2014 HWCI NCAA Pool Update

Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Issue # 1.0.1 "Double X"
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GATORS FINISH TO TAKE #1 OVERALL SEED; SHOCKERS UNBEATEN
Our HWCI Pool XX could be wide-open; java applet is reaching end-of-life

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- S-Florida became the first team to go undefeated in SEC play in the regular season and then topped it with SEC Conference Championship to tap the #1 overall seed. Despite reaching the Final Four last year and becoming the first to enter the tourney undefeated (34-0) since UNLV ('91), people still don't understand how MW-Wichita St. is a #1 seed. Last year's champ, MW-Louisville played well toward the end but only got a #4 seed. Ah, the wonderful selection Sunday where there are no right answers but in the end, you still have to beat six teams to win the title, no matter what seed you are. W-Arizona and E-Virginia grabbed the other two #1 seeds, the latter benefiting from tourney losses by #2MW-Michigan, #2S-Kansas (the only team in all 20 of our pools), and #2E-Villanova. Local teams both got #4 seeds with S-UCLA, who beat Arizona in the Pac 12 Final, staying close to home in San Diego while W-San Diego St. travels to Spokane. The other local team, #16aMW-Cal Poly SLO (13-19!), in their 1st-ever tourney, plays in the First Four and hopes to enter the 64 proper. In fact, CP is one of 13 teams seeking their first-ever tourney win.

With more flexibility in allowing a re-match or re-re-match to happen (a three-re-match not so much) and allowing conference teams to meet a round earlier than usual, the bracket this year better reflects a team's true seed (except for Louisville fans). Kansas' Joel Embid's injury (out at least the 2nd & 3rd rounds) is of interest but they still got the #2 seed. The Big 12 (ten teams) got 7 teams in while the ACC, Big 10 (twelve teams), Pac 12, and Atlantic 10 each got 6 teams in. If you were to combine the old Big East, they got 8 teams (4 new Big East, 4 American Conf). So I guess this year there are 7 power conferences (vs 6) which meant only 7 at-large bids did not go to them. If you consider the Atlantic 10 a new power conference, then only San Diego St. and #10W-BYU (controversial as well) got at-large bids. Oddly, three of the 4 First Four matches are in the Midwest which benefits Wichita St. but that is quickly countered by traditional powers at the 2 (Michigan), 3 (Duke), and 4 (Louisville) lines.

Our HWCI NCAA Pool is no longer be a teenager as we've hit our 20th year. Last year we had 131 entries, our first drop (although a small one at 3) in the number of entries since 2003. Despite our new maturity and java applet issues, the entry fee is still $10 (and although we now accept Google Wallet payments, we do not accept Bitcoins). Deadline is still 9 a.m. PDT Thursday. Same point system. If the winner of any of the First Four changes your mind (like now that I know Albany won then I will have them beating Florida!), then you can either update your bracket or email your change (easier to email one or two changes than resubmit a bracket). So you can pick as early as NOW or wait until the last minute. The only minor change, one no one cares about until the last weekend, is the "Winningest Conference" Bonus. What prints out when you submit your bracket may change depending if Iowa (Big 10) or NC State (ACC) wins its First Four game. Since the Big 10 has 7 teams and the ACC has 6 teams, it's possible the Winningest Conference will be the B10 or ACC, so we your total may be bumped up if you have Iowa/NC State going past the 2nd Round.

We are now on Twitter (@HWCI_Pools). Please follow! As I did for our HWCI Euro Soccer Pool when it debuted, I will post using #hwcincaa mini-updates during the day so you can follow without being on Twitter (and if you are, please use #hwcincaa). Please join our Facebook HWCI NCAA Pool Group or post comments on our blog. Here you can join the group and meet your competitors, make new friends, set up NCAA watching gatherings, and post stuff to the wall (pictures, witty comments, etc.).

Google Wallet You can mail your entry fee (email me for snail mail) or give your $10 (per entry) to someone who will give the money to David or Scott. We are accepting PayPal (check or PayPal funds only) to "hwci<at>hotmail.com" or credit card PayPal payments to "smt0222<at>yahoo.com" (but the entry fee is $10.61 (61 cents in PayPal fees... damn them!)). Now, you can send money via your smartphone and pay no fees! Use Google Wallet' Send Money function and send your $10 (per entry) to "smt0222<at>gmail.com" -- just make sure you put your NAME and NICKNAME in the notes section. And if you're having trouble getting your picks in, take a picture of your bracket with your phone and email it to ncaa<at>hwci.com.

Last year, Steve N won the pool, the first time he won money in our pool in 8 years. He took home $530, riding Louisville (picked by 32 entries) all the way. Last year we received 131 entries from a record-tying 99 people.

