acacia march madness - midpoint glance

So here comes another year of Acacia match madness. We’ve come a long way from the inaugural debut year of just a handful of brackets and no clear indicator of who is a good predictor of college sports and who is flying blind in the wind (well, it’s still like that now). After the initial success, this year’s bracket selection has expanded to nine total, highlighted by the departure of Team PGee and Team Maggie, and the addition of Teams Dave, Deborah, Vince/Penguins, Joe, Yingnan, Billy, and Richard.

Now in the 4th year of Acacia brackets, the bracket challenge started with many unanswered questions. Will Team RichCalBlood have all PAC12 teams going down in the first round except for his beloved Bears? Will Team Geo’s Pick have the Illini in the final four? Will Team Pink Unicorn Ride feature the first 16 over 1 seed victory? Only time will tell. Now that we’re in the full swing of things and we’re at the Sweet-16 round, it’s time to take a look at the brackets and see who is capable of winning it all (in alphabetical order).

Team Busted (tied 5th)
Odd that he chose to name his bracket Busted, as he currently ranks second highest in the possible points category. It’s pretty evident that Team Busted is very much still in the running. Interesting choice, picking his local OSU to win it all, with a solid all midwest championship game. Homesick? Or just confident that the buckeyes have played the hoosiers long enough to know them inside out?

Team Geo’s Pick (1st)
Off to a good start, team Geo’s Pick is now sitting pretty at a pre-sweet-16 #1 rank. However, the prospects for Geo’s Pick does not look so hot, as his bracket is pretty much over with his pick for the crown, overrated #1 Gonzaga, going down to the little guys from Wichita State (heck, they even lost to Illinois in the regular season), and two of his final four teams watching the remainder of the tournament on TV.

Team GO BEARS (tied 5th)
Billy’s bracket started off erratically, moving all over the leader scoreboard before calming a bit as the dust settled after the 2nd round. A bold pick for having California entering the Sweet-16, he is in decent shape with 3 out of four final-four teams remaining. Sadly the Cal Bears encountered a buzz saw in the 3rd round (aka Syracuse). He is also one of the few who made the bold pick of Butler over Miami – perhaps he didn’t see the 90-63 shellacking Miami gave to (then #1) Duke in the regular season.

Team Maryland #1 (8th)
Interesting name, this must be a reference to Maryland’s 2nd round win over Denver in the NIT…oohh wrong tourney. On the bright side, this bracket was off to a speedy start with a #1 rank after day 1’s erratic play. Joe’s picks looked solid and he seemed in decent position to maintain his lead going into day two; however, Joe seems to have stepped in the same sorry stuff as the rest of us. Currently sitting pretty at a cool #8 spot, he (like Geo) seems to be missing 2 of his final four. Unlike Geo, Team Maryland still has a shot at winning given his championship game teams of Louisville and Miami are still in the hunt.

Team Nova’s not a 1 seed?! (7th)
After two solid years of being the doormat of the acacia march madness challenge, things might start looking up for Team Nova…that was until he picked Georgetown to be final-four-bound. Oddly enough, this is the first year this bracket did not pick Villanova to emerge victorious from the regionals. Was it realism setting in? Or an accidental click of a button? It is interesting to note that this is one of two brackets that has a perfect East Regional (the other being Team RichCalBlood) so far.

Team Optimus Prime (tied 2nd)
A late newcomer to the madness, this darkhorse surged to the upper echelon of brackets with smart picks that have panned out in improbable ways. Nevertheless, this bracket has battled hard to earn its way into a three-way tie with RichCalBlood and Vinz and is one of the few that have all four final-four teams intact. I need to confirm this with YNT, but I believe he is employing the unconventional strategy of picking the team whose mascot would make the best new starcraft II character. In this case the angry-bird look-a-like cardinal of Louisville has won his vote.

Team Pink Unicorn Ride (9th)
With 4th seed pick of the hometown team Syracuse, this bracket bravely rides her pink unicorn into the unknown that is the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately her other final-four teams have fallen. Oddly enough, her other title-game candidate is #7 seed Notre Dame – trying to help the Irish re-live their glory days? Or has years of working at a catholic hospital finally won her over to ND? On the bright side, her potential points rank isn’t dead-last (Geo, take notes).

Team RichCalBlood (tied 2nd)
Having taken the geriatric approach to march madness braketology, RichCalBlood has all #1 seeds in the final four. Unfortunately, one of these is not like the others. Overrated Gonzaga bought it in the second game of the tournament to Wichita State. On the bright side, his bracket is still alive and ticking, as he is still looking at a potential point total of a respectable 153. Look for Richard to be watching the final-four on TV much like his Cal Bears.

Team Vinz Winning Bracket – fo’ real (tied 2nd)
Another newcomer to the madness, Team Vinz has taken a level-headed approach to his final-four selection (including 3 picks from the Big East – not surprising). He even drew from the rich Pitt tradition of having his hometown team stop at the elite-eight. Unfortunately Pitt encountered the same early round fate as fellow big-east-ers Nova, Cincinnati, ND, and Georgetown. The upside here is that he is still very much in the hunt with a respectable 153 potential points total.