CARSON/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Exhilarating! No spoiler space here. Two amazing comebacks. Okay, let's start with the first game. #7W-West Virginia built a 38-18 lead over #4W-Louisville and led by 13 at halftime thanks to 10/14 shooting from long distance. Shot after shot. But failing to maintain that 20 pt lead gave Louisville hoped that they would start missing. Funny thing is. They didn't. They made 8 of 10 3-pointers in the 2nd half but Lousiville hit 6 of their own and the Cardinals' pressure forced timely turnovers and defensive stops. So while WV hit their 3's, Louisville made 2's and 3's and had cut the lead to 71-67 with 4:02 left before Cardinal star Francisco Garcia fouled out. But Louisville kept their poise and were patient and tied the game at 77 with 34 seconds left, completing a 16-6 run in 4:53. In overtime, Louisville scored the first points and outlasted the tired WV team, winning 98-85.

When you look at it from a distance, WV had no business being in the game. They were clearly smaller than a bigger and more aggressive Louisville team. The Cards had 11 more offensive rebounds (15-4) than WV. WV kept trying to go inside and failed miserably while Louisville finally went inside and succeeded. I credit WV for not taking 3's unwisely, but when you fail to score inside time after time, it's time to set up that outside shot again. They made 8 of 10 in the second half! It's not like they went cold from outside, they just didn't take a lot of shots. I feel bad for them but there's no excuse in making just 8 2-point baskets in the whole game. And the worst part? It prevented me from using "Pittsnogled" for my title. Absolutely criminal.

After that breathless first game, the second game starting out blazing. Both #3MW-Arizona and #1MW-Illinois fought back and forth, basket after basket, in battling to a near tie at halftime. In the second half, Arizona started to pull away as Illinois at one point was shooting just 22% in the 2nd half. The Wildcats eventually built a seemingly insurmountable 75-60 lead with 4:04 left. But the Illini pressure forced several careless turnovers and tied it at 80 after going on a 20-5 run in just 3:26. In fact, Arizona just had one shot during that span (but went 5 for 6 on free throws). The Wildcats failed to give the ball to Salim Stoudamire and the half ended 80-80. Like the earlier game, Illinois continued their run by scoring first and building a 90-84 lead with 1:54 left. But Arizona fought back and had a chance to win it down by one and with the ball with 16 seconds left. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a play drawn up and amist some confusion, a hurried 3-point attempt fell short and sent the Illini to the Final Four. Final score: 90-89.

I don't think I've ever seen such a collapse in such a short amount of time. Is there something to the 6th man? The pro-Illini crowd in Chicago carried the team. The Wildcats made 10 of 12 free throws in the last six minutes but had no field goals. Usually, Arizona explodes like this in the first or second round, not the Regional final. And the worst part? Seeing Bill Murray in some orange garb jumping up and down. I did not need to see that- over and over again.

Wow. Who nearly gave up today? Had West Virginia held on, UTAHPICKS (13th-Tied, 98), KRISPY KREMER SECONDS (6th-T, 101), and BIRD LEGS (21st-T, 93) would have been eliminated. AS it was, these three were eliminated: STRETCH (13th-T), THE NATURAL (58th-T, 84), and ANNIHILATOR44 (26th-T, 92). And maybe BIRD LEGS should be "CAT" LEGS because she has nine lives. If Arizona would've won, BIRD LEGS, KRISPY KREMER SECONDS and eight others would've kissed money goodbye. But Illinois' incredible comeback saved them and sent SCOTTIE (21st-T, 93), YANKEEAGLE (42nd-T, 89), MR. WIZARD-UNO (61st-T, 115), and our esteemed pool administrator THE MIGHTY MOBELFAKTA (42nd-T) home. That leaves just 13 alive for money and seven vying for the title of "2005 HWCI NCAA Pool Champion". Just remember, HWCI is not responsible for the undue stress placed on a person by watching his/her pick go from certain elimination to back in contention to certain elimination to back in contention.

And for the improbables. BIRD LEGS (began 4 in 32,768) keeps surviving and now has a 1 in 32 chance of winning money. SOURCE (86) still wallows in a tie for 54th place but still has a 2 in 32 chance of winning 1st. DARA's (100) incredible climb (from 60th to 5th) was momentarily stalled and fell back to a tie for 8th place and no chance for 1st.

Of course, you all want to know who's in first. YELLOW MONKEY (109) was one of 11 to go 2-0 and takes first place from LUCKORBUST (108). Problem is, YELLOW MONKEY can only get 8 more points (in contrast, FLIP FIGHTERS, who is tied for 3rd with 106 pts, can get 40 more points). FAST TR6 (100) went 2-0, moved to a tie for 8th, and can't win any money. Roy W has positioned both of his entries in good position to try to become the first person to place 2 spots in the money (KRISPY KREMER (3rd-T) and KRISPY KREMER SECONDS (6th-T, 101)).

HOOPGURU (8th-T) survived twice and still has a chance to get all Final Four picks right. CREATIVE (67th-T, 81) joined the 0-for-the-Final Four club with Arizona's loss. Twenty-two entries went 0-2 and are in danger of joining this infamous club. Thirteen picked Louisville's win and 58 had Illinois. YELLOW MONKEY, ACE OF SPADES (5th, 105), and KRISPY KREMER all have about a 25% chance each of winning 1st and FLIP FIGHTERS is still a heavy favorite to take home something, with a 82.3% clip. Four others are between 43-50%.

As for the bonus, the ACC will try to match the Big 10 tomorrow. But the Big 10 has two more teams and will try to extend their win total of 10. In fact, if the Big 10 does too well (>12 wins), no one will win the Bonus Prize and the money will be filtered back to the top 4 prizes. Also, if both the ACC and Big 10 end with 10 wins, no one wins. There are only 11 entries left in the running. Here is the latest:

      Teams Curr Max Poss
Conf.  Left Wins   Wins
------ ---- ---- -------
Big 10    3  10    15   (Illinois, Michigan St, Wisconsin)
ACC       1   9    12   (UNC)