We've already written about our three rulebreaking entrants, who chose illegal, immoral, and otherwise naughty wild cards. So there's really no need to drag Blatt, Babenzien, and current leader Steinhardt out of their tar-and-feather coated five-by-eight cells and parade them naked in front of a jeering crowd again, is there? Honestly, is there? Well, since when does "need" have anything to do with it?
We bring this up primarily as a brief introduction before we bring a second group into the limelight. That group being the ten (10) contestants who chose wild cards that didn't even make the field. Yes, that's right, over 13.5% of our entrants have guaranteed themselves zero (0) wild card points before the Tournament even starts. Pretty impressive, right?
To be fair to Day, Doherty, L Schlegel, B Wright (all of whom selected Drexel), J Hoffman (Northwestern), Joe Mc (Seton Hall), Spitz (Valparaiso), Patashnik (Washington), Speakes (Cleveland State), and Quint (Arizona), every single one of them would be sitting pretty if this was a pre-NIT contest. So they have that going for them.
We'll breakdown our contestant's consensus choice of champions later today.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Get ready, get set...
The field has been selected. The first $100 has been awarded. And the winner of that C Note is... Steinhardt, with 211 points. Lagging in Steinhardt's wake are Harlan (206), D Baum (204), D Kedson (204), and M Peloso (202).
We'll have more analysis as the week unfolds. First play-in games are just two days away. Full standings may be found through the link on the right hand side of the page.
Vive le tournement, tres bien viola...
(that's Fake French, for all you linguists out there, or as we like to call it, Faux Francais).
We'll have more analysis as the week unfolds. First play-in games are just two days away. Full standings may be found through the link on the right hand side of the page.
Vive le tournement, tres bien viola...
(that's Fake French, for all you linguists out there, or as we like to call it, Faux Francais).
Topsy Turvy World
Vanderbilt in the SEC. Florida State in the ACC. St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10. But at least there's one constant in this topsy turvy world, and that's the immutable fact that our entrants couldn't pick any of them.
Congratulations to D Baum, S Leach, and Rybaltowski (Vanderbilt) and Pogach and Steinhardt (Florida State) for closing their eyes and randomly choosing the winning teams. Nobody managed to do even that for St. Bonaventure.
On the strength of her Florida State selection, Steinhardt has charged into the lead, with 104 points. D Kedson (102), Harlan (98), M Peloso (98), and C Brown (96) are breathing down the leader's neck.
Just one more conference final and the real fun begins. For what it's worth, Steinhardt, M Peloso, and C Brown have Michigan State, while D Kedson and Harlan have Ohio State.
Full updated standings can be seen from clicking the link on the right hand side of the page.
Congratulations to D Baum, S Leach, and Rybaltowski (Vanderbilt) and Pogach and Steinhardt (Florida State) for closing their eyes and randomly choosing the winning teams. Nobody managed to do even that for St. Bonaventure.
On the strength of her Florida State selection, Steinhardt has charged into the lead, with 104 points. D Kedson (102), Harlan (98), M Peloso (98), and C Brown (96) are breathing down the leader's neck.
Just one more conference final and the real fun begins. For what it's worth, Steinhardt, M Peloso, and C Brown have Michigan State, while D Kedson and Harlan have Ohio State.
Full updated standings can be seen from clicking the link on the right hand side of the page.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Buffaloed
The University of Colorado competed in 35 Big 8/Big 12 tournaments in school history. You know how many they won? We're talking goose egg, zilch, the big nada. They've now competed in precisely one (1) Pac 12 tourney and, you guessed it, they came out on top. Well, let us rephrase that. If you're playing in our contest, you didn't guess it at all. Exactly nobody in our contest picked the Buffaloes to win the Pac 12. Which quite frankly doesn't distinguish them that much from most other conference tournament winners. So far 26 automatic bids have been decided, and a majority of us chose the winner in only 11 (42.3%).
Since our last blog entry on this topic, the majority has ruled in four conferences -- the MEAC (Norfolk State, chosen by 51); Conference USA (Memphis, 72); the SWAC (Mississippi Valley State, 92); and the Big West (Long Beach State, 91). The majority was fooled in another seven conferences -- the Big 12 (Missouri, 33); America East (Vermont, 31); the MAC (Ohio, 27); the WCAC (New Mexico, 19); the Southland (Lamar, chosen by 3: Baumgarten, C Brown, B Wright); the Big East (Louisville, selected by 3: Fitch, D Kedson, Steinhardt); and the Big 12 (the aforementioned Colorado Buffaloes, picked by nobody).
It's not going to get any better in the last five tournaments, either. Tonight, in the WAC, New Mexico State (only picked by 19) faces off against Louisiana Tech (0). Tomorrow, it's Xavier (8: M Barone, Brenner, B Brenner, Brett Steven B, M Josephs, Pogach, Rybaltowski, and Steinhardt) vs. St. Bonaventure (0) in the Atlantic 10; North Carolina (46) against Florida State (2: Pogach, Steinhardt) in the ACC; Ohio State (40) v. Michigan State (49) in the Big 10; and Kentucky (89) against Vanderbilt (3: D Baum, S Leach, Rybaltowski) in the SEC. So, at most two of the five remaining champions will have been picked by a majority of us, meaning the best case scenario is we'll get it right in 13 of 31, or 41.9% of the conferences, and our worst case this year is 11 of 31 (35.5%). Which, mind-boggling as it may be, would actually be better than last year, when the majority of us were correct in only 10 of 31 (32.3%)
So, nice job, folks.
