Round 4, a.k.a. The Elite 8, was a messy round for us in the March Madness Pool. We lost 8 total due to 4 picks on North Carolina, 2 on Kansas and 2 on Memphis. That leaves 9 heading into the final 2 rounds, so just when you thought we were going to have everyone coming down to the wire here, we can see it is tough sledding when the choices are limited.

And with the Final Four on tap, a quick glance shows 8 of the 9 alive entries can only have 2 teams to pick from, as they’ve already used 2 of Georgetown, Ohio State, UCLA and Florida. Mike’s entry has 3 choices, having only used Florida so far. Tough to say if that is a blessing or a curse. Florida looks strong, and haysie #1 and Mean Machine are the only ones not to use Florida, so these look to me like the odds on favourites to take the pool. We’ll see.

The next round games are on Saturday March 31 starting at 6:07 Eastern, Georgetown vs. Ohio State. The UCLA vs. Florida game tips off at 8:47. The Final is April 2. We will definitely be doing this pool again next year!

Okay, I’m first to admit that I’ve never been much of a basketball fan. I’ve gone to the occassional Toronto Raptors game. I’ve watched a little bit on TV. It just never did much for me. This might go back to being a below average basketball player myself, which was only exasperated by a poor excuse for a high school coach who never taught me a thing.

That all changed with this year’s March Madness tournament. Now, I likely wouldn’t even be paying attention to the biggest U.S. college basketball event of the year if not for creating the March Madness Survivor Pool, but I have been paying attention and I’ve got to say – I’m impressed with this sport. There have been so many down to the wire finishes, clutch plays and eye popping athletic moves, its hard to take it all in.

I still don’t understand the fouls in basketball. The reach in. A slap here, a slap there. The “loose ball foul”. I don’t understand which team that gets called on. Certainly, I’m still a basketball noob, but a little more watching and I’m sure I’ll start to pick up on these nuances.

As for the Survivor Pool, we started with 25 and lost 1 in Round 1, and 5 in Round 2. Now with the number of games reduced dramatically, and the teams seeded a lot closer together, the choices are getting tough! Not to mention at this point its hard to not think about saving a team for later, the sure death sentence of all survivor pools. I like Georgetown and North Carolina to both win in Round 3 setting up a #1 vs. #2 Regional Final. Which one I like better in that game though, I haven’t got a clue. Flip a coin time…