Tax Men, Elders race to lead heading into Round of 32

Don't worry about me, nothing to see here.

AMHERST, NY (AP) -- The Tax Men stormed into the Round of 32 validating their favorites role by chalking up four wins on day two of the opening round. With Louisville and Maryland both holding off upset bids by lower-seeded squads, the Tax Guys roared into the next round with six teams still standing. Anchored by top-seeded Wisconsin in the West, this team came with its pencil sharpened.

As George W. would say, when you imply your strategery, good things can happen. The Elder Statesmen stuck to the program and their bidding ways of old to rack up early wins and with some 8-9 magic in NC State and San Diego State, they tied the Tax Guys. Problem is they only have one higher seeded team going into the weekend and will face two No. 1 seeds, two No. 2 seeds and a No. 3 seed (Notre Dame, haha) to survive with any gunpowder.  Fanch's teammate, however, was celebrating the late night San Diego St. win....

Looming large in third place and stalking the leaders is the ever-present Counselors. They quietly churned five victories in the opening round boosted by upset winners Dayton and UAB. Their anchor teams, Arizona and Gonzaga made quick work of their opponents and this team should be hanging around to catch at a minimum a piece of the trifecta. The Counselors were all about being in unison at the draft and you can see by their late night celebration, they have come to play....

 Sitting in fourth are the mighty Win-Docs, the mighty, mighty Win-Docs with your ho-hum four wins over the first round. All the marbles are on Coach K, and moving into the Round of 32 with four teams is big, but will need an upset win out of lower seeds over the weekend to even sniff the top spot.



Tied for sixth are the 2013 champion Amigos and yours truly, who's tournament ended on Thursday for the 17th straight year when Iowa State suddenly forgot how to shoot. The Commish will need Northern Iowa and the Ohio State University to dot their I's in order to crack the money. For the Amigos who stormed out on Thursday like a lion, they went out like a lamb on Friday, losing every contest. Some backroom smack-talk was being had behind the scenes and one team who will not be named (let's call him Voldemort) posted this picture next to the water cooler on Thursday morning...

 Rounding out the basement (check the morning line odds) is the Catholic Boyz who have two teams, albeit a #1 and a #2 remaining. They max out at 11 wins if we get a Arizona-Nova final. Not saying their done, but....

 

 Enjoy the round of 32.