Friends in Madness,

No 1-seeds left. A lone 2-seed.

Last week, Commish was like "just remember, last year's Bracket champ only had 89 points." Now I'm like "can anyone achieve such an incredible result?!"

ELITE 8 PICKS

• Big Bracket: Summary | Standings
• Survivor: Summary | Standings | Golden Spreadsheet
• Pick'em: Summary | Standings
• Bracket #2: Pick summary | Standings
• Bracket #3: Pick summary | Standings
• Your group picks (get in a group with friends!)

You're here for the analysis - who has the highest bracket potential and how many people have a legit shot at the Survivor crown - so let's get straight to it.

In Bracket land, Commish can't believe he's even typing this, but we have two people with their entire Final Four intact:

• @estanske leads our Big Bracket "potential" rankings with 104 potential points, and has a Final Four of 6-CREI, 9-FAU, 2-UT, 4-CONN. See @estanske's bracket >>
• @nischris leads Bracket #2 in potential, with 101 potential points, and has a Final Four of 6-CREI, 3-KSU, 2-UT, 3-ZAGA. See @nischris' bracket >>

Absurd. Commish bows to the two of you and wants whatever you were taking while making your picks.

We have just 15 people left in the Big Bracket with a potential score of 90+.

SEE THE FULL BRACKET POTENTIAL STANDINGS >>

SDSU or Miami winning in the Elite 8 would guarantee that our champ will be in the 80s or 90s, with 80s being far likelier.

Remember, ZERO people took SDSU or FAU to win it all. And just six had Miami, seven had Creighton, and 12 had KSU.

Could this be the first - and likely only - time that our Bracket champ DOESN'T get the national champion correct?

That is absolutely on the table. And I need a few more Bud Light Limes to fully digest that wild reality.

BRACKET RECAP

That was our worst round in the history of SZN March Madness pools. We hit on just 24.5% of our picks. 2/8 was our most common result, with 1/8 being the next most common.

How many FAU pickers?! 19 brave souls had FAU advancing to the Elite 8 in our Big Bracket. Just five of them have FAU winning the East regional: @bdykes5, @EAllDay, @ivaronin, @yemmer08, and our potential points leader, @estanske. None have the Owls advancing to the title game.

Leaders: @Danostano is our current leader at 62 points, but has just one Final Four team left in UConn (and has the Huskies losing there). Still, look at that beautiful West regional! 

Region by region analysis: The gap continues to grow between the left half of the bracket and the right half. On the right side, we've averaged 13.4 (Midwest) and 13.6 (West) points so far. On the left... 7.7 (East) and 8.6 (South).

Team SZN record: Lol. We're no better than the rest of y'all. But @Merf has clawed his way to 480th, and has Creighton in the National Championship (finishing 2nd).

SURVIVOR RECAP

We went from 206 down to 66, and Commish is honestly surprised it wasn't worse.

Saving the 1-seeds for strategic purposes turned out to be a massive blessing in disguise for those who avoided them altogether.

Everyone still alive is in the money, but NOT everyone still alive has two teams available to pick in the Elite 8.

Per the Golden Spreadsheet here's the availability rate for all 8 remaining teams:

• Creighton: 1.5% available (just 1 person!)
• UConn: 19.7%
• Texas: 43.9%
• SDSU: 43.9%
• K State: 48.5%
• Zaga: 51.5%
• FAU: 51.5%
• Miami: 90.9%

Four of our most used five teams are favored in the Elite 8. If things go to script (I know, I know, what does that even mean in this tourney), it's gonna be an availability desert in the Final Four.

And here is how many Elite 8 teams our survivors had available to pick heading into the Elite 8:

• 2 available teams: 8 people (including some with those 2 teams playing each other, meaning they can only make 1 pick)
• 3 available teams: 20
• 4 available teams: 34
• 5 available teams: 4 (@Salroc_, @Rodeo360, @aweinfield, @Sooser21)

SIX of the Elite 8 teams got at least 14 Survivor picks. That means we have a bunch of head-to-head clashes. It gets REAL interesting from here.

PICK'EM RECAP

Familiar face @Randipoli is back on top, tied with @Rthecity for the Overall lead at 44 correct picks (out of 56 games so far). That is... absurdly good.

Both somehow got 6/8 correct in the Sweet 16.

And let's bow down to @zachbfoster, who somehow got ALL 8 games correct in the Sweet 16 - the only person on The SZN to do this.

For our Rounds 2-6 interval, 19/24 is the best anyone has done. There are 60 people within two wins of the lead.

PICK COMMENTS

@RobbieRuss (Survivor: SDSU, UT): "I always thought my role here at SZN was just to be the dude hanging around, dropping a decent joke here and there, finishing firmly in the bottom 1/3 of all pools regardless of sport. But look at me now, man! Sittin’ here with a joint reflecting on this magical Cinderella run. And while it saddens me to know this will be the last time I hit the submit pick button this year, I will forever cherish the 2023 SZN Dance Survivor. Now, like a true king, I shall take my wife queen to go pick up 3 $5 hot and ready pizzas from my guy Lil’ Caesar. We fancy tonight and this feast is on @thecommish baby!!!"
Commish says: HOLD UP. If you win both your picks, you might get six pizzas, or even 10 pizzas! Are you throwing a party in that scenario? AM I INVITED?!

@gconnolly (Survivor; FAU, UT): "Didn't realize how crazy this would get that I have to pick FAU over KSU...then I have no one left."
Commish says: But is this even a "have to" situation? FAU is only a 1.5-point underdog. And the fact you're even here is remarkable. You'll brag to your grandkids about this someday!

@BigDaddy (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): "Way deep… in crappy efforts. BigDaddy is not infeugo!"
Commish says: You are so not en fuego that you can't even spell en fuego. GET IT TOGETHER, DAD

@judigregry (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): "You should start a pool to guess how many years in a row that UCLA will lose to Gonzaga on a last second 3 pointer… gut wrenching x2!!!"
Commish says: Great idea. Let's create it, and go market it on UCLA's campus. What could go wrong?!

@StatCzar (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): "Jesus Christ, I'm so blue all the time
And that's just how I feel
Always have and I always will
I always have and always will
-Phoebe Bridgers singing about all of our March Madness picks "
Commish says: Always knew you were a Phoebe Bridgers shower singer

@Deacon (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): "This is nuts. Burn it all down!"
Commish says: BUT I LIKE IT HERE

@RPoli (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): "Picking the opposite of what my wife needs to win her pool so I guarantee she wins. I am a mush. "
Commish says: She's already cashed in our pools, and is well on her way to more. Does this make you love her more or... not?

@Jagwar5397 (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): " Just landed in Florida and ready for some $ and no more upsets. "
Commish says: But are you ready for weird Florida shit to happen?

@JMan2276 (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): "I lost "
Commish says: You, me, Nate Oats, Lamar Jackson, and everybody else, man.

@jrcondon (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): "Chalky, chalk, chalkity, chalk. "
Commish says: HOW HAS THIS WORKED FOR YOU SO FAR

@Rthecity (MM Round-by-Round Pick'em): "#3 on Kansas State’s name is David N’Guessan. N I’m definitely guessing on these picks."
Commish says: HE'LL BE HERE ALL WEEK, FOLKS

Yours in Hooptopia,
The Commish