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FAMILIAR TEAMS KANSAS AND UNC IN FINAL FOUR
Mia Culpa lead cut to 4 as Tarheel Blue Balls Gets All 4 Teams; 18 still alive

PLAYING TENNIS WITH MY KIDS IN OUR CUL-DE-SAC, CA (smt) – As the lone #1 seed, MW-Kansas struggled in the first half trailing by 6 at the break (35-29) but came on strong in the second half, outscoring #10MW-Miami (FL) 47-15 to win easily, 76-50.  Kansas shot 50% en route to winning the Midwest Regional for the 13th time.  In the destroyed East Regional, #8E-UNC jumped to a 9-0 lead and never looked back in routing Cinderella #15E-St. Peter’s, 69-49 for their record 21st trip to the Final Four.  Unlike in other sports, playing on a court means that a Gator-fetti bucket was dumped on the players and coaches instead of Gatorade (I guess in this case, the sponsor is Powerade).

Both underdogs suffered from relentless defense as Miami missed 36 shots but only got 5 offensive rebounds and St. Peter’s missed 42 shots but only got 7 offensive rebounds.  This sets up a first that doesn’t sound like a first, the first tournament match-up between ACC rivals #2W-Duke and UNC.  For two teams that have reached the Final Four a total of 38 times, never have they met.  The other semifinal will be Kansas and #2S-Villanova, a team that has eliminated Kansas in the past two times they met (’18 Final Four and ’16 Elite 8).  In the end, with all the upsets and teams that disappointed, it’s three Blue Bloods (UNC, Kansas, Duke) and one wannabe Blue Blood (Villanova) in the Final Four.

Tarheel Blue Balls became just the 23rd entry to ever go 4-0 in the Elite 8 to move into 2nd place (117), four points behind Mia Culpa, and secure at least 4th place, joining Mia Culpa and Frost Toasted (3rd, 114) as guaranteed winners.  Besides these 3, Barbs (5th, 105) is the only other entry who can win the pool.  Besides these 4, 14 others have a chance to finish in the top 7 money slots.  Tarheel Blue Balls and defending Pool Champ MizzouTgr11 2 (4th, 107) were the only ones to go 2-0 today.

MizzouTgr11 2 is 4th but can’t finish higher than 2nd place while Barbs is 5th but can still win the pool.  Bucky is tied for 6th (102) but is eliminated while SlumDawg3 is tied for 47th (87) but can still finish 4th.

For the Bonus, 1 is still alive to win the $40 but since Mia Culpa will be ineligible by finishing in the money, no one will get the Winningest Conference correct.  Currently, the ACC has 12 wins and the Big 12 11 (remember, the First Four ACC win does not count) but UNC and Duke play each other, so that is at least 13 wins for the ACC which no one picked (also could end with ACC and Big 12 tied for 13 or ACC with 14).  Thus, we will utilize the Bonus2, which is closest to total points in final (the tiebreaker).  Scenarios for that will be done after the semifinals since it is dependent on your overall placement (e.g., if two entries pick 140 for total points, whoever is finishes the pool higher has the pole position).

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   Tids & Bits – 85 picked Kansas and 3 UNC (MizzouTgr11 2, Tarheel Blue Balls, SlumDawg3)… entries got an average of only 0.52 with 83 going 0-2 and for the Elite 8, the average was 0.82 wins (7th worst) with 63 going 0-for-the-Final-Four (overall, 599 entries have done so now)… the Big 12 is 11-5, the ACC 13-3 (12-3 in proper 64), Big Ten 9-9 (8-8 in proper 64), SEC 5-6, Big East 6-5, American 4-2, WCC 3-3, Pac 12 4-3, Atlantic 10 1-2, and MWC 0-4 (0-3 in proper 64)… of the 60 games, just five were one possession losses (not including regulation tie of an overtime game) (Creighton and St. Peter’s by 3 each, Miami by 2, and Illinois and Michigan St each won by 1)… Tarheel Blue Balls can get a max of 145 pts while Bulba and E Chu Ta finish tied for last (168th-T) with 57 pts… No one had Miami (though Cover You Eyes did have them in the Final Four) or St. Peter’s as their champ… Kansas makes its 16th Final Four and UNC its record 21st… UNC’s Amrando Bacot Jr had a 20-20 game (20 pts, 22 rebounds)… UNC has made the Final Four in 9 straight decades (1940s to the 2020s)… UNC won its 130th tournament game passing Kentucky for the most ever… the four Final Four teams have won 7 of the past 14 championships… UNC was unranked heading into the tournament but the last team to win the title while unranked was Kansas in ’88… a #1 seed has won the past four tourneys so hope for Kansas…

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The US Men’s National Team is *this* close to qualifying for World Cup – need to not lose by 6 to Costa Rica on Wednesday but stranger things have happened…
Scott

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