Bracket nearly busted already

How’s my bracket?
It seems to get worse with every upset.
Thing is, getting picks wrong in the first two days of the tournament isn’t too big of a deal.
Anyone in a bracket pool can make up for those points later in the tournament, because if done correctly those picks are worth more points.
But having upsets knock off teams picked for a decent tourney run?
That’s what makes filling out a bracket frustrating.
I’ve never had a good track record. Last year, I finished tied for sixth out of 13 participants in our office pool by earning 86 of a possible 192 points.
The winner had 142 out of 192 points.
“Humbling,” is the word CR publisher Jack Ronald used this morning when we talked about our picks after the first day.
Let’s start with the Baylor Bears.
The team with the worst uniforms in the country was the first upset, losing 79-75 to 12th-seeded Yale.
The Bulldogs had a 13-point lead in the second half before the fifth-seeded Bears battled back to get within 76-75.
Baylor’s Lester Medford slipped driving to the hoop, turning the ball over to seal the first upset of the day of a No. 5 seed.
Oftentimes, I wouldn’t be too disappointed with not picking a 12-5 upset, but the problem was that I had Baylor beating Duke (which knocked off UNC-Wilmington 93-85 Thursday) in the second round to reach the Sweet 16.
Whoops.
Speaking of whoops, how about those Boilermakers?
Purdue, like Yale, had a 13-point lead in the second half. It had the advantage with 3:33 remaining.
Unlike the Bulldogs, however, the Boilermakers weren’t able to hold on, losing to Arkansas-Little Rock 85-83 in double overtime.
Josh Hagins sparked the Little Rock comeback when he drained a 3-pointer from about 30 feet away — he hit a step-back triple from the “March Madness” logo — to tie the game at 70 with 5.1 seconds left.
Hagins then dropped a dime of a jumper to open the second overtime and the Trojans never looked back.
Tough break for a fifth-seeded Boilermaker team that still had upside despite a loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game on Sunday.
It resulted in the first time all season the Boilermakers (26-9) lost back-to-back games.
And it resulted in another shakeup in my bracket.
I had Purdue defeating Iowa State (the No. 4-seeded Cyclones beat No. 13 Iona 94-81) to also reach the Sweet 16.
Two five seeds upset. Two of my Sweet 16 teams gone.
Then we get to the Arizona Wildcats.
The Internet star of this game was Arizona coach Sean Miller, who midway through the first half appeared to have sweat through his dress shirt. He got a new white shirt at halftime, and again sweat through it during the second half.
Twitter went nuts over the screenshots of Miller.
But the real stars were the Wichita State Shockers, a First Four team that beat Vanderbilt 70-50 on Tuesday to win the No. 11 seed, held the sixth-seeded Wildcats to 19 points during the first half Thursday en route to a 65-55 victory.
It was the first double-digit loss for Arizona in more than two years.
And it was my third Sweet 16 team to go down on the day.
In the realm of things, I’m still doing well. I got 12 of 16 picks correct, five of which are teams I have advancing to the Sweet 16.
But if Thursday’s games are any indication as to how the rest of my bracket will pan out?
Whoops.
It sure is madness in March.