CARSON/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #2MW-Michigan St.'s defense finally paid off as the Spartans expanded their lead in the second half in beating the top overall #1 seed MW-Louisville, 64-52.  The Spartans advanced to the Final Four for the 5th time in 11 years.  The Cardinals had a poor shooting night and saw their small 34-32 lead evaporate into a 58-43 deficit in ten minutes.

#1S-UNC knocked off #2S-Oklahoma, 72-60, to advance to the Final Four for the 7th time in 15 years (hey, our pool years!).  The Tar Heels never trailed and went on a 21-9 run to open up a 21 point lead in the second half.  When Tyler Hansbrough scores just eight points (only the third time this season not in double-figures) and UNC still routs, that's trouble.

Bizarro Larzby was one of eight to go 2-0 for the day and was the only person to nail a perfect Final Four (just the 21st entry to do so) and has a four-point lead over The Rat Pack with 142 points (tied for 2nd highest total after 4 rounds).  His large ten-point lead over 3rd place SilverSurfer and 11-point lead over Buckeye23 and Baba gives him winning money in all 8 possible outcomes.  The only caveat (*) is that in one of the eight outcomes he could be tied for 5th place and lose the tiebreaker and come home empty. 

Thirteen (13) picked Michigan St. while 76 chose UNC.  Slackjaw (122), with the odd pick of Villanova winning it all, moved from a tie for 59th to a tie for 18th the past two days as one of 8 to go 3-1 for the round.  Tenawesome T picked the wrong two Big East teams and went 0-for-the-Final-Four to fall from a tie for 23rd to a tie for 53rd (111).

Bizarro Larzby also has a 50% chance to win first while SilverSurfer has a 25% chance.  Brett Picks (Tied-7th, 129), Sugar Mama (T-7th, 129), Suznana (T-12th, 126), and Saikdog (T-12th, 126) all have a 1 in 8 chance to win first, with the juicy scenario of Brett Picks and Sugar Mama tying for first if UConn beats UNC in the final.  This also means we will have a 14th different HWCI NCAA Pool champion when all is said and done.  Seventeen (17) entries still have a chance for money, which ties for the 2nd most entries still alive after the fourth round.

With Louisville losing, the Big East will either finish with 17, 18, 19, or 20 wins.  This also means that someone will win Bonus1 (and Bonus2 will not be needed).  Interestingly, we introduced Bonus2 because for two years no one won Bonus1, and look, in the three years we've had the option of Bonus2, someone has won Bonus1.  Fifty-three (53) still have a chance to win the Bonus (note that if you finish in the money, you're ineligible), which is almost half the pool.

Now we have six days before the next game, time to get refreshed, and let the best entry win!

    Tids & Bits:  Chas Croix (T-103rd, 96) and Jinx (T-74th, 108) both had a chance to go 4-0 for the Round but ended up 0-4... Pre-Selection Picks, the one picked before the bracket came out (and a colossal experimental failure), went 0-for-the-Final-Four; a total of 18 did so as the number all-time is now 132... Roy W (Krispy Kremer (T-97th, 99)) has the most 0-for-the-Final-Four finishes with 4 in eight years and although this entry didn't go winless, his second entry Krsipy Seconds (96th, 100) did... despite being eliminated either after the 2nd round or halfway through the 3rd round 8 times in 10 years, Byron W (Flying Ace (T-44th, 113)) still has not gone 0-for-the-Final-Four; Bob G (Baba) has longest tenure (11 years) without one... Doug H (Bail-Out Fund (T-53rd, 111)) had gone back-to-back Perfect Final Fours (the only person with more than one) but got just 2 of 4 this year... the 1.26 win average for the 4th round is the 4th lowest total ever... if you picked all the higher seeds, you'd be tied for 18th -- but eliminated... Teddy's Teams (114th, 72) still can pick up 20 points but will finish below .500 (currently, 29-31, with at least 1 loss coming)... Slamjam51 (77) is battling Teddy's Teams for last as he is in 113th place but can't pick up any more points...