2019 NCAA FINAL FOUR @ Minneapolis, MN 4th Final Four (’51 (Williams Arena), ’92 & ’01 (Metrodome)) Hosted by U. of Minnesota (Big Ten)U.S. Bank Stadium
Second Semifinal
First Semifinal
#2-East Washington, DC Hosted by Georgetown U. (Big East) Capital One Arena
#3-West Anaheim, CA Hosted by Big West Conference Honda Center
#1-South Louisville, KY Hosted by U. of Louisville (ACC) KFC Yum! Center
#5-Midwest Kansas City, MO Hosted by Missouri Valley Conference Sprint Center
Michigan State University Spartans (32-6)
Texas Tech University Red Raiders (30-6)
University of Virginia Cavaliers (33-3)
Auburn University Tigers (30-9)
Big Ten Conference – Reg. Season Co-Champs & Tourney Champs East Lansing, Michigan 10th Final Four (’57, ’79, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’05, ’09, ’10, ’15) 2-time champions def #15 Bradford 76-65 #10 Minnesota 70-50 #3 LSU 80-63 #1 Duke 68-67
Big 12 Conference – Regular Season Co-Champs Lubbock, Texas 1st Final Four def #14 Northern Kentucky 72-57 #6 Buffalo 78-58 #2 Michigan 63-44 #1 Gonzaga 75-69
Atlantic Coast Conference – Regular Season Co-Champs Charlottesville, Virginia 3rd Final Four (’81, ’84) def #16 Gardiner-Webb 71-56 #9 Oklahoma 63-51 #12 Oregon 53-49 #3 Purdue 80-75 (OT)
Southeastern Conference – Tournament Champs Auburn, Alabama 1st Final Four def #12 New Mexico St 78-77 #4 Kansas 89-75 #1 North Carolina 97-80 #2 Kentucky 77-71 (OT)
Thursday, April 4, 2019
TWO NEWBIES AND VIRGINIA JOIN MICHIGAN ST IN FINAL FOUR At least $85 will be donated to Boys & Girls Clubs of America; over $783 donated in 9 years
SANTA BARBARA, CA (smt)- It is so nice that if you don’t like how something is being viewed, you canjust force a company like Rotten Tomatoes to change their scoring methods or delete a bunch of data until it comes out positive. Luckily, the HWCI NCAA Pool will not bow to trolls and will continue to press on, year after year, this being our 25th silver anniversary. Considering we have had at least 125 entries the past 9 years with 89.5% of the entries returning players this year, I say we are Certified Fresh!
Here are the past HWCI NCAA logos since 2013 (with 1996’s bitmap one included as well). Each takes the shape of the hidden HW based on the Final Four logo design. When 3-D printers become the norm, I had a crazy idea of creating “coins” with the logo on the front and the winner on the back and sending the winner one as a gift. Maybe one day I’ll retroactively go back and create logos for 1995-2012. But in the meantime, enjoy these fun creations.
TIGERS WIN IN OT; DUKE AND ZION FALL SHORT Carseroni 1st but stuck at 131; Just 5 can win pool and 2 guaranteed money
HOME/DIGNITY HEALTH SPORTS PARK, CARSON, CA (smt)- #5MW-Auburn proved it could win without launching lots of threes (just 7 of 23) and knocked off their 3rd straight Blue Blood, #2MW-Kentucky, in overtime 77-71. Although the rest of the team hit just 7 of 13 free throws, Jared Harper was 11-for-11 and hit all six in overtime and had 12 of the Tigers’ 17 OT points. Auburn made its first Final Four and knocked off legendary programs Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky in consecutive games. Each team had a chance in the final seconds as regulation ended at 60-60.
#2E-Michigan St complained that they shouldn’t have been in the same region as #1E-Duke despite one of the higher 2 seeds. But they faced each other and produced a great game, with no team taking more than a 4-point lead in the final 17 minutes. In the end, Duke’s RJ Barrett tried to take control from Zion Williamson and got the foul but missed the first of 2 free throws down 68-66 with 5.2 seconds left. He tried to miss the second but actually made it meaning Duke now needed to foul four times (not being in the penalty yet). After the first foul, with 4.7 seconds left, Duke misplayed the situation and Michigan St. ran away from the defenders and ran out the clock to reach their 10th Final Four, winning 68-67.
