Most pools are smaller and friendlier. Ali J. Satvat '99 organized a small-time contest among 12 students.

"It's just something you have to do in March, but I had extra incentive to run it because I've never won one and I think I'm due," Satvat says.

Locker rooms and bulletin boards of student organizations are also littered with bracket sheets for their own pools.

Robert H. Henry '99 ran a tournament betting-ring for the men's first-year crew team.

"I left a pile of sheets around in the boathouse and about 10 people filled them out and sent them back," Henry says.

Although most forms of gambling are outlawed in Massachusetts, none of the first-years said they felt their actions warranted disciplinary action.

Many tournament operators justified their involvement on the grounds that they would not be collecting any money themselves.

And some of them checked the fine print.

"I checked the Handbook before I handed out the brackets and I didn't find anything about gambling," Ball says.

Henry says he asked his crew coach to find out if the pools were illegal.

"He didn't get back to me, so I assume that they are OK," Henry says.

Ajay Bhatia '99, who is running a small competition for his floor, says he might substitute Crimson Cash for real bills in order to avoid possible disciplinary troubles.

Other tournament fans, like Josh C. Vessey '96, realized that even college basketball could not take precedent over their senior honors theses.

But now that he has handed his thesis in, its time for Vessey to relax and, like his other classmates this weekend, find the nearest television.

"Now I'm just going to sit back and watch some basketball," Vessey says