Saturday, March 16, 2002                 
Issue # 5.2.1 "Kent and Kan Can..."
http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa

CERRITOS, CA (smt)- If you woke up late, you almost missed #1S-Duke going down, but alas, they held on to win by seven. However, #4W-Ohio St. and #2S-Alabama were upset easily by #12W-Missouri and #10S-Kent St., respectively. The "state" teams, #2MW-Oregon, #4E-Kentucky (led by Tayshaun Prince's 41 pts), #3W-Arizona, and #5S-Indiana won tight games while #1MW-Kansas routed #8MW-Stanford to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. #13S-UNC-Wilmington played a reverse roll from their first round game, rallying from 17 pts down midway in the second half to pull within 3, before Indiana put the game away.

How good is CBS's coverage? With less than 40 seconds left and Oregon clinging to a 3-pt lead, CBS switched over to Arizona and their double-digit lead with 4 minutes left. Huh? Not only did CBS not show the end of Oregon's game, the failed to show the end of the tight Tulsa-Kentucky game (also in the last minute) that ended minutes after Oregon's game. If you had a radio nearby, that was the only way to listen to the end of the Oregon game, then the end of the Kentucky game in succession.

RANDOM PICKS (72 pts) stayed on top and maintained his 4 pt lead over KAIZEN (68) and YELLOW MONKEY (68). NOBODY (64) matched the leaders and moved from tied for 25th to 6th place. WILDCAT PRIDE (57) was the only one to pick both upsets and moved from 53rd to 10th, but ended the day tied for 39th. GOBAY (79th, 43) had the worst one-day 2nd Round total ever (Sat or Sun) going 1-7, his only saving grace being Duke. PSW, PINEAPPLE PRINCESS, and ZONAMASTER (all 53rd-T -> 28th-T, 60) made runs up the standings while JAYEMELLE (9th-T -> 39th-T, 57) slid down the bracket. GOBAY, FREE BIX PIX (51st, 55), and PATTOMAN (28th-T, 60) lost their champion, Alabama, while NETFLOWER just has 2 of her Elite 8 teams left (and just one Final Four team). GOBAY also lost 3 of his 4 Final Four teams and can't get more than 76 points.

Afte tomorrow's games, we'll (unfortunately) find out which entries have been eliminated. In 2000, 13 of 36 entries were eliminated but in 2001 only 6 of 59 had no chance. So some of you may be surprised you still have a chance and others near the upper half of the standings could be disappointed. That's why we love this pool.

We are still in "unofficial" status as we try to verify everyone's entries. The sooner you send in your money, or tell us you'll be sending in your money, the quicker we can announce the prize money breakdown.