Thursday, March 27, 2003
Issue # 9.3.1 "Wild Kingdom: 'Cats, 'Hawks, and Eagles"
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CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #1MW-Kentucky lost their star guard Keith Bogans but the one-man offense (Marquis Estill) and one-man defense (Chuck Hayes) was just enough to overtake #5MW-Wisconsin, 63-57. In other Midwest Semifinal, #3MW-Marquette nearly blew an 11-point lead with four minutes left in beating #2MW-Pitt, 77-74. In the West, #1W-Arizona ran all over #5W-Notre Dame, 88-71, while #2W-Kansas, led by Nick Collison's 33 points and 19 rebounds, beat #3W-Duke, 69-65. Kansas had a 7-pt lead with 34 seconds left and Duke got within three 16 seconds later. Both the Pitt-Marq and Kan-Duke games were tied at the half in late evening play.

BIG LUTHER has sole possession of 1st place with 102 points. DENVER BLIZZARD is next with an even 100 points. Both, however, have lost one of their Final teams. MR. WIZARD is in third place with 99 pts but has all four Final Four teams intact. THE FABO9ERS (92) and JINX (88) went 4-0 to go from 31st->15th and 45th-25th, respectively. However, both can't win first place. TERMINATOR (50th-Tied, 80) also went 4-0 but was already eliminated.

No changes with Kentucky or Arizona's wins in terms of elimination. Marquette's upset victory (picked by 15 entries) knocked MADPRO (42nd, 88), I AM FABIO (55th-T, 79), and SOURCE (57th-T, 78) out of the pool. The most contested game (30 picked Kansas, 27 Duke) saw Kansas's victory knock out six entries (WEEKEND WARRIOR (45th-T, 85), CHENMAN (50th-T, 80), BLUESTARS1996 (43rd, 87), MIKEKRAZ (57th-T, 78), BUCKEYE MIKE (50th-T, 80), and GHOST OF VALVANO (57th-T, 78)), leaving just 41 in contention. Only 21 are still battling for 1st Place.

SUSIE Q (88), tied for 7th to start the day, was the only one not to pick Kentucky and went 1-3, sending her tied for 25th place and now can't finish higher than 3rd place. BLUEBERRY (60th, 74) is done and can't pick up any more points, matching last year's entry, GOBAY, for this record of futility after just five game days.

QUIDDITCH RULES (9th-T, 95) has the best chance to win first place (18.4%) with ZIPPY (4th-T, 98), MR. WIZARD, and BIG LUTHER at around 13-14%. MR. WIZARD has the best chance to win any money at 47.8%. QUIDDITCH, ZIPPY, BIG LUTHER, and SEANITO'S WAY (7th-T, 96) all have a 30%+ chance of winning money.

As for the Bonus Prize, 42 are still in the running. Here is the latest winningest conference standings. The BIG EAST, after going 8-0 lost both games today. The BIG 12 now leads with 9 wins. The winning conference will have at least 9 wins. A win by BIG 12 teams Texas or Oklahoma tomorrow will knock out the PAC-10 and ACC conferences from contention.

      Teams Curr Max Poss
Conf.  Left Wins   Wins
------ ---- ---- -------
Big 12    3   9    17    KAN, TEX, OKL
Big East  2   8    15    CONN, SYR
Big 10    1   7    11    MICH-ST
SEC       2   6    12    KY, AUB
PAC 10    1   6     9    ARIZONA
ACC       1   5     9    MARYLAND