Saturday, April 1, 2017
Dboyz17 takes lead and only Parched Fatness can dethone
SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA (smt)- #1W-Gonzaga had a 14-point second-half lead only to see #7E-South Carolina score 16 straight points in 3 1/2 minutes to lead by 2 with 7:06 left. The Zags then responded with a 7-0 run of their own in the next 3 1/2 minutes and then held on to a 77-73 win to advance to their first Final. Up by 3 with 13 seconds left and playing defense, the Zags did what every person always yells at the TV, FOUL to give two free throws instead of allowing a game-tying three. Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins did thisperfectly leaving just three seconds left (of course, USC helped by taking their time for the shot). As expected, South Carolina made the first, missed the second but couldn’t get the rebound and the Zags sealed the game with two free throws.
Trying to get the rebound off a missed free throw, however, was no problem for #1S-North Carolina. The Tar Heels were comfortable with a six-point lead with under a minute left only to see #3MW-Oregon cut it to one. UNC missed two free throws but they got the offensive rebound so Oregon fouled again. Incredibly, UNC missed both free throws again, and more incredibly, UNC got the offensive rebound again running out the final four seconds for a 77-76 victory to return to the final for the second consecutive year and 11th overall (5-5).
Dboyz17 was one of 11 to get both teams correct to take a five-point lead with 136 points. If UNC wins he will be our 21st different champion of our pool. But if Gonzaga wins, Continue reading
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CERRITOS APT/LONG BEACH, CA (smt)- Was just about to write all four teams winning by double-digits and then #4E-Florida decided to change things up. Up by 12 with 4 and a half minutes left, #8E-Wisconsin battled back with some help from the Gators. Florida missed four shots, two free throws, and committed two turnovers, and failed to foul while up by 3 leading to Zak Showalter’s off-balance running three-pointer to tie the game at 72 with 2 seconds left. With our first overtime of the tourney, the momentum continued with the Badgers building a 5-point led with a minute left. But it was the Badgers’ turn to help out, missing two free throws, committing a dumb early foul, Khalil Iverson mis-timing a breakaway dunk that was partially blocked, and inexplicably allowing Florida to run the down the court with four seconds to give Chris Chiozza an open look, albeit a stop-jump floater, buzzer-beating three-pointer to stun Wisconsin, 84-83. Crazy.
Seems like every day there is one big play that is debated. #8W-Northwestern trailed by 20 early and rallied to cut it to three… oh, wait, no goaltending after all. And add a 
Air Fabone 23 kept on winning, eventually getting the first 30 games correct before South Carolina turned up the D and the O turning a close 3-point game into a 20-point blowout in the last ten minutes. The original records were the first 22 games (Buckeye Mike ’09) and 23 games in a row (The Flying Elvi ’15) (Edit to add: The Swami (4th-Tied, 58) also won the first 23 
After 24 games, we have only four upsets, with three of them picked by at least 68 of 178 entries. Given that, there is only one entry left on top, as Air Fabone 23 (Scott T) has set a record by winning the first 24 games. The Swami (Rick M) also set the record before Rhode Island’s win with 23 straight (previous was the first 22 wins by Buckeye Mike (Mike B) in 2009). The 24 straight wins broke The Flying Elvi‘s (Brian S) record of 23 straight during the First Round in 2015. Blind loyalty to his ala mater USC is the only reason he is still perfect. USC’s win also kept intact a First Four winner winning a 1st Round game for the 7th straight year.
The ho-hum day meant that we had a record six entries 