Tag Archives: Update

Some cleanup

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I must have short-term memory because I did not realize that with the busy schedules, the 2014, 2016, and 2017 archive pages were essentially blank due to lots of travel and work commitments. So I re-created them based on my updates. Also, I am in the process of putting in all the blog posts links from 2008-2019 (currently on 2009) into the archive page to capture all the historical documentation of each year’s pool. Was fun going through the history of the past pools and still a surprise to see Butler made back-to-back finals. And to re-live twice being in the money but losing the tiebreaker to fall out of money in the Final.

Gonzaga v UNC- Live Pool Updates

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If you’re watching on the March Madness App, you get to see some behind the scenes coverage and pre-recorded segments as they wait to go live after commercials.

Game over!  UNC 71-65.  Bigtenfan thankful UNC only made 1 of 2 as 136 still gives the $40 bonus.  If he made both, Bamag2 would’ve gotten it.

All but over besides total points in final.  135 now.  Bigtenfan would win… 7 seconds left but 2 free throws to UNC.

UNC 68-65 21.9 seconds left.  Jump shot gives UNC a 3-pt lead after Zags again fail to get a defensive rebound (tied up, possession UNC).  134 pt projection.

UNC 66-65 1:25 left. Both teams have missed 19 free throws.  That same corner has played havoc with Gonzaga with a couple slips and a sprained ankle.  136 pt projection would give Bigtenfan bonus.

UNC 62-60 3:08 left.  Dboyz17, MarchMindlessness, and Alternative Picks are guaranteed money but they would love to get the maximum placement with UNC winning. 132 pt projection would give ChasCroix1 (if Zags win) or Harbaugh’s Khakis (if UNC wins) bonus.

UNC 59-57 5:03 left.  Zags last 9 pts off free throws before jumper at 6:07 first basket in over 8:27 then a three-point banking in.  Zag’s Collins fouls out going for defensive rebound.  133 pt projection SlumDawg would win bonus.

UNC 54-52 7:21 left.  Zags over 7 minutes without a basket (and not doing that well from free throw line).  130 pts would give FV LOCALS bonus.

UNC 52-50 8:02 left.  This tourney will be known for endlessly long delays with refs going to monitors too long.  Ticky tack flagrant 1 against Gonzaga’s Karnowski even though he got fouled.

50-50 9 minutes left.  Most of the last points via free throws thus far.  129 pts give And Mich. Still Sucks bonus.

UNC 47-46 10:50 left.  Boy, lots of missed shots (some badly), turnovers, and fouls (16 this half already).  Gonzaga already in Bonus and UNC in the 1-and-1.  Injured Joel Berry leading UNC. 128 projected pts would give Zippy bonus.

Zags 41-40, 15:53 minutes left.  Interesting seeing the Zags road uniforms for the first time (“ZAGS”).  One of Zags big men Collins picked up 4th foul.  Projection of 137 pts would give Bamag2 Bonus.

UNC 40-35.  8-0 run thanks to a couple Zag turnovers and an airball.  UNC shooting better 3/5 this half.

Halftime:  Gonzaga 35, UNC 32.  UNC offensive rebounding keeping them in since they are shooting 30%.  67 points at half -> 134 at end.  That would give Hendo bonus.  But game is close so mid-major still in it.  Over under is 153.5 points which would put John Galt or 16 Chumps (Zags win)/EEChick1400 (UNC wins) in position for Bonus.

Wisconsin v Duke

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Final:  Duke wins 5th title, 68-63.  The 131 points means Nwspring and Patton split the $40 Bonus.  For Patton, small consolation after losing 4th with Wisconsin’s loss.  Big Luther is our 2nd two-time champion.  PRIDE OF TROY takes 2nd and Dance Time Boyz takes 3rd.  Wuk3 wins tiebreaker to take 4th over Will I Ever Win This (5th).  Flying Ace wins 6th.

2nd <2′:  Sorry, kids are home.  Duke (let conspiracy theories commence!) roars to 8 point lead 66-58.

2nd 6:41:  We’re tied!  54 all.

2nd 10′: Duke’s battled back without their Okafor, down 51-50.  The 101 points projects to 134.  No change in Bonus.

2nd: 11:43: Wis 51-45.  Duke’s Grayson Allen single-handedly keeping Duke in the game with his aggressiveness despite his size.

2nd 13:17: Badgers largest lead 48-39.  Duke in foul trouble but lots of time left.

