Monthly Archives: March 2009

96!

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As of 2 am this morning, we unofficially have 96 entries, just 5 short of our record!  We are trying to match to the person RUBBER BISCUT, PRIDE OF TROY!, and BABY OIUJA (though we have a pretty good idea who these are, just need to confirm).  Gareth M even funded putting President Obama’s picks into this pool (PRESIDENTIAL PICKS).  Hopefully that bracket will bring him more money than the stimulus plan that was passed.  And still no love for UCLA (just one has them in the Elite 8).

How bad was UCLA’s pod in Philly?  They’ll travel around 2,720 miles while their opponent VCU will travel around 245 miles.  If UCLA wins, their two possible opponents will travel either 19 miles (Villanova) or 141 miles (American U.).

Special characters

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It took a while, but two people tried to use an “&” in their bracket nickname.  Don’t use ampersand (&) (or other crazy characters) in your nickname on the bracket because & isn’t URL friendly.  We can add the “&” later if you like it.

#1’s Still Top Choice

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For the 43 entries received thus far, the top three teams picked to win it all are all #1 seeds and the 4th team is Memphis, which should’ve been a #1 seed.  UNC leads with 14 followed by fellow 1’s Louisville (8) and Pitt (7).  Memphis (5) edges out Oklahoma (4) with the remaining #1 seed UConn being picked by just 2.  Three others have a vote each.  11 teams haven’t been picked by anyone to win their first game.  Not much love for UCLA or USC (neither being picked past the Sweet 16) and Northridge is still looking for that one person to pick them to beat Memphis. 😉

Something odd… is happening to 07

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The entries are coming in at a slower pace than last year but something interesting is happening.  At least seven people (Brett M, Mike S, Linh C T, Bing F, Craig S, Steve N, and JD G) who played in 2007 and didn’t participate in our-record breaking year (101 entries) last year have submitted entries.  Also, of the 35 entries so far, just four people are new (so keep recruiting!).

Your Picks

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If you want to edit your bracket, please re-submit your bracket and just put down as a nickname something like NICKNAME-REVISE, NICKNAME-UPDATE so we know you are updating and not submitting a new entry. If it’s a small or few changes (hey, change my champion to UConn instead of UNC), you can email us the changes.

Now, if you want to review your picks, you can go here. Or reprint it because you forgot to :-).

Remember the deadline is 9 am PDT Thursday! Submit early and then pray. Also, make sure you have let us know how you will get us your $10.

On the right light blue column, you will find the status of everyone’s picks (e.g., all paid up, in process of paying (e.g., eCheck), or we haven’t heard how you’ll pay. Also, it will tell you which brackets we have. So if you think you submitted a bracket (note the time listed, it’s updated every 4-6 hours) and you don’t see your nickname, email us.

It’s Over?

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I take one trip to the emergency doctor for my son and the Play-In game is already over? 🙂 BTW, my 23-month old son is okay though he may have a scar. I actually thought since I had to leave early from work (as did my wife) that I would be able to catch the game but all that was on was NIT stuff. Did they play this early so those in Newfoundland can watch it at a decent hour? Well, no one else cares.

Well, I’ve gotten the bracket to work with Firefox and IE 7 but others haven’t been so lucky. One of these days we’ll transition to a better java applet but it works for most people.

Also, make your payment arrangements. We’re behind last year’s pace and are projecting around 80 entries so make sure to tell your friends to enter!

Most unpredictable?

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There doesn’t seem to be THE team that will win it all.  At least that’s what I’ve been hearing, not having watched college basketball this year until this past week.  We may have a great range of teams that we will pick to win it all. We had 14 different teams picked to win it all in 2004; will we have more this year?. In the spirit of this open tourney, I will be submitting the first bracket entry of 2009, almost an hour before the seeds are announced.

This means I don’t know which region which team will be in either. So, though, weighted random numbers using Excel, here is what the bracket will look like. Since we don’t know which region is which, it will go from top to bottom as it will be announced in an hour.  Full disclosure below:

1st Round
Region1: 1, 9, 5, 4, 3, 6, 7, 2
Region2: 1, 8, 5, 4, 3, 6, 7, 2
Region3: 1, 8, 5, 4, 3, 6, 10 ,2
Region4: 1, 9, 5, 4, 3, 11, 10, 2

2nd Round
Region1: 1, 5, 6, 2
Region2: 1, 4, 3, 2
Region3: 1, 5, 6, 2
Region4: 1, 5, 3, 2

3rd Round
Region1: 1, 6
Region2: 1, 2
Region3: 1, 2
Region4: 1, 3

4th Round
Region1: 1
Region2: 2
Region3: 1
Region4: 3

5th Round
Region1&2: Region 2 # 2
Region3&4: Region 3 # 1

Winner
Region 3 # 1

Disappointed there’s no #12 seed advancing, but oh well.  Ten bucks well spent?  Haven’t decided a nickname yet, but maybe PRE-SELECTION PICKS.

Timeout! Timeout!

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One thing I’ll miss from ABC/ESPN’s coverage is that they show how many timeouts each team has.  I’m surprised CBS doesn’t pick it up.  Right now, I’m watching the Miss St-Tenn game and with like 1:13 left, both teams had 4 (!) timeouts left.  That’s 8 freakin’ timeouts.  Why so many?  This game may take forever.  Now both teams have 7 timeouts left with 23.4 seconds left.

USC Wins Pac-10 Title

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Whoa… now I gotta pick them to make the 2nd round.  There’s one loss in my bracket already.  This is probably the final nail in Arizona’s coffin in extending their steak of 24 straight tourneys.  That gives the Pac 10 5 teams in the tourney, which is already one too many.  No room for ‘Zona to sneak in this time.  Barring some extreme generosity by the selection committee, Arizona and Kentucky failing to make the tourney will only leave Kansas as the lone team to be in every bracket since our pool started in 1995.

Only when it counts…

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I see UCLA is following Pitt and UConn’s lead in losing early in the conference tourney in order to be rested for the REAL tournament.  Unfortunately, it was to rival USC.  Now, USC is just a win away from the tournament (and still has a slim shot even if they lose in the conference final to ASU).  Yes, this pool will be very unpredictable.  And Syracuse only needed ONE overtime tonight, and has played 115 minutes of bball in two days.