First of all, here's a link to the spreadsheet with all of the entries. Standings will be updated regularly, at least at the end of the day (possibly more often, but that will depend on when I have time).
As updates are added, they'll be placed at the top of this post so you won't have to scroll all the way down.
Final Results
JackofHearts wins with 158.5 points. KJ is second with 156.5, DFiebs11 third at 155, waw fourth at 149.5, and halfshelmeijin fifth at 146. Possession count for the final was 64, though the tiebreaker didn't matter for any of the top 25.
Average score was 102. Maximum possible was 248.5.
Round 4 Sunday
The race for first place cannot be decided before the title game.
DFiebs11 remains in first place at 155 with Syracuse still alive. waw is now in second with 149.5, Oklahoma and Syracuse. JackofHearts is in third at 146.5 with Villanova, Oklahoma, and Syracuse. In fourth is halfshelmeijin with 146 and Syracuse still alive. KJ@theonlycolors is fifth with Villanova, Oklahoma, and Syracuse and 144.5 points.
Those still in the hunt for first place:
- DFiebs11 (1st, 155, Syracuse): A Syracuse title or North Carolina over Villanova in the final would do it. North Carolina over Oklahoma results in a tie with metfanjim (DFiebs11 would win the tiebreaker with 63 possessions or fewer).
- waw (2nd, 149.5, Syracuse and Oklahoma): Needs Oklahoma to win the title.
- JackofHearts (3rd, 146.5, Syracuse, Oklahoma, and Villanova): Needs Villanova to win the title.
- metfanjim (9th, 140, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Syracuse): Needs North Carolina over Oklahoma in the title game to tie for first with DFiebs11, with a tiebreaker win at 64 possessions or greater. (Oklahoma winning that game would put him ahead of DFiebs11 but behind several others.)
This is the first time I can ever remember no one having all four of the Final Four among their picks, although quite a few have three. Average score is 96.5, with 1.5 teams left.
Round 4 Saturday
DFiebs11 remains in first place, 144 points, one team alive (Syracuse). viraldonutz and I each picked up three points for Oklahoma's advance, remaining in second and third at 142.5 and 142; viraldonutz also has Virginia alive for Sunday's games. waw also gained three points for Oklahoma to move into 4th place alone with Syracuse yet to come; JackofHearts gained six (having both Oklahoma and Villanova) to move into a tie for 5th, with Syracuse yet to play.
Those still in the hunt for first place:
- DFiebs11 (1st, 144, Syracuse): Syracuse must beat Virginia, and either Syracuse or UNC must win the title.
- viraldonutz (2nd, 142.5, Oklahoma and Virginia): Must have Virginia beat Syracuse. Notre Dame can reach the Final Four or Villanova the final, but no further than that for either (and not both of them).
- waw (4th, 138.5, Oklahoma and Syracuse): Must have Syracuse beat Virginia and Oklahoma win the title.
- JackofHearts (t-5th, 135.5, Oklahoma, Villanova, and Syracuse): Must have Villanova win the title, UNC beat Notre Dame, and Virginia win no more than one game.
- KJ@theonlycolors (8th, 133.5, Oklahoma, Villanova, Notre Dame, and Syracuse): Notre Dame must beat UNC. If that happens, a Villanova title or Notre Dame in the final would overtake everyone ahead.
Average is 95 points, 1 team already advanced and one playing Sunday. Six people have five of the remaining six teams alive; five are missing Syracuse, while metfanjim is missing only Villanova. Eighteen have no teams remaining.
Top-scoring possible set of picks so far:
Syracuse (30+)
Gonzaga (22)
Notre Dame (18+)
Wichita State (16.5)
Middle Tennessee (15)
Wisconsin (14)
Stephen F. Austin (14)
Hawaii (13)
Yale (12)
Little Rock (12)
Northern Iowa (11)
Maryland (10)
Indiana (10)
VCU (10)
Oklahoma (9+)
Villanova (9+)
Three other teams - Butler, Providence, and UConn - also give 9 points. UNC and Virginia can join the list (tied at 9 points) by reaching the final or bump the Oklahoma-Villanova loser off the list entirely by winning the title (15 points).