M Peloso (92 points) is still our leader, clinging to a one (1) point lead over Steinhardt (91) and D Kedson (91). Huffnagle (89), Harlan (87), Alberts (85), and C Brown (85) are all hanging around too.
Pogach (48) has pulled out of the cellar and now leads Slayen (42), although Pogach is still 9 points behind M Leach, N Donadio, and Brenner (all with 57) in the race for 3rd-to-last place.
Selection Sunday tomorrow -- stay tuned.
Since our last blog entry on this topic, the majority has ruled in four conferences -- the MEAC (Norfolk State, chosen by 51); Conference USA (Memphis, 72); the SWAC (Mississippi Valley State, 92); and the Big West (Long Beach State, 91). The majority was fooled in another seven conferences -- the Big 12 (Missouri, 33); America East (Vermont, 31); the MAC (Ohio, 27); the WCAC (New Mexico, 19); the Southland (Lamar, chosen by 3: Baumgarten, C Brown, B Wright); the Big East (Louisville, selected by 3: Fitch, D Kedson, Steinhardt); and the Big 12 (the aforementioned Colorado Buffaloes, picked by nobody).
It's not going to get any better in the last five tournaments, either. Tonight, in the WAC, New Mexico State (only picked by 19) faces off against Louisiana Tech (0). Tomorrow, it's Xavier (8: M Barone, Brenner, B Brenner, Brett Steven B, M Josephs, Pogach, Rybaltowski, and Steinhardt) vs. St. Bonaventure (0) in the Atlantic 10; North Carolina (46) against Florida State (2: Pogach, Steinhardt) in the ACC; Ohio State (40) v. Michigan State (49) in the Big 10; and Kentucky (89) against Vanderbilt (3: D Baum, S Leach, Rybaltowski) in the SEC. So, at most two of the five remaining champions will have been picked by a majority of us, meaning the best case scenario is we'll get it right in 13 of 31, or 41.9% of the conferences, and our worst case this year is 11 of 31 (35.5%). Which, mind-boggling as it may be, would actually be better than last year, when the majority of us were correct in only 10 of 31 (32.3%)
So, nice job, folks.
M Peloso (92 points) is still our leader, clinging to a one (1) point lead over Steinhardt (91) and D Kedson (91). Huffnagle (89), Harlan (87), Alberts (85), and C Brown (85) are all hanging around too.
Pogach (48) has pulled out of the cellar and now leads Slayen (42), although Pogach is still 9 points behind M Leach, N Donadio, and Brenner (all with 57) in the race for 3rd-to-last place.
Selection Sunday tomorrow -- stay tuned.
Friday, March 9, 2012
We're wrong again
Add the Big East and Big 12 to the growing number of conferences our contestants have gotten wrong. Big East favorite Syracuse (picked by 75) took a fall to Cincinnati (picked by nada), and Big 12 maven Kansas (selected by 54) dropped one to Baylor (chosen by 9).
But what do you expect from a conference that doesn't even know how to count it's own membership properly? First, the Math Gods strike down the Atlantic 10 leader, now the Big 12. All we can say is Michigan State better watch out in tomorrow's Big 10 semifinal.
But what do you expect from a conference that doesn't even know how to count it's own membership properly? First, the Math Gods strike down the Atlantic 10 leader, now the Big 12. All we can say is Michigan State better watch out in tomorrow's Big 10 semifinal.
Temple of Doom
So far this year, 15 conferences have decided their champions. Of those, a majority of our contestants have correctly chosen seven (7) of them -- Murray State (chosen by 95), Davidson (90), Harvard (90), Belmont (85), UNC Ashville (82), St. Mary's (56), and LIU (50). If you're calculating at home, that's a rousing 46.7% success rate, not quite as good as flipping a coin. The eight conferences so far that have mystified us are: Montana (40), VCU (40), South Dakota State (28), Creighton (18), Lehigh (17), Loyola-Maryland (15), Detroit (3), and Western Kentucky (0).
The Atlantic 10 doesn't decide its champion until Sunday but we can already chalk it up to the mystified side of the ledger, as overwhelming favorite Temple (selected by 69 of us) dropped its first game to UMass (chosen by C Brown, SLayen, and Leace). Also helping to wreck our collective self-esteem was Texas Arlington (picked by 88 out of our 96 entrants), who took a 20 point beating at the hands of McNeese State (guessed by Leace, Booth, Bud Acchione, R Kornfeld, and Rybaltowski).
In other Thursday night action, Washington (chosen by 36) went down in the PAC-12, and Delaware State (selected by P Leach, M Josephs, Jr. Donadio, and Alberts) made an early exit in the MEAC.
A full day is currently in swing. We'll report back later tonight with more.
The Atlantic 10 doesn't decide its champion until Sunday but we can already chalk it up to the mystified side of the ledger, as overwhelming favorite Temple (selected by 69 of us) dropped its first game to UMass (chosen by C Brown, SLayen, and Leace). Also helping to wreck our collective self-esteem was Texas Arlington (picked by 88 out of our 96 entrants), who took a 20 point beating at the hands of McNeese State (guessed by Leace, Booth, Bud Acchione, R Kornfeld, and Rybaltowski).
