My main man Herb Maeder calculates all the possible outcomes for the Great Eight Challenge:

IÂ’m blessed to have some amazing members. From all the guys who keep the comments section cooking to the people who send me bracket theories, there are scores of people IÂ’ve gotten to know over the years through Bracketscience. Some of them I know by name; others I know by their alias. One of them is my friend Herb Maeder.

Herb makes an amazing contribution to the site every year. HeÂ’s a programmer who, out of his passion for bracket pools and the goodness of his heart, calculates out all the possible winning scenarios for the Great Eight Challenge. HeÂ’s hoping that he could develop this program on a larger scale for those million- user contests, so people could see beyond their scores to their actual chances of winning.

What a great thing that heÂ’s a member of Bracketscience. Here are the results of his work, along with a description in his words of the siteÂ’s features.

HREF= http:/ / pooldoggers.com/ pools/ bs_ great8/ ncaa > http:/ / pooldoggers.com/ pools/ bs_ great8/ ncaa </ A>.

<i>The main page has a link to the "Current Standings,"the "What If Scenarios" followed by the complete "List of Entries" and an indicator of whether each entry has a chance of winning the pool or not.

The pool standings will be updated automatically within about 15- 30 minutes after the end of each game.

At this point in the tourney, it is feasible to compute all the possible outcomes of the tourney and of the Great 8 Challenge. Of the 588 entries, five still have some shot at taking first place in the pool. After the Sweet 16, 33 people couldÂ’ve won.

The "Current Standings" page give a list of the best possible picks at this point in the tourney followed by the list of entries, ranked in order of the current score. The number in parentheses is the "seed total" of all the picks in the entry, which will be used as a tie breaker if necessary. The entry name is link to the list of picks for that entry. There also a summary of the number of "dead" picks (e.g. 3/ 8 indicates that three out of the eight picks are dead) followed by a list of alive/ dead seeds for the entry.

The "Must Win Games" link provides a list of games that are are absolutely critical to win in order for the entry to have a shot at winning the pool. If any of the teams listed loses, the entry will no longer have a chance to win. Some lines list multiple teams, if any of those teams wins, the entry may still have a chance at winning. The list of "Must Win Games" changes as each game completes, and the list of "Must Win" games usually increases. So check back often to see which games are critical for each entry.

At the bottom of the "Must Win Games", there is an indicator of how many ways there are for an entry to win. For example, in the snippet below, there are 128 ways the tournament can end from the Elite Eight. Of these, "cborchwis" will win 76 of them.</ i>

Based on HerbÂ’s amazing work, we now know that these five entries can win the Great Eight Challenge (number of winning options in parentheses).

Cborchwis - 76
Andrewchen - 26
Vitamin - 16
andolinojt63 – 5
Jeffreypeters21 – 5

Thanks so much, Herb, for all your help!
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My main man Herb Maeder calculates all the possible outcomes for the Great Eight Challenge: I’m blessed to have some amazing members. From all the guys who keep the comments section cooking to the people who send me bracket theories, there are scores of people I’ve gotten to know over the years through Bracketscience. Some of them I know by name; others I know by their alias. One of them is my friend Herb Maeder. Herb makes an amazing contribution to the site every year. He’s a programmer who, out of his passion for bracket pools and the goodness of his heart, calculates out all the possible winning scenarios for the Great Eight Challenge. He’s hoping that he could develop this program on a larger scale for those million- user contests, so people could see beyond their scores to their actual chances of winning. What a great thing that he’s a member of Bracketscience. Here are the results of his work, along with a description in his words of the site’s features. HREF= http:/ / pooldoggers.com/ pools/ bs_ great8/ ncaa > http:/ / pooldoggers.com/ pools/ bs_ great8/ ncaa </ A>. <i>The main page has a link to the "Current Standings,"the "What If Scenarios" followed by the complete "List of Entries" and an indicator of whether each entry has a chance of winning the pool or not. The pool standings will be updated automatically within about 15- 30 minutes after the end of each game. At this point in the tourney, it is feasible to compute all the possible outcomes of the tourney and of the Great 8 Challenge. Of the 588 entries, five still have some shot at taking first place in the pool. After the Sweet 16, 33 people could’ve won. The "Current Standings" page give a list of the best possible picks at this point in the tourney followed by the list of entries, ranked in order of the current score. The number in parentheses is the "seed total" of all the picks in the entry, which will be used as a tie breaker if necessary. The entry name is link to the list of picks for that entry. There also a summary of the number of "dead" picks (e.g. 3/ 8 indicates that three out of the eight picks are dead) followed by a list of alive/ dead seeds for the entry. The "Must Win Games" link provides a list of games that are are absolutely critical to win in order for the entry to have a shot at winning the pool. If any of the teams listed loses, the entry will no longer have a chance to win. Some lines list multiple teams, if any of those teams wins, the entry may still have a chance at winning. The list of "Must Win Games" changes as each game completes, and the list of "Must Win" games usually increases. So check back often to see which games are critical for each entry. At the bottom of the "Must Win Games", there is an indicator of how many ways there are for an entry to win. For example, in the snippet below, there are 128 ways the tournament can end from the Elite Eight. Of these, "cborchwis" will win 76 of them.</ i> Based on Herb’s amazing work, we now know that these five entries can win the Great Eight Challenge (number of winning options in parentheses). Cborchwis - 76 Andrewchen - 26 Vitamin - 16 andolinojt63 – 5 Jeffreypeters21 – 5 Thanks so much, Herb, for all your help!