DIGNITY HEALTH SPORTS PARK, CARSON, CA — Geez, got another flash drive error and had to resort to a backup a couple days ago. Thus, the update will be late, likely Monday night but I do have the winning possibilities uploaded for those of you (i.e., not me) still alive. Just 13 can finish in the top 6 but 5 of those can still win the pool. The Gambler 2 and Kds911 are guaranteed money (at least 4th). Carseroni is 1st but can’t get any more points and still has a 62.5% chance of money.
Just 17 can win the $40 Bonus BUT if Auburn beats Michigan St or Texas Tech beats Auburn in the Final, no one will win the Bonus1 and we we will go to Bonus2, which is total points in final, and a bunch of us may still have a chance yet again. That will be detailed after Saturday’s games.
MISTAKE COSTS ZAGS; HEAVYWEIGHT FIGHT WON BY VIRGINIA Carseroni is one of 11 to get both games and jumps to 4 point lead; Just 7 can win pool
HOME/LABCORP, LOS ALAMITOS, CA (smt)- After falling behind 69-62 with 52 seconds left, #1W-Gonzaga got within two at 71-69 before Josh Perkins made the accidental mistake heard around the world with 11 seconds left when his hand knocked the inbound player’s hand meaning it was a 2-shot technical foul plus #3W-Texas Tech got to keep the ball. The resulting four free throws gave the Red Riders their first Final Four ever in their 75-69 upset of the Zags. It was a harsh penalty but it’s there to prevent intentional delay tactics which this wasn’t. Texas Tech hit their last six free throws and the best defense held off the best offense as the Zags shot just 42.4% and had 16 turnovers.
The second half of the #1S-Virginia-#3S-Purdue game had everything a fan would want with clutch shots, clutch rebounds, a buzzer beater, and a mano y mano matchup between the Cavs’ Kyle Guy and the Boilermakers’ Carsen Edwards. Guy hit 3 threes to start the second half in helping build a 45-37 lead but then Edwards caught fire hitting 6 of 8 three pointers and 24 points in a 32-22 run to put Purdue up by 2 with 1:11 left (Guy had 10 of those 22 points). But Purdue’s Ryan Cline missed a free throw leaving the game at 70-67 and Purdue smartly fouled before Guy or anyone else could take a three with 5 seconds left. The second free throw was missed and a long rebound was won by Virginia in the back court and a great pass up to Mamadi Diakite in the arc was put in at the buzzer sending the game into overtime tied at 70. The overtime was tight as Guy was held to just two late free throws and Edwards had just a jumper (finished with 42 points and 10 threes) and then missed a three with 7 seconds left down 76-75. The Cavs hit their final four throws to win 80-75. So surprised that the clutch three specialist from the last game, Ryan Cline, didn’t get a chance to shoot a three late in overtime. Just six of 58 games have been one possession games (9 if you just include regulation) and 37 of 58 have been double-digit blowouts.
UNC FIRST #1 TO GO DOWN, DUKE SURVIVES AGAIN ChuckPersonCellBlock holds on to lead while just 18 can win the pool
HOME/CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER, CA (smt)- After #3E-LSU went on a 13-0 run to cut #2E-Michigan St.’s lead to four, MSU went on a 16-5 run to break the game back open for a 80-63 victory. MSU hit 13 of 32 three-pointers while LSU will now try to find another coach with Will Wade still suspended. After #1MW-UNC got within six, #5MW-Auburn hit five straight three pointers as part of a 16-3 run to break the game open in their 97-80 rout of the Tar Heels. With the Tigers hitting threes and at one point were just 2 of 10 from the free throw land, it’s a wonder why UNC did not try to foul instead of letting the Tigers launch three after three (17 of 37 overall). One thing about teams who win often such as UNC is that they don’t know how to play from behind. Down by 10 with 7 minutes left and the ball, UNC took 10-20 seconds each possession and made poor shot choices (including a very long 3). UNC didn’t start fouling until it was under 3:30 and down by 11 and to Auburn’s credit, they did hit six in a row but still finished under 50% (8 of 17).