In other Thursday night action, Washington (chosen by 36) went down in the PAC-12, and Delaware State (selected by P Leach, M Josephs, Jr. Donadio, and Alberts) made an early exit in the MEAC.
A full day is currently in swing. We'll report back later tonight with more.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Keep on keeping on
Since our last post, seven more teams have punched their ticket, but only two of them were picked by a majority of our entrants. Lehigh (chosen by 17 of us) snagged the Patriot League automatic bid with a big victory over Bucknell (chosen by 73). In Big Sky country, Montana (40) played at home and clobbered Weber State (56). Detroit (picked only by M Josephs, Leace, and Rybaltowski) sneaked by Valparaiso (50) in the Horizon. South Dakota State (28) edged Western Illinois (0) in overtime in the Summit. And in a battle of zero heroes, Western Kentucky (0) nicked North Texas (0) in the Sun Belt.
The only conference titles we got right were the NEC, where LIU (50) beat Robert Morris (just 3, Kovolski, M Leach, and McKillip), and the Ivy, where Harvard (90) backed into the title because Penn (chosen by 5: M Josephs, Kovolski, E Leach, L Schlegel, and Pogach, who added to his already brave and impressive collection of selected also-rans) lost to arch-rival Princeton.
In other conference tournament news, Savannah State (chosen by 40 of us) lost to Hampton (chosen by none of us) in the MEAC quarterfinals. UConn (picked by 72 at-large) won their 2nd consecutive game in the Big East tournament, beating West Virginia, and now the Huskies only have another 148 games to go to win the Big East title (really only three more, just like last year). In other Big East action, Seton Hall (picked by 75 at-large) lost to Louisville, and South Florida (36) beat Villanova.
Updated standings may be found from the link on the right hand side of this page. M Peloso is now alone in first place, with 63 points, followed by Huffnagle (58) and three tied with 53 (P Leach, D Kedson, M Paston 2). Gutsy Pogach (24) is alone in last place.
No more automatic bids decided until Saturday, when 13 conference championships are on the line. Talk to you soon.
The only conference titles we got right were the NEC, where LIU (50) beat Robert Morris (just 3, Kovolski, M Leach, and McKillip), and the Ivy, where Harvard (90) backed into the title because Penn (chosen by 5: M Josephs, Kovolski, E Leach, L Schlegel, and Pogach, who added to his already brave and impressive collection of selected also-rans) lost to arch-rival Princeton.
In other conference tournament news, Savannah State (chosen by 40 of us) lost to Hampton (chosen by none of us) in the MEAC quarterfinals. UConn (picked by 72 at-large) won their 2nd consecutive game in the Big East tournament, beating West Virginia, and now the Huskies only have another 148 games to go to win the Big East title (really only three more, just like last year). In other Big East action, Seton Hall (picked by 75 at-large) lost to Louisville, and South Florida (36) beat Villanova.
Updated standings may be found from the link on the right hand side of this page. M Peloso is now alone in first place, with 63 points, followed by Huffnagle (58) and three tied with 53 (P Leach, D Kedson, M Paston 2). Gutsy Pogach (24) is alone in last place.
No more automatic bids decided until Saturday, when 13 conference championships are on the line. Talk to you soon.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Wild and Lawless
The consensus wild card in this year's contest is Wichita State (selected by 30 of us). When informed of this high honor, the Shockers went right out and proudly dropped their conference tournament semifinal game with unheralded Illinois State.
Temple (16) and Notre Dame (9) are also well liked in wild card circles, but after that it's just a morass, with 41 entrants choosing 24 teams, as follows:
Chosen by 5: Vanderbilt
Chosen by 4: Drexel, Iowa State
Chosen by 3: Gonzaga, Kansas State
Chosen by 2: UConn, Long Beach, St. Louis
Chosen by a single, solitary, not-afraid-to-stand-out contestant: Alabama, Arizona, Belmont, California, Cleveland State, Iona, Memphis, Northwestern, Purdue, Seton Hall, Southern Mississippi, Washington, and Valparaiso
The savvy among you probably tallied the above and cleverly noted that it only adds up to 38 entrants and 21 teams. Where are the remaining three, you ask?
In pool prison, of course. Every year a slew of sly scofflaws strive to slither out of satisfying the rules. And just as regularly, the ever-vigilant commissioners delight in catching the cagey criminals.
This year, co-leader Steinhardt chose illegal Louisville (ranked #24 in the AP top 25 linked from the entry form). Blatt perhaps thought we might not notice if he took #17 Creighton. And the annual award for the most brazen disregard for our simple and straightforward rules goes to Babenzien, who tried to sneak #4 Missouri past us. Your efforts have been thwarted, sir!
We have one final note related to wild cards. Over the past couple of decades there have been those who have accused the commissioners of being nattering nabobs of negativism, who only report mistakes and errors. This reputation wounds us, truly, so much so that this year we've decided to take a moment to stretch out our hands and deliver an encouraging pat on the back. To D Kornfeld who, we are absolutely thrilled to announce, made a completely legitimate, 100% legal, and in all other ways stellar wild card selection. For the first time since 2003. Well done, D Kornfeld. Well done, indeed.
