2014 HWCI NCAA Pool Update

Friday, March 21, 2014
Issue # 3.1.2 "Four point play and Duke away"
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SFA FORGOT HOW TO LOSE; DUKE BOUNCED AGAIN
Hawkeye & The Rat Pack are tied for 1st

CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Shouldn't players be celebrating leading by 4 with only a few seconds left? Nah, let's contest a desperation 3-pointer. On the biggest stage, one of the biggest blunders happened as #5S-VCU's JeQuan Lewis inexplicitly contested (regardless if it was a foul or not) #12S-SFA's Desmond Haymon's attempt fouling him as he swished the shot with 3.6 seconds left. Cooly, Haymon made the free throw and overtime would ensue and his team would survive. That wasn't bad enough as VCU blew a 10-point lead with 3 1/2 minutes left and missed 2 free throws right before THE SHOT. But when you haven't lost since November, Stephen F. Austin just don't know how to lose extending their winning streak to 29.

#1MW-Wichita St became the first team to go 35-0 in their rout of local #16MW-Cal Poly SLO. #6W-Baylor, #11MW-Tenn, #3S-Iowa St, and #4S-UCLA won easily while #1s E-Virginia and W-Arizona fought to not become the first team to lose to a #16 seed. Top seeds #3W-Creighton, #2S-Kansas, and #6-UNC all struggled in their wins. The biggest upset once again involved #3MW-Duke as they blew a late lead to #14MW-Mercer (they also lost to #15 Lehigh two years ago). #7S-New Mexico missed 15 of their last 17 shots in their loss to #10S-Stanford. #8W-Gonzaga, who seem to excel when a lower seed, once again will reach the next round. #8MW-Kentucky started the game 1-0 after hitting 1 of 2 technical foul shots because a #9MW-K-State player dunked during pregame but won by 7.

The Rat Pack and HopScotch (3rd-Tied, 54 pts) went 14-2 as the former and Hawkeye sit atop the standings with 56 pts (28 of 32). Hawkeye began the pool 18-0 before missing Stanford's win. Just Hawkeye and Vinny21 (5th-T, 52) picked Mercer. Duke is the first champion that was lost as four had the Blue Devils winning it all and 25 in the their Final Four (including me). Twelve went 9-7 including Princess Kahlo who is still in last place (34). 56 picked the First Four winner (Tenn), 36 picked Stanford, and 26 picked SFA.

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.).

Tids & Bits - The 4th Annual HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity benefiting The Friends of Renee was won by Guilio B who was the only person to go 4-0 and a write-up will be in a future update... including the First Four, there have been 6 OT games thus far... after FC Nordsjaelland (5th-T) went 16-0 on Day 1, he went just 10-6 on Day 2 ... 3 lost Oklahoma St and one lost UMass and VCU in their Final Four... Badzy (95th-T, 44) (Ohio St, Duke) and MistressNine (118th-T, 42) (Ohio St, Oklahoma) are the only two to lose 2 Final Four teams ... disappointed we won't have to say Coastal Carolina Chanticleers... no one has all 16 Sweet 16 teams but 47 do have 15 of 16 still alive... we won't know which entries are officially eliminated until after Sunday's games, so you still have hope!...

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You can't make this stuff up, that 4-point play or pregame technical...
Scott