The Sweet 16 Cover Pool is one of The Sportsline's favorite contests of the year, because it invovles the point spread.  Like the old saying goes "It's not whether you win or lose ... it's whether you cover the spread".  The grand prize for the winner is a certificate for an overnight stay at The Homestead, couresty of Virginia Sports Report.  Runner up gets a 1 year subscription to VSR and third place takes home a Sportsline T-Shirt.

In this pool, we have 12 contestants, one for each NFL Playoff team.  You earn the right to "own" one of the playoff teams, by answering a simple trivia question on The Sportsline.  As long as your team covers the spread in each game they play, you are still alive.   If your team loses, but covers the spread, you would then inherit the winning team for the duration of the playoffs.  For example ... if you have the Butler +8, and they lose to Florida 77-73, then you would win the game.  Since Butler would not continue on in the tournament though, you would take Florida into the next round, and the person who had Florida would be out.

Ties with the point spread favor the team that wins the game. 

For the sake of this contest, the official lines will be Danny Sheridan's Lines in the USA Today on gameday.  For contestants, team assignments and lines, click below. 

Bold indicates teams that are still alive

Travis- Kansas  -8.5
David - Southern Illinios +8.5 --> Kansas -2

Ken - UCLA -3 --> UCLA +2 --> UCLA +3
Jack - Pitt  +3

Henry - Texas A&M  -3
Marcus - Memphis  +3 --> Memphis +1.5

Chris - Ohio State -4.5
Paul- Tennessee   +4.5 --> Ohio State -1.5 --> OSU pick --> OSU +4.5   RUNNER UP !!!!!

Robin - UNC -8 --> North Carolina -4
Gary - USC  +8

Wes- Georegtown -7.5
Greg - Vanderbilt  +7.5 --> Georgetown +4 --> G'Town pick

John- Florida -10
Irby  - Butler +10 --> Florida -6.5 --> Florida -3 --> Florida -4.5     WINNER  !!!!!!!!!

Darrius - Oregon -2.5 -->Oregon +6.5
JP - UNLV +2.5