Temple (16) and Notre Dame (9) are also well liked in wild card circles, but after that it's just a morass, with 41 entrants choosing 24 teams, as follows:
Chosen by 5: Vanderbilt
Chosen by 4: Drexel, Iowa State
Chosen by 3: Gonzaga, Kansas State
Chosen by 2: UConn, Long Beach, St. Louis
Chosen by a single, solitary, not-afraid-to-stand-out contestant: Alabama, Arizona, Belmont, California, Cleveland State, Iona, Memphis, Northwestern, Purdue, Seton Hall, Southern Mississippi, Washington, and Valparaiso
The savvy among you probably tallied the above and cleverly noted that it only adds up to 38 entrants and 21 teams. Where are the remaining three, you ask?
In pool prison, of course. Every year a slew of sly scofflaws strive to slither out of satisfying the rules. And just as regularly, the ever-vigilant commissioners delight in catching the cagey criminals.
This year, co-leader Steinhardt chose illegal Louisville (ranked #24 in the AP top 25 linked from the entry form). Blatt perhaps thought we might not notice if he took #17 Creighton. And the annual award for the most brazen disregard for our simple and straightforward rules goes to Babenzien, who tried to sneak #4 Missouri past us. Your efforts have been thwarted, sir!
We have one final note related to wild cards. Over the past couple of decades there have been those who have accused the commissioners of being nattering nabobs of negativism, who only report mistakes and errors. This reputation wounds us, truly, so much so that this year we've decided to take a moment to stretch out our hands and deliver an encouraging pat on the back. To D Kornfeld who, we are absolutely thrilled to announce, made a completely legitimate, 100% legal, and in all other ways stellar wild card selection. For the first time since 2003. Well done, D Kornfeld. Well done, indeed.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Dance Cards
We're up to 8 conference champions, which means we have standings. We currently have a four way tie for first, with M Peloso, Steinhardt, Templeton, and B Wright sharing the top spot with 38 points. Just behind the leaders are Day (36), Mahalko (35), Packman (35), and Bland (34). The good news for the rest of us? Steinhardt picked an illegal wild card (Louisville -- more on that story tomorrow).
In the Atlantic Sun conference, Belmont won, to the surprise of few, since 85 of our 96 entrants chose them to win. Ten of us foolishly went with Mercer (G Wright, Speakes, Butch Acchione, N Donadio, J Hoffman, HR, M Kline, S Leach, Patashnik, Slayen) and one lonely contestant chose USC Upstate (Pogach).
In the Colonial, VCU (chosen by 40) topped Drexel (51). In addition to disappointed Dragon supporters, four people plugged George Mason (M McAtee, Pogach, Quint, Slayen), and one entrant chose Old Dominion (Coach Doc),
Big South favorite UNC Ashville (82) lived up to its billing, although 13 individuals erroneously rooted for Coastal Carolina and one misguided soul selected Charleston Southern (Pogach). MAAC heavyweight Iona (72), on the other hand, couldn't seal the deal, leaving the MAAC to Loyola, Md (chosen by 15), who beat Fairfield (picked by M Josephs and S Leach) in the conference final earlier tonight. The remaining 6 MAAC votes went to Manhattan (Bud Acchione, Brenner, B Brenner, Pogach, Simon, and Brett Steven B).
In a shocker, MVC top dog Wichita State (77) succumbed yesterday to Illinois State (picked by nobody), who in turn dropped their game to Creighton (18) in overtime. S Leach liked Northern Iowa, for reasons best left unstated. In the OVC, everybody's team Murray State (95) delivered. Although apparently Booth wanted Morehead. Southern Conference hotshot Davidson (90) prevailed over Western Carolina (0), in double OT. Much to the chagrin of R Kornfeld and M Leach(UNCG), Booth and C Brown (Elon), Leace (Georgia Southern), and Pogach (Charleston).
In another overtime thriller, St. Mary's (56) took the WCC over Gonzaga (37), while three entrants wondered why they chose BYU (Atkinson, M McAtee, J Whiteside).
We're not ready to talk about individual's selections, but just reading the above we want to send out happy vibes to Pogach, who went out on a limb for George Mason (picked by 4), Manhattan (6), Charleston (nobody else), Charleston Southern (ditto), and USC Upstate (see the trend here?), and hit on none of them. More on that story later in the week, but if you're looking to place a bet, Pogach's champion is Missouri.
Six more conferences are down to their league finals: In the Summit, it's South Dakota State (28) vs. Western Illinois (0), while favorite Oral Roberts (68) wants Morehead. The Sun Belt features two directional schools (North Texas and Western Kentucky) picked by absolutely nobody we know. The America East conference pits Stonybrook (61) against Vermont (31). In the Horizon League, Valparaiso (50) faces Detroit (3 -- M Josephs, Leace, Rybaltowski), and in the Northeast Conference, LIU (50) tries to stare down Robert Morris (3 -- Kovolski, M Leach, McKillip). Finally, we'll see Bucknell (73) against Lehigh (17) in the Patriot League.
We'll be back tomorrow with more fun. Enjoy!
In the Atlantic Sun conference, Belmont won, to the surprise of few, since 85 of our 96 entrants chose them to win. Ten of us foolishly went with Mercer (G Wright, Speakes, Butch Acchione, N Donadio, J Hoffman, HR, M Kline, S Leach, Patashnik, Slayen) and one lonely contestant chose USC Upstate (Pogach).
