Monday, March 12, 2001                         http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa
Issue # 1.0.1 "The Field of 65?..."

                     2001 HWCI NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL
                     ==============================

And I found out today that there's a 65th team in the tourney. I thought it was a typo until I saw a bracket in today's paper. So Winthrop gets the distinction as the first 65th team in NCAA history. They'll play Northwestern St. and could pick up the first-ever victory for their conference (Big South)- since usually they'd be playing a #1 or 2 seed for their first game. This game will take place Tuesday in Dayton with the winner taking the #16-MW seed and playing Illinois. Despite this new wrinkle, you won't have to worry about it. The pool will essentially consider this game null (you won't pick it). You'll still pick the teams as usual and the deadline to enter will still be early Thursday morning. We figure everyone will pick #1-MW Illinois to beat the Winthrop-NW State winner, but if you're daring, you can wait til after Tuesday's game to pick the Opening Game winner to upset Illinois.

So now we present the 7th Annual HWCI NCAA Tournament Pool. Six years, six different pool champions. Last year, like the year before, saw 36 entries battle for the $180 top prize. Ten people correctly picked Michigan St. to win in a wild tournament that saw nearly all the favorites win the first round and then a bunch of upsets in the second round. Will Michigan St. repeat? Will Stanford and Duke finally rise to win it all? Will Hawaii, making its first appearance since 1994, or CSU-Northridge, its first ever, pull some upsets? In the words of the raspy-voiced and annoying Tina of Survivor II: In the spirit of the Olympics, let the games begin!

Some quick info:

WHAT: 7th Annual HWCI NCAA Tournament Pool
RECRUITING INCENTIVE: One free entry for every five referred entrants
DEADLINE: 9:00 a.m. PST on Thursday, March 15, 2001
ENTRY FEE: $10.00 per entry (max 3 entries per person)
PREV CHAMPS: 2000- MORALES' MOUNDS, $180.00 (36 entries)
- 1999- SHARY BOBBINS, $180.00 (36 entries)
- 1998- ANNA COME LATELY, $150.00 (28 entries)
- 1997- MAX, $125.00 (22 entries)
- 1996- JAYBIAN, $110.00 (19 entries)
- 1995- BIX PIX, $70.00 (12 entries)
RULES: Check http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa for more info
ARCHIVE: Check http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa/2000 for last year's pool
Check http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa/1999
Check http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa/1998
FORUM: Go to http://www.HWCI.com/forum to talk about the tourney
NOTES: All fee money goes back into prizes
- Likely 4 winners (maybe 5), roughly 50/25/17/8% breakdown
- Set points are awarded per game (2/3/4/6/8/12 for the 6 rnds)
- No one has gone 16-0 on either of the 1st Round days
- No one has picked all 4 Final Four teams; only 14 (8 last year) have gone 0-4
- Just 33 of 153 entries have picked the correct champion
- Points possible: 196
- Most points ever: 148 by BIX PIX in 1995
- Least points ever: 62 by BETHEON in 2000

So, send in your: 
 - Full name
 - Nickname
 - Email or phone # (contact info)
 - Final game total score
 - NCAA Champion
 - Runner-up
 - Final Four losers (Round 5)
 - Round 4 (Elite 8) losers (4 teams)
 - Round 3 (Sweet 16) losers (8 teams)
 - Round 2 losers (16 teams)