2015 HWCI NCAA Pool Update

FIRST FOUR AS FIRST ROUND CLOSING SOON
At 3 p.m., 2015 pace eclipsing last year's record pace of entries received

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- Some good Tuesday games as under #16bMW-Hampton won their 5th game in a row to reach .500 (17-17) and the right to lose to #1MW-Kentucky while #11aW-Ole Miss rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to beat #11bW-BYU in a high-scoring affair, 94-90. In 2012, BYU had rallied from a 25-point deficit in a First Four game. As #16aS-North Florida leads by six at the half and tries to make the Round of 64 proper for the first time, a rare home game will see host #11bE-Dayton battle #11aE-Boise St. After the First Four is done with, it will no longer be considered the 1st Round, thus confusing as Thursday starts the 2nd Round. We will revert back to the 1st Round being the Round of 64 games and the 2nd Round being the Round of 32 games next year. Small victory. Haven't really seen any Kentucky backlash (as in the world is now not picking the Wildcats to win it all) yet.

So as I am excited to attend Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim (who else will be there??) and meeting all the great Star Wars fans (geeks, if you may), I was wondering what pool geeks are called. Poeeks? Brackeeks? Bracketeers? We love this March Madness and last year 91% of the entries we received were return entries including 41 who have been with us for at least 10 pools and 89 who have been with us for at least 5 pools. Thank you for your support. I have only met a handful of you but I always look forward to this time each year to reconnect (new marriages! new divorces! new babies! new employer!). Who will Ken B pick now that Florida failed to make the tourney? Will Man V finally pick up some cash, one of our 12 originals and his 17th year in the pool? Will Vi P and Quang P win money for their newborns?

As of 3 pm today (72 hours after the brackets were revealed (slowly)), we have 73 entries from 51 people, including 9 new people (which eclipses the 8 newbies we got last year). I have tracked the pace of the entries we have received by hour since 2002 (the "modern era" of our pool, where we jumped to 80 entries). 2014 (pink line) and 2015 (lavender line) are interesting as we have gotten a lot of entries early with 2014 setting a record pace. As of 3 pm, the 2015 pace just re-eclipsed the 2014 rate (barely) so it'll be interesting how many entries we eventually end up with. But as you can see, in 2002 when we received 134 entries, the pace looked like it may not top 100 entries (same pace as 2007) so it'll be hard to predict -- like the bracket!

Deadline is 9 a.m. PDT Thursday. 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 now that #11aW-Ole Miss (SEC) won 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. You can view your bracket here if your forgot who you picked or lost your email confirmation.

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 an Google Wallet d 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.

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 - Kansas is the only team to be in our pool all 21 years... the President has spoken and no surprise - safe picks in the Final Four... some cool, although apparently some controversial emoji's on Washington Post... we set a record with 4 entries on Sunday and tied a record with 21 entries at the end of Monday... the 30 entries received on Tuesday is the 2nd most but far from the record of 41 received last year... this is the last year where a dome will host a Regional Final and thus, the last year that Final Four host gets to host the previous year Regional Final as a test run... fan favorite #2S-Gonzaga has lost in the Round of 32 five straight times (from a #1 to a #11 seed)... of the 71 winning entries we have had, just 7 have been on someone's 2nd or 3rd entry...

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My HDTV won't be fixed until Monday (maybe) :-(...
Scott