Brilliant brackets and broken brackets abound in the OBNUG tournament pool

Like millions of other red-blooded Americans you probably filled out an NCAA tournament bracket this year and like millions of other brackets, your dream of a perfect bracket was likely dashed by day two. The story was much the same for those brave and intrepid souls that chose to fill out a Yahoo! bracket in OBNUG’s tournament pool—except they really weren’t all that brave because there was no cost involved and virtually no risk matching wits with OBNUG’s team of “can you tell we’re football guys”.

All that said, with the final four set some cream has managed to rise to the top among the OBNUG commentariat. With just three games left in the tourney, here are the top five (out of 22 participants):

NYBroncosFan sits atop the standings with 43 correct picks out of 60. Furthermore, NYBroncosFan’s “Lurky McLurkyton” bracket has 2 of the final four teams correct (Gonzaga and UNC) and therefore still has a pretty large possible point total with 144 points available. Matt is sitting in the two spot and looks like he has a good chance to at least stay near the top with a possible point totally almost rivaling NYs.

Best bracket names

“Lurky McLurkyton”, “Wolpin' Your Bracket”, and (personal fav) “BracketBusterBluth” get high marks for creativity and I'd be remiss without mentioning my own dad-joke masterpiece "Gimme Some Moa" or Casey's magnificent "Akilian Your Bracket" zinger. Travy’s entry “Fumble Safety” was entirely TOO SOON.

Staff picks

Michael is clearly the smart one of the group (that’s him sitting in the #3 spot) but a yawn-inducing bracket name brings him down. Next up is yours truly in the #8 spot. I have picked 39 correct winners out of 60 but I only have a possible point total of 80...I’m not going to catch the leader but I could technically catch Michael...and I intend to.

Damien is next up in the #14 spot. He was one of a handful to make it through the first round virtually unscathed but was maybe a bit higher on Duke than he should have been (a classic blunder). Bringing up the rear...and I do mean rear is Casey, who is dead last in the tourney challenge. His 28 correct picks are almost performance art. He had Villanova winning it all...which honestly was a pretty solid pick and he’s the only person that was bullish on Xavier...still, Casey should be mercilessly pointed and laughed at.