2nd 15′:  Badgers 44-39.  The 83 points projects to 133.  Never Winning (Wis) or Dropping Dimes/Krispy Seconds (tie) (Duke) in good shape.

2nd 18′: Wisconsin jumps to 38-33 lead.  Just got home from work and watching on phone since kids took iPad.  Badgers missing free throws?  Decker airballs?

Halftime:  31-31.  First tie in title game since ’88.  The 62 points projects to 124 and that would give RN the Bonus if Wisconsin wins and TURNOVER PRONE if Duke wins.

UConn vs Kentucky – Live

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Halftime: UConn built a 15-point lead at 30-15 giving Badzy a great chance for 1st but at the half, Kentucky had cut the deficit to 4 (35-31) bringing Bigtenfan2 back into the mix.  One of these 2 will win our 20th HWCI NCAA Pool.  As for the Bonus, the 66 combined projects to 132 which would give LuckyNumberSlevin the $40 bonus.

Start 2nd: Kentucky has trailed or been tied at the half in 5 of the 6 tourney games and we know how the other four ended up.  And a 3 puts the Wildcats within one.

18:05: Geez, another monitor review.  Boy, dunks are hard for UConn.

15:14:  UConn just up by 1 (37-36).  Slow going, projecting to 117 which would Coach K’s Recruiters the Bonus.

12:45:  UConn dunk blocked again!  Kentucky needs to hit their free throws (6 of 13 while UConn is perfect 6-6). UConn 41-37.

10:40: Kentucky’s first field goal in almost 5 minutes, still trail 48-42 (after made free throw).  The 90 combined points is about 120 at end of game which would give Pinkocean the Bonus (and her 2nd bonus).

9:00: UConn’s Boatright’s injured.  Timeout. UConn leads 48-45.  Still on track for 120 pts.

7:54: Since I harped on their free throwing, Kentucky has hit 6 of 7 to pull within 1 (48-47).

6:00:  Back to back 3’s put UConn back up by five 54-49.  Kentucky still has never led.

3:47: Kentucky had hit 7 of 8 free throws but have now missed 2 in a row (including the front end of a 1-on-1).  They get 1 more trailing 56-52 (and he missed).  Amazingly, still projecting to 120 pts.

1:49: UConn slowing things down, Kentucky missing shots.  Now a key offensive rebound as the Huskies try to hold a 58-52 lead.  Now we’re projecting to 115 pts which would give Elizabeth the Bonus.

25.1: UConn still hasn’t missed a free throw today (10/10) leading 60-54.

0.0: Boy that last 25 seconds was a blur, before you knew it the game was over as Kentucky, for once, couldn’t get a late 3 to fall.  UConn are your champions and Karen F (Badzy) is our HWCI NCAA Pool champion!  She is our 5th female champion and first since 2010.  The 60-54 victory means 114 is our total points in final.  So Elizabeth W (Elizabeth) wins the Bonus!  So who wins 6th?

0.0: With Badzy out of the way and the low total points total, Rick F (Fabio) easily won the tiebreaker to take 6th, leaving Paul T (The Downtown Fiction) and Don M (Wooden-Soldier) penniless.  Benjamin D (Bigtenfan2), Randy E (Hawkeye), Ken B (Beyond Elite 8), and Eric F (ShivaBlast) each dropped a spot to claim 2nd/3rd/4th/5th.

 

Please try again.

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Thanks for everyone’s patience with our java bracket. Despite that, we have 18 entries (3 hand-filled (1 jpg, 2 pdf), 1 ESPN screenshot, 10 CBSSports via our alternate HWCI group, and 4 somehow got java to work) which is only 2 off of last year’s pace with a working site. So now, if the java bracket doesn’t show up, the #1 suggestion on the page is to use our new alternate bracket entry. Looks different but should work on all browsers (in fact, I just submitted a bracket on my iPad Air! — yes, I’m not always anti-Apple). You’ll find the link after submitting the info form at Web Entry.  If it’s a wild success, we’ll just replace the java applet with this (reduces 1 click-thru).  Alternatively, you can email (ncaa<at>hwci.com) a copy of your completed bracket (phone picture, scan) with name, email, nickname, and total pts in final.

PLEASE JUST SEND A QUICK EMAIL W/FIRST FOUR PREDICTIONS BY 3:40 PM) I will donate $2 per entry to a charity which will be Friends of Renee (previous were MathCounts (a record $103 donated by myself and others), American Red Cross, and American Cancer Society). Again details can be found on our homepage but basically, reply to this email the winners of the First Four (4 games: Albany vs Mt St Marys, Cal Poly vs TX Southern, NC St vs Xavier, Iowa vs Tenn) and margin of victory of each (e.g., Xavier by 4 pts). 