In the Colonial, VCU (chosen by 40) topped Drexel (51). In addition to disappointed Dragon supporters, four people plugged George Mason (M McAtee, Pogach, Quint, Slayen), and one entrant chose Old Dominion (Coach Doc),
Big South favorite UNC Ashville (82) lived up to its billing, although 13 individuals erroneously rooted for Coastal Carolina and one misguided soul selected Charleston Southern (Pogach). MAAC heavyweight Iona (72), on the other hand, couldn't seal the deal, leaving the MAAC to Loyola, Md (chosen by 15), who beat Fairfield (picked by M Josephs and S Leach) in the conference final earlier tonight. The remaining 6 MAAC votes went to Manhattan (Bud Acchione, Brenner, B Brenner, Pogach, Simon, and Brett Steven B).
In a shocker, MVC top dog Wichita State (77) succumbed yesterday to Illinois State (picked by nobody), who in turn dropped their game to Creighton (18) in overtime. S Leach liked Northern Iowa, for reasons best left unstated. In the OVC, everybody's team Murray State (95) delivered. Although apparently Booth wanted Morehead. Southern Conference hotshot Davidson (90) prevailed over Western Carolina (0), in double OT. Much to the chagrin of R Kornfeld and M Leach(UNCG), Booth and C Brown (Elon), Leace (Georgia Southern), and Pogach (Charleston).
In another overtime thriller, St. Mary's (56) took the WCC over Gonzaga (37), while three entrants wondered why they chose BYU (Atkinson, M McAtee, J Whiteside).
We're not ready to talk about individual's selections, but just reading the above we want to send out happy vibes to Pogach, who went out on a limb for George Mason (picked by 4), Manhattan (6), Charleston (nobody else), Charleston Southern (ditto), and USC Upstate (see the trend here?), and hit on none of them. More on that story later in the week, but if you're looking to place a bet, Pogach's champion is Missouri.
Six more conferences are down to their league finals: In the Summit, it's South Dakota State (28) vs. Western Illinois (0), while favorite Oral Roberts (68) wants Morehead. The Sun Belt features two directional schools (North Texas and Western Kentucky) picked by absolutely nobody we know. The America East conference pits Stonybrook (61) against Vermont (31). In the Horizon League, Valparaiso (50) faces Detroit (3 -- M Josephs, Leace, Rybaltowski), and in the Northeast Conference, LIU (50) tries to stare down Robert Morris (3 -- Kovolski, M Leach, McKillip). Finally, we'll see Bucknell (73) against Lehigh (17) in the Patriot League.
We'll be back tomorrow with more fun. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
First Blood
It wasn't even March before 13 unfortunate individuals lost their Big South champion, as Coastal Carolina went down to VMI. Guess you guys (and we'd be happy to name you: Babenzien, Crotty, N Donadio, Eberly, HR, A Leace, S Leach, Joe Mc, Rybaltowski, R Simon, Slayen, B Whiteside, Yolles) are playing catchup now...
Also having the ignominious honor of having their March Madness end in February were High Point, Campbell, Liberty, Jacksonville, Lipscomb, Holy Cross, Navy, Army, Colgate, Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay, and Santa Clara. But none of our entrants fell into the trap of picking any of them.
Other games with bubble implications: Poor Northwestern (chosen at-large by 50 of us) lost by 2 to Ohio State, St. Joe's (chosen by 19) lost in double OT to St. Bonaventure, and Miami (58) lost by 4 to fellow ACC bubble team NC State (27). South Florida (37) beat Louisville, and Cincinnati (80) beat Marquette.
And now March really starts.
Also having the ignominious honor of having their March Madness end in February were High Point, Campbell, Liberty, Jacksonville, Lipscomb, Holy Cross, Navy, Army, Colgate, Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay, and Santa Clara. But none of our entrants fell into the trap of picking any of them.
Other games with bubble implications: Poor Northwestern (chosen at-large by 50 of us) lost by 2 to Ohio State, St. Joe's (chosen by 19) lost in double OT to St. Bonaventure, and Miami (58) lost by 4 to fellow ACC bubble team NC State (27). South Florida (37) beat Louisville, and Cincinnati (80) beat Marquette.
And now March really starts.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
March Madness, Bonus Edition
Since February has an extra day this year, what better time to start our contest?
The entries are in, and it looks like we have 97 entries this year (give or take). No idea yet how many are paying entries, but that's 15 more than last year, proving the contest still has legs after 23 years.
To put in context how long we've been playing the pool, our Pre-NCAA Contest is older than every player who will appear in this year's tournament -- except Florida State's Bernard James, who rumor has it served in the U.S. armed forces in the Spanish-American War.
The Horizon League began this year's first conference tournament last night. It was a bad night for Chicago, as Loyola, CHI and Illinois-Chicago both lost, along with Green Bay (formerly Wisconsin-Green Bay, as opposed to the Packers). None of our savvy entrants were tricked into picking any of those teams, however, so we're all still tied for first place.
In regular season action, Michigan State, Florida, Xavier, and UConn all lost last night. Joe Lunardi says that puts Xavier on the outside, looking in, much to the probable chagrin of the 79 of us who picked the Musketeers. He says UConn (now 7-10 in conference and guaranteed to have an under .500 conference record) is still in, but the 73 of us who picked the defending national champions at-large have to be at least a little nervous.
Perhaps last night's most important game however, happened in Missoula, Montana, where the Montana Grizzlies beat Weber State to clinch home court advantage in the Big Sky tournament. And that's big. Or at least Big Sky.
So, here we go. Sit back and enjoy the best month of the year.
The entries are in, and it looks like we have 97 entries this year (give or take). No idea yet how many are paying entries, but that's 15 more than last year, proving the contest still has legs after 23 years.
