you want AND you're invited to join us as a featured guest on the Handsome Hour season finale next Wednesday, April 7.

*Depends on your definition of "valuable."

The BS Bracketologistic Experience

Nice work by our leader, P. Sadler, whose entry -- psad21 -- is in the 100th percentile of ESPN's nearly 5 million entries.

However, watch out for Keaton Grant is the man, as his entry has 7/8 Elite Eights remaining and all Final Fours, as well as BoilerPaulie, who has 8/8 and 4/4 remaining. Folks, we have entries in the hunt for the overall title, and that's pretty cool. It's also truly amazing, given how things went for the past four days.

Ready for Day 2?

Okay, let's make no mistake here -- that was a terrible shot selection by Ali Farokmanesh of Northern Iowa. That was the kind of shot Boilerdowd used to take at the co-rec (from the same 25-30 feet) and his teammates would go "Oh, no no no -- okay, yeah, yeah, nice shot..."

I loved the radio call I heard on an update on Fox Sports Radio this morning... the radio guy said Farokmanesh "gets it at the elbow..." The elbow? Yeah, I'll say.

Anyway, that was pretty amazing yesterday. And it's got everyone saying this is the BEST TOURNEY EVAH! But is it? Or were we just starved for an awesome first day? As you may recall, last year was the chalkiest tournament in many years, with practically no upsets, few close games in the first round, and all four #1 seeds making the Final Four.

I also saw some chatter that this kind of "ensures" we're going to see expansion. And to that I say, you don't know that. One could argue this proves how perfect things are right now. But as I've said before, and I should take my own advice, it's not about what's perfect -- it's about making money.

BS Bracket Extravaganza

In the BS Bracket Blowout (which, yeah readers, only 300+ entries?), I absolutely love that after day 1, the guy alone in first place (entry "Hummel's ACL Destroyed Me") has Purdue winning it all. Warms the cockles of my cold, dark, cynical heart.

As for my own bracket, I'm not that bothered by Georgetown or Florida losing, even though I had them going a couple rounds in. No, I'm more mad at myself for picking Texas and Notre Dame, two programs I knew better than to take but for some reason allowed myself to click on. Seriously, I normally would pick against ND out of spite, yet I didn't in our bracket? Hope I did in another one elsewhere.

T-Mill has Syracuse winning the entire thing. Man, they really got to you, eh, Travis?

As always, lots of great entry names.... some faves:

The Epitome of Unpleasant (nice pull)
The three Smooges (this makes me giggle out loud)
Porter Robers (a nice throwback from Timmy)
RyneSmithScholarshipHow? (an op-ed piece and a name, all in one)
DoinThisforBS1 (we're honored)
1932 National Champs (and don't forget it!)
Juan Moore Run 4 Kramer (nicely done)
Herb Dove Love (another throwback)
According Twomey 1 (I see a clever name for a national newspaper column)
Gene's Used Comb
Tom Crean Is Ugly (simple, yet accurate)
Only Irish Fan to Read BS (I'd go further... only Irish fan who can read? Hey-yo!)
Total Hummeliation (simply fantastic, and I plan to steal this)

Boilergal, are you aware that there's an entry out there called Cougar4Kramer? So between yours (Kramer's Cougar) and hers, there seems to be a line forming for ole Chris.

Nice Showing, Big East!

What I am a little bugged at Georgetown for is paving the road to at least the Elite 8 for Ohio State. Seriously, unless Thad Matta coaches them out of the tourney, they should barely break a sweat getting that far, where Kansas should be waiting to show the Bucks the folly of only playing six guys.

As we noted yesterday, Notre Dame also did what Notre Dame does. And really, nice job showing up Harangody. Four points? All in the final minute? Nice putback at the buzzer when your team was down three, by the way. Worked perfectly with your trademark, mouth-breathing, dumbass expression that immediately followed.