Lastly, you can now view your bracket (if you emailed it to me or submitted via CBSSports, give me a while). This is important if I entered your bracket, so double-check I didn’t put Tulsa winning it all. Until things are official, nicknames may be funny or slightly off but you should be able to find it in the dropdown box. If you can’t let us know.

126 breaks the tie

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Congrats to Jane’s son Quinn D (aka, Quinnsanity) in winning the pool and $540!  Lots of Losers (Bob G) gets 2nd ($280) and Nwspring 1 (Nicholas S) gets 3rd ($190).  With the total points equaling 126, that breaks the tie for 4th (so SlackJaw (Jon J) gets 4th ($135) and Vodka-Its Not Real (Sam N) gets 5th ($90)) and 6th, including our first split-prize ever as Frumunda Mybalz (Andy F) and The Wife’s Picks (Megan J) will split $65 ($32.50), and thus each will get less than our Bonus Prize winner, SpAva (Linh T– my wife!  Let’s here it for the wives!), who won a 10-way tie for the Bonus by getting the correct conference (Big East), conference wins (13), and total points (126) to win $40 knocking her brother (Krimsonguard) out of the money.  Andy F wins for the first time in 15 years, Linh T for the first time in 11 years, and Jon J for the first time in 10 years.

Freeze frame

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So what does Kansas do in the final few minutes that totally makes the other team change their play, make stupid mistakes, and fall apart?  Purdue, UNC, and Ohio St had the game in the bag… and all  lost.  Which is good news for Quinnsanity, Lots of Losers, and Nwspring 1, who are all now guaranteed money.  An interesting scenario if Kentucky wins as four will vie for 6th place with several possibilities of a split 6th place prize.  Who will win?

If KENTUCKY beats KANSAS in the final, then the possible winners are...

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Major Choke Job

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UNC fell apart in the last three minutes with missed free throws, turnovers, missing every 3-pt shot, missing layups, and allowing offensive rebounds.  This sent Kansas to the Final Four meaning only #1 seed made it.  That leaves only 19 vying for money and only 5 can win 1st.  The full Final Four possible outcomes are below.

Continue reading »

New leader

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Took a while, but Syracuse finally ran out of juice.  And it knocked Larzby off the top for the first time falling to a tie for 4th and now can’ finish better than 4th.  Bigtenfan and Nwspring 1 are now co-leaders.  Biggest Luther will try to become only our 2nd ever 2-time champion.  Only 10 can win it all and 39 are still alive.

And my wife (SpAva) is mad at me because I said I now have to root for her teams, and with Syracuse’s loss, she is out of the running while my The Fabone in 3D is still alive for 5th.

When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master. Wrong.

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Louisville ended the game on an 18-3 run to shock Florida and advance to the Final Four.  Rick Pitino outcoached former player Billy Donovan after earning an inadvertent technical that led to Florida being up by 11.  Seemed like Pitino was yelling his player and the ref thought he was yelling at him giving him a technical (resulting in two extra free throws).  Well, 7 picked Louisville (5 picked Florida including now eliminated Gator Glory).  51 are still alive and 11 can win 1st.

Somewhat more importantly, the Big East picked up its 13th win for the Bonus competition.

Larzby still in first

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The Big East went 0-2 in the final two games while Ohio St. and Florida advance, keeping Gator Glory happy and alive.  Larzby is in first by 5 points.  Just 67 can win money (top 6 spots).  Two of the top 5 entries lost Michigan St as their champ.  Three went 3-1 for the day.

Number 134

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So thanks to Apple, I had to manually enter several brackets because of Mac issues.  Doing this after only a few hours sleep every day something was bound to slip.  So there is a 134th entry as pictured, turned in on time and even better, paid for (both her husband and her mentioned there were two entries but it didn’t register with me).  So we now have 134 entries.  Fortunately, no one got eliminated due to this, so 101 are still alive to win money though I bet some of you wanted to be put out of your misery.  The issue was the two nicknames she used were “Buckeye23” and “TheBuckeye23” which with tired eyes looked the same (and the fact she never had entered twice before).  But at least it’ been corrected.  Actually, I still have one more run to the P.O. Box (mainly to collect checks) so there is still a very minute chance someone actually mailed in their entry (postmarked Thursday AM or earlier).  Haven’t had one of those in ages.  So standings will be updated later today for 134 entries.