To put in context how long we've been playing the pool, our Pre-NCAA Contest is older than every player who will appear in this year's tournament -- except Florida State's Bernard James, who rumor has it served in the U.S. armed forces in the Spanish-American War.
The Horizon League began this year's first conference tournament last night. It was a bad night for Chicago, as Loyola, CHI and Illinois-Chicago both lost, along with Green Bay (formerly Wisconsin-Green Bay, as opposed to the Packers). None of our savvy entrants were tricked into picking any of those teams, however, so we're all still tied for first place.
In regular season action, Michigan State, Florida, Xavier, and UConn all lost last night. Joe Lunardi says that puts Xavier on the outside, looking in, much to the probable chagrin of the 79 of us who picked the Musketeers. He says UConn (now 7-10 in conference and guaranteed to have an under .500 conference record) is still in, but the 73 of us who picked the defending national champions at-large have to be at least a little nervous.
Perhaps last night's most important game however, happened in Missoula, Montana, where the Montana Grizzlies beat Weber State to clinch home court advantage in the Big Sky tournament. And that's big. Or at least Big Sky.
So, here we go. Sit back and enjoy the best month of the year.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Contest Deadline is MONDAY
Yes, MONDAY, February 27.
So, now would be a really good time to start looking into it.
Here's the entry form.
Here are the rules.
So, now would be a really good time to start looking into it.
Here's the entry form.
Here are the rules.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Ready to Roll
You know what they say: Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
It's somewhat less publicized, but they also say: The TWENTY THIRD annual Pre-NCAA Contest is locked and loaded!
Here's the entry form.
Here are the rules.
So jump on into the Pool. The water's fine.
It's somewhat less publicized, but they also say: The TWENTY THIRD annual Pre-NCAA Contest is locked and loaded!
Here's the entry form.
Here are the rules.
So jump on into the Pool. The water's fine.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Not much of a dogfight, was it?
Kind of a blah ending to a fabulous tournament. Oh well.
Congratulations again to Huffnagle, E Leach, Fitch, and M Peloso. I will be contacting you in the next few days for addresses to which I can send your checks.
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P.S.: For the second straight year, the time ran out before I could post the tournament "All Name" teams. I have no idea if this "feature" was popular or not in the past, but if anybody particularly misses it, please e-mail me at prencaacontest@gmail.com and I'll make sure to get to it in a timely manner next year.
Thanks, and see you all in 2012 (assuming the Mayan calendar doesn't explode the Earth between now and then).
Congratulations again to Huffnagle, E Leach, Fitch, and M Peloso. I will be contacting you in the next few days for addresses to which I can send your checks.
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P.S.: For the second straight year, the time ran out before I could post the tournament "All Name" teams. I have no idea if this "feature" was popular or not in the past, but if anybody particularly misses it, please e-mail me at prencaacontest@gmail.com and I'll make sure to get to it in a timely manner next year.
Thanks, and see you all in 2012 (assuming the Mayan calendar doesn't explode the Earth between now and then).
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Rivalmania
Well, in Whiteside's wacky world it was deja vu all over again. His familiar foil, Butscher (185) finished just two points behind Whiteside's 187 points, a year after losing to him by one. Whiteside's workplace cronies, McKillip (193) and Canning (203), smacked his Shabbalicious behind (just as they did a year ago). And his sister-in-law, Booth (173), ventured perilously close to going off the deep end before losing to Whiteside for the 30 zillionth consecutive year. Although Booth's decision this year to quote Justin Bieber as support could possibly be considered a new low.
Haklar stated, "I've been deceased for quite some time now, yet I'm still positive I can do better than my son" (D'Zuro), but the living lad managed to beat off the ghost, 183 to 174. Even more impressive, D'Zuro (183) tied his metaphorical lab coat-wielding wife, K Sullivan (183). It was a good year for B Peloso (198), who not only surpassed K Sullivan, but also edged his own Duke-loving spouse, M Peloso (197) by a mere point.
In another contest between denizens of parallel planes, a live cat (Crosby, 208) handily outplayed a dead one (Claude, 195).
Believe it or not, P Ripley said he was "willing to talk smack to my 2 year old son (A Ripley) if I somehow beat him this year," and then he backed it up, tormenting the tiny tot, 187 to 158. P Ripley also beat his wife, K Ripley (167), for the first time in recent memory, although K Ripley blamed it on potentially going into labor during the contest for the second time in three years. At least she staved off her brother, M Wanger (165). Patriarch R Wanger (193) ruled the family with an iron fist for the third straight year.
Brothers N Donadio (172) and Jr. Donadio (172) tied, which some say is like kissing your sister, except these boys' sister, L Donadio (177) kicked both their butts. None of the siblings approached their father J Donadio's acumen, however.
In Leachdom, E Leach (217), the self-proclaimed "Senior Leach for over 75 years," has come out ahead of his entire family tree, besting son P Leach (202), and granddaughters Madison Leach and Samantha Leach (174).
In straight up father/child matches, however, the offspring are all grown up. Commissioner M Josephs (209) easily handled his old man D Josephs (193). Adams (207) put the hurt on father Coach Doc (194). And B Kleiman (183) edged his own father, M Kleiman (180), for the second straight year. The exception to this trend was R Schlegel (201), who barely kept hold of his dignity over son L Schlegel (197).
