NCAA Final Four Set

Kentucky, Ohio State, Kansas, and Louisville are the 2012 NCAA Tournament Final Four - and Heather picked them all!

Not only is it crazy that she correctly guess the Final Four completely - this is the second time she's done it! She also did it in 2008 when she won the Young Family Bracket Challenge. Crazy!

I will update everyone on who is still in it and who isn't in the coming days... but in the meantime here are the standings:

1. Heather - 236.5 points

2. Nathaniel - 213.5 points

3. Dad (Gary) - 208.5 points

4. Robert - 202.5 points

5. Bradley - 198 points

6. Teresa - 195.5 points

7. Matt - 185 points

8. Eric - 169 points

9. Jeremy - 147.5 points

10. Jacob - 120.5 points

11. Lindsey - 117.5 points

12. Beth - 115.5 points

13. Mom - 108.5 points

14. Melissa - 102 points

15. Allison - 90.5 points

As you can see Nathaniel has catapulted into the 2nd place! And Robert has made a push into 4th - his highest ranking ever in the Challenge.

I'll tell everyone the situations for who can win and how soon!

Final Four games will begin on Saturday!

Two of the Final Four Punch Their Ticket!

Two games tonight and two teams have punched their ticket to the Final Four in New Orleans!

Louisville rallied late to beat Florida and Ohio State dominated the glass to beat Syracuse.

First, let me apologize. I have been saying that Heather was the only person whose Final Four was still in tact, when actually Matt also had his entire Final Four intact.

Now that it has been cleared up...

Matt and Heather were the only two to correctly guess that both Louisville and Ohio State to make the Final Four therefore got a big jump in points! Because of this, Heather jumps from third to first, retaking the lead from Dad, and Matt jumps to sixth.

Most everyone had Ohio State in the Final Four after I allowed everyone to change their Syracuse selections after Fab Melo was ruled ineligible. You're welcome.

Here are the standings:

1. Heather - 196.5 points

2. Dad - 188.5 points

3. Brad - 178 points

4. Teresa - 175.5 points

5. Nathaniel - 173.5 points

6. Matt - 165 points

7. Robert - 162.5 points

8. Eric - 149 points

9. Jeremy - 127.5 points

10. Mom (Jo) - 108.5 points

11. Melissa - 102 points

12. Jacob - 100.5 points

13. Lindsey - 97.5 points

14. Beth - 95.5 points

15. Allison - 90.5 points

Tomorrow is a big deal... ALMOST everyone has Kentucky advancing to the Final Four and then it's split between North Carolina and Kansas... some people will be eliminated from the challenge after tomorrow's games!

It's pretty close!!!

Elite Eight Set! Dad Take the Lead!

The Elite 8 is set!

Dad and Teresa each correctly guessed SIX of the eight games, tying the Young Family Bracket Challenge record! Don't get too excited... they share that record with four others (Allison, Brad, Eric and Jeremy). However, this is the second time Teresa has tied this record as she also correctly guessed six of the Elite Eight in 2009 - when she won the Challenge... will history repeat itself???

Dad picked correctly for all four games yesterday and took the lead for the first time ever with 168.5 points! Following him is Brad, who cannot win the challenge, Heather (3rd), Teresa (4th), and Nathaniel (5th). Nathaniel has begun to scrap his way into the challenge too. Nathaniel correctly guess five of the eight this year! Way to go, buddy!

Heather is the only person whose entire Final Four is still in the running. Everyone should cheer for Florida when they play Louisville today so that way she can't get all four again!

Here are the standings:

1. Dad (Gary) - 168.5 points

2. Brad - 158 points

3. Heather - 156.5 points

4. Teresa - 155.5 points

5. Nathaniel - 153.5 points

6. Robert - 142.5 points

7. Eric - 129 points

8. Jeremy - 127.5 points

9. Matt - 125 points

10. Mom - 108.5 points

11. Jacob - 100.5 points

12. Beth - 95.5 points

13. Allison - 90.5 points

14. Melissa - 82 points

15. Lindsey - 77.5 points

Way to go everyone... two games tonight and two games on Sunday to determine the Final Four!

Isn't that picture of dad LEGIT?! It's my favorite.

Four of the Elite Eight are set! We have a new leader!

Four of the Elite Eight teams are set! And with that, we have a new leader!

For the first time in the competition, Brad is not sitting atop the standings. I know you're all sad.

Heather has taken the lead as she correctly selected two of the games last night (please enjoy this picture of Heather dancing! :-p). Nobody did particularly well with the four games last night. Only Heather, Dad, Teresa, and Matt got more than one right; and to be honest a handful of us didn't get any of them right!

In second place is Dad (Gary), Brad is holding steady in third place, and Teresa, who has continued to climb the standings, is now in fourth! Has anyone noticed that Teresa never does well in the first few rounds and then comes out of nowhere every. single. year? I'm not kidding, look:

She started out in 14th place. Then jumped up to 11th. Then jumped up to 7th. Fell to 8th. And is now in 4th place. Not to mention, she still has 3 of her Final Four teams in the competition. Unreal.

