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UCLA ROUTS (IN OVERTIME), USC BEATS OREGON
License to ILL holds on to 3-pt lead while only 12 can win pool

RELAXING AT HOME, CA (smt) – The Pac 12 continues to roll on as #11E-UCLA, without its leading scorer who fouled out with 2:27 left in regulation, upset #2E-Alabama in overtime, thanks to the Tide missing 14 of 25 free throws including two with 6 seconds left.  UCLA scored 23 points in overtime after scoring just 25 in the 2nd half.  Alabama trailed 40-29 at the half and made adjustments to roar back to tie it at 40 but then regressed back to long threes and individual efforts again for some reason.  After taking a 58-56 lead, Alabama missed four of their next six free throws, any one make and Bama’s Alex Reese’s near long 3-point buzzer beater (0.4 seconds left) would have been to win instead of a tie.  Or with tighter and shorter shorts.  A big call reversal with 1:54 left that gave the ball back to UCLA after a dribble went off the foot of UCLA but grazed the long shorts of Alabama.  The Bruins will be joined by their cross-town rivals as #6W-USC (10/17 from three-point range) easily won the first battle of Pac 12 teams in the tournament, defeating #7W-Oregon 82-68.

Meanwhile, #1W-Gonzaga shot 60.7% in the first half to torch #5W-Creigthon and #1E-Michigan stifled #4E-Florida St.  The Pac 12’s three teams (at seeds #6, #11, and #12) ties their record in ’01 (USC, Stanford, Arizona).  The ACC has no teams in the Elite 8 for the first time since ’14.  With the extended break (5 days vs 3-4) plus staying in the same city the whole time (vs flying back home), teams came out sluggish and forced the top seeds to pick it up in the second half.

In the pool, ten went 3-1 today but License to ILL was still able hold onto his lead of 3 points (96).  Pac Attack is 2nd with 93pts and Ormonde3 is 3rd with 90 pts.  Five went 6-2 for the round which sent Suznana up to a tie for 4th (89).  The day started with 81 able to win money and 30 could win the pool and ended with 54 alive and just 12 who could win the pool, with Alabama’s loss taking out 8 potential winners.  Two went 0-4 (Cloak (159th-T, 60) and Dagger (159th-T)) while four went 1-7 for the round.  Go Beach! (155th-T, 61) is finally out of the cellar and it’s Chiune Sugihara who is now last with 54 pts.

Even with his Illinois team out in the 2nd round, License to ILL has the best chance to win the pool with Go Blue (36th-T, 82) at 18.8%.  Pac Attack has the best chance to finish in the top 7 at 70.3% with Suznana at 61.7%.  Buccos 1 (12th-T, 86) is the only other entry with a 50% chance or better to win money (50%).

With UCLA’s win (eliminating the SEC), that gave the Pac 12 the Winningest Conf with at least 12 wins (max of 18).  That means no one will win the Winningest Conf Bonus, therefore the Bonus2 (Total Points in Final) will be the Bonus.  We won’t have info on who can win that until after the Semifinals.  While that technically brings everyone back, if you guess the total points in final correctly (or closest to), the highest placement will win the Bonus.

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   Tids & Bits –  if you want to know which of the 128 possible outcomes you can win money on, let us know (for example here are mine The Fabone Marathon (31) and Where is Grogu (just 1))… Matsuz (12th-T) lost Alabama as her champ (45 had them in the Final Four); Eggman (85th-T, 76) lost FSU as his champ (13 had them in F4)… 160 picked the Zags, 113 Michigan, 17 USC, 0 U-C-L-A…  Slamjam51 1 is 16th-T (85) but is eliminated while Stay at Homie (Baylor over USC in final) and Bobby Big Bracket (Houston over Gonzaga in final) are tied at 115th-T (72) but can still win 2nd and 4th, respectively… Ormonde1 is 7th-T (88) but can’t win the pool while Thai Spice (Gonzaga over Houston in final) is 43rd-T (81) but can still finish 1st… 5 entries can still win 7th… Gonzaga has won 33 in a row dating back to last season and have won 26 straight by double-figures… Florida St had 10 turnovers in the first half and was 0/7 from three-point range… both Florida St and Michigan shot 33.3% in the first half but the Wolverines led 43-33 at halftime… Gonzaga shot 59.6%… Alabama was 11/25 on FTs, missing their last 4 and 7 of their last 10… UCLA didn’t score in the second half until 14:08 remained (6:52) yet scored 23 points in the 5-minute overtime… Alabama was just 7/28 from three, Creighton 5/23, Florida St 5/20, Michigan 3/11, Oregon 5/21… this is UCLA’s first Elite 8 since ’08 while Michigan was there in ’18 and the Zags in ’17…

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What a slow day until the Bama implosion…
Scott

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