(Now complete!) Archive

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- Where to begin?  The NCAA Selection Committee should just admit they are seeding to get good matchups instead of actually ranking the teams as most of the double-digit seeded teams held their own making for exciting basketball but one has to question the seeding system.  Just because a #12 has won almost every year doesn’t mean it HAS to.  There were 3 upsets early (#11S-Dayton, #9S-Pitt, and #12E-Harvard) with the latter two not surprising most people.  Top seeds struggled with #1S-Florida, #4MW-Louisville, #4W-SDSU, and #5MW-St Louis all holding on to victories.  Only #2W-Wisconsin, #3S-Syracuse, #4E-Michigan St, #2MW-Michigan, #7W-Oregon, and #2E-Villanova pulled away to easy wins.  The last 8 games saw four overtimes (won by #7E-UConn, St. Louis, #12W-ND St, and SDSU) and almost a 5th, but we had our first buzzer beater (i.e., shot goes in at 0.0) in a long time as #7MW-Texas nipped #10MW-Arizona St.  Aaron Craft almost had a buzzer beater for #6S-Ohio St, but his team was about a second or two late in quickly inbounding the ball to him as his shot just banked off.  Every Buckeye on the court but Craft thought they lost game after the Flyers went up with 3.8 seconds left.

As for our 20th HWCI NCAA Pool, like the Denver Broncos, the entries poured in during the first three days pushing the total to a record 110 entering Thursday but when it needed to count it fluttered to the finish line, getting only 28.  But unlike the Broncos, it was enough to win the most entries ever as 138 topped the 134 we had two years ago.  We even had 2 mail-in entries, which is the first time in a long, long time.  We also had a record 104 people submit at least one entry, the first time we topped 100.

Hawkeye and FC Nordsjaelland went a perfect 16-0 to become our 4th and 5th players to do so (Blueberry & Bloomers123 in ’03, Buckeye Mike in ’09) and are in a great position for our $500+ top prize (which is a far way off from a billion dollars).  On the flip side Princess Kahlo was last at 8-8.  With just four upsets (though it could’ve been a lot worse), the separation points were 97 picked Pitt, 55 Harvard, 37 ND St, and 27 Dayton.

We are now on Twitter (@HWCI_Pools).  Please follow!  As I did for our HWCI Euro Soccer Pool when it debuted, 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 – The 4th Annual HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity benefiting The Friends of Renee was won by Guilio B who was the only person to go 4-0 and a write-up will be in a future update…including the First Four, there have been 5 OT games thus far… the entry form was actually closed at 9:15 AM CDT, as our server is 2 hours ahead so people were flustered in trying to enter in a 1:15 period but we believe everyone who tried was able to eventually get in… after just 4 games, only 12 were 4-0… 2 lost Oklahoma and one lost Cincy in their Final Four… we won’t know which entries are officially eliminated until after Sunday’s games, so you still have hope!… we set records for most entries on Sunday (2) & Tuesday (42) and totals after Tuesday (60), Wednesday (110), and Thursday (138)… we’ll announce prize distribution and rehash the Bonus Prize before the Sweet 16… 16 people submitted 2 brackets and 9 submitted 3 brackets…

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Wow, 13 1/2 hours of basketball seems like a dream, but is a nightmare if lack of sleep the day before… 
Scott