So we now have 2 double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16. Two games to go. How’s this for adding insult to injury or pouring salt on a wound. Sisyphus, who was already last at the end of Round 1, today lost Villanova, New Mexico, AND Kansas in his Final Four. Only Pitt remains and that’s because they don’t play until tomorrow. The order on top: SilverSurfer, SlackJaw (who were submitted by the same person, Jon J.), and my mom (Besst). Just 4 still have their Final 4 intact.
Author Archives: Scott
Jonna Rocks!
Wow. Wow. Wow. The first #1 seed falls and who would’ve expected it to be Kansas? Well, Jonna Rocks did. She rocketed up 35 spots from a tie for 77th to a tie for 42nd. How heavy a favorite was Kansas? 64 picked them to win, 83 had them in the Final, and 96 had them in the Final Four. Wow. Wow. Wow.
The Big LEast
Another Big East team fell, this time our first “big” team to go, Villanova who lost to St. Mary’s (Ca.). That’s the fifth Big East team to fall (of 8). Boy, if we had 96 teams we could’ve gotten two more Big East teams! AndyParsons2 and Max Approved were the only ones to pick the Gaels. Butler was picked by 50 (boy, great defense on the last play, not even giving Murray St. a shot at the basket). And 17 picked Tennessee. SilverSurfer is alone in first but he has Villanova as his champion. Three others lost Villanova as their champ and 45 others had them in their Final Four. So 1 of the 3 double-digit teams have survived with 5 more to go.
Issue # 4.1.2 “Normalized”
2010 HWCI NCAA Pool Update. We should have the money breakdown and also the Bonus Prize details on Monday.
Settled Down
After a wild Thursday, Friday took more to form with 13 top seeds winning. Suznana and SilverSurfer are on top getting 27 correct (54 pts). Sisyphus is last with 34 pts. Random is the only person who could win all 16 games in the next two days. And the Pac-10 win both games (Cal exploding to a large early lead) and maybe, might get a little respect.
Tyus Edney Saved Our Pool
15 years ago today (March 19th), Tyus Edney went coast-to-coast in 4.8 seconds to help UCLA beat Mizzou and possibly saved the HWCI NCAA Pool. This pool was created because UCLA was the favorite to win it all by our UCLA alumni in a Westwood apartment. Of course, UCLA went on to win it all and the pool has continued ever since. But had UCLA lost, who knows, we may have deleted all files and closed down shop.
Here is the recap, then done by Andy way back in 1995, the first year of our pool.
Sort of close…
Some good games but nothing really going down to the wire with the closest margin being four points. Suznana and EMAW are alone in first, going 20-4 (40 pts). There are two struggling at .500 (12-12, 24). Eight games left! Popular upset pick Siena (46 entries, the team picked the most ranked #11 or higher) failed to come through like they did two years ago (beating Vandy, also as a #13 seed).
Hangover…
After a great first day, this second started out bleh with no close games and trendy pick #12 Cornell the only upset. But we’re only three games in. Everyone got WV but after Xavier won, Suznana and You’re My Boy Blue joined EastCoastBias on top. After Cornell’s win (picked by just 35), SilverSurfer, The Other White Meat, and EMAW joined the trio to now form a 6-way tie for first. Four are lagging behind with just 8 wins in 19 games.
Issue # 3.1.1 “Oh My Gravy”
2010 HWCI NCAA Pool Update. Standings, who’s who, team distribution, choice distribution all updated. For who’s who, feel free to post your comments on which nicknames you like/dislike or to explain why you chose that nickname (for some of the obscure ones).
Edit: Link fixed!
Sneak…
EastCoastBias is all alone in first. Sneak peak here. Note we are unofficial until Sunday.
Craziness…
Wow. Six upsets in the first 12 games. That’s more than we had in all of 2007 (5 in 32 games). No one picked Ohio U. to beat down #3MW-Georgetown, meaning Sexual Napalm’s win streak ended at 10. He then didn’t pick Washington (Go Pac-10!) which now puts him in a 5-way tie for first and a 2-game losing streak :-). Just 40 picked Washington while 67 picked Northern Iowa. 83 have more than 6 wins, so pat yourselves on the back.
Jonna Rocks and Droppin’ Dimes (which he has now lost 2 of his Final Four (Notre Dame)) lost their champ, the Hoyas, while three more lost them in their Final Four. And curiously, #1 had UTEP in his Final Four.. whoops.
Three (Random, David’s Lighter, and EastCoastBias) still have their Sweet 16 intact so they avoided the Hoya hype.
Quick Start…
Three (EMAW, You’re My Boy Blue, Sexual Napalm) have jumped to an early lead, winning all 7 early games thus far. 11 are tied for last with just 3 wins (Villanova (barely), Kansas St., and Baylor). I heard the buzzer beater by Murray St. but wished I could’ve seen it live, as buzzer beaters have been a rarity the past few years.
Another Two-Peat played his heart and lost his champ Florida. 27 picked Old Dom, 25 picked Murray St., and 55 picked St. Mary’s upset (though a favorite to do so).
Overtime!
Well, Florida and Robert Morris ran out of gas but put up valiant efforts. #15 Robert Morris had the lead for most of the game, but when it reached overtime, fatigue and foul trouble (though the ‘Cats tried to help them late in OT with poor free throw shooting). Will this help or hurt Villanova?
Below is the portion of the unofficial team distribution list:
| Team | # of players who chose team to | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win it All |
Win 5 Games |
Win 4 Games |
Win 3 Games |
Win 2 Games |
Win 1 Game |
Win 0 Games |
|
| KANSAS | 64 | 19 | 13 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| KENTUCKY | 24 | 41 | 17 | 23 | 12 | 1 | 0 |
| SYRACUSE | 8 | 7 | 49 | 43 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| DUKE | 4 | 18 | 27 | 49 | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| VILLANOVA | 4 | 7 | 38 | 32 | 28 | 9 | 0 |
| KANSAS ST | 4 | 3 | 28 | 39 | 34 | 10 | 0 |
| OHIO STATE | 4 | 3 | 7 | 61 | 30 | 12 | 1 |
| W VIRGINIA | 2 | 14 | 13 | 60 | 23 | 6 | 0 |
| GEORGETWN | 2 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 62 | 22 | 0 |
| MARYLAND | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 58 | 47 | 8 |
| FLORIDA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 36 | 79 |
I’m surprised so many people picked Kansas… thought we would have more variation.
Surprises to Start
Wow, they were right about ND playing themselves up to a 6 seed which is probably too high… unfortunately, both of my brckets had ND :-(. And OT for Florida-BYU!
Unofficially, we have 118 entries, which tops last year. Still working out final details and hope to have some info up later today.
Deemed to Win
Okay, I gave my son a cookie (it has fruit in it :-)) to give me a little time here to submit my second entry, Deemed to Win, courtesy of Pelosi & Reid. So even if my bracket doesn’t actually win, since I deemed it so, it’s like it did win. Right? This one is more loopy with Duke winning it all as the cookie didn’t last as long as I thought and was distracted while entering towards the end.
With about 10 minutes left til the deadline, it looks like we’ve hit the magical 115th entry. I’ll be taking my son to school soon so I may not be able to update the right side of this blog til later this morning.