#1E-Duke survived another nail-biter, 75-73, with #4E-Virginia Tech as the Hokies missed two threes and then an easy layup for the tie as the buzzer sounded. It seemed like no one told VT’s Ahmed Hill that the refs put 0.5 seconds back on the clock (so 1.1 left) as he seemed to jump and just tip it with two hands near the basket instead of grabbing it for a more controlled put back. It was a great play and also good to see VT didn’t try for the game-winning three as most teams would do and tried to get the easy game-tying bucket. Duke shot well, hitting 55.4% from the field. #2MW-Kentucky also barely survived #3MW-Houston took a 58-55 lead after being down by 13 early but the Wildcats scored the last 7 points in winning 62-58. Just six of 56 games have been one possession games (8 if you just include regulation) and 37 of 56 have been double-digit blowouts.
ONE VS THREE IN BOTH WEST AND SOUTH ChuckPersonCellBlock leads by two while 99 entries are still alive
HOME, CA (smt)- #1W-Gonzaga held #4W-Florida St to just two points in the last 4:11 to expand a scant four point lead (60-56) to a 72-58 victory while #1S-Virginia held #12S-Oregon to no field goals in the last 5:43 to turn a 45-42 deficit into a 53-49 win. The Cavs actually shot worse (35.7%) than the Ducks (37.8%) but pulled out the win after Oregon scored more points in their 23-12 run than in the first half (22). #3W-Texas Tech held #2W-Michigan to just 16 first-half points en route to Wolverine-record tourney low 44 for the game in their 63-44 victory. Michigan missed their first 18 three-point attempts (finished 1 of 19) and shot just 32.7% from the field.
#2S-Tennessee who blew a large lead (25 points) and needed overtime to win in the 2nd round saw their fortunes reverse, as they rallied from a large deficit (18 points) but lost in overtime to #3S-Purdue, 99-94. Both teams shot as well or better from the field than the free throw line (Purdue 54.0% FG, 48.4% FT; Tennessee 50.0% FG, 50.0% FT) so this game could’ve been won easily by either team if they just hit their free throws (Purdue missed 17 including two front ends of a one-and-one and were at one point 3 of 13; Tennessee missed 12). Tennessee had an 82-80 lead but with 1.7 seconds left they “fouled” (Purdue player may have kicked out but if you lean into the player, the ref may call it, ticky-tack as it was) on a 3-point attempt and Purdue only made 2 of 3 to send the game to OT. Tennessee lived too much on the edge blowing a 16-point lead to #15S-Colgate and the aforementioned 25-point lead to #10S-Iowa. Purdue did have Ryan Cline who not only hit four 3-pointers in the last five and a half minutes, he hit fadeaways and shots the defender knew he was going to take, a la Stephen Curry… but did it with class. A joy to watch even though I picked Tennessee.
TOP SIX AND BONUS WILL WIN $1,620 POT 20 of 23 eliminated entries eligible for Bonus in our Silver Anniversary
GOLETA, CA (smt)- With all four #1s, #2s, #3s and two #4s and a #5 and #12 in the Sweet 16, the sum seed total of 49 is the lowest since seeding began. #1W-Gonzaga and #1MW-UNC have closed out games strongly while #1E-Duke needed some luck and non-whistles and #1S-Virginia trailed #16S-Gardner-Webb by 14 at one point. Beleaguered conference Pac 12 has its #12S-Oregon in the mix while the ACC (5), SEC (4), and the Big Ten (3) continue to dominate.
With the mostly chalk Sweet 16, one entry (Center Road) around the world actually has a perfect bracket, and he didn’t even know it! I use this sometimes in my statistics class showing the 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,780,000 odds of picking a perfect bracket or if you do some weighting of seeds, maybe get it down to 1 in 67,582,737,423. Still virtually impossible. How has our group done in 25 years? No one has gone a perfect first round with Air Fabone 23 (Scott T) going 31-1 in 2017. With Honey Badger (Scott D) going 16-0 this year, he became the first to have a perfect Round 2. What the future lie? Van&Sam (Van P) in 2007 was able to 8-0 in the Sweet 16, 4-0 in the Elite 8, and 2-0 for the Final Four. But she missed the champion (Florida beat Ohio St)! Unfortunately, Center Road was not eligible for Warren Buffet’s million dollar for life Sweet 16 challenge!