Marquette also continued to show that the Big East was overseeded like the women of Boilerdowd's skirt-chasing days. Seriously, Marquette was a 6-seed? They weren't good all year, then made a decent run in the Big East tourney and then we give them a 6? While everyone was bashing the Pac Ten, Washington took their 11 seed and, with much the same team as last year's, took down Marquette.

And then, of course, Villanova, who did their best to lose to 15-seed Bob Morris. And if not for some horrible, pro-nova calls down the stretch, RMU probably would have pulled it off. Up 8 with about 4 minutes left? Nova finished 4-6 down the stretch and bowed early from their conf tourney... yet steals a two-seed? Come on.

As I said to Katz on Twitter, I fully expect to see lots of articles at the start of next year about how "down" the Big East is after this performance -- you know, the articles that would be written about the Big Ten if they performed this way after being overseeded. It won't happen, but let's not forget that it should have. Or that the Big Ten had its way with Big East teams this season (5-2).

On We Go

It's time for Day 2. I had that bleary-eyed but happy feeling late last night that I get on these opening days every year. 12 straight hours of hoops overload. And on those occasions when CBS is doing it right, you see the final five minutes of game after game after game. The typical lull is at dinner hour, when they pitch you to your local news and then come back for the start of a game in your region. Which makes loads of sense, CBS -- just as everyone's coming home from work, turn your coverage into a snoozer. Awesome!

Oh, and on that subject of local teams. I get that you think people in Texas want to see all of the Texas game. However, I'm willing to bet that the vast -- vast -- majority of viewers are like me. Yes, I want to see my team, but if another game is in the final minutes and it's close, I would be willing to forgo hearing Verne Lunquist's opening ramble and a panning shot of my team in their warmups doing a shootaround in order to see the end of the close game. Seriously, who watches the tourney but only wants to see their team? Is this sort of thing that hard to figure out?

Judging by CBS, yes it is.

The 1-Seed Debate

There's been a lot of debate among the Purdue faithful about the railroading that our Boilers are getting by the national media.

Gary Parrish from CBS has the Boilers 11th in his poll and Jeff Goodman of Fox has them at 9th. Both have the Boilermakers behind Kansas State, who lost twice last week including to Iowa State. Yes, Iowa State. (Parrish also ranked 26 teams, but I'm just assuming he's a functioning illiterate. Goodman works for Fox, so he probably hasn't ever even seen a college basketball game.)

Their logic is that Purdue is beating mediocre teams, which apparently proves nothing. I see. Of course, Kansas State lost to a VERY mediocre (actually, poor) team in Iowa State. At home. On senior night.

Purdue has gone 26-4 this year, as you likely know. They won their conference after being 2-3 while MSU was 5-0. They had a 14 game win streak and a 10 game win streak. They have -- get this -- ZERO bad losses. Usually, when a team is "profiled" at this time of year, they show quality wins and bad losses. Purdue has lost:

--to Ohio State (in a game the Boilers gave away in the final three minutes)

--at Northwestern (their worst loss, though the Mildcats will likely wind up with 20 wins this year, so not exactly Iowa State caliber)

--at Wisconsin (where if they made FTs they would have won) and

--versus MSU in their first game without Rob Hummel (in which they held MSU to only 53 points, but couldn't score themselves).

They have beaten FOUR top ten teams (OSU, MSU, WVU, Tenn) and have gone 3-1 (I'm counting the Minn game) since Rob's knee buckled. Very few teams have only four or fewer losses on the season. Very few have played as consistently well as the Boilers.

And yet, I'm here to tell you, the #1-seed is a pipe dream folks.

I don't think the committee is as dumb as many of the analysts we're subjected to on a nightly basis...BUT, we know that three are locks for 1-seeds: Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse. They're already decided. So that leaves one spot.

Right now, it's Duke. Sure, Duke can't win tough games on the road. Sure, the ACC is kind of a joke this year. But if Duke wins the ACC tournament (and only Maryland is really a likely challenge for them), you know there's no way Coach K and the golden boys at Duke will be denied.

