Tag Archives: Update

A nice pace so far

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We tied a record with 2 entries on Sunday and set a record with 20 entries on Monday — for a total of 22 entries which is 7 ahead of last year’s pace to a record 125 entries.  The not so good news is that only 2 new people have entered so we need more fresh blood (preferably those who pick Beach (LB State) to win it all).  I am not sure why people feel really good about submitting their entry this early, but you all obviously know something I don’t (which ain’t very hard).

Don’t forget to quickly send an email or post a comment on this blog or a comment on Facebook for your First Four for Charity picks (free!).  Have family members submit a free entry.  Deadline is 3:30 pm today!  And don’t forget to watch the games on TruTV.

VCU vs Butler, huh?

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The last #1 is knocked off as VCU is the third double-digit seed to make the Final Four.  Just 17 are still alive but all 4 people with a chance for 1st are still alive.  Now two of the youngest coaches who look younger than some of their players will face other.  VCU’s record 5th win to get to the Final featured wins aginast the Pac-10, Big-10, Big East, Big-12, and ACC.  Horizon League is next.

Local Boy Williams Out

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La Mirada native Derrick Williams, who if he had played us at Hutchinson in his street ball would’ve scared him off :-), and his Arizona Wildcats are out, and that also means the end of the Pac 10.  Although Arizona knocked me out of the pool, it did keep the integrity of the pool intact as 4 still have a chance to win the title.  Had Arizona won, Craig would’ve been our champ today.  Instead he has a 75% to win first.  The Mighty Mobelfakta has joined Craig as guaranteed with a chance to win money (don’t know if The MM could lose a tiebreaker for 6th).

Here are the possibilities.  BTW, the pool started in 1995 by a bunch of us who graduated from La Mirada High in ’91.

Is Butler the new dynasty?

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Wow, Butler out-coaches Florida in OT.  The 26 who picked Florida lost out and that means only 27 can win money and only 4 can win it all.  This also guarantees that we will have a 16th different HWCI NCAA Pool champion.

Update:  Our Champ.  Will it be Craig S (Craig) in his 5th year and has never finished higher than 31st?  Or will it be our pool admin David F (The Mighty Mobelfakta) in his 17th year and 4th prize win (last in ’04)? Or Roy W (Krispy Kremer) in his 10th year and 2nd prize win (’05)?  Or will it be Steve N (Pack Rat) who entered a 2nd entry for the first time ever and is in his 6th pool and has never finished higher than 17th?

Poked in the Buckeye

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While eating at Morton’s in Santa Ana, we were watching the end of the Ohio St-Kentucky game on David’s (The Mighty Mobelfakta) iPhone and although it was great both teams did not call a timeout and continued play for a frantic minute, Ohio St.’s loss means that the pool is in disarray as the third #1 seed falls.  123 people had a pick with 106 of those taking Ohio St.

With points few and far between from here on out, Craig has clinched money for the first time ever (6th year).  In fact, if Butler and Arizona win tomorrow, he will become the first person ever to clinch the HWCI NCAA Pool title before the final weekend (semifinals).  Only 32 are still alive with only 7 having a chance to win 1st.

Pac 10 Still Alive

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We’ll have to wait one more round to retire the “Pac 10” moniker as somehow Airzona found Duke’s “off” swich in dominating them in the second half.  Butler outlasts Duke of the two 2010 finalists and reaches the Elite 8 in holding off Wisconsin.  Just 46 are alive for money with only 20 with a chance for 1st.  Full update coming tomorrow though David should have the latest standings up now.

Exciting but Mountain West is No More

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UConn held off MWC champ San Diego St. in final seconds.  The Huskies trip to the Elite 8 leaves only 73 alive for the top prizes and only 29 eligible for 1st. 66 picked UConn.

Florida out-hustled Jimmer-led BYU at the end of regulation and in OT sending 6 more entries to oblivion and leaving only 24 with a chance for 1st (Mine was 1 of 5 eliminated from 1st). 77 picked Florida.

Craig‘s lead is now down to 3 over The Downtown Fiction.

Crazy start fizzles in the end of a long day

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Five of the first 8 games were decided by 3 points or less but only UCLA nearly blowing a 23-point lead prevented the last 8 from being all victories by 5 or more.  The Downtown Fiction leads getting 15 of 16 games correct with 4 others tied with 14.  Five bring up the rear only getting half correct (8). Standings are posted every game night and if you want to see yours or someone else’s bracket, click on the Your Picks menu option.

BTW, we did have a winner of the First Four for Charity and that will be announced later this weekend though you could figure it out (only one person went 4-0).

Earlier the better?

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We got a record 23 entries for a Tuesday and are at a record-setting pace with 41 entries overall – which is odd, since I thought with the First Four most people would enter later rather than earlier. But in any case, you can always edit your picks later (email is preferred if it is just a couple changes). Of the 34 people, only two are new which will make it hard to top our record of 117 entries last year without new blood.  Remember the deadline is 9 am PDT Thursday.

As for the First Four for Charity contest,22 correctly picked Clemson over over-rated UAB.  The 18-point margin of victory (70-52) was larger than most optimistic Tiger fan (12 pts).  Halfway through the inaugural First Four, 13 people are 2-0.  Cliff T was one of three who had Clemson by 12 and now leads with a +8-point differential.  Vi N and Kevin T are tied for second with a +9.  Van P and Doug H are tied for 4th with a +11.  In the rear is Ford R with an 0-2 record and +42.  Five are 0-2.

Do you know what channel TruTV is on?

