Congratulations to anyone who managed to get more than the bare minimum of work done Thursday. You are a better person than most.

That is the chilling, wonderful impact of the NCAA men's basketball tournament's first full day. Wall-to-wall games, moments that suck you in and ... it's 5 p.m. already, where did the day go? If you are lucky enough, you can combine college basketball AND your job. Here are a few notes and observations from the day:

I came up an idea for a great new NCAA tourney pool format about two hours after Thursday's games started, which is the worst time possible. The gist: Everyone picks the games like normal. But you are allowed three total halftime pick switches before the Sweet 16.

Let's say for some reason you were really keen on Colorado and had them making a run, but the Rams were getting hammered at halftime by Pittsburgh (as they were Thursday). You could switch your pick by the end of halftime, but it would cost you another entry fee. You could then take the No. 1 seed in the next round like a normal human being and not have your bracket ruined. You could do this three times, paying a fee each time.

It makes you pay attention to every game Thursday-Sunday of the first weekend, like any good American should. It makes you strategize as to when and how to use your mulligans. How much would you hate yourself if you switched your pick and the team you originally picked came back to win?

What if you use up all of your mulligans and then one of your Final Four teams was getting smoked at halftime? You'd have to kick yourself.

From the Sweet 16 on, it functions like a normal pool. But more people have more teams alive and there is more money in the pot — thus bumping up interest. Let's all remember this in roughly 365 days.

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Early wins by double-digit seeds Dayton and Harvard probably ruined most of the entries in Warren Buffett's $1 billion bracket challenge. The Flyers' win over Ohio State also ruined one NBA player's day ... but perhaps not another's. Former Buckeye Jared Sullinger tweeted, "To get off the plane and find out we lost. That hurts." It was retweeted more than 250 times by 5 p.m. — most famously by Trey Burke, also now in the NBA but formerly a rival at Michigan.

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In case you are curious, Ricky Rubio tweeted out his bracket on Thursday. He has Iowa State, Florida, Creighton and Michigan in his Final Four, with Florida beating Michigan 60-52 in the title game.

michael rand