SANTA BARBARA, CA — Just made the $124 donation thanks to our generous folks to the COVID-19 Response Fund at the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. I’ll fill out the form to get this doubled by my company. The total of $248 will mean that myself and others have donated $1,731.08 to 11 charities in the past 11 years. Thank you!
If you have ideas for charities or funds next year, let me know.
| 2021 NCAA FINAL FOUR @ Indianapolis, Indiana 8th Final Four (’80 (Market Square Arena); ’91, ’97, ’00, ’06 (RCA Dome); ’10, ’15 (Lucas Oil Stadium)) Hosted by Indiana U.-Purdue U. Indianapolis (IUPUI) (Horizon League) Lucas Oil Stadium – Unity & Equality Floor | |||
| First Semifinal | Second Semifinal | ||
| #1-South Hinkle Fieldhouse Bankers Fieldhouse Lucas Oil Sta (South) | #2-Midwest Bankers Fieldhouse Hinkle Fieldhouse Lucas Oil Sta (North) | #1-West Hinkle Fieldhouse Bankers Fieldhouse Lucas Oil Sta (North) | #11-East Bankers Fieldhouse Hinkle Fieldhouse Lucas Oil Sta (South) |
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| Baylor University Bears (26-2) | University of Houston Cougars (28-3) | Gonzaga University Bulldogs (30-0) | University of California, Los Angeles Bruins (22-9) |
| Big 12 Conference – Regular Season Champs Waco, Texas 3rd Final Four (’48, ’50) def #16 Hartford 79-55 #9 Wisconsin 76-63 #5 Villanova 62-51 #3 Arkansas 81-72 | American Athletic Conference (2nd Place) – Tourney Champs Houston, Texas 6th Final Four (’67, ’68, ’82, ’83, ’84) def #15 Cleveland St 87-56 #10 Rutgers 63-60 #11 Syracuse 62-46 #12 Oregon St 67-61 | West Coast Conference – Regular Season and Tourney Champs Spokane, Washington 2nd Final Four (’17) def #16a Norfolk St 98-55 #8 Oklahoma 87-71 #5 Creighton 83-65 #6 USC 85-66 | Pac 12 (4th Place) Los Angeles, California 19th Final Four (’62, ’64, ’65, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’80, ’95, ’06, ’07, ’08) def #11a Michigan St 86-80 (OT) #6 BYU 73-62 #14 Abilene Christian 67-47 #2 Alabama 88-78 (OT) #1 Michigan 51-49 |
11-TIME CHAMP WITH 3 SEEKING THEIR FIRST TITLE
At least $248 will be donated to CDP; over $1,731 donated over 11 years
DIGNITY HEALTH SPORTS PARK, CARSON, CA (smt) – If you saw the largest bracket on the JW Marriott in downtown Indy, you would not see a lot of familiar names. The tournament didn’t feature Blue Bloods such as Duke, Kentucky, and Indiana with UNC making it as an #8 seed and Kansas joining after having to quit their Big 12 tournament due to COVID-19 after struggling the first half of the year. UNC lost in the first round and Kansas in the second. That left UCLA. The 11-time national champions lost their last four games and squeaked into the First Four game against a wanna-be Blue Blood, Michigan St. The Bruins rallied from five down with 90 seconds left to force overtime to beat the Spartans, allowed a 3-pointer with less than a second left to Alabama and then routing them in overtime 23-13, and then survived three open three attempts by another Michigan team to hold on to defeat the Wolverines in the Elite 8.
Continue readingSupport the Center for Disaster Philanthropy COVID-19 Response Fund
While you decide who will win the tourney, for the 11th year I’m doing the HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity, where I will donate $2 per entry to a charity (and if we get more than 25 responses, I’ll chip in an additional $25), this year to the Center for Disaster (CDP) Philanthropy COVID-19 Response Fund, which supports preparedness, containment efforts, response and recovery activities for those affected by COVID-19 and for the responders and has already distributed more than $21 million to 137 organizations in the U.S. and abroad. With the virus still roaring across the world with different variants, this will be the 2nd straight year donating to a COVID-19 fund. This First Four for Charity is free and you just have to submit (you can comment on this post to enter, email, post to Facebook, tweet @HWCI_Pools) who the four First Four winners (played Thursday this year) will be and by what point margin. For example: Norfolk by 3, Drake by 2, Mt St Mary’s by 9, and UCLA by 1. The four games are Appalachian St vs Norfolk St, Drake vs Wichita St, Texas Southern vs Mt St Mary’s, and UCLA vs Michigan St. Get your entry by 4 pm PDT Thursday. As a bonus, in the end, if we top our record of 178 entries this year, I’ll donate an additional $25. Also, invite your friends and people can enter (since it’s free) this charity contest but not our main pool. Last year, we set a record with $325 donated to Direct Relief COVID-19 Response Fund.
My picks: Norfolk St by 5, Wichita St by 7, Texas Southern by 3, and UCLA by 2.
