Saturday, March 29, 2015 
Issue # 10.4.1 "Close Doesn't Count"
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CERRITOS, CA/CHINO HILLS, CA (smt)- Why Chino Hills?  Well, it has finally happened as my esteemed co-admin and co-creator of this pool, The Mighty Mobelfakta, has finally found someone to spend the rest of his life with and we couldn't be happier.  Myself ('02 champ Gold Fabone) and my wife SpAva, our current leader Will I Ever Win This, last year's champ Badzy (David's sister), '95 champ Bix Pix, Bramlet Aberchrombie and his wife ('99 champ Shary Bobbins), former players Jayloc and Uthpope, and The Flying Elvi were there to celebrate.  It was a wonderful ceremony and a great reception.  And it ended early enough for those to listen to the 2nd half of a Badger-Wildcat match that was dominated long-range by #1W-Wisconsin.  Helped by #2W-Arizona weirdly playing for the next possession despite being down by 5 and less than a minute to go that ended in a shot clock beating 3 by Wisconsin, the Badgers reached the Final Four for the 2nd straight year, beating the Wildcats in the Region Final for the 2nd straight year, 85-78.  Wisconsin hit 10 3's in the 2nd half led by Sam Dekker's 5 including two daggers in the last two minutes.  The Badgers missed 5 free throws in the last five minutes yet Arizona didn't foul but allowed 30+ seconds to run off the clock each time.

In the second game, #3MW-Notre Dame gave undefeated #1MW-Kentucky everything they got but couldn't build their lead bigger than 6 with 5:22 left.  The Wildcats slowly chipped away and didn't panic as they calmly scored the last four points in the last 2:36 to stun the Irish, 68-66, to reach the Final Four for the 2nd straight year (4th straight time doing it (did not qualify in 2013)).  John Calipari has now led the only 3 teams with 38 wins (2 with Kentucky, 1 with Memphis) and could set a record of 39 with a Final Four win Saturday.  It'll be interesting to see if Kentucky is now wounded with the close call or inspired and will finish the Final Four with ease. 

There were 57 who went 2-0 including Will I Ever Win This who now has a huge 8-point lead and has won 10 games in a row, which is rare this late in the pool.  He has a chance to get 171 points which would top the 166 Van&Sam (this year's Iwantdonuts (125th-T, 96)) got in 2007.  Dropping Dimes moved from a tie for 10th to 7th, picking up points in the middle 5 entries who only got 1 game correct. 

Will I Ever Win This has a 53.1% chance to win the pool and an 87.5% chance to win money (his first win in 17 years).  Seven others can still win the pool with The Bracket Awakens the lowest ranked entry (44th-T, 109) still with a chance for 1st.  TURNOVER PRONE is the highest ranked entry (12th-T, 116) that is eliminated.  Bizarro Larzby is tied for 104th (100) and can still win 5th.

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   Tids & Bits - the ACC and Big 10 are now 14-4 and 10-5, respectively... the Pac 12 lost its last team... Wedding musings: last year's champ, David's sister, was very busy helping plan the wedding and didn't have time to defend her crown; according to David's mom, when David was in a very happy mood recently, she thought the wedding planning was going well -- nah, it was UCLA had just won; I wasn't going to jinx Man (Will I Ever Win This) but his wife happily is excited he's in first place; Andy (Bramlet Aberchrombie (71st-T, 105)) and Brian (The Flying Elvi (16th-T, 115)) were eager to try to pay their $10 fee but I wasn't going to exchange money right before the ceremony!  I'll collect next week at the HWCI Easter Egg Hunt... 108 entries have reached 100 points... the 4.95 wins in the last round was 4th highest average... in 21 years, entries have collected 174,004 points... did you miss the Bonus prize details and prize distribution?....

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The last of the HWCI'ers to get married...
Scott