But let's say somehow they fail to get that #1 seed. Who's next? Most likely West Virginia, who has somehow remained the apple of many media type's eyes.

Since they're in the super-duper-awesomest Big East, WVU will get all sorts of credit for having any kind of a good showing in that tournament (is it really a tournament when you have double-byes?). And if WVU is a candidate, so is Pitt, since they've got nearly an identical record and also play in the infinitely awesome Big East.

And after that? Well, this morning Seth Davis was on Dan Patrick's show and actually said K-State is still in the fricking running for a 1-seed. And I tend to think Seth knows a thing or two, which is why this is even more disturbing. He said if they win the Big 12 Tourney, they might get it. Which is just.....reprehensible.

Take a little look at Kansas State's schedule. They've beaten no one. They finished tied for second in the Big 12...four games back. And when they had their chance to impress, they got swept by Kansas...as per usual. Their one impressive win, if you can call it that, was over then-number-1 Texas. And we all know how valuable that actually is, now that we've seen Texas would be a bubble team if they didn't race out of the gate to 17-0. K-State's body of work is wholly unimpressive. And they just lost to an under-.500 Iowa State team. They shouldn't be in the top ten, let alone even in the conversation about a 1-seed.

In the end, I don't think the committee would do something silly like give K-State or 7 (or 8) loss OSU a 1-seed. But I do think it's Duke's to lose right now and even if they do something nutty like losing early in the ACC tourney, it's then in the hands of a Big East team. And then, after that, if Purdue has absolutely steamrolled the BTT (and Purdue isn't the steamrolling type of team) and is sitting at 29-4, it'd be hard then to not give it to them.

I didn't believe Purdue was going to get a 1-seed even back when Lunardi was predicting them as such, before Rob got hurt. I figured that they would lost another game or two on the season and that would be used against them. And so I've come to grips with this a long time ago. If you see me prattling on about disrespect on our Twitter feed, it's because I think they're not getting respect -- but I'm not even trying to make a case for a 1-seed. I gave that up long ago. I went to Purdue -- I'm used to my teams being overlooked.

They should be a two-seed and I don't think there's much they can do to screw that up, short of losing in embarrassing fashion in their first BTT game.

My point? Don't get yourself too wrapped up in the idea that the Boilers could still get a 1-seed. They won't. It will not happen. And then you'll just be absolutely furious next Sunday, when you should be happy and excited that the big tourney is almost here.

Let's take a two-seed and let them prove (again) that they belong.

(Oh, and the photo accompanying this post? No particular reason. Happy Monday.)

Still a 5 Seed as Per Handsome Joe Lundardi

Joe Lunardi, whose voice makes me want to jam pencils into my eardrums, still lists the Boilers as a 5-seed and he currently has us playing VCU in Miami in the East region bracket. Like any of that is predictable.

I know Lunardi often brags about geeting 64 out of 65 teams right on average, but my dog could probably get 60 out of 65 right. Wouldn't it be fun to check his bracket at some point (like now) and then see what it looks like on selection Sunday?

In other numerical news, the Boilermakers dropped to 24th in the latest polls. Deserved, for sure.

We Have A Weiner

So clearly, the biggest winner last night wasn't Bill Self or Kansas or everyone who hates Memphis... no, it was reader Nick B for his winning entry, A WHOLE LOT OF 3'S. Nick (if that is indeed your real name) was consistent as hell, scoring 24 points in the first, second, third and fourth rounds, followed up by 16 in the semis and 32 in the national title. So he averaged 24 points per round for an impressive total of 144 points. He went 47-16 overall, which is pretty damn good.

Other honorable mentions have to include Mrs. Boilerdowd, who wound up in fourth place, which is just amazing. I led my co-editors here with a seventh-place finish, while Boilerdowd ended up in 14th and Tim was in 37th. Also of note, I successfully defended my sports honor against my wife, who after a very impressive start ended up 54th (still ahead of almost 30 of you). So I've got honor. And as we all know, once you get on her, stay on her. (Sorry, that's terrible.)