WHAT:        20th Annual HWCI NCAA Tournament Pool
DEADLINE:    9:00 a.m. PDT on Thursday, March 20
ENTRY FEE:   $10.00 per entry (max 3 entries per person)
PREV CHAMPS:

             2013- THE RAT PACK, $530 (131 entries)

             2012- QUINNSANITY, $540 (134)

             2011- KRISPY KREMER, $515 (125)

             2010- BLUE DEVIL BLUES, $500 (117)

             2009- BIZARRO LARZBY, $495 (114)
             2008- BELUCKY2, $440 (101)
             2007- VAN&SAM, $450 (98)
             2006- GATORS NEVER CHOKE, $415 (85)
             2005- FLIP FIGHTERS, $400 (82) -- repeat winner
             2004- FABIO, $370 (79)
             2003- BIG LUTHER, $280 (63)
             2002- THE FABON8ER, $400 (80)
             2001- TEAM SAMURAI, $280 (59)
             2000- MORALES' MOUNDS, $180 (36)
             1999- SHARY BOBBINS, $180 (36)
             1998- ANNA COME LATELY, $150 (28)
             1997- MAX, $125 (22)
             1996- JAYBIAN, $110 (19)
             1995- BIX PIX, $70 (12)
RULES:       Check http://www.hwci.com/wordpress/?page_id=43 for more info
ARCHIVE:     Check http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa/2014/history.html
BLOG:       Comment at http://www.HWCI.com/wordpress  
NOTES:       All fee money goes back into prizes
             At least four winners (top prize about 40-50%) (if >=100 entries, 5 winners; if>=125 entries, 6 winners)
             Set points are awarded per game (2/3/4/6/8/12 for the 6 rounds) (no upset weighting)
             Two went 16-0 on the first 1st Round day in 2003, One did in 2009
             Only 21 people (1 in 2009, 12 in 2008, 6 in 2007, 2 in 2001) have picked all 4 Final Four teams
             Just 243 of 1,421 entries (17.1%) have picked the correct champion
             Points possible:   196
             Most points ever:  166 by VAN&SAM in 2007
             Least points ever:  49 by GOBAY, HENDO in 2002

Enter online now! You can also fax your entry to me at (720) 368-0816 or email us for a snail mail address (postmarked by Thursday AM). Make arrangements (such as PayPal) to send in your $10 entry fee(s) by March 22nd. Complete rules and daily pool information can be found on the official site: http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa.

Tids & Bits - When in the bracket form page, if there's a red X or if the java applet fails to load, click here to download and install the Sun Java Runtime Environment and put "http://www.hwci.com" in your Java Console site's security exceptions list... with Sun's latest Java making security measures mandatory, just about everyone would have to jump through a few extra steps to get the java bracket to load so alternates were quickly created with the first being creating a HWCI NCAA CBSSports group page to enter your bracket (and then I in-turn would put them in our system) but after entering 14 (10 via CBS), I was dreading doing another 100+. But thanks to Dave F, he has created a stable new bracket that will eventually be our go-to entry page in the future... since last year, two alternate payment methods have been discontinued (Chase's QuickPay and Discover's Money Messenger)... Cal Poly SLO knocked off another local team, top-seeded UC-Irvine, who was also trying to make the tourney for the first time... #11S-Dayton avoided being one of the last four in and will not play in Dayton for the First Four... three teams have huge winning streaks coming into the tourney with Wichita St. of course at 34 (34-0), #12S-Stephen F Austin with a 28-winning streak, and Florida (26)... interestingly, the Sweet 16 could see Florida's 28-win streak vs. SFA's 30-win streak and the championship could see Florida (31) or SFA (33) vs. Wichita St. (39, trying to be the first team with 40 wins)... Michigan won their 1st Big Ten regular season title, hard to believe... oddest team is #3S-Syracuse who started off 25-0 only to lose 5 of their last 7 games... the ACC now has 15 teams, the Big East just 10, the A10 13, CUSA 16, SEC 14, and new American Athletic Conf with 10... I still giggle that the Big Ten has 12 teams and the Big XII has 10 teams... rounding things up, the SEC only got 3 teams in, all other conferences only have their champion... 4 teams each from CA/NC/TX... the 4th Annual HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity benefiting The Friends of Renee is now underway and a write-up will be in the next update... there was a potential for a bunch of teams to make our pool for the first time but in the end, only #14W-Mercer, #16E-Coastal Carolina, and #14E-NC Central (or NCCU) made it with Cal Poly SLO hoping to if they win their First Four match... top 3 seeds in their tourney who failed included Toledo, Buffalo, Denver, IPFW, Stony Brook (again!), UCI, Utah Valley, Louisiana Tech, and Elon... SMU, which seemed to be lock, stunk up their final few games including losing in their opening game vs. Houston in the AAC tourney and was the top team to not be selected as an at-large... Karma? SMU's conference, the AAC, is new which meant there was one less at-large bid (36 vs 37) to give away... the previous 5 #1 mid-majors in the past 15 years were Memphis ('06, '08), St. Joseph's ('04), Gonzaga ('13), and Cincy ('02-lost in 2nd Rd)... the Great West conference is still in provisional stage, so no automatic bid... a #13 has won one game in each of the past 6 tournaments... #2S-Georgetown's last five tourney losses have been to a #10, #11, #14, #10, and #15 seed... a First Four team has won at least a 2nd round game in each year thus far (began '11)...

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Actively followed the end of matches rooting for top seeds NCCU, UCI, Utah Valley, and LA Tech along with 2 seeds Stony Brook and IPFW -- only NCCU won...
Scott