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Surprisingly, Verizon FIOS has just added TruTV in HD (I wish after the tournament, they axe this and put in Fox Soccer Channel in HD instead) so I could watch all games in HD, if I were home.  And for once, iPhone has a leg up on Android as the March Madness on Demand app is only available for iPx products.

As for the pool, we have 15 entries from 12 people at the end of Monday, which is ahead of last year’s pace.  But this year, the dour economy may be taking its toll as all 12 people are previous entrants.  Keep spreading the word!

The First Four for Charity now has 17 entries, so thanks!  The deadline is 3:30 PM PDT so if you haven’t had time to submit a simple email or comment on any of these posts, do so!  Here are the entries thus far after the jump: Continue reading »

Pool Update

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13 entries received thus far, ahead of last year’s pace.  In the free First Four for Charity contest, 7 have submitted thus far:

# FIRST LI UNCA>UALR UAB>CLEM UTSA>ALST USC>VCU
1 Stewart W UALR by 1 CLEM by 10 ALST by 1 USC by 6
2 Samer S UALR by 9 CLEM by 2 ALST by 5 USC by 5
3 David A UNCA by 6 CLEM by 1 UTSA by 11 VCU by 4
4 Isma S UALR by 6 CLEM by 1 ALST by 2 USC by 4
5 Ford R UALR by 9 UAB by 11 UTSA by 5 VCU by 3
6 Eric C UALR by 3 UAB by 2 UTSA by 2 USC by 7
7 Scott T UNCA by 3 CLEM by 7 UTSA by 1 USC by 15

Duke University Wins!

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I never thought I’d write this, and you may need to note this, but for once, I was not sick of the pro-Duke telecast… I was sick of the pro-Butler telecast.  Butler played a great game?  They once again had an embarrassing field goal drought late in the game, every shot seemed to be blocked, and they couldn’t hit free throws.  But they did make a good story. And boy, that last second shot almost banked in.

Executive decision! There is now a 6th place prize. Okay, just kidding. I guess there’s nothing wrong with 6th place. Congrats to the winners:

2010 HWCI NCAA Final Report           04/05/10
 # Correct --by Round-- Final


Rank            Name   1 2 3 4 5 6 Score   Prize  Tie Dif
--- ---------------------- -- -- - - - - -----  -------- --- ---
 1 Blue Devil Blues       24 10 4 2 1 1   126    500.00 169  49
 2 You're My Boy Blue     26 10 5 1 1 0   116    255.00 137  17
 3 Eros                   23  9 4 1 1 1   115    175.00 129   9
 4 Hummeless              26 10 3 2 1 0   114    120.00 145  25
 5 FOMI                   18  9 4 2 1 1   111     80.00 140  20


And the $40 Bonus Winner:  Has No Idea (Van P) who was the only one who got the total points of 120 exactly.

Three Are In, Three To Go

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Well, no internet at the in-laws and we were eating at a Chinese-Vietnamese fusion restaurant (so no bar) during the Duke-West Virginia game, but I did have a backup just in case it was a close game, thanks to getting good reception in the car for the CBS HD feed on my laptop.

Congrats to Joe D (You’re My Boy Blue, 1st or 2nd), Kevin J (Hummeless, 2nd-4th), and Kim B (Blue Devil Blues, 1st-3rd) for being guaranteed money, and all for the first time!  Six are vying for the remaining two money spots and 47-48 are vying for the $40 Bonus.

Reluctantly Duke

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Never cared for Duke.  But I’ll need them to win it all and score a lot of points to try and take 5th place.  One person who’s happy for Duke’s win is You’re My Boy Blue who has guaranteed himself at least 3rd place ($170) so he can start spending the money now.   The other 12 will have to wait and see what happens next week.  Here are the Final Four Possibilities:

If MICHIGAN ST/BUTLER beats  W VIRGINIA in the final, then the possible winners are...
 The Pride Of Troy! Score:118 (place 1 winner)
 Max Approved Score:114 (place 2 winner)
 You're My Boy Blue Score:108 (place 3 winner)
 Another Two-Peat Score:107 (place 4 winner)
 Larzby Score:106 (tiebreak=137)
 The Mighty Mobelfakta Score:106 (tiebreak=142)
 Hummeless Score:106 (tiebreak=145)
 Blue Devil Blues Score:106 (tiebreak=169)

If  W VIRGINIA beats MICHIGAN ST/BUTLER in the final, then the possible winners are...
 The Pride Of Troy! Score:118 (place 1 winner)
 Max Approved Score:114 (place 2 winner)
 You're My Boy Blue Score:108 (place 3 winner)
 Another Two-Peat Score:107 (tiebreak=128)
 Punani59 Score:107 (tiebreak=131)

If MICHIGAN ST/BUTLER beats        DUKE in the final, then the possible winners are...
 You're My Boy Blue Score:116 (place 1 winner)
 Hummeless Score:114 (tiebreak=145)
 Blue Devil Blues Score:114 (tiebreak=169)
 The Pride Of Troy! Score:110 (place 4 winner)
 Another Two-Peat Score:107 (tiebreak=128)
 Jinx Score:107 (tiebreak=160)

If        DUKE beats MICHIGAN ST/BUTLER in the final, then the possible winners are...
 Blue Devil Blues Score:126 (place 1 winner)
 You're My Boy Blue Score:116 (place 2 winner)
 Eros Score:115 (place 3 winner)
 Hummeless Score:114 (place 4 winner)
 FOMI Score:111 (tiebreak=140)
 Deemed to Win Score:111 (tiebreak=144)