Here are the standings:

1. Heather - 111.5 points

2. Dad - 108.5 points

3. Bradley - 98 points

4. Teresa - 95.5 points

5. Matt - 95 points

6. Nathaniel - 93.5 points

7. Eric - 84 points

8. Robert - 82.5 points

9. Mom - 78.5 points

10. Jeremy - 67.5 points

11. Melissa - 67 points

12. Beth - 65.5 points

13. Lindsey - 62.5 points

14. Allison - 60.5 points

15. Jacob - 55.5 points

It is worth mentioning that Brad is no longer in the running to win the 2012 Bracket Challenge. Even though he is currently sitting in third place, has three of his Final Four selections still alive, and the two Championship contenders alive; Dad (Gary) has the EXACT same selections as Brad for the remainder of the tournament. So, as Dad is 10.5 points ahead of Brad, he will not be able to pass Dad.

Way to go, Dad, for eliminating me... ouch.

Heather Steamrolls Into 2nd - Sweet 16 Set!

Well, the Sweet 16 is set!

South bracket: Kentucky, Indiana, Baylor, Xavier

West bracket: Michigan State, Louisville, Marquette, Florida

East bracket: Syracuse, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Ohio State

Midwest bracket: North Carolina, Ohio, NC State, Kansas

There are some really interesting matchups here! And quite a few that will decide everyone's fate in the challenge! The biggest game will be the Indiana vs. Kentucky game - a rematch of the most exciting game during the regular season in which Indiana beat Kentucky with a last-second three. It was the only loss Kentucky suffered during the regular season... could be a great game!

In sad news, North Carolina star point guard fractured his wrist in the victory over Creighton - who played unbelievably dirty all game. He underwent surgery this morning and is unlikely to return for the Sweet 16 match-up vs. Ohio. The Heels have already lost his back-up this year and will now look to 3rd and 4th option point guards who average about 4 minutes a game... his loss is a devastating one to the Heels if they want to compete for a Championship. It's so sad... this guy is my favorite Tar Heel of all time.

Now, in happier (kind of...) news, Heather has come out of NOWHERE and climbed all the way into 2nd place! She correctly selected 12 of the Sweet 16; and more dangerously still has six of her Elite 8 in tact. She barely trails Brad, who along with Dad (Gary) and Nathaniel, selected 11 of the Sweet 16. Brad has seven of his Elite 8 still set.

Dad and Nathaniel are tied for third place with 78.5 points and Eric rounds out the top-5 with 69 points.

Could Heather become the first two-time champion? God, I hope not!

Here are the standings:

1. Brad - 83 points

2. Heather - 81.5 points

T3. Dad (Gary) - 78.5 points

T3. Nathaniel - 78.5 points

5. Eric - 69 points

T6. Jeremy - 67.5 points

T6. Robert - 67.5 points

T8. Beth - 65.5 points

T8. Teresa - 65.5 points

10. Matt - 65 points

11. Mom (Jo) - 63.5 points

12. Allison - 60.5 points

13. Jacob - 55.5 points

14. Melissa - 52 points

15. Lindsey - 47.5 points

The Sweet 16 games will be played on Thursday and Friday, so we have all week to recover.

Take this time to wish Kendall Marshall a speedy recovery and to revel in my lead... which I'm afraid is coming to an end.

Come on Dad and Nathaniel! Don't let Heather win again!!!

Our blog goes global!

According to the Bracket stats, our blog has gone GLOBAL.

Here are the numbers of people from each country who have visited our blog...

We're legit. Too legit. Too legit to quit!

I see you, Ukraine!

United States: 408
Ukraine: 8
India: 2
Russia: 2
Germany: 1

Brad and Dad go 8-for-8; Brad maintains lead!

The first half of the Sweet 16 are set! There were zero upsets today but all of the games were pretty exciting!

Indiana rallied late and took down VCU in the most exciting game of the tournament so far! It was pretty intense... Beth was sweating it pretty bad!

Brad and Dad (Gary) both went 8-for-8 on the day! Great minds think alike... I'm just saying...

Eric made a HUGE jump as he correctly guessed 7-of-8 on the day (it's about time!) - as did Nathaniel - and moved from 14th to 4th! And Teresa jumped up a few spots as well as she correctly guessed 6.

Unfortunately, some people fell some spots... Beth fell from 2nd to 11th and Matt fell from 3rd to 8th... don't worry, guys, there is still time!

Hey, did you hear? Dook lost yesterday! :)

Here are the standings:

1. Bradley - 68 points

2. Dad (Gary) - 63.5 points

3. Nathaniel - 58.5 points

4. Eric - 54 points

5. Jeremy - 52.5 points

6. Heather - 51.5 points

7. Teresa - 50.5 points

8. Matt - 50 points

9. Mom (Jo) - 48.5 points

10. Robert - 47.5 points

11. Beth - 45.5 points

12. Melissa - 42 points

T13. Jacob - 40.5 points

T13. Allison - 40.5 points

15. Lindsey - 22.5 points

Tomorrow should be a little different. Mom (Jo), Brad, and Heather have the greatest opportunity to score some solid points as they have 7 (Mom) and 6 (Brad & Heather) of the possible 8 remaining members of the Sweet 16 still alive! No one else has more than 5.

There are some great match-ups tomorrow! Keep watching!