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Sunday, March 26, 2017 

ROSEMEAD, CA (smt)- The Carolinas are in.  The battle of the SEC saw rivals #7E-South Carolina (the other USC) and #4E-Florida play for more than 14 minutes with neither side taking more than a 3-point lead (from 44-41 Florida to 65-63 South Carolina).  But Maik Kotsar ended that with a jump shot to give the Gamecocks a four-point lead with 1:57 left.  The last minute saw Florida still down by four but they had their chances as South Carolina missed four free throws but the only thing the Gators could come up with were two painful turnovers in losing 77-70.  South Carolina joins #1W-Gonzaga in making their first Final Four and one of these teams will make their first Final as they will face off in the early game Saturday.

The battle of the blue bloods, part 2 (after #2S-Kentucky beat #3S-UCLA two days ago) proved to live up to its billing in the first part and the last ten minutes.  #1S-North Carolina and Kentucky battled early with the Tar Heels holding on to a 34-30 lead with 4:30 left.  But then the game turned out to be a slog to watch, one of the poorest performances for the tournament, as the middle 20 minutes (4:30 1st half to 9:30 2nd half) saw both teams grind out to a partly 19 points each (15 of those 38 points on free throws).  Kentucky missed all six three-point attempts and made just 7 of 27 shots overall while committing two turnovers.  UNC turned the ball over eight times and was just 2 of 8 from three-point range and made just 5 of 17 shots.  Imagine taking just 17 shots in 20 minutes?  Ugly.

But luckily for us, the teams turned it up sprinting to a 24-22 (Wildcat advantage) finish in the last 9:30.  Kentucky got on track outscoring UNC 17-6 to take a 64-59 lead with under 5 minutes left.   But then UNC went on a 12-0 run to take a 71-64 lead with 53 seconds left.  After missing 8 straight three-pointers, the Wildcats hit 3 threes in the final minute (two in 8 seconds aided by an inbound 5-second violation and the last aided by UNC missing the front end of a 1-and-1), with Malik Monk somehow shooting over two defenders to tie the game at 73 with 8 seconds left.  But instead of a timeout, UNC pushed the ball up the court and Luke Maye hit a jumper just inside the arc with 0.3 seconds left giving the Tar Heels a 75-73 win.  Wow.  Too bad it wasn’t a buzzer beater because there was another long delay with the refs checking on the shot (obviously a two-pointer) and the clock (looked like a couple tenths could have been added but weren’t) so it turned out to be an anti-climatic fishing with a hail mary going straight out of bounds, which again resulted in a delay as the refs checked to see if a Tar Heel tipped it out of bounds.  But finally the final 0.3 were played out and UNC reaches its 20th Final Four.  Take out the middle 20 minutes and this was a classic.

Jbwsaijo (121 pts) was one of 83 to go 1-1 to take a one-point lead over Dboyz17.  Jbwsaijo, Larzby (21st-Tied, 109), MarchMindlessness (5th-T, 115), and The Juggernaut (14th, 112) got 3 of 4 Final Four teams correct.  54 went 0-for-the-Final-Four.  Twelve still have both finalists alive.  Eight (8) lost Kentucky as their champ and 32 more lost them in their Final Four.

There are still 21 entries that can finish in the top 7 and just 5 can still win the pool.  The 21 entries (four aided by the addition of the 7th place spot) still alive is the most since 24 had a chance to win money in 2008.  Dboyz17 has a 3-in-8 shot at winning the pool and is guaranteed at least 5th place.  MarchMinelessness can’t win the pool but has a 87.5% chance to win money.  The other four with a chance to be our pool champion are Russian Trolls (5th-T, 115), Jbwsaijo, GonzagaGirl (5th-T), and Parched Fatness (12th-T, 113).

In the possibilities, the final 8 scenarios are laid out for you.  If Oregon and South Carolina win, we will know who our pool champion is.  This would also create a 4-way tie for 7th place that will be decided by the total points in final tiebreaker.  A Gonzaga-North Carolina final would mean 11 entries would vie for the 7 spots (3 guaranteed).

Despite being 3rd (118), Dagny Taggart can’t finish higher than 4th.  Despite being tied for 68th place (100), Yogi can still win 4th.  Despite being tied for 12th place, Parched Fatness can still win the pool.  Despite being tied for 9th place (114), Hronsen2 and SlumDawg can’t win money.

As for the Bonus, no one will win Bonus1 and Bonus2 will be in effect.  The Bonus2 is the total points in final contest and if there is a tie, the higher placement entry will win (e.g., if two entries get the correct total of 144, the one who is 20th will win over the entry who is 45th).  Full possibilities will be posted after the semifinals next Saturday.

We are now on Twitter (@HWCI_Pools).  Please follow!  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. 

   Tids & Bits – No one picked South Carolina but 83 picked North Carolina… 125 entries can’t get any more points while Dboyz17 could reach a total of 148…  everyone averaged just 0.97 wins for the 4th round (much less than the 23-year average of 1.3 and lowest since ’14 (0.88))… Lavar Ball (178th, 67) clinched last with Kansas’ loss… since ’85 (64 teams), South Carolina was 0-4 in the tournament while North Carolina had reached 10 Final Fours (now 11)… Oregon did win the CBI (College Basketball Invitational) tournament in 2011 in addition to their lone NCAA championship win in ’39… the last time a Pac 12 team won the tournament was in 1997 when Arizona had to beat three #1 seeds to do so; this year, Oregon has beat #1MW-Kansas and faces #1S-UNC; if both they and the Zags win, Oregon would face #1W-Gonzaga in the final… the South has remained chalk from the Sweet 16, the top 4 seeds making the Sweet 16 and the top 2 seeds making the Elite 8, and top team making the Final Four… Tom C’s (Tom (167th, 83) African son’s Cal-Bakersfield has advanced to the Final Four in New York, facing ACC’s Georgia Tech in the first semifinal on March 28th…

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Watching the last minute of UNC-Kentucky game at in-laws with Krimsonguard (131st-T, 90)?…
Scott