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2017 NCAA Final Four @ PHOENIX, AZ
First Semifinal		Second Semifinal
#7-East New York, NY	#1-West San Jose, CA	#3-Midwest Kansas City, MO	#1-South Memphis, TN
University of South Carolina Gamecocks (26-10)	Gonzaga University Bulldogs (36-1)	University of Oregon Ducks (33-5)	University of North Carolina Tar Heels (31-7)
Southeastern Conference Columbia, SC First Final Four (est. 1908) def. #10 Marquette 93-73 #2 Duke 88-81 #3 Baylor 70-50 #4 Florida 77-70	West Coast Conference Spokane, WA First Final Four (est. 1958) def. #16 South Dakota St. 66-46 #8 Northwestern 79-73 #4 West Virginia 61-58 #11 Xavier 83-59	Pac-12 Conference Eugene, OR 2nd Final Four (’39) 1-time champion def. #14 Iona 93-77 #11 Rhode Island 75-72 #7 Michigan 69-68 #1 Kansas 74-60	Atlantic Coast Conference Chapel Hill, NC 20th Final Four (’46, ’57, ’67’ 68, ’69, ’72, ’77, ’81, ‘82, ’91, ’93, ’95, ’97, ’98, 00, ’05, ’08, ’09, ’16) 5-time champions def. #16 Texas So. 103-64 #8 Arkansas 72-65 #4 Butler 92-80 #2 Kentucky 75-73

Thursday, March 30, 2017 

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- North Carolina is making its record 20th appearance in the NCAA Final Four which is 18 more than the other three schools combined.  Both Gonzaga and South Carolina are making their first Final Four appearance and Oregon is making its first since the very first year the NCAA tournament was held, 1939.  Each team has had a close call while each team has had a double-digit win in the Regional semifinal or final.  South Carolina and Gonzaga have had a pair of 20+ point wins while UNC has broken 90 points twice.  South Carolina, a 7 seed is representing the strength of the SEC who have the most wins in the tournament while North Carolina is representing the last vestige of the powerful ACC which had 9 teams to start and are down to one.

Twenty-one entries still have a chance to finish in the top 7 money spots and we won’t know who the pool champion is unless Oregon and South Carolina win.  After the semifinals, the Bonus scenarios will be listed for the total points in final tiebreaker.

Craig H (who didn’t participate in the main pool) was the only person to get all four First Four games correct (Mt. St. Mary’s, Kansas St, UC Davis, USC) to win the 7th HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity.  With 16 entries I will donate $32 and since we got more than 161 entries (new record 178), I will donate another $25.  Generous donations by Charles D, Bob S, and Jeff2 H has brought the total to $85.10 that I will donate to the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference as a Beginner Patron.  More money could still trickle in and the donation will be made when registration opens in June.  In total, the 7 years has raised $593.98.

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 Groupor post comments on our blog. 

   Tids & Bits – South Carolina has set a school record with 26 wins and won their first tourney game since ’73… This is the first time UNC & Oregon (UNC leads 4-0 overall) and South Carolina & Gonzaga (1st meeting ever) have met in the NCAA tourney… Despite the Zags Cinderella nature, they have never beaten a # 1 seed (0-7); they are 3-1 vs #7 seeds though… 58 picked UNC to make final, 7 Oregon; 35 picked Zags, none for South Carolina… Oregon did win the CBI (College Basketball Invitational) tournament in 2011 in addition to their lone NCAA championship win in ’39… South Carolina has won the NIT twice (’05 and ’06)… North Carolina has a sixth title, the ’71 NIT championship… Gonzaga is first WCC team to make Final Four since San Francisco in ’57… Zags have shot a higher FG percentage than their opponent for 45 straight games (longest in 20 years)… Tom C’s (Tom (167th, 83) African son’s Cal-Bakersfield lost to Georgia Tech in the Final Four semifinal in New York, ending a great run…

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Go Pac 12!…
Scott