Anyway, so what does Nick B win for his trouble? Well, we thought it over and considered giving him a Nintendo Wii, a picture of Tim's sideboobs and a diaper from Boilerdowd's son (no telling what surprise might be in there). However, we decided that was all not enough fun so we're offering the Champeen of the BS Tourney Challenge Extravaganza his own post on this little-read, non-respected site that Terry Hutchens thinks sucks (seriously, he emailed me to tell me that... we'll be talking about it sometime, don't worry).

So, Nick B of A WHOLE LOT OF 3'S fame... shoot us an email at BoiledSports@gmail.com and let us know if you'd like to claim your prize. We'll give you a space here on Friday morning so plan on writing whatever you want to write by Thurs night or early Friday morning and send it on over.

Congrats to you, my good man.

UNC Lays A Turd

For those of you who, like me, get Sports Illustrated, at least UNC's losing will (hopefully) mean we don't have to see any more Tyler Hansbrough covers for a while. And what a lovely choice they made last week, with "Psycho-T" looking like he was making his dump face. Just what I'd want on a mag with millions in circulation.

It turned out to be appropriate, though, as UNC went out and laid down a fat, stinky turd, in going down 28 points to Kansas in the first half. Yeah, yeah, they made it close again, but that had more to do with Kansas suddenly playing like a team of me, Boilerdowd and Tim at the co-rec... seriously, what kinds of decisions were they making? That was really an ugly, poorly-played game, when you consider how good these two teams are supposed to be. Lots of bad decisions, poor shot selection, etc. Each team's runs were directly caused by terrible decisions and/or sloppy play by the other. My lovely wife even noticed, commenting, "Geez, this is sloppy." (Note: she makes this same comment after our puppy drinks water or after I make sweet love. Again, see, I saved you from having to make the joke yourself.)

Anyway, what's more important here is the Boiled Sports Tourney Pick 'Em Extravaganza, which is now led by CA Boilermaker, who can lock it up with a Memphis win tonight. If Kansas wins, A WHOLE LOT OF 3'S will take home the trophy.*

Interestingly, though, if that Kansas win happens, Mrs. Boilerdowd would wind up in fourth place with a very impressive showing (that's what she said). I would beat my co-editors (and 76 of you slackers) with a 7th-place finish.

So college basketball ends tonight. Not forever, of course. Just for the season. So get your fill of Bill Self's hair and Bob Knight's eyebrows.

*Note, tropy is metaphorical.

Jane In Accounting Thinks This Bracket Business Is Easy

And do you know why she thinks that? Because all four number 1 seeds have made it to the Final Four. How effing boring. But at least it should mean that the Final Four games are actually good this year, unlike most of the games in recent years. Four powerhouses, the four everybody theoretically should want to see are there. And even though I have Kansas winning it all, I have to admit I was pumped to see Davidson hang with them yesterday. Until, of course, they realized they were "just Davidson" and coaching decisions were left to Steph Curry's mom or something. Seriously, with a timeout to draw up a play and 16 seconds on the clock, down by two, the best you can do is give the ball to Curry and... what?

"Okay, men... this is what it all comes down to... I, I... um... gulp... I don't know, I'm too excited! What do we do?? Steph! Do you want the ball?? Cool! Tell you what, you just take the ball up the court and win the game. That's the play! Everybody else! You stand around and watch Steph!"

Seriously, that's what his teammates basically did until there were about 2 seconds left and Curry was being triple-covered. So then, down by two, the best move is a 25-footer that would get you yelled at if you threw it up during a pick-up game at the co-rec. Good run by Davidson, but they should take more heat than they are for that final play.