In a sibling rivalry of interstate proportions, R Kornfeld (182), of Michigan, wiped the court with D Kornfeld (173), of Pennsylvania.
Brenner (173) was completely outclassed by Brenner tha Don (191), in every way except name. Both M Paston 1 (189) and M Kline 1 (191) outscored their lower-digit counterparts, M Paston 2 (181), M Kline 2 (188), and M Kline 3 (176). Next year, fellas, you can enter just once and save a little coin.
Finally, we are at a loss for words to describe the beatdown G Wright (183) put on B Wright (115). Suggestions would be appreciated.
Haklar stated, "I've been deceased for quite some time now, yet I'm still positive I can do better than my son" (D'Zuro), but the living lad managed to beat off the ghost, 183 to 174. Even more impressive, D'Zuro (183) tied his metaphorical lab coat-wielding wife, K Sullivan (183). It was a good year for B Peloso (198), who not only surpassed K Sullivan, but also edged his own Duke-loving spouse, M Peloso (197) by a mere point.
In another contest between denizens of parallel planes, a live cat (Crosby, 208) handily outplayed a dead one (Claude, 195).
Believe it or not, P Ripley said he was "willing to talk smack to my 2 year old son (A Ripley) if I somehow beat him this year," and then he backed it up, tormenting the tiny tot, 187 to 158. P Ripley also beat his wife, K Ripley (167), for the first time in recent memory, although K Ripley blamed it on potentially going into labor during the contest for the second time in three years. At least she staved off her brother, M Wanger (165). Patriarch R Wanger (193) ruled the family with an iron fist for the third straight year.
Brothers N Donadio (172) and Jr. Donadio (172) tied, which some say is like kissing your sister, except these boys' sister, L Donadio (177) kicked both their butts. None of the siblings approached their father J Donadio's acumen, however.
In Leachdom, E Leach (217), the self-proclaimed "Senior Leach for over 75 years," has come out ahead of his entire family tree, besting son P Leach (202), and granddaughters Madison Leach and Samantha Leach (174).
In straight up father/child matches, however, the offspring are all grown up. Commissioner M Josephs (209) easily handled his old man D Josephs (193). Adams (207) put the hurt on father Coach Doc (194). And B Kleiman (183) edged his own father, M Kleiman (180), for the second straight year. The exception to this trend was R Schlegel (201), who barely kept hold of his dignity over son L Schlegel (197).
In a sibling rivalry of interstate proportions, R Kornfeld (182), of Michigan, wiped the court with D Kornfeld (173), of Pennsylvania.
Brenner (173) was completely outclassed by Brenner tha Don (191), in every way except name. Both M Paston 1 (189) and M Kline 1 (191) outscored their lower-digit counterparts, M Paston 2 (181), M Kline 2 (188), and M Kline 3 (176). Next year, fellas, you can enter just once and save a little coin.
Finally, we are at a loss for words to describe the beatdown G Wright (183) put on B Wright (115). Suggestions would be appreciated.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tag, you're it
The Cosmic Forces have clearly aligned. Sure, #8 seed Butler and #11 seed VCU are in the Final Four, but that's nothing compared to our news: The Leach Gang has won a Tag Team competition for what we believe is the first time ever. Yes, the Leaches sit atop the contestant heap, with an average score of 194.6, easily outdistancing Whiteside and his Detractors (188.2), the Boom Crew (182.0), the Ripley-Believe-it-or-Nots (174), and the Present-and-former-employees-of-Urban-Engineering (168.4).
While no upset can be bigger than that, it's certainly noteworthy that males (187.83) came out on top of females (180.3). Children (177.5) probably shouldn't even be seen.
In the Battle of the Species, the so-called "dumb animals," felines (201.5), spiny anteaters (199.0), and lawyers (196.25) all bested humans (185.93). Spirits from the afterworld (174.0) apparently don't get any better information than the rest of us.
If you're in radio, tv, or motion pictures (204.5), well, you must know something. Practicing attorneys (200.33) and computer specialists (194.0) know more than retired people (192.5), something that accountants (187.4), stock traders (183.5), executives (173.67), and engineers (173.25) can't say. At least in our contest, students (191.17) have found little reason to listen to teachers (185.0).
Interestingly enough, the only contestant who identified himself with UConn (Huffnagle) used his inside info to win the contest. Of those schools with more than one vote, Syracuse (200.0) did best this year, followed by Penn State (190.30), and Duke (187.20). In the Big Five, Temple (185.75), beat out Villanova (180.60) and Penn (164.67), while Big Five wannabe Drexel (198.0) trounced them all. In a battle between schools who didn't make the tournament, Indiana (183.0) slapped around Bucknell (162.5), and this despite Bucky Bison (Bucknell's mascot) sending a birthday card to two-year-old A Ripley. Among Division III schools, Widener (193.0) clobbered Johns Hopkins (184.5).
If you're thinking of changing your name, try Matt (210.5) or Ed (205.0). You could do worse than Kevin (191.0) or David (190.4), as well. And by worse, we mean your name could be Rick (186.5), George (184.67), Mike (183.25), Brett (182.33), or Andrew (182.33). As a public service announcement to all you John (180.75) Doe's out there, we do not recommend Bob(180.2)bing for apples or doing anything in the Nick (178.50) of time.
