2014 HWCI NCAA Pool Update

In a wild game that saw Kentucky go on a 15-0 second half run only to be answered by Wisconsin's 15-4 run, Aaron Harrison made his 3rd straight go-ahead 3-pointer in 3 games, this time with 5.7 seconds left to give the Wildcats a 74-73 win over the Badgers. The Kentucky freshmen (66 points, a Final Four record) once again stepped up when it counted in knocking off the "veteran" Wisconsin team. The Badgers missed just one free throw (19/20) but it was a crucial one. At 71-71, just when you thought once again a dumb foul on a late 3-point attempt costing a team a game, the Badgers made just 2 of 3, giving Harrison his clutch shot for the win instead of the tie. One of the more fun players to watch during the tournament, Wisconsin's 7-foot Frank Kaminsky only had 8 points. Kentucky is battle-tested as their five wins are only by a combined total of 18 points and will try to win their 4th title in 19 years.

This was a bracket buster day as only one person got something correct. Badzy was the only person to pick UConn and moved from 32nd-Tied to 5th-Tied (109). The 1 correct win is the lowest since '98 when only 2 people got a team correct. The 0.01% percentage (1 of 276) is by far the worst showing ever (previous was 0.06% in '11 (7 of 250)). This poor showing allowed Bigtenfan2 to remain in 1st place (116) and all 8 entries still alive are now guaranteed to have a chance to finish in the top 6 money spots. In other words, the tiebreaker will be in effect for either 5th (if UConn wins) or 6th place (if Kentucky wins), possibly leaving 1 or 2 players out of the money. The battle for the pool title is between two players who are just in their second year: Badzy & Bigtenfan2, and that means we'll have our 19th different pool champion in our 20 years of doing this pool.

If CONNCTCUT beats KENTUCKY in the final, then the possible winners are...
               Badzy Score:121 (place 1 winner)
          Bigtenfan2 Score:116 (place 2 winner)
             Hawkeye Score:114 (place 3 winner)
      Beyond Elite 8 Score:111 (place 4 winner)
          ShivaBlast Score:110 (place 5 winner)
               Fabio Score:109 (tiebreak=135 | 6th if <=137)
The Downtown Fiction Score:109 (tiebreak=140 | 6th if 138-140)
      Wooden-Soldier Score:109 (tiebreak=141 | 6th if >=141)

If KENTUCKY beats CONNCTCUT in the final, then the possible winners are...
          Bigtenfan2 Score:116 (place 1 winner)
             Hawkeye Score:114 (place 2 winner)
      Beyond Elite 8 Score:111 (place 3 winner)
          ShivaBlast Score:110 (place 4 winner)
               Badzy Score:109 (tiebreak=100 | 5th if <=117   | 6th if 118-119        | 6th-Tie if 120)
               Fabio Score:109 (tiebreak=135 | 5th if 118-137 | 6th if <=117          | 6th-Tie if 138)
The Downtown Fiction Score:109 (tiebreak=140 | 5th if 138-140 | 6th if 121-137, >=141 | 6th-Tie if 120)
      Wooden-Soldier Score:109 (tiebreak=141 | 5th if >=141   | 6th if 139-140        | 6th-Tie if 138)

Tids & Bits - Including the First Four, there have been 7 OT games thus far... Kentucky only shot 5 3-pointers... Florida only had 3 assists, which seems very hard to do... the SEC, who only got 2 teams into the regular tourney (plus 1 in the First Four), is 12-2 so far (including First Four win by Tennessee)... 69 had picked Florida and 8 Wisconsin... North Texas set an NCAA basketball attendance record with 79,444 fans... UConn won their title in '12 by beating a #8 seeded team (Butler)... Badzy has moved from 85th to 69th to 67th to 32nd to 5th... if UConn doesn't win the title (Badzy picked them), it'll be the first time since '98 that no one picked the correct champion; it has only happened twice ('97) while just one person has picked the correct champion in '03 & '06... I enjoyed the GameCasts on TNT and truTV, flipping back and forth between the Wildcat homers and the Badger homer announcers (they did try to be neutral)...

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Celebrating my son's birthday today, much better than a chance to win $555...
Scott