Thursday, March 16, 2023 
Issue # 2.1.1 "One Bad Pass"
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HOME, CA (smt) - At least 4S-Virginia can say they are a champion because other than their 2019 title, they have stunk up the pools.  For the second straight time (they missed the tourney last year) they lost to a #13 seed and of course, they remain the only team to lose to a #16 seed (2018).  This time, leading by 2 and with the ball with less than 10 seconds left, a bad hail mary pass (Virginia had a time out!) was easily intercepted by #13S-Furman who quickly nailed a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to win 68-67.  But that wasn't the biggest shocker as #15S-Princeton (no stranger to shock wins, just ask UCLA) scored the last 9 points to stun #2S-Arizona 59-55.  The Pac 12 champions may be out but the regular season champ #2W-UCLA routed #15-UNC Asheville by 33. 

#5S-San Diego St, #7S-Missouri, #4E-Tennessee, and #1MW-Houston struggled with close wins while #1W-Kansas (though it was tied 33-33), #1S-Alabama, #5E-Duke, #2MW-Texas won by at least 20 points.  #8S-Maryland survived a last second three, #8W-Arkansas never let #9W-Illionois get within 5 in the second half, #9MW-Auburn never let #8MW-Iowa get within 4 in the second half, and #7W-Northwestern never let #10W-Boise St (who are now 0-9 in the tourney) get within 4 in the last 5 minutes.  #10MW-Penn St routed #7MW-Texas A&M as the fourth lower seeded team to win today.

A flurry of entries flooded our inbox as a record 79 entries were received on Wednesday en route to a record 194 entries, besting our previous high of 178 in 2017.  This is the fourth straight year the number of entries increased.  The 126 people tops our previous high of 124 in 2017 with 22 people entering twice and a record 23 entering 3 times.  No team dominated winning it all with Houston the lead with 42 picks.  The other #1 seeds followed with Alabama with 37, Kansas 24, and Purdue 16. Nineteen teams were picked to win the title.

Samurai Jack and Pride of Troy managed to go 14-2 to lead the pool with 28 points.  Ten are tied with 26 pts.  Eleven lost Arizona as their champ and Maitai (94th-Tied, 20 pts) lost Virginia.  Three started out 6-0 before Princeton's win.  Bigtenfan is alone in last with 12 pts (6-10).  Four did pick Princeton and 30 Furman though.

We are now on Twitter (@HWCI_Pools) and Discord.  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.). 

   Tids & Bits - Arizona didn't shoot one free throw in the last 19 minutes (there were only 12 attempted in the game, 7 by Arizona, 5 by Princeton (4 in the last 21 seconds))... this is the 3rd straight year a #15 seed won... Furman's first appearance since 1980 was memorable... Virginia missed two free throws (one on the front end of a one-and-one) in the last 35 seconds... Penn St was 13/22 from three... while Houston could get home-field advantage if they reach the Final Four, they will face a hostile crown playing Auburn in Birmingham... UCLA led 14-0... local UCLA picked by 14 to win it all... 8 teams were picked by at least 10 with UConn (14) and Texas (13) rounded out the top 8... the other two upsets saw 107 pick Auburn and 61 Penn St... all 194 picked UCLA and Alabama while 193 picked Kansas and Houston and 192 Texas... while the better seed, just 90 picked Maryland, 98 Missouri, and 98 Northwestern... HWCI First Four for Charity summary later this week... SEC went 5-1 (Texas A&M losing) with Kentucky yet to play... Mountain West continues to struggle but at least San Diego St won (0-1 First Four, 1-2 today), the conference's first win since 2018... 

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Finally got some antibiotics to fight this nasal infection (out of work all week), ...
Scott