| 2024 NCAA CHAMPIONS | |
 | #1-East Regional Champions |
| University of Connecticut Huskies (37-3) 6th Title | |
| 2024 WINNINGEST CONFERENCE | |
 | The Atlantic Coast Conference (12-4) 9th Time |
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
UCONN, DESTROYER OF TEAMS
Flying Ace wins 1st pool; Zippy’sWife Nets Bonus; 71 picked UConn
49% SOLAR ELCIPSE, CA (smt) – #1E-UConn let #1MW-Purdue’s Zach Edey get two points at a time (ended with 37 pts, a good number in garbage time) while the Huskies allowed just one three while hitting six en route to a 75-60 rout to complete the back-to-back championships. UConn never panicked and methodically destroyed their 12th straight tournament team by 13 or more points.
UConn dominated opponents for a second straight year, this time averaging a record 23.3 points per win for six games (since ’85). UConn spread their love again with four of the starters in double-figures in points and all with at least 5 rebounds.
Purdue failed to duplicate Virginia’s accomplishment of losing to a #16 seed and winning the title a year later. Like Iowa in the Women’s final, the team seemed to believe too much of the hype of their star player and forgot they were good as well, as Edey scored 37 of the 60 points (61.6%) and took 46.2% of the shots (Clark scored 40% of Iowa’s points and took 44.4% of the shots). The loss extends the Big Ten’s title drought to 24 years (23 tourneys).
So if six titles in 25 tourneys (26 years) does not make you a famed Blue Blood, then what does? UConn’s six championships are tied with UNC (and technically behind UNC if you include 1924 Helm title and tied with Kansas if you include their 1922 & 1923 Helms titles) and just behind UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8). Duke got their 5 titles in 25 years and didn’t get their first until 1991. UCLA’s last title was in 1995 and Indiana’s in 1987 (where they won 4 of their titles in 25 years).
71 entries picked UConn, the most ever for a correct champion. This was the 25th straight pool someone picked the correct champion (no one picked Kentucky in 1998).
Byron W (Flying Ace) became our 27th different pool champion finishing with 145 points for his 3rd win and first since ’15. Benjamin D (Bigtenfan) took 2nd (141) (3rd win and first since ’17), Roy W (Krispy Seconds) won 3rd (139) (4th win and back-to-back wins), and Jessica H (JessFish) (138) took 4th for the second straight year. A late flurry of points in garbage time and late layup by UConn (45 seconds left) gave Blakeley H (Bwakewey 3) (136) (3rd win and first since ’13) 5th over either Billy H (Sunscar22) (136) (1st win in 7 pools) by exactly getting the tiebreaker of 135 total points in final. Ken G (WinnerTown) (135) won 7th (1st win in 14 pools) and our admin David F (The Mighty Mobelfakta) (133) grabbed 8th (5th win but first since ’11), which was incredible considering he started the Sweet 16 with just a 0.21% chance (69 in 32,768) to win 5th.
Purdue’s loss prevented Andy F (Joey JoJo Jr Shabadoo) (26th, 126) from his first pool title (26 pools) and Greg P (Eggman1) (33rd, 125) (9 pools), Everett J (EveritoDaBurrito) (43rd, 121) (5 pools) Deven K (SlumDawg 1) (47th, 120) (20 pools), and Emily W (Emilybama2) (62nd, 116) (8 pools) from winning their first money prize.
For the $40 Bonus the total points tiebreaker was the Bonus (Bonus2). 85 entries were eligible but it was Carin Z (Zippy’sWife) guessing 135 correctly and had the best placement (25th, 126) among the 6 tied who picked 135 pts for her first win ever (9 pools) (7 picked 135 but Bwakewey 3 was ineligible since he finished 5th).
Roy W ($965) and Byron W ($950) are just shy of $1,000 lifetime earnings but are the 2nd and 3rd best behind Bob G’s (Lucky Guesses) (35th, 123) $1,245 total earnings (4 wins in 25 pools (48 entries)). David F’s 5th win ties Scott T (Fabone’s Leap Year) (57th, 118) for most wins in our pool (both are only people to play all 29 pools). Billy H, Ken G, and Carin Z are our 99th, 100th, and 101st different individuals to win money (out of 411 people total)…
More pool excitement is coming in June as the UEFA EURO 2024 will be played in Germany as Italy (who have missed the past 2 World Cups) will defend their Euro 2020 title. The 4th HWCI UEFA EURO pool will be our 15th soccer pool and we hope to see you there!
