EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- Roy Williams spent 15 very successful seasons without winning the big one and when he finally broke through in 2005 after moving from Kansas to UNC in 2003, he has been on a roll.  In the past five years, he's won two titles, been in 3 Final Fours and 4 Elite 8s.  And this was his first full recruiting class!  Can it just get better from here?  Although tired of hearing about Tyler Hansbrough, I am happy that he stayed back in college and then was awarded with a title (like USC's Matt Leinart who stayed back and fell seconds short of back-to-back-to-back titles, I like these stories).  Otherwise, three non-competitive games in the Final Four (though UConn came within one possession once late vs. Michigan St.), no true buzzer beaters (though the 'Zags' Demetri Goodson & 'Nova's Scottie Reynolds came close (with Reynolds being a buzzer beater before they added 0.5 seconds to the clock)), just two overtime games, and just one game in the last 24 decided by 3 or less points.  Also, the top 12 seeds made the Sweet 16 and 15 of 16 were 5 seeds or better.  Yawn.

Congratulations to lawyer Lawrence M ($495) who decided to enter some alternate choices for his second entry and won with it, Wendy B ($250) adding to husband Darryn's 2003 title take of $280, rookie Adam C ($170), sophomore Ford R ($115), 14-year vet (er, Dentist) Mike B ($70), and my brother Kevin T ($40 Bonus).  Lawrence is our 14th person to win the HWCI NCAA Pool title and we've now had 45 different people win money over 15 years (Wendy & Mike winning for the second time, both previous wins being the Bonus... maybe a good omen for Kevin?).  Below is the prize distribution over the 15 years.

So what'd we learn?

RINSE, REPEAT:  For the second straight year, Western Kentucky was slotted a 12 seed and once again they beat the 5 seed, this time Illinois.  They did fall a play short of making the Sweet 16 again.  Four teams seeded lower than 11 (2 12's, 2 13's) won their opener last year and four won this year (3 12's, 1 13).  While UCLA failed to make it 4 in a row in the Final Four, UNC did make the FF for the second straight year.

THE BIG BEAST:  The Big East got 3 #1 seeds, sent a record 5 to the Sweet 16 and 4 to the Elite 8, but couldn't close the deal, as neither of their top 2 seeds made the Final Four and no Big East team made the final. 

GOT NO GAME:  How could (in LA, 710 AM) no one be broadcasting on radio the night games of the 2nd day of the tournament?  We (okay, I, as most of you had TVs) were denied the exciting Sienna-Ohio St overtime game and the Wisconsin-Florida St double-OT game going on simultaneously.  May have to get satellite radio next year... along with a new laptop... along with digital TV box.

FOOT LONGER THREE:  Having not watched many games and then the lack of close games, I don't know if the longer 3-point line (moved back a foot) affected many games.  There was poor shooting in the Final Four (except for UNC's first half in the final) but that could've been due to the big domed stadium.

IT'S A SOCIAL GAME:  We revamped the look for the first time since 1999, using the blog as our homepage, allowing for RSS.  Also, we created gender neutral "Hwci Ncaa" on Facebook (who now has 30 friends) whose profile automatically streamed the blog.  We also created the HWCI NCAA Pool Facebook group page (now with 39 members) which allowed players to come to a common point and get to know their competitors a little bit.  The discussion board isn't as active as it was in its heyday, but it's still there for those who want to vent or suggest tweaks in the pool.

SUPER STREAKY:  Buckeye Mike won his first 22 games, shattering the previous record of 16 to start a pool while SilverSurfer & Rainman both had 13-game win streaks (the former bridging the 1st and 2nd rounds and latter bridging the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds (much, much harder to do)).  Meanwhile, Chas Croix ended up losing his last 9 games.

GUTSY AND NO EFFECT:  Buckeye23 won 2nd and she picked Cleveland St's 1st Round win (Pride of TROY! was the only other person to get this correct) but she still would've won 2nd winning the 3-way tie for 2nd had she picked Wake Forest.  She also picked Cleveland St. to make the Sweet 16 which didn't happen, and even if she had picked Arizona to make the Sweet 16 (she had Utah in the 2nd round), those five extra points would've still landed her in 2nd place!

PERFECTO:  I don't know if this has happened before, but every single game (63) was picked correctly by at least two people*.  Also, for the first-time ever, the first day of every round (plus the 5th and 6th rounds) had at least one person be perfect (Buckeye Mike 16-0 (1st Round), 21 went 8-0 (2nd Round), Rainman & The Rat Pack 4-0 (3rd Round), 5 went 2-0 (4th Round), Bizarro Larzby & Little Miss Sunchips picked both Finalists (5th Round), and 36 had the correct champion (6th Round)).

RECORDS:  Despite the heavy favorites winning, just one record was set outright (Buckeye Mike & SilverSurfer ending the 2nd round with a record 98 points).  Despite how you might make fun of Teddy's Teams (Florida St. winning it all?), no record lows were set outright.  However, 11 record highs were tied (which ties a record set in '07) while 7 record lows were tied.  Below is a list of the 40 record types (20 for highs, 20 for lows) that are tracked.

    Tids & Bits:  See above!

* Rev A - Actually, in 2007 at least 6 entries chose the correct team in all 63 games and in 2003 & 2008, at least 1 picked the correct team in all 63 games.