DUKE, TENNESSEE SURVIVE; OREGON JOINS FUN Buckeye Mike leads by one while Honey Badger goes 16-0 for Round
CERRITOS/GOLETA, CA (smt)- #2S-Tennessee blew a 25-point first half lead (44-19) and needed overtime to defeat #10S-Iowa, 83-77. Iowa also had to rally from 4 points down with under a minute left to send the game into overtime at 71 all. #9E-Central Florida nearly made a layup and then tantalizingly watched the follow-on tip by Aubrey Dawkins roll around the rim and then out in falling to #1E-Duke, 77-76. UCF’s Tacko Fall had foul trouble playing just 25 minutes but UCF did benefit from a generous call late that gave them a late four-point lead (and subsequently blew an alley-oop that would’ve put them up 6). After watching and seeing it either probably did hit the rim or was inconclusive (resetting the shot clock where UCF scored), CBS later produced two great replays clearly showing the ball missed the rim (one above that showed it banked and missed the rim and a slo-mo second view that showed the ball never changed direction, thus didn’t hit the rim). But while Duke was robbed there, they probably did get the benefit of some rough play and maybe an offensive foul that wasn’t called after that. And with the game on the line, Zion missed a game-tying free throw that was put back in by Duke for that final lead with 11.8 seconds left.
FAVORITES ADVANCE ALONG WITH RED HOT AUBURN Slamjam51 3 takes over 1st place as 8 are perfect today
CYRPESS COSTCO/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Surprising SEC tournament champion #5MW-Auburn continued its hot run in routing #4MW-Kansas to advance to the Sweet 16 with 7 favorites. #3E-LSU blew a 15-point second half lead and trailed by 3 before Tremont Waters drove for a layup with 1.6 seconds left to break a 67-67 tie. #2MW-Kentucky struggled against #7MW-Wofford in winning by six but the other six (#2W-Michigan, #4W-Florida St, #1W-Gonzaga, #2E-Michigan St, and #3S-Purdue) all won by at least 12 points. That means 26 of 40 games were blowouts and just 4 of 40 were one possession games. Yawn.
There were great performances, more than I remember from another tournament with #12W-Murray St’s Ja Morant excelling with 28 points in the loss, Purdue’s Carsen Edwards scoring an absurd 42 points, and the Zags’ Brandon Clarke scoring 36 points and blocking 5 shots. One star who failed to produce was Wofford’s Fletcher Magee who after setting the career record for 3s with 509 in the last game, just needed four to tie Steph Curry’s single-season record of 162. But he instead set the record for most missed threes without a make, going 0-for-12. And his demeanor is the same as Curry’s, arrogant and just putting up 3s late despite teammate Nathan Hoover hitting 4-of-5 threes (Curry’s selfish and dumb threes (which of course he missed) late against Cleveland is the only reason Lebron has a ring in Cleveland)).
ANTEATERS SHOCK AMONGST 8 UPSETS 5 tied for first as three go 15-1 despite 8 upsets
GOLETA/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- The lone local team, #13S-UC Irvine, rallied with a 17-4 run to put away #4S-Kansas St to reach the Round of 32. UCI was just one of 8 upsets on the day with #12S-Oregon, #9S-Oklahoma, #9MW-Washington (and their relentless defense), and #9E-Central Florida (with great name and player Tacko Fall) winning comfortably and #10S-Iowa (over hometown crowd #7S-Ciincy), #12E-Liberty, and #11MW-Ohio St pulled out close wins. #1 seeds struggled with infamous #1S-Viriginia going down 30-16 to #16S-Gardner-Webb, but the difference from last year to this year is that De’Anndre Hunter wasn’t injured and scored 23 points in helping rally from a 5-point halftime deficit with a 25-5 run to start the 2nd half. #1MW-UNC also was down 5 at the half to #16MW-Iona but broke from halftime on a 25-7 run to win easily. #1E-Duke fell behind by 7 early to #16E-North Dakota St before scoring 54 points in the 2nd half. #3W-Texas Tech, #6W-Buffalo, #3MW-Houston, and #4E-Virginia Tech won easily but #2S-Tennessee trailed 52-50 but held on to win by 7.
