2014 HWCI NCAA Pool Update

Saturday, March 29, 2014
Issue # 10.4.1 "Long Time Back to Final Four"
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GATORS & BADGERS END FINAL FOUR DROUGHT
Bigtenfan2 is our new leader

CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #1S-Florida used a 19-3 run to end the first half in coasting to a 62-52 win over Cinderella-wannabe #11S-Dayton. It's the Gators first Final Four appearance since 2007 when they won the back-to-back championships. Close calls in the final 3 seconds (a charge and a 50/50 ball out of bounds) put the refs center stage but #1W-Arizona failed to get a shot off in time in losing for the 4th time in the Elite 8 in this same Anaheim arena ('98, '03, '11). #2W-Wisconsin's 64-63 thrilling overtime win sends them to the Final Four for the first time since 2000. The 1 vs 2 matchup lived up to they hype.

Didn't see any of the Florida game but watched the last part of the second game. It was nice to see a true big dominate (though listed as a forward, Frank Kaminsky was clutch, getting 28 pts and 11 rebounds) in a trend where finesse and shooting are in the spotlight. Also, though I needed Arizona to win, if it takes more than 30 seconds to determine whose fingernail it went off of out of bounds, just keep the original call. The refs took more than five minutes and they REVERSED themselves, giving the Wildcats one last try. I said it last time, but the replay should be used to reverse INCORRECT calls, not to be forensic evidence in a call that half the people will see one way and the other half the other. The announcers also kept saying whether Arizona would use a time out (their graphic showed they didn't have any) but how do you not draw up a viable play in the five minute delay? Oy vey, as The Amazing Race's Phil Keoghan would say.

For the first time this year, Hawkeye (114) is not in 1st place. Bigtenfan2 was one of 16 to go 2-0 to take a 2-point lead (116). ShivaBlast is now in 3rd (from 9th) with 110 pts with Fabio, Wooden-Soldier, and The Downtown Fiction tied for 4th (109). Just 29 can win money and only 9 have a chance to be crowned the 2014 HWCI NCAA Pool champion. Just 23 picked Wisconsin while 95 easily pegged Florida. Of the 32 possible outcomes, Bigtenfan2 wins the pool on 11 of them (34.4%) and has a 78.1% chance to win money. 36 entries went 0-2 and with Arizona's loss, Go Deep is guaranteed to be last (63).

We are now on Twitter (@HWCI_Pools). Please follow! 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.

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 7 OT games thus far with the Wisconsin-Arizona one the first in the past 30 games... only 2 (Bigtenfan2 and Spermicidal State (22nd-Tied, 103)) still have their Final Four alive... Badzy is tied for 67th (95) but can still win the pool while The Downtown Fiction is tied for 4th (109) but can't win 1st!... LuckyNumberSlevin is tied for 9th (107) but can't finish in the top 6 while Bizarro Larzby is tied for 73rd (93) but can still win 4th!... 75 entries that won't win money or the Bonus1 (full details after Sunday's games)... if you want to know which of the 32 possible outcomes you could win money in, you can Tweet/Facebook comment/Blog comment... in 2002, Jeff H's Random Picks led for the first 6 gamedays and ended up 2nd while in 2012, Lawrence M's Larzby led for the first 6 gamedays but finished 45th... Bigtenfan2's 116 pts is the most at this stage since '09 (Bizarro Larzby, 130)...

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Why give me false hope? Still have 1 in 32 chance to tie for 6th (I've already been on the losing end of a tiebreaker falling out of money in 2010) ...
Scott