Tuesday, April 3, 2001                      http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa
Issue # 19.6.3 "Final thoughts..."


2001 HWCI NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL
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EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)-- The Duke Blue Devils had to go through three Pac-10 teams (would've been four if Stanford didn't choke to Maryland) to capture their third NCAA title in 11 years. The preseason #1 and 2 (Arizona and Duke) met for the 2001 Final. Arguably one of the most exciting first rounds in recent memory, the last three rounds featured some great games but no buzzer beaters. In fact, in the last 31 games (last 5 rounds), only two games were decided by less than four points- and one of those games, BC decided to go for two points against USC instead of trying for a three to tie- therefore a lack of drama. Which brings us to the final thoughts on the tournament.

• BONEHEAD PLAY: #3E-Boston College's Kenny Harley with seconds left, going for a layup instead of trying a 3-pointer to tie vs #6E-USC.
• GREATEST MOMENT: #15W-Hampton coach Steve Merfeld jumping up and down and being carried around by his players after stunning #2W-Iowa St. in the first round.
• UNDERRATED TEAM(S): A haphazard USC team pulling together wins over #3E-BC and #2E-Kentucky. A tough #11S-Temple team beating a #3, #6, and #7 seed to make the Elite 8.
• NO FOOLING US: No one except the NCAA committee (who gave them a 12 seed) was fooled by Gonzaga as they made the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row.
• OVERRATED TEAM(S): Aforementioned Iowa St. and BC, who thought they deserved a higher seed. Wrong! Stanford once again fell short (losing in the 2nd round the past two years) of "their" year.
• MONKEY OFF THE BACK: #5W-Cincinnati, a lower seed than in previous years, makes the Sweet 16 for the first time in five tries. #4MW- Kansas avoiding their fourth straight 2nd round loss.
• WHAT THE HECK?: #10MW-Butler had a 43-10 halftime lead over #7MW-Wake Forest? Temple led 50-28 over #5S-Florida? #3W-Maryland exploded to a 39-17 lead over #1E-Duke? USC jumped to a 31-10 lead over Kentucky? Something's in the water. Only Duke rallied to win.
• CAKEWALK: #1S-Michigan St. got to play a #16, #9, #12, and #11 seed to get to the Final Four. Temple demolishing their first three higher-seeded opponents, leading by 20 or more in the second half in each game.
• ANNOYING MAN: Someone should tell CBS analyst Billy Packer to call Duke "Duke", not "Duke University" and also to take his lips off Duke's ass (is he looking for an honorary doctorate from Duke?). Duke's a great team but CBS's bias towards Duke (as well as the refs) made the game less enjoyable to watch. Oh yeah, tell CBS that EyeVision doesn't work for basketball games (in the Super Bowl is was *sometimes* useful).
• MISNOMER: The intentional foul. Now, isn't any foul in the last minutes while your team is down an intentional foul? Maybe it should be called a flagrant foul. But it was called so randomly by the refs during the first two rounds that I didn't know what to make of it.
• GROUP WINNER: Apparently, the Pac-10 rules except for Cal. The conference's other four teams went 13-4 for the best conference record (13-5 with Cal's loss) in the tourney. The ACC went 11-5 and he Mighty Big 10 went 10-7.
• CHANGE THE RULES: Hey, no more than « your conference's teams should make the tournament. So the Big 10 with 11 teams gets no more than 5 teams. Or at least have the team win half its conference games (Penn St. was 7-9 in Big 10 play). Get rid of the "Opening Game"- what a joke (only 6,813 fans were "announced"; less showed up). Let more mid-major conference teams in. They make the tourney exciting.
• ODD: ESPN/USA Today released their Top 25 coaches' poll today. Why? Isn't that why we have a tournament? (FYI, Duke, Arizona, Michigan St. and Maryland were the top 4- what a surprise. though UCLA was ranked 12th and USC 14th).
• BEST HAIR: Arizona's Eugene Edgerson.

And my final pool thoughts:

• CONGRATS: Robinson ($275), Lisa ($150), Bing ($100), and Sam ($65).
• FOOLED ME: Kudos to those who picked Maryland over Stanford. You saw something I didn't. Also to those who didn't believe the BC hype.
• AMAZING PICKS: Dan S. (NICKNAME) picking Temple to beat Penn St. in the Sweet 16. Three people each picked Kent St. and Indiana St's upsets (but no one thought Hampton would stun Iowa St). Two (DYLAN and TABBY) people actually picked USC to make the Elite 8.
• MOST BIZZARE PICKS: Although one of his entries won, Robinson C.'s HE HATE ME TOO's entry had Gonzaga winning it all. Sam N. (B-S FC) had Bulter in the Final Four.
• OUCH: In the first 11 games, Catrina B. (DECEMBER) had two of her Final Four teams knocked out (Ohio St. and Indiana).
• SURPRISES: Only six of 59 entries were eliminated after the second round. Thirteen were eliminated last year and we only had 36 entries.
• ONE YEAR: Sam N. won the 2000 HWCI NCAA Pool but finished 58th this year. Robinson C. finished 34th (of 36) last year and won this year's pool (albeit he needed three entries to do it).
• ALL-TIME WINNERS: 1. Lisa F. ($330), 2. Robinson C. ($275), 3. Scott T. ($190).
• ALL-TIME LOSERS: 1. Alvin K. (0 for 8 entries), 2. Dennis K., Mark C., Mike B., Jeremy S. (0-7).