| Place | Amt | Winner (Ent #) | Nickname | Pts (Place) | Yrs in Pool (# Ent) | # Times Won (Total $) |
| 1st | $740 | Byron W (1) | Flying Ace | 145 | 21 (21) | 3 ($950; 4th ’13, 6th ’15) |
| 2nd | $370 | Benjamin D (1) | Bigtenfan | 141 | 10 (23) | 3 ($700; 2nd ’14, Bns ’17) |
| 3rd | $255 | Roy W (2) | Krispy Seconds | 139 | 22 (39) | 4 ($965; 3rd ’05, 1st ’11, 8th ’23) |
| 4th | $185 | Jessica H (1) | JessaFish | 138 | 8 (8) | 2 ($370; 4th ’23) |
| 5th | $130 | Blakeley H (3) | Bwakewey 3 | 136 | 14 (40) | 3 ($445; Bns ’11, 2nd ’13) |
| 6th | $ 95 | Billy H (1) | Sunscar22 | 136 | 7 (7) | 1st |
| 7th | $ 75 | Ken G (3) | WinnerTown | 135 | 14 (21) | 1st |
| 8th | $ 60 | David F (1) | The Mighty Mobelfakta | 133 | 29 (30) | 5 ($550; 3rd ’95, 2nd ’00, 3rd ’04, 2nd ’11) |
| Bonus | $ 40 | Carin Z (1) | Zippy’sWife | 126 | 9 (9) | 1st |
Tids & Bits – last time two 7-footers matched in final was ’84 between Houston Olajuwan and Georgetown’s Ewing… Edey was 15/25 FG but the rest of team was just 9/29… Purdue, despite trailing, just attempted 7 threes (making just 1)… the Big Ten drought continues with its last title in 2000 (Michigan St)… six teams have won all six games by double-figures (UConn twice, ’18 Villanova, ’09 UNC, ’01 Duke, ’00 Michigan St)… UConn also hit 20 pts per victory last year… UConn’s 37 wins is most by a champion since ’12 Kentucky (38)… Purdue now has the most tournament wins with out a title (49) (followed by Gonzaga (46), Illinois (45), Oklahoma (43))… the South Carolina-Iowa game drew an incredible 18.7 million viewers (24m peak) on ABC/ESPN in which Iowa and Caitlin Clark ran out of steam against a well-coached and more talented team… as expected, the men’s title game (starting at 9:20 pm EDT) drew less with 14.82 million on TBS/TNT/TruTV (and Max, where I had to watch most of the game because the March Madness Live app wouldn’t load on my Pixel 7 Pro in Cypress)… in a prayer answered by Michael W (GoBigBlue&CalipariToo) (16th, 86), 15-year Kentucky coach John Calipari ended a bitter divorce with fans (despite great recruiting, in last 9 years never made Final Four and lost to #14 Oakland this year and #15 St. Peters in 2022) and will leave to go to Arkansas… Charlie Hustle 2 (Eric P) has long clinched last and finishes with a record-low 30 points… 123 entries have reached 100 pts… 36.4% of entries had UConn, the highest since 2012 when top seeded Kentucky won (38.8%) (best overall was our first year (’95) when 10 of 12 picked UCLA (83.3%))… 21 got both finalists and the champ correct… all of Blakeley’s wins have come on his 3rd entry… Rutin4Putin (Neil O) was the lowest placement to pick UConn correctly (154th, 91)… the top 25 entries all picked UConn… Charlie Hustle 1 (Eric P) (94th, 108) was off the most in the tiebreaker, 72 pts (picked 207)… Concrete Kid (Rod P) started the Final Four in 1st getting 3 Final Four teams and ended in 32nd (125)… 6 of the last 7 champions were #1 seeds… this was the 2nd straight year 135 total points were scored in the final… 6 of 9 winners won on their first entry… 43 of 63 games were double-digit wins, 11 more than last year… just 5 of 63 games ended as one-possession games (all 4 overtime games were won by 5 or more points), six less than last year… Alabama scored the most points in a game (109), Colorado St the least (44), and Duke had the biggest margin of victory (38) in their 93-55 win… two ladies winning is one more than the last 3 years combined… glad the retired Jim Nantz is doing commercials now… the ACC went 12-4 (proper 64), the Big East 10-2, the Big Ten 9-6, the Big 12 8-8, the SEC 8-8, the Pac-12 5-4 (proper 64) in its final season (for now), the Mountain West 3-5 (proper 64), the WCC 2-2, the Atlantic 10 2-2… the Horizon League, Ivy League, Sun Belt, and WAC each went 1-1… the 37.2 wins per entry and 105.1 pts per entry were the highest since 2001 (40.6, 109.8)…
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Two franchises will be ending their series in the next month or two — the great animated Star Wars: The Bad Batch’s 3rd and final season and the uneven yet off to a good start Star Trek: Discovery’s 5th and final season..
Scott
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