Monday, March 16, 2015  **HELP Support Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation**
Issue # 1.0.1 "Of Legal Age!"
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CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Who can stop Kentucky?  The Wildcats completed their perfect regular season (34-0) and claimed the #1 of #1 seeds holding serve in their home state in the Midwest Region.  Incredibly, you can pick the field (any of the other 67 teams) at even money to win the tournament.  The Wildcats beat Wichita St last year, who was also undefeated entering the tournament.  The other #1 seeds were E-Villanova, S-Duke, and W-Wisconsin, who won the Big Ten tournament shutting out #7E-Michigan St in overtime.  Despite not getting a #1 seed, the Big 12 got 7 of their 10 teams in the tournament matching the Big Ten.  The new Big East got six teams in and when joined with the other Power 5 conferences, garnered 29 of 36 at-large bids.  One of the biggest surprises, though great for us local folks, was #11S-UCLA making it not only in the tournament, but not as a bubble last 4 in team.  And one of the more entertaining parts of the slow Selection Show was watching the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look of Chairman Scott Barnes try to explain why UCLA made it and ignoring they are playing #6S-SMU, coached by ex-Bruin coach Larry Brown.  Our very own Anteaters of #13E-UC-Irvine are in their very first tournament (beating my local favorite Hawai'i) and rounding out the last California team, #8S-San Diego St. will travel to Charlotte.

Besides the Bruins, #11MW-Texas and #11bE-Dayton playing in the home arena were curious decisions while 27-win teams Murray St. (perfect conference regular season and 23 straight wins until the conference final) and Colorado St were left out, the former not even considered a Last 4 out.  Also confusing things are all the conference moves the past few years so it's odd seeing Midwest Regional teams #4-Maryland representing the Big Ten, #5-West Virginia representing the Big 12, and darling #6-Butler representing the Big East.  Defending champ UConn nearly snuck in but lost in the conference title game.

Our HWCI NCAA Pool is our 21st, which means our pool can legally drink and gamble.   Last year we had a record 138 entries, reversing a brief 3 entry deficit last year.  This is the first year we're fully to our brand new web entry (no more java or Mac issues) and despite all the R&D, 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, 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 #11aW-Ole Miss (SEC) wins its First Four game.  Since the SEC has 5 teams, it's possible the Winningest Conference could be the SEC, so we your total may be bumped up if you have Ole Miss going past the 2nd Round.

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.  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.). 

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, Karen F won the pool, our fifth female champion and 20th different winner.  She took home a record $550, riding #7 seed UConn's veterans (and likeable nickname) all the way.  Last year we received a record 138 entries from a record 104 people. 

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 21st. 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 --- No more java applet!!!  So glad I don't have to explain this every year!... The ACC also got six teams in while the Pac 12 got 4 and the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West got 3 each... the American Athletic, Missouri Valley, and West Coast conferences got two teams a piece... Dayton was also a big possibility of playing at home last year in the First Four as well... having taught a seminar at Stony Brook U., it is disheartening to see them lose in the final year after year (to get their 1st bid), and this year was especially heartbreaking as they somehow lost when holding a 7-point lead with 2 free throws coming and only 2:38 left in the game...  the Great West conference is not so great, having disbanded last year... 6 of the 8 teams in the WAC have never made the tourney with a 7th not making it since '69, and of course, it's #15MW-New Mexico St winning the conference tourney yet again... the #12 seeds have gone 6-2 the past two years and 8-4 the last 3... the states of Indiana and Texas each got 5 teams in and coincidentally both #10MW-Indiana and Texas got lukewarm receptions... there are at least four new teams making our tourney for the first time (#12MW-Buffalo, #14MW-Northeastern, SMU, UCI) with newbie #16aS-North Florida hoping to join the group if they win their First our matchup... #4S-Georgetown's last five tourney losses have been to a #10, #11, #14, #10, and #15 seed... Kentucky will try to become the first team since Indiana in '76 to go undefeated (and will become the first 40-win team if they do)... last 4 teams out were Colorado St, Temple, Old Dominion, and Richmond... last year snapped a streak of 6 straight tournaments where at least one #13 seed pulled off the upset... a First Four team has won at least a 2nd round game in each year thus far (began '11)... speaking of which, next year we get back to naming the Round of 64 the 1st Round and the Round of 32 the 2nd Round as the opening round has gained enough traction to be considered the First Four by itself... how does Yale not get an NIT berth?...

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No HDTV?  What do I do?...
Scott