Anyway, back to the brackets. Entry adrenaline leads all comers with 98 points, one ahead of a tie for second between K-Towns 2 and K-Town 2. And yes, those are from different Yahoo users. Spooky, I know. Boilerdowd is keeping the BS staff looking less stupid than we might otherwise, by hanging around in 6th place, while his wife is just 5 points behind him in 14th place.

Yahoo allows us to use their "Scenario Generator" to figure out who might win our bracket. (Wouldn't it be fun to use the "Scenario Generator" for other things in life? Like, "If I hit my golf ball into the meathead's group in front of me because he's a douchebag, what's the likelihood that he'll come beat me to death with his flop wedge?")

Anyway, here are just some of the fun possibilities:

UNC and Memphis play for the title with UNC winning: Boiler Up wins (currently 5th). Same matchup, but with Memphis winning gives the contest to me so horney me love you long (currently 37th).

Kansas over Memphis: A WHOLE LOT OF 3'S wins (currently 4th).
Memphis over Kansas: CA Boilermaker (currently 24th).
UNC over UCLA: adrenaline (current leader in the clubhouse).
UCLA over UNC: Revs Bracket (currently 8th).
UCLA over Kansas: Lutz Minnoy & Watt Are Smart (Boilerdowd, currently 6th).

You get the idea. And you can play with the generator to your heart's content, once you're done with your picnic table.

Only three games left in the college basketball season. They should actually be good, too.

BS Tourney Challenge Update

Just a quick check-in on our standings after the round of 16 as we're now down to 8 teams left.

A WHOLE LOT OF 3'S has himself a three-point lead, which is actually a big lead in our league, with so many bunched together and 11th place only six points back.

Boilerdowd is making the editors of Boiled Sports look good with his current stand-alone position in second place with 69 (dude) points.

I haven't had a chance to review everyone's brackets in detail but I did click on maybe 12-15 last night and noticed that nearly all of them had the same exact Final Four as me -- UNC, KU, UCLA and Texas. So if that happens, there will be quite a cluster at the top.

I also feel I must point out that last time I trumpeted Boilerdowd's sheer genius for picking Davidson to upset Georgetown, but I've since seen that he wasn't the only one. And I did happen to notice that entry The NCAA What Now? actually has Davidson where they are, in the Elite Eight. Now that's prognosticating, people. (And if anyone else had that, let me know and I'll issue yet another public apology that results from my desire to go play golf instead of studying your damn brackets.)

As for me, I'm one lone point ahead of my wife at this point so the mood is tense in the Money household. I've decided that if she beats me, her reward will be a coupon for one hour of solid lovin'. To be broken into 30 two-minute sessions, of course. (See, I made the joke for you to save you the trouble.)

Finally, we had some more entrants lose their championship picks but, really, we have a lot still alive for this late in the tourney. But in the round of 16, Cheap Seats (Stanford), Da Bracket #2 (Tenn), Cleveland Boiler (Tenn), The Bu Yo (Tenn), Crackbabies 2 (MSU), I EAT BS ALL THE TIME (Wisconsin) and The Nut High (Washington State) all lost the dream to have the champ correct. They join Florida Boilers (Georgetown), Countarfit...Son (Purdue), Coin Toss (Purdue), TruWinner (Duke), Frosh Boilers (Pitt), dwaine squad (K State) and Random (Gonzaga) against the wall waiting for the next game of dodgeball.

This means 68 players still have the chance to be correct. What this means? I don't know. I have no point, as usual. But I have to go now. My adirondack chair is a cheating little whore and I need to go make sweet love to it before it cheats on me with my other patio furniture.

BS Tourney Pick 'Em Update

Well, two rounds of the NCAA Tourney are complete and it's time to take stock and see how our loyal readers (and their dogs) are doing against us, the kingpins of this debacle of a Web site.

Reminder, first prize wins the ribbon pictured to the left. We would give away Boiled Sports clothing and merchandise but our sweatshop is way behind printing I Heart SBF shirts so the ribbon'll have to do.