Round 3 Friday
DFiebs11 now leads with 144 points and one team still alive (Syracuse). viraldonutz is in second with 139.5 and three teams alive (Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma). I dropped to third after picking up nothing yesterday (139 points, Kansas and Oklahoma left). waw and Spartikurt are tied for fourth at 135.5; waw still has Oklahoma and Syracuse remaining but Spartikurt's teams are all eliminated.
Those with a chance of winning (scenarios may be incomplete):
- DFiebs11: Syracuse beating Virginia would help a lot, obviously, but if everything else goes haywire for the folks close behind even that may not be necessary. Even if Syracuse wins, the champion cannot be Kansas or Oklahoma.
- viraldonutz: Virginia must beat Syracuse (there are enough possible points to catch DFiebs11 without that, but the only way to do so - Oklahoma as champion, Kansas in the Final Four - would allow waw to move ahead). Also needs either Oklahoma to reach the Final Four, Kansas to the Final Four and either them or Virginia to the final, or Virginia as champion; possibly some other requirements if Notre Dame goes on a run.
- waw: Syracuse must win at least one and Oklahoma must win it all (Oklahoma losing the final would leave waw a half point behind DFiebs11).
- halfshelmeijin (6th, 135, Kansas and Syracuse): Syracuse must win at least one and Kansas must win it all.
- DK0929a (7th, 130, Notre Dame and Syracuse): Notre Dame must at least reach the final to have any chance. If Virginia beats Syracuse, it's likely Notre Dame will have to win it all. If Syracuse wins, Notre Dame in the final is probably enough. In addition, Kansas and Oregon must advance to the Final Four, and at best a tie is possible if Oregon makes the final.
- JackofHearts (8th, 129.5, Kansas, Oklahoma, Villanova, and Syracuse): Need Villanova at least in the final along with Syracuse winning one, or possibly Villanova as champion with UNC runner-up.
- KJ@theonlycolors (10th, 127.5, Villanova, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Syracuse):
Notre Dame to the final is the absolute minimum.(See Saturday results; this was inaccurate. Only one win by Notre Dame is necessary in some cases.) At least one of Villanova and Oklahoma must also advance, and chances are somewhat better if it's Villanova. - metfanjim (t-13th, 124, everyone but Kansas and Villanova): A Notre Dame-Oregon final would at least produce a tie. UNC-Oregon doesn't provide enough points despite metfanjim being the highest-ranked to have either of those teams still alive.
Average is 92 points with three teams left.
Four entries have seven teams remaining: Plomp, pheaflsi, Timothyogles, and Dneez0228 all have everyone but Syracuse. However, the highest rank of any of these four is 77th (87 points). 17 people have six teams left, 19 have five, 27 have four, 27 have three, 22 have two, 21 have only one, and 11 have no teams left. Of those 11, three are currently in the top 12, six are in the top 25, ten are in the top 50, and the lowest is currently 65th (93 points). Of course, they will drop as other people pick up points.
Round 3 Thursday
Not much change yesterday since at most six points were available (1-2-1-2 seeds winning). I'm in first with 139 (2 teams advancing Thursday and two playing Friday), and viraldonutz remains a half-point back in second with an extra team playing Friday (Virginia). Our other teams still alive (Kansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Gonzaga) are all the same, so the Virginia-Iowa State game will decide the order: if the Cavaliers win, viraldonutz passes me and must remain ahead, but if the Cyclones win I will remain a half-point ahead no matter what the rest of the results are.
Spartikurt is in third with 135.5, getting nothing Thursday but having two teams alive Friday (Wisconsin and Gonzaga). He cannot catch either me or viraldonutz since both of us also have those teams.
Dfiebs11 is in fourth at 134, with nothing Thursday but four teams alive Friday (Indiana, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Syracuse). At least one win from Indiana or Syracuse is needed (and a single win from Indiana can at best result in a tie).
BNoorman6 is in fifth at 128.5, with Kansas advancing Thursday and Gonzaga alive Friday. Cannot win overall.
Others still in the hunt for first:
- waw: Currently tied for 7th at 125.5; teams are Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Syracuse. Needs Syracuse to the Final Four and Oklahoma as champion, without Indiana in the Final Four.
