Welcome to the 19th Annual
March Madness^® Illegal Office Pool™

Twenty years after Danny and the Miracles won it all at KU, Mario's miracle shot Monday night capped off a comeback for the ages and led the Jayhawks to another national title, as Kansas beat Memphis 75-68 in OT.

Frozen Four Bound: U-M Blanks Clarkson in Regional  - Aaron Palushaj and Kevin Porter scored goals for U-M, which got 27 saves from Billy Sauer for a 2-0 shutout of Clarkson in the NCAA East Regional final.  The Wolverines next stop is at the Frozen Four in Denver where they will be snacking on the likes of BC, Notre Dame, North Dakota and other imposters en route to their record 12th NCAA title.  Or is it 13?  I forget, I just know it's double digits. For all you ACC fans out there, "en route" means "beating your opponent senseless until he weeps like a little girl".

Thanks to all for playing.  Nard 2 proves that consistently correct guessing in each round will always prevail over the fly and die strategy of many early round leaders.  He came back from 44 points in the first round to win sole possession of first place, and the cool $1000 that goes with that.  P- HANDS/3 and GoJayhawks tied for 2nd place, followed up by wilt scores 20,000 ( in one night ) in 3rd, young Teenage Wasteland in 4th and Twiggy 2 in 5th.   Honorable mentions are shown in the rooting sheet at right.

Click Standings to find your final position in the pool, and once again, thanks for playing.

Ties are paid out by combining positions.  If 6 people tied for 1st place, they would all share the entire pool money equally and there would be no payout for 2nd place.

MONEY TO BE CONSOLIDATED BY ADMINISTRATORS THIS WEEK AND REDISTRIBUTED OUT THROUGH THE BAGMEN STARTING NEXT MONDAY NIGHT.  Please be patient.  If you don't know a bagman, please email admin@mmiop.com with your mailing address and we'll send you a check.

How to play

1. First step is to fill out your picks.  Click on the "Enter Picks" button at the left and go to the Picks Sheet.  Fill in the form entirely and completely.  If you need help with this concept, go practice over at SI or someplace else, come back here when you've mastered the art.  Pay attention to your picks.  You need to make your picks BEFORE NOON on Thursday AFTER SELECTION SUNDAY.  No exceptions - the "Enter Picks" button will be deactivated at that time!
   
2. At the top of the Picks screen BE SURE to enter your REAL NAME which is ONLY used for administrative purposes to match your money with your picks.  This name will only be known to you and the administrators of this pool and will be discarded at the end of the tournament.  NOTE!  Each PICKS name must be unique - if you are playing more than one sheet, change the PICKS name for each pick, but keep the REAL name the same so we can match your picks with your money.
   
3. Be sure to enter your SHEET name.  Your SHEET name is the name you would like to see in the Standings report which is published here on the site.  This is the name that could win you a small prize for creativity.
   
4. And finally BE SURE to enter your email address -- this address will be used to send you a copy of your picks and like your real name, will not be sold or sent to anyone unrelated to the pool unless they show us serious cash or represent a government agency with a valid search warrant.  If you do not have an email account, then find someone who does -- and get the confirmation email from them to see your validated picks.  If you don't know anyone with an email account, move to a cave that has Internet access.
   
5. CHECK YOUR PICKS BEFORE YOU CLICK THE SUBMIT BUTTON!  If you determine that you made a mistake after submitting your picks, do the following:  Submit a new set of corrected picks.  As your SHEET name, use the same name you used on the bad sheet but add the phrase "CORRECTION" to the end of the name.  This is the only way we can determine that you wish to withdraw the original sheet in favor of the new sheet.   If you don't follow this procedure, we can only assume that 2 or more of your picks with similar names means you want to submit several sheets.
   
6. The most important step:  You need to find a way to get $10 for each sheet to one of the following people:  Mikie D, Moon Man, Robbie H or The Godfather on or before NOON Thursday AFTER SELECTION SUNDAY -- NO EXCEPTIONS.  If you don't expect to see any of these guys before then, you need to MAIL YOUR CHECK TO:

R MOONEY
101 North Shore Rd. 
Derry, NH 03038

IF YOU ARE WRITING A CHECK FOR MULTIPLE ENTRIES -- INCLUDE A SEPARATE PIECE OF PAPER WITH THE NAMES OF THE PICKS THAT GOES WITH THE CHECK!

IF YOU ARE SUBMITTING ONE $10 CHECK FOR ONE PICK PUT THE NAME OF YOUR PICK IN THE MEMO OF THE CHECK.

The envelope must be postmarked on or before Thursday AFTER SELECTION SUNDAY or else you are not eligible for cash prizes.  And your bragging rights will also be tainted with the foul smell of impropriety.

For your convenience, a bag man may be appearing at a location near you during the days prior to the deadline to take your $10 (cash or check):

• Monday - The Godfather at VTL Lexington
• Tuesday - The Godfather at CONSTELLATION ENERGY (Lowell, MA)
• Wednesday - The Godfather at Wilmington
• Thursday - The Godfather in Boston.
• All Week - Mike & Rob at the Usual Location in Waltham
• All other locations should pursue the check-by-mail option.

Initiate your contact with the bag man by using the code phrase "The '89 National Champion Wolverines was certainly the best college hoop team ever".

SPECIAL NOTE TO OUT-OF-TOWNERS:  If you are in a remote location, we encourage you to spread the word among your friends and play in large amounts.  As a consideration to the money minders of this pool, please try to consolidate your payments into a single check accompanied by a list of REAL NAMES that the check should be used to cover.  We encourage participation by anyone with a net worth exceeding $10.

Then What?

Scoring

Authentication & Integrity