Scott's Newsletter

Scott's Newsletter (3/19/98)

3/19/98, Issue # 6.3.1 "Pac-10 nearly perfect..."
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E-mail: [email protected] (Scott M Tamashiro)
[email protected] (David Feng)
Website: http://www.jps.net/dfeng/ncaa

* Report
* Coming Soon: HWCI World Cup `98 (WC98) Betting Pool
* Records Broken
* Money Breakdown
* Leaders

FOURTH HWCI OFFICIAL BETTING POOL- NCAA TOURNAMENT `98
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THREE'S THE CHARM AS UCONN ADVANCES TO THE ELITE EIGHT
Pool field narrows as six more players are eliminated from money spots

It took three shots, but #2E UConn finally made the game-winning basket
in the final ten seconds as #11E Washington failed to clear the ball several
times. The last second flurry at the end sent UConn to the Elite 8 and
sent the Pac-10 Conference with its first loss of the tournament (9-1).
UConn will play #1E North Carolina who beat #4E Michigan St. in its
home state. #3W Utah held off a late rally by #10W West Virginia to
advance to play defending NCAA Champion #1W Arizona who ran away with
#4 Maryland (This was one of the tougher late games for me to pick...
Maryland or Arizona... I originally had Maryland (its comparisions to
the 97 Arizona team), but cooler minds prevailed, thankfully).

No upsets here as both #1 seeds and one #2 seed advanced as usual
to the Elite 8. #3W Utah's path was cleared when #2W Cincinnati fell
in the 2nd round. In fact 27 of 28 had UNC in the regional final,
26 picked Arizona, 20 picked UConn, and 11 picked Utah. Seven bettors
went 4-0 helping push five more players out of money contention
(KADIAN, THE FLYING ELVI, SHAKERMAKER, FOOT DOCTOR, SLAVE TO BIG SIX).
That makes 3 of the 4 "Kim"s out of contention (Edmund, Alvin, Daniel
with Dennis finishing no higher than 3rd). PIPI GIRL and JOON can't
finish higher than 4th while eight still remain for the top prize
(with yours truly not part of this exclusive group :-(). MONEY (1st,
98 points) regained the lead once again from ANNA COMES LATELY (2nd, 96)
as we head into the final 11 games of the tournament. Will ANNA regain
the lead like she has in the past two rounds? BAERSARKE (26th,
74) is coming dangerously close to setting the all-time record for
least number of points (80) as he only has 14 more points to gain.
PREKI THE BOMB continues his stay in last with 67 points, but can still
top the 100-point barrier (105 possible). ANNA has the 2nd-most longshot
championship game matchup of this year's pool with a #3W Utah-#6S UCLA game
(BAERSARKE has the longest longshot: #4MW Mississippi and #6W Arkansas,
both eliminated within the first 2 rounds), yet somehow, both teams
are still alive. BUCKEYE MIKE sits tied for 13th (84) with a shot at
first place while 5th-place THE FABONE (92) can't finish higher than
second place.

COMING SOON!! 1ST-EVER HWCI WORLD CUP 1998 BETTING POOL (JULY 1998)
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You only have two months to peddle some change to get your $10 you lost
in the NCAA Tourney before the 1st HWCI WC98 Pool begins! The World Cup
of Soccer begins on June 10 and ends on July 12 featuring 32 nations
in France. Played every four years, you will be able to pick the winners
of 48 round-robin games before the competition takes on a "Sweet 16" type
of bracket. Details on scoring and how the pool will work are still being
worked out, but expect full-fledged information soon. It will
either be $5 or $10 (I initially wanted it to be $5, but since the World
Cup is only held every 4 years, $10 might not be that bad a deal)
to enter and you can start preparing now, since the teams are already known
and games already scheduled. And unlike the NCAA, all 64 games will be
shown live (ABC, ESPN/espn2, Univision) or same-day delay. Check out
http://www.fifa.com for a schedule and teams participating. This new
pool probably won't reach the status the HWCI NCAA Pool has, but we have
at least five participants so far and are hoping for 10-15.

NEW HWCI NCAA RECORDS
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Best record in Round 3, Thu: 4-0 7 people (tied 17 others)
Worst record in Round 3, Thu: 1-3 BAERSARKE, SLAVE TO BIG SIX (tied 5 others)

48 points is the lowest total of any leader after Round 1 (previous three years had leaders with 52 points)... this year was the first year that at least one person picked each of the 32 first-round games correctly- and that continued into the first four games completed on 3/15 (44 straight) before Valpo beat Florida St.

MONEY BREAKDOWN
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OFFICIALLY, the breakdown will be as follows, with our first-ever fourth-place prize (the Final Four, sorta speak):

1st Place: $150.00 (54% of total pot of $280.00)
2nd Place: $ 70.00 (25%)
3rd Place: $ 40.00 (14%)
4th Place: $ 20.00 ( 7%)

FYI, in previous years, the 1st-3rd prizes were roughly divided 57/27/16 %.

LEADERS (Points Possible)
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**AFTER ROUND 2 (112): 84, ANNA COME LATELY (2)
Day 1 of Round 3 (16): 4-0 (16), 7 tied

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Still fuming over stinkin' Kansas...
Scott HW