Friends in Madness,

The survivor gods watched what transpired during the Round of 32 and called an emergency meeting.

The Sweet 16 is what resulted.

We went from 582 survivors to just 41.

Our Bracket potential scores took a collective nosedive...

... except for one man's absurdly good bracket. LOOK AT IT.

In Bracket #2, @ChipotleJEFF got SEVEN of the Elite 8 correct, and has Illinois, Bama, Duke, and Purdue in the Final Four.

His best potential score of 123 is a full 8 points higher than any other bracket across all our traditional scoring pools.

Don't know how to break this to you, Jeff, but you've peaked with respect to brackets. This is it. Be proud knowing 99.9% of us will never approach such beauty.

UPDATED BRACKET POTENTIAL SCORE STANDINGS

Potential Score = Highest score someone's Bracket could earn, if everything breaks their way from here.

We'll get this on the website eventually; for now, it's in Google Sheet form.

View Bracket Potential Score standings >>

Here are the leaders in each Bracket (click usernames to see their bracket):

BIG BRACKET:

1/ @Eric (114-point potential)
2/ @carolinenj23 (113)
T3/ @aglass2 (111)
T3/ @Kimbos_Krushers_ (111)

BRACKET #2:

1/ @ChipotleJEFF (123-point potential)
2/ @leeleslie86 (115)
T3/ @Jricci1491 (109)
T3/ @Jmooch3687 (109)

100 TIER:

T1/ @Slick67 (102-point potential)
T1/ @mshaw03 (102)
3/ @FredFreddy (99)
2 tied at 97

UPSET BRACKET:

This is... a lot more complicated to calculate. We're working on it! In the meantime, have fun clicking into our current leaders' brackets.

SWEET 16 RESULTS

What happened, in one paragraph

After an upset-laden Round 1, and an incredibly chalky Round 2, the pendulum swung back to chaos. (11) NC State beat (2) Marquette. Two 1-seeds went down in UNC (to Alabama) and Houston (to Duke). And (6) Clemson took care of (2) Arizona. UConn continuing to annihilate teams is the only thing keeping us grounded at this point.

BIG BRACKET

• Avg points: 8.5 (of 24 possible). We averaged just 2.8 wins per bracket.
• Best round performance: 18 (17 people got six of the Elite 8 teams correct).
• Most damaging loss: Houston (to Duke). The Cougars were our second most popular champion pick (14% of brackets).
• Overall leaders: @DReese7 (69 points). Their bracket has Tennessee over UConn in the final. If that happens, they'll almost certainly be our champ. 
• Best Squad: The Busted Brackets (188 points). The lead is just 1 over Marching to Madness with Nigel, and 4 over AC Alumni March Madness. 

SURVIVOR

• Round W/L record: 309 - 833 (27%). Our top three picks all lost (Marquette, Arizona, UNC). Just a brutal survivor round. 
• Damage done: 541 (93%). Easily the worst round in MM Survivor history.
• Survivors: 41 are on to the Elite 8. 
• Best Squad: 3 tied at 21. Though Buzzer Beaters is the only one of the three to have a survivor still standing. One more win by @rileytagtmeyer locks up this title for Buzzer Beaters. 

PICK'EM

• Round performance: 45.3% win rate. Our worst win rate in the two years we've done this pool!
• Best round score: 8-0 (@teeroyj and @asida3). Betting on these 8 picks would have made you both a LOT of money.
• Overall leader: 4 tied at 45-11. Our four leaders had 4, 5, 5, and 6 wins in the Sweet 16.
• Best Squad: The Busted Brackets and Marching to Madness with Nigel (126 wins). This is gonna come down to the end! 

OUR OTHER 3 BRACKET POOLS

• Bracket #2: @ChipotleJEFF leading with 74 pts.
• Upset Bracket: @Sgeagan leading with 122 pts. 
• 100 Tier Bracket: @FredFreddy and @mrmelty leading with 60 pts.

YOUR BEST COMMENTS

@Achart12 (Survivor - Tennessee, Alabama): "Looked at this way too long before the sad realization that if I were to make it to the final I won’t have a team left. Womp woooooomp. "
Commish says: Remember! In our years doing MM Survivor, nobody has ever even made a pick in the title game. So you've got a shot!

@Lambda_derg (Pick'em): "UConn and Purdue steamrolling their way to the finals. As predicted! "
Commish says: Yes, because March Madness always goes as predicted. The Madness is just there for irony, Derg.

@RedEd4 (Pick'em): "ACC, Big Ten and the SEC will be in Phoenix next week...any combo of teams as long as UConn are back in Storrs. F*** UConn, Syracuse for life! I mean they suck, but still, it's against my principles to choose UConn to win... again."
Commish says: I was about to be like "I root for Pac-12 teams (RIP) when USC is out" until I remembered Syracuse isn't in the Big East anymore. BRING BACK THE OLD BIG EAST!

@Cully (Pick'em): "Just bet the left side of the column! Alabama has the revenge tour going from football! Duke is back at it again and always well coached. UConn is mad for the repeat. Purdue is just plain good!!!"
Commish says: This is definitely on a shirt somewhere in Indiana. PURDUE: JUST PLAIN GOOD.

@BigDaddy (Pick'em): "Predicting an all Big Ten Final — both Illinois and Purdue know one another well, have elite position players on the perimeter and in the post, and are super well coached."
Commish says: BIGDADDY IS A HOMER

@stefanek22 (Pick'em): "All aboard the chatanooga choo-choo!"
Commish says: Rick Barnes has the eye of someone desperate to no longer be labeled a choker.

@Coolslaw1 (Pick'em): "Come on for Jimmy V"
Commish says: Who's betting against NC State at this point?!

@Mcheavens13 (Pick'em): "What is a boiler maker?"
Commish says: HAVE YOU NEVER DRANK IN THE MIDWEST, MCHEAVENS? It's a shot of whiskey dropped in a beer, clearly.

@Alakhi (Pick'em): "Kneuct is Kneuct. Put some respeck on his name. "
Commish says: (NODDING HEAD FIERCELY)

@ParlayAllDay22 (Pick'em): "i like turtles"
Commish says: (EVEN MORE FIERCELY)

Yours in hoops utopia,
The Commish