On the message board for the BS Tourney Page, there was some initial discussion about who had the best entry name. I was going to get to this if you kids could just hold your horses because, yes, there were some stellar names.

Jumping out at me are the following:

Selwyn Lymon's Stab Wound
obamas pastor
Keady is my Ko-Pilot
Let's Be Realistic Here (sounds like something Tim would say)
Flying Hellfish
MC Hammer Toes
Brian Cardinal's Hair
I Want 2 Lick R Williams Tears
me so horney me love you long

Feel free to comment on these wonderful names... and maybe, if I'm feeling frisky, a poll might go up for the first time in BS history.

Don't feel bad -- this handsome man had Pitt winning it all.

Now let's move along to some analysis of the picks so far. It's always fun to point and laugh at others -- after all, what's the point of the brackets being public if you can't do that?

The aforementioed Selwyn Lymon's Stab Wound entry is leading the way, tied with A WHOLE LOT OF 3'S entry (must be Stephen A Smith's entry with the screaming capital letters) and The NCAA What Now? entry. They're all at 48 points and looking good, with all three having 7 of their Elite Eight picks remaining and all four Final Fours. Well done, gentlemen. Or ladies, if you prefer.

The big news, though, is that fellow editor Boilerdowd is just three points off the pace with his entry Lutz Minnoy & Watt Are Smart. And why is he hanging around? Because he has foresight, you young lads. He knew -- he literally smelled it -- that Davidson was a Sweet 16 squad. Don't believe me? Look at his bracket and notice that he picked them to knock off G-town. Also notice that he's got all his E8 teams remaining. Solid. (He should be docked points, though, for picking against Purdue -- in the first round!) When I asked him about this pick and how he knew, his answer was the following:

Simple- they were ranked the first two weeks of the season because writers believed they were talented and veteran enough to deserve it based on last season...They lost back-to-back-to-back to Duke (ACC), Charlotte (A-10) and UCLA (Pac-10) then lost a week later to NC State (ACC)...they didn't lose again for the rest of the season. Truthfully, they probably shouldn't have been ranked at the beginning of the season, but they were and are a good team. One can't fault them for losing games against top-tier conference teams. Sadly for them, Tucker and Wisconsin will stop their run with stifling defense this week.

Good work.

Some other notable factoids...

My wife is hanging tough, still having 6 of her E8 teams and three of her Final Fours, though she has lost half her championship game matchup. Still, she's only five points out of the top spot in our league. Chew on that gents. An interesting side note is that she always wears this old UNC t-shirt around the house... it's old, faded, probably from an old boyfriend, etc. And I always like to give her a hard time about wearing that and not a Boilers shirt. She always pleads innocence saying it's just a knockaround shirt and she pays no attention to it. Yet, we look at her bracket and see.... North Carolina winning it all. Innnnnnteresting.

Another of the better halves, Mrs. Boilerdowd, is also a sleeper at this point. Sure, she's listed in only 53rd place but that's because of some poor early-round picks. But she has managed to keep all of her E8 teams alive, which means she's poised for a meteoric rise up the standings. Just like in college, she's one to keep an eye on.

Esteemed co-editor Tim is in a similar boat, though his boat has taken on even more water, landing him in 67th place. That said, though, Tim also has his Final Four teams all alive and six of his E8 teams.

(As for me, I have seven of my E8 and all Final Fours, if you're wondering. And I know you're not.)

A special Boiled Sports shout-out to entries Countarfit.....Son and Coin Toss for being true believers and having Purdue winning the whole thing. Good on you, men. We admire your kind of delusion.

And finally, worth mention are the following original thinkers, too:

Gittle Brings the Knowledge
The Heavilon Favorites
Baby Boilers

Why? Because these guys chose to eschew conventional thinking and go for the decided unconventional "no pick" for their championship choice. I suppose they're expecting the AlamoDome to collapse during the championship game or something. Hey, in one shining moment, you never know.