- halfshelmeijin: Currently 9th at 125; teams are Kansas, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Syracuse. Needs Syracuse to the Final Four and Kansas as champion, without Indiana winning a game.
- OP3sum: Currently 12th at 120.5; teams are all four of Thursday's winners plus Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa State. I haven't checked all scenarios but I think they need Iowa State to win it all.
- I haven't checked for certain, but I think JackofHearts also has a chance (t-13th, 119.5, Kansas, Villanova, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Syracuse). If it's possible, it requires big runs by both Villanova and Syracuse.
I may have missed a few others; I'll do a more thorough check this weekend.
Spartanmike (currently in 44th) is the only one with 9 teams still alive and one of 20 to get all four of Thursday's winners. For 19 people, the left half of the bracket is now dead, although no one has lost all of their teams yet.
Average score right now is 89 points, 4 or 5 teams alive (two already through to the Elite 8).
Round 2 Sunday
At this point, it's as close as it can get. I'm still hanging onto first with 136 points (6 teams alive), but viraldonutz (7 teams alive) and Spartikurt (4) are both just a half-point back. Dfiebs11 moved up to fourth at 134 (5 teams left), and BNoorman6 drops to fifth with 127.5 and three teams left.
In terms of number of teams remaining, Plomp and @23rims lead the way with 12 each, but both have a lot of ground to make up to catch the leaders. Both have every team on the left side of the bracket still in it, so every game there will provide them with some points. Fourteen others have at least 10 teams left, with the highest score among them belonging to MDILLON4423 (101 points, tied for 44th). No one has lost all of their picked teams yet, though one person has come close with only 1 left.
Average score so far is 86, with 6 or 7 teams still in it.
Round 2 Saturday
Thanks to having more of my teams active on Saturday, I'm back on top for the moment at 127 points (4 teams already advanced to the Sweet 16, 4 to play today). BNoorman6 is in second at 122.5 and Spartikurt third at 120.5; they have only 2 and 1 team who has already advanced, respectively, but each has five playing today.
viraldonutz remains in fourth at 118.5 but has the potential to make up some ground today, with seven teams to play (three have already advanced). Dfiebs11 edges out BreslinBirds for 5th, with 117 points to 116.5; both have four teams to play today, but Dfiebs11 has three from yesterday still alive to BreslinBirds's two.
haydenmay10 (missing only Duke) and @23rims (missing only Gonzaga) are the only two to have picked seven of yesterday's winners among their 16. Plomp is the only person remaining with 13 teams alive, six of whom have already advanced to the Sweet 16.
The current averages:
Points: 73.5
Teams left: 8 or 9, with five playing today (3 or 4 having already advanced)
Round 1 Friday
Welp. Despite the horror of this afternoon, the show must go on.
The new leader is BNoorman6, with 110.5 points and 11 teams still alive. Just one point behind is Spartikurt, with 12 teams still in it. I'm in third place at 108, with 13 teams alive. viraldonutz joins the leaderboard in fourth at 105.5 (14 teams alive, tied for the most of anyone), and BreslinBirds sits in fifth at 101.5 (12 teams).
Eight of the 148 entries have 14 teams left: viraldonutz, OP3sum (tied for 14th at 87.5), charlieman2016 (72.5), Unleashthebeast (58.5), Koninalee (51.5), pheaflsi (45), CRBUILDER (43), and Plomp (39).
The current average is 61.5 points, with 11 teams left.
Round 1 Thursday
Your day 1 leader is ... me. With 75 points, I'm already more than 2/3 of the way to matching my final score from last year (107). Ten of my teams played today, and only one lost (Purdue).
Just half a point back is BreslinBirds, who got there with one fewer team active (seven play tomorrow). Rounding out the top 5 are Spartikurt at 70.5, charlieman2016 at 67.5 (without a single team eliminated yet; 11 have advanced to the second round), and elmsandr at 64.
Honorable mentions also go to OP3sum, Koninalee, pheaflsi, and JSG101, who, like charlieman2016, still have all 16 teams alive. At the other extreme, two people have already lost six teams each.
The average entry at this point has 35 points, 6 teams in the second round already, and 13 or 14 alive in total (including those already advanced).