The March Madness edition of Beat The Blogger is coming down the stretch with several players making a move in first part of the Sweet 16 round. Without taking anything from the drama of it all, I will let you know that three of the 13 players still remaining correctly predicted all four of Thursday's matchups to climb up the leaderboard and none of the three were the leader. Four others picked three of the four winners and three other contestants managed just two correct picks to hurt their chances of advancing. With four more games tonight and then four more throughout the weekend, there is still plenty of time for any of the remaining 13 to rally so stay tuned.

The Top 5 totals of the remaining 13 players (cummulative total including first round, plus ties will then advance to the next round). For the rest of you, thanks for playing and make sure you jump back in to our regular Beat The Blogger contest which will return in on April 8.

Players Advancing to Sweet 16
1. Sunshine (sunshinebald) 28
2. Bobby W. (Bcabbagehead) 27
3. Michael M. (mtmahnke) 27
4. Peter (pduthoy) 26
5. Kenn F. (kenn.fritts) 26
6. Julie (juhagen) 26
7. Pete H. (pfnh8) 26
8. Ripper (rippers) 26
9. Steve (steve) 26
10. Danielle (d_plays_d) 26
11. Sean (seandickerson) 26
12. William (wgareaujr) 26
13. Pamela (spam_freak) 26

Matchups for Sweet 16 (please make sure you make selections for this round and then predict the winners for the next round as well. Make your selections for this round in parenthesis followed by your selections for the next round in separate parenthesis).
Thursday, March 26
Villanova vs. Duke
UConn vs. Purdue
Missouri vs. Memphis
Pittsburgh vs. Xavier
Friday, March 27
Louisville vs. Arizona
Kansas vs. Michigan St.
North Carolina vs. Gonzaga
Syracuse vs. Oklahoma
 
The March Madness Beat the Blogger contest will run for three weeks and the regular weekly Beat The Blogger contest will resume on the week of April 8 so make sure you among the top-scoring teams so you can keep playing each week. The contestants who advance will be posted on March 16, March 24 and April 1 with the grand prize winner announced on April 8. Good luck to everyone and make sure you spread the word about the contest to your friends. There's no easier way to win great, authentic signed sports memorabilia anywhere.