Monday, March 17, 2003
Issue # 1.0.1 "Conference Massacre.. Good luck!"
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ALHAMBRA/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #1MW-Kentucky (29-3) and #1E-Oklahoma won Sunday to roll to #1 seeds while the No. 1 team in the nation, #1W-Arizona (25-3) and No. 3 #1S-Texas (22-6), both losers early in their conference tourneys, took the other two #1 seeds. Somehow Texas gets to play the winner of the the play-in game while arguably the two best teams in the nation, Arizona and Kentucky, are on the same side of the bracket, meaning a possible dream Semifinal, not Final matchup. The reason? Kentucky is closer to Minneapolis (MW Regional Final) than San Antonio (S Regional Final). If you watched the CBS Bracket Selection show, the bigwig they got from the selection committee answered the above question, why Texas gets the play-in winner, why Texas, not Kansas got a #1 seed, and why some of the bubble teams got left off with plain old-fashioned gibberish. I can't wait for the transcript so you can see it actually has random words rather than a straight answer. He'll be our next big politician, for sure.

Are you hot? Get your picks in for our 9th Annual HWCI NCAA Tournament Pool. Last year we had a record-breaking 80 entries with 17 correctly picking Maryland. The top prize of $400 went to Scott T. (yours truly) who won the pool for the first time in his eight years of entries.

This year will prove challenging as before yesterday's matches (where all four #1 seeds won their conference tourneys), #1 seeds had been outsted in 18 of 26 tournaments. Of the top 10 teams in the AP poll coming into this past weekend, seven lost. Of the top 24 eligible teams (Georgia wasn't eligible for the tourney), 16 lost in their conference tourney. Arizona suffered just its third loss of the season to a 9-18 UCLA team. Title contender #2S-Florida (24-7) has lost three in a row (what's Gator fan Ken B. gonna do?). What has happened? March Madness has started early.

So go ahead and use "the One Ring to rule them all" cause life's too short and fill out your bracket. For the first time since this pool started, there is no local team to root for (San Diego being the closest).

WHAT:        9th Annual HWCI NCAA Tournament Pool
RECRUITING
INCENTIVE:   None (but still recruit!)
DEADLINE:    9:00 a.m. PST on Thursday, March 20, 2002
ENTRY FEE:   $10.00 per entry (max 3 entries per person)
PREV CHAMPS: 2002- THE FABON8ER, $400 (80 entries)
             2001- TEAM SAMURAI, $280 (59)
             2000- MORALES' MOUNDS, $180 (36)
             1999- SHARY BOBBINS, $180 (36)
             1998- ANNA COME LATELY, $150 (28)
             1997- MAX, $125 (22)
             1996- JAYBIAN, $110 (19)
             1995- BIX PIX, $70 (12)
RULES:       Check http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa/rules.html for more info
ARCHIVE:     Check http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa/history.html
FORUM:       Click on Discussion Board at http://www.hwci.com/ncaa
NOTES:       All fee money goes back into prizes
             At least four winners (top prize about 40-50%)
             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
             Only 2 people (both in 2001) have picked all 4 Final Four teams
             Just 65 of 292 entries have picked the correct champion
             Points possible:   196
             Most points ever:  148 by BIX PIX in 1995
             Least points ever:  49 by GOBAY, HENDO in 2002  

     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)

via email to [email protected] or enter online at http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa/entry.html. You can also fax your entry to me at (707) 221-2715. Make arrangements (such as PayPal) to send in your $10 entry fee(s) by March 22nd. Complete rules and daily pool information can be found on the official site: http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa.

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Let's Roll!
Scott HW