Thursday, March 21, 2019 A BIG TEN GOES 5-0 WHILE BIG EAST DOWN TO ONE Our 25th year saw an increase to 162 entries from 1l3 people
GOLETA, CA (smt)- Potential Cinderella darlings #14E-Yale, #12MW-New Mexico St, #11E-Belmont, and #11S-St. Mary’s all faltered leaving head coachless #3E-LSU, #5MW-Auburn, #6E-Maryland, and the defending champ #6S-Villanova heading into the 2nd Round. Yale sure did look like they were looking forward to Belmont in the next round and forgot they had to win the first one. New Mexico St bypassed an easy layup to tie the match, missed 2 of 3 free throws with 1.7 seconds left when down by 2, and the airballed a wide open three at the buzzer in losing by one. Auburn was tying to give the game away blowing a late 13 point lead and committing six turnovers in the last nine minutes or so and missing front ends of one-and-one free throws. The only team that fulfilled people’s upset brackets was #12W-Murray St led by Ja Morant’s triple double (17 pts-16 ast-12 reb), the first in tournament play since ’12 in a rout of #5W-Marquette. There were a few other upsets as #10E-Minnesota, #10W-Florida, and #9W-Baylor picked up wins. Still upset at their placement, #2E-Michigan St trailed #15E-Bradley by one at halftime before pulling away. #4W-Florida St, #7MW-Wofford, and #3S-Purdue ended strong while #4MW-Kansas, #2MW-Kentucky (winning the Wildcats vs Wildcats battle), #1W-Gonzaga, and #2W-Michgan rolled to easy victories.
Well, here we go. We have 143 entries thus far with less than 5 hours to go. Below are the admin picks, and yes, we pay our own $10 per entry. Note, the links will eventually have the time/date stamp removed when I have time but I was working until 1 am today. BTW, this link also will allow you to view your own bracket if you forgot who you picked.
ACC NABS 3 #1 SEEDS, DUKE #1 OVERALL Our 25th year offers a consistent experience, unlike the new NCAA Evaluation Tool
CERRITOS/SANTA BARBARA, CA (smt)- The Big Ten got 8 teams in but it was the ACC who was king as #1E-Duke (with sensation Zion (Williamson)), #1S-Virginia, and #1MW-North Carolina (record 17th #1 seed) got the top three #1 seeds. #1W-Gonzaga, despite losing to #11S-St. Mary’s in the WCC final, got the last #1 seed. The Cavs are back as a #1 seed a year after becoming the first team to lose to a #16 seed (no UMBC in sight this year). The top 32 ranked teams in the new NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) made the tourney but so did NET73 St. John’s while NET33 NC State did not. #12S-Oregon’s upset of #9MW-Washington in the Pac 12 final likely sent UNC Greensboro (60NET) home. The ACC and SEC got 7 teams in with the Big 12 (6), AAC (4), Big East (4), and Pac 12 (3) getting at least three teams. The mid-majors managed to snag seven at-large bids (including the AAC’s 3) and almost a eighth (the aforementioned UNCG) in a nice change of pace. Somehow #9S-Oklahoma (7-12) and #11MW-Ohio St. (9-13) made the tourney with horrible losing conference records. No sign of UCLA or USC but the #13S-Anteaters of UC-Irvine made it to be our only local team, their 2nd appearance after making it in 2015 also as a 13 seed and nearly knocking off Louisville. #2E-Michigan St and #2W-Michigan (with the Spartans beating the Wolverines 3 times in 15 days) were both shipped to Hartford but Michigan St got Duke’s region due to the fact the regional (Washington DC) is much closer than their normal position as 5th seed in the West (Anaheim). #7S-Cincy gets to play in the same state (Columbus) with #4MW-Kansas hoping to make the regional in Kansas City. Streaking MW-Auburn who beat #2S-Tennessee for their first SEC title in 34 years only earned a 5 seed.
Wow, the Selection show brought back memories of a simpler time when all picks were done in just over a half-hour, none of this NBA analyst nonsense of last year, none of the leaked brackets of the past, none of the dragging out the picks over an hour. And back on CBS where it belongs.
While you decide who will win the tourney, for the 9th year I’m doing the HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity, where I will donate $2 per entry to a charity, this year to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which helps enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. This is one of the highest rated charities and since I have a son and daughter, this seems to fit. This First Four for Charity is free and you just have to submit (you can comment on this post to enter, email, post to Facebook, tweet @HWCI_Pools) who the four First Four winners will be and by what point margin. For example: Prairie View by 8, Belmont by 12, NC Central by 1, and Arizona St by 2. The four games are Fairleigh Dickinson vs Prairie View A&M, Belmont vs Temple, North Carolina Central vs North Dakota St, and Arizona St vs St. John’s. Get your entry by 3:40 pm PDT Tuesday. As a bonus, in the end, if we top our record of 178 entries this year, I’ll donate an additional $25. Also, invite your friends and people can enter (since it’s free) this charity contest but not our main pool.
