Monday, April 4, 2022 ***HAPPY 82ND BIRTHDAY DAD (BELUCKY2)!!!***
KANSAS RALLIES FROM 16 DOWN TO STUN UNC
Bob, Glen, and Greg join the winner’s circle; Chris wins Bonus
VERY LONG BOY SCOUT MEETING IN CYPRESS, CA (smt) – In 2008, Kansas was down 9 to Memphis with 2:12 left in the Final and rallied to force overtime and pick up their 3rd NCAA title. A 15-point halftime deficit? No big deal. #1MW-Kansas overcame a record 16-point overall deficit and record 15-point second half deficit to hold off a hobbled #8E-UNC team, 72-69, for their fourth title. Three different UNC players got injured but played through in turning a 56-50 deficit into a 69-68 lead with 1:42 left. Hobbled players affected the final minute stumbling with a couple turnovers and forcing bad threes because the quickness wasn’t there anymore. Up by 3, Kansas ran out of bounds with 4.3 seconds left but UNC’s long three by Caleb Love (who hit deciding threes vs UCLA and Duke) was way short.
In a game of streaks, Kansas jumped to a 7-0 lead, UNC went on a 16-0 run to lead 38-22, and Kansas used short 6-0 and 8-0 second-half runs to complete the rally, tying the game at 50 with 10:53 left. UNC blew a 25-point second-half lead to Baylor in 9:52 in the 2nd round and blew this 15-point lead in 8:32. What kept UNC in the game was 24 offensive rebounds (10 of their first 12 points were second chance points) but Kansas came with up with the key offensive rebound as David McCormack got his own rebound to put Kansas up for good 70-69.
The Kansas comeback prevented a 4-way tie for 4th and prevented Deven K from winning something for the first time in 18 pools. Thus, the rich get richer with Lawrence M ($775 overall), Bob G ($1,245 overall), and Greg Z ($750 overall) placing 4th, 5th, and 7th. But the top 3 (George M, Tim W, and Stephen I) as well as Glen P (6th) and Chris C (Bonus) are first-time winners, which is great to see. They are our 92nd, 93rd, 94th, 95th, and 96th person to win money in our 27-pool history. Due to the Elite 8 disaster, it’s interesting to see that Tim W and Stephen I made their first time doing 3-entries worth it (maybe it will be a trend). Bob G is our all-time money leader and although he has submitted 42 entries overall, all four of his wins have been on his first entry (but still do 3!). Lawrence M passed Scott T for 4th all-time while Greg Z ties Scott T at $750 won.
While winner Tarheel Blue Balls got a respectable 145 points, he did win by 11 over 2nd place and 24 over 3rd place. Mia Culpa led by 13 after Sweet 16 and needed that lead as he was the only entry to win (top 7) and not pick Kansas as champion (he finished 24 points behind, a 37-point swing – just like how UNC plays!). Just 17 of 169 entries had 100 or more points resulting in an all-time low of 82.4 points per entry (was 84.2 in ’11). It also resulted in an all-time low of just 32.7 wins (of 63) per entry (was 33.7 last year). Tarheel Blue Balls becomes the second entry to get the Last 7 (Final Four-Finalist-Champ), joining Cliff T’s (who celebrates his 82nd birthday today!) (Belucky2) in ’08.
For the Bonus, six entries picked the correct total points in final (141) but since Chris C (Tiniest Prancers) had the highest placement (43rd) of the six, he nabbed $40. Oh, since Kansas stepped out of bounds and didn’t get fouled with 4 seconds left, those waiting at 142 and 143 lost out.
More pool excitement is coming not in June but in November as the World Cup 2022 will be played in the winter to avoid Qatar’s hot summer. The 7th HWCI Men’s World Cup pool will be our 13th soccer pool and we hope to see you there!
