Thursday, March 14, 2002                  
Issue # 3.1.1 "Upset Central..."
http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa

CERRITOS, CA (smt)- While #1S-Duke, #4E-Kentucky, #2MW-Oregon, #5S-Indiana, #8S-Notre Dame, and #8MW-Stanford rolled to easy victories, #2S-Alabama, #7MW-Wake Forest, #4W-Ohio St., #3W-Arizona, and #1MW-Kansas survived some scares. Arizona Others weren't so lucky. #11W-Wyoming eliminated fan-favorite #6W-Gonzaga thanks to hitting their last 13 free throws. #4S-USC, however, despite a spirited 19-point second half rally with 9:37 left to send the game into overtime, could've beat #13S-UNC-Wilmington had they just hit one of their seven free throws they missed during that stretch.

#10S-Kent St. and #12W-Missouri set the tone of the tourney by upsetting their higher-seeded counterparts easily. #12E-Tulsa almost let a 14-pt lead slip away but held off #5E-Marquette. Arizona held off Mark Hull and his #14W-UCSB's 3-pt barrage (16 3-pointers) and Kansas, Alabama, Wake Forest, and Ohio St. had to wait until late in the second half to pull away from what most thought would be easy wins. Interestingly, five double-seeded teams won while #9 seeds went 0-2. The "underrated" West Coast Conference lost both teams ('Zags and Pepperdine). California-based teams, seven total, went 1-3 today.

In the pool, CMT ONE (24 pts) won his first 8 games before setting for a tie for 3rd. SSLUK (26) used his Wyoming pick (the only one to do so) to tie for the lead with RANDOM PICKS (1st-Tied, 26). 60 entries have at least 10 wins. STRUMMER (81st-T, 14) lost her first five games, and 3-9 before going 4-0 in the late games to salvage a tie for last place with SPLASHER (81st-T, 14). The 14 pts also ties for the worst Thursday ever. It's no surprise that everyone picked Duke, Oregon, and Alabama but the surprise was they all picked USC as well. That was the only game no one won. 17 people picked Tulsa and 32 picked Missouri, both #12 seeds. The most evenly contested game was Wake Forest-Pepperdine as 42 went with the local Waves and 40 for the Demon Deacons. JINX (12th-T, 22) was hurt the most as two of his Final Four teams (USC and Gonzaga) were eliminated. Four people lost one team in their final. But it's still early and tomorrow, fortunes can be reversed.

Unofficially, we received a whopping 82 entries from 73 people. This shatters last year's total of 59. Another surprise is that 42 are returning partipants. We appreciate everyone's support and hope you enjoy it even if you don't win.