NCAA Tournament: Writing Illini bracket challenge rankings update

Apr 4, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; A general view of the NCAA Tournament bracket on display on the J.W. Marriott before the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Championship semi-final game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; A general view of the NCAA Tournament bracket on display on the J.W. Marriott before the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Championship semi-final game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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The 2017 NCAA tournament is underway and so is the Writing Illini bracket challenge.

After day one the challenge is still completely up for grabs. There is one person at the top but there are 11 people just one game behind.

Dkniffin32 leads the way right now with 150 points after day one. They have only missed one game and that was the Northwestern vs. Vanderbilt contest. If that is the only game you have missed it must really upset you the way it ended. I was screaming ‘WHY?’ at my radio when I heard he fouled up one point.

The leader also has Oregon winning it all which could change the landscape of this challenge. That is a bold pick that will either keep dkniffin32 at the top or be their ultimate downfall.

Let’s now take a look at the bottom of the challenge. This honor goes to kfreeman1224 1. She only has 80 points right now but there is still plenty of time to make up the difference. Although she did lose three Sweet 16 teams and an Elite 8 team yesterday, this will hurt her chances.

The Writing Illini crew is sprinkled throughout this challenge as well. The leader among us four, and No. 2 overall, is John with 140 points. He is only one game back of dkniffin32 for the lead, but I am slightly concerned about his Gonzaga national championship pick.

Eric is the second best WI writer and tied for No. 12 right now with 130 points. He doesn’t have a single Sweet 16 team out yet and that will help him get back to the top.

Zach and I are both tied for No. 21 with 120 points. Zach has a nice bracket right now with no Sweet 16 teams out and a few bold picks to keep an eye on. If both Michigan and Butler get to the Elite 8, that would help him out tremendously.

I had a decent bracket going until Maryland fell to Xavier last night. Right before the tournament started I changed my bracket and had Maryland advancing to the Sweet 16. This was a dumb move. I also changed Wichita State to beat Kentucky and West Virginia to beat Gonzaga. I hope these don’t bite me.

Next: Don’t put too much stock into Chris Holtmann’s words

Day two should be fun. No one is out of this challenge yet and I look forward to having some major upsets today. Hopefully, one of those isn’t UCLA, though.