| Place | Amt | Winner | Nickname | Pts (Place) | Yrs in Pool (#Ent) | # Times Won (Total $) |
| 1st | $650 | George M (1) | Tarheel Blue Balls | 145 (1st) | 2 (2) | 1st |
| 2nd | $330 | Tim W (3) | Frost Toasted | 134 (2nd) | 12 (18) | 1st |
| 3rd | $225 | Stephen I (3) | Mia Culpa | 121 (3rd) | 6 (8) | 1st |
| 4th | $170 | Lawrence M (1) | Larzby | 119 (4th) | 17 (26) | 3 ($775; 1st ’09, 5th ’16) |
| 5th | $125 | Bob G (1) | Bob’s Bruins | 115 (5th) | 23 (42) | 4 ($1,245; 2nd ’08, 2nd ’12, 1st ’18) |
| 6th | $ 90 | Glen P (2) | Reign of Game | 112 (6th) | 2 (4) | 1st |
| 7th | $ 60 | Greg Z (1) | DaBoyz22 | 109 (7th) | 8 (12) | 2 ($750; 1st ’17) |
| Bonus | $ 40 | Chris C (2) | Tiniest Prancers | 91 (43rd) | 2 (4) | 1st |
Tids & Bits – 12 picked Kansas… for the 23rd straight pool, someone picked the correct champion (and SlumDawg3 (26th, 96) had us covered with UNC)… this pool set an all-time worst 2.80 elimination average (2.0 is eliminated after 2nd round, 2.5 is middle of Sweet 16, 3.0 is Sweet 16, etc up to 6.0 for winning) thanks to 4th-worst elimination percentage after 2nd Round (59 eliminated, 34.9%) plus the disastrous first day of Sweet 16 (59 more eliminated) and Elite 8 (27 more eliminated)… the past two pools have featured 16 winners – all male (which is why I was rooting for Barbs (11th, 105)!)… Tarheel Blue Balls and Mia Culpa each had 45 correct picks… the Big 12 finished 13-5, the ACC 14-5 (13-5 in proper 64), Big Ten 9-9 (8-8 in proper 64), SEC 5-6, Big East 6-6, 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 63 games, just six were one possession losses (not including regulation tie of an overtime game) (Kansas, Creighton, and St. Peter’s by 3 each, Miami by 2, and Illinois and Michigan St each won by 1)… Bulba finished last (169th), losing tiebreaker with E Chu Ta (57)… there were 7 entries that had its only win in the Elite 8, Final 4, Final was Kansas; 3 picked Kansas as champ to go 1-1-1-1 in final four rounds; Slamjam51 2 had the best placement (24th, 97) and Jouez Bien the worst placement (71st, 84) among the 3… the 11-point win by Tarheel Blue Balls is the second largest margin of victory (13 in ’98 by Anna Come Lately)… the Russian invasion of Ukraine sparked nicknames including our first swear word – Idi Nahui Putin (96th-Tied, 79) but also Bend over Putin (99th-T, 79) and Mrs D. Luvs UKRAINE (103rd, 78)… two-time winner Darryn B (Big Luther (150th, 65)) ($920) and two-time winner Robinson C (Team Samurai (9th, 107)) ($805) are 2nd and 3rd in all-time earnings… a #1 seed has won the past 5 tourneys (and 19 of 27 HWCI pools)… Kansas kept all 6 opponents under 39% shooting (UNC shot 31.5%); Kansas also shot 57%+ in the 2nd half for the 3rd straight game… UNC had 5 second-half turnovers when Kansas took a 56-50 lead (they only had 5 in the entire first half)… UNC’s Armando Bacot, on an injured ankle (re-tweaked possibly on his last drive on a loose piece of court), had 15 pts/15 rebounds and is first player to record a double-double in all six games… UNC outrebounded Kansas 55-35 (24-8 offensive rebounds)… Kansas’s Ochai Agbaji was named Most Outstanding Player though his 3/8 FT (team was just 8/14) could’ve doomed them… Kansas avenged the ’57 loss in the title match to UNC… 
both Kansas (’22, ’23) and UNC (’24) sometimes count pre-NCAA tournament titles (began in ’39) from the Helms Athletic Foundation, one-man’s opinion (then turned into a committee) retroactively selecting the champions from 1901 to 1942; interestingly, the foundation went out of business in ’89, and a few renames later, is now the LA84 foundation, which was a sponsor (I got a hat!) at the grand opening of Terasaki Budokan that my family attended on March 12, the day before Selection Sunday… allegedly baseball starts this Thursday and they are going to use some complicated electronic Alexa-voice system to call pitches (remember when baseball was simple and good?)… for better entertainement, El Tráfico is this Saturday between LAFC (1st in West) and LA Galaxy (3rd in West) at Dignity Health Sports Park…
Hello, there… back to my losing ways, time to find out who /em>Obi-Wan Kenobi is saying “we lost” to – begins May 27th on Disney+…
Scott /span>
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