2012 HWCI NCAA Pool Update|
The 18th HWCI NCAA Tournament Pool |
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2012 HWCI NCAA Pool Update |
Friday, March 16, 2012 Issue # 3.2.1 "Where is Duke?" [ Home | Blog | Facebook | Updates ]
CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #15 seeds were 4-105 heading into today but two of the three managed epic upsets as Norfolk St. held its own against #2W-Missouri while Lehigh knocked down a traditional Goliath, #2S-Duke, both within 3 hours of each other. The Tigers shot 52.7%, committed just 8 turnovers, and hit 13 three-pointers and still lost because they got outrebounded by 12 and allowed 14 offensive rebounds. Duke University's Mason Plumlee was 9-for-9 from the field yet Duke, playing near home, went away from that taking some bad shots. #13MW-Ohio, #12MW-South Florida, #11MW-NC State, and #10MW-Purdue (their 14th straight opening round win, 13 in the HWCI NCAA Pool era) also pulled off upsets giving the Midwest region four lower-seeded teams in the Round of 32. #9W-St. Louis (coach Rick Majerus is now 11-1 in the opening round, 8-1 in the HWCI NCAA Pool era) and #10S-Xavier also won meaning 8 lower-seeded teams won today. #6E-Cincy, #8MW-Creighton, and #3E-Florida St survived scares while #7W-Florida, #3MW-Georgetown, #1MW-UNC, #1W-Michigan St, and #2MW-Kansas won comfortably. The crazy events of the day will produce a #15/#10 and #13/#12 matchups on Sunday. With St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, green teams excelled (Michigan St, Ohio, Norfolk St, and South Florida) but for the Irish (#7S-Notre Dame)? Not so much.
Having finally gotten a chance to watch a whole day (in between feeding, coddling, and pacifying a newborn) of basketball, I appreciate the four networks show every game instead of the old way of letting CBS choose when to switch games.
Despite the 8 upsets, Marquardt2 (2nd-Tied, 50 pts) and SlackJaw managed to go 12-4 but it's Larzby that is first with 52 points. Buccos 2 set a new record low by getting just five right today. The previous low for Friday was 7 and 17 got that with three getting just six. But it's AsherPrancerVixen who tied a record low for the round, getting just 15 right (tying Quickpick McGraw in '08). Dr Fun and SlackJaw (both 13th-T, 46) were the only ones to pick Lehigh with 18 picking Ohio and 25 picking South Florida. No one picked Norfolk St.
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Tids 'n' Bits- California teams quickly vaporized going 0-4 (including Cal's loss in the First Four)... Missouri has lost three times as a 4 seed or better in the opening round (only Arizona has that dubious distinction)... 11 lost their champ (9 Missouri, 2 Duke)... the 7 11+ seeds making the Round of 32 ties '89... Larzby is one of 9 entries that have lost 2 of his Final Four teams.. Samurai Jack (27th-T, 44)and Vodka-It's Real (101st-T, 38) have lost half their Elite 8 teams...
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Don't tear up those brackets yet..