The best region to pick pools from in 2011 turned out to be Western Pennsylvania (200.5), and this despite their proximity to Butler-victim Pittsburgh. Other prime possibilities for prognostication include the Beltway area (193.60) and the Deep South (188.33). If you live in the Far West (185.0), the Midwest (179.67), or New England (179.0), we recommend you find some other leisure activity. Philadelphia Suburbs (185.89) crushed the Philadelphia Urbs (174.5), but they still couldn't find decent, cheap parking.
Our average contestant (186.83) wasn't nearly as successful as our average commissioner (196.50). So we're taking applications if anybody wants the job.
While no upset can be bigger than that, it's certainly noteworthy that males (187.83) came out on top of females (180.3). Children (177.5) probably shouldn't even be seen.
In the Battle of the Species, the so-called "dumb animals," felines (201.5), spiny anteaters (199.0), and lawyers (196.25) all bested humans (185.93). Spirits from the afterworld (174.0) apparently don't get any better information than the rest of us.
If you're in radio, tv, or motion pictures (204.5), well, you must know something. Practicing attorneys (200.33) and computer specialists (194.0) know more than retired people (192.5), something that accountants (187.4), stock traders (183.5), executives (173.67), and engineers (173.25) can't say. At least in our contest, students (191.17) have found little reason to listen to teachers (185.0).
Interestingly enough, the only contestant who identified himself with UConn (Huffnagle) used his inside info to win the contest. Of those schools with more than one vote, Syracuse (200.0) did best this year, followed by Penn State (190.30), and Duke (187.20). In the Big Five, Temple (185.75), beat out Villanova (180.60) and Penn (164.67), while Big Five wannabe Drexel (198.0) trounced them all. In a battle between schools who didn't make the tournament, Indiana (183.0) slapped around Bucknell (162.5), and this despite Bucky Bison (Bucknell's mascot) sending a birthday card to two-year-old A Ripley. Among Division III schools, Widener (193.0) clobbered Johns Hopkins (184.5).
If you're thinking of changing your name, try Matt (210.5) or Ed (205.0). You could do worse than Kevin (191.0) or David (190.4), as well. And by worse, we mean your name could be Rick (186.5), George (184.67), Mike (183.25), Brett (182.33), or Andrew (182.33). As a public service announcement to all you John (180.75) Doe's out there, we do not recommend Bob(180.2)bing for apples or doing anything in the Nick (178.50) of time.
The best region to pick pools from in 2011 turned out to be Western Pennsylvania (200.5), and this despite their proximity to Butler-victim Pittsburgh. Other prime possibilities for prognostication include the Beltway area (193.60) and the Deep South (188.33). If you live in the Far West (185.0), the Midwest (179.67), or New England (179.0), we recommend you find some other leisure activity. Philadelphia Suburbs (185.89) crushed the Philadelphia Urbs (174.5), but they still couldn't find decent, cheap parking.
Our average contestant (186.83) wasn't nearly as successful as our average commissioner (196.50). So we're taking applications if anybody wants the job.
It's Ovah
As we said last week, when the contest started we figured this year might be a record breaking year. And as it turned out, we were right. This year's winning score (223) is the worst, the smallest, the most mind-bogglingest lowest total ever. How much mind-bogglingest, you may ask? Well, the 2nd lowest winning total we're aware of was 45 points better.
Winners are winners, however, and it wouldn't be right to penalize first place winner Huffnagle (223), second place winner E Leach (217) or third place winner Fitch (216), just because their scores are pathetic, now would it?
We would like to congratulate B Wright, however, whose last place total (115) was only the second worst in contest history. The record for ineptitude is still held by Carson, who scored 102 in 1998.
As one might guess, nobody got even half of the Elite Eight. Twelve contestants got three of Eight, 20 contestants managed two of Eight, a whopping 48 of us got one whole Elite Eight team correct, and G Warner and Haklar couldn't even guess any (i.e., they got zero (0) right). G Warner, by the way, claimed on his form that he "spent way too much time on the Southland and MEAC." And frankly, we believe him. Special mention goes to Burke who was one of the lucky dozen who was right on three Final Eight teams, but still managed to finish 77th (aka 6th-to-last) in the standings.
We had 82 entrants in this year's contest, meaning there were 328 Final Four selections made. And four of those selections ended up being accurate. That's right, four (4) people chose one (1) Final Four team correctly. Huffnagle and Templeton went with Connecticut, and Leach and Rybaltowski favored Kentucky.
It probably goes without saying that nobody picked any of the Final Four as their champion, but we'll say it anyway. It's a lot more fun that way.
For anyone who is too lazy to click the standings link on the right hand side of the page, full standings may be found here.
So the contest is over. Congratulations to Huffnagle, E Leach, and Fitch. Your checks will be in the mail.
Tag Team and Rivals totals will be posted sometime this evening. All-Name teams should be up before Saturday, if anybody's interested.
Winners are winners, however, and it wouldn't be right to penalize first place winner Huffnagle (223), second place winner E Leach (217) or third place winner Fitch (216), just because their scores are pathetic, now would it?
We would like to congratulate B Wright, however, whose last place total (115) was only the second worst in contest history. The record for ineptitude is still held by Carson, who scored 102 in 1998.
As one might guess, nobody got even half of the Elite Eight. Twelve contestants got three of Eight, 20 contestants managed two of Eight, a whopping 48 of us got one whole Elite Eight team correct, and G Warner and Haklar couldn't even guess any (i.e., they got zero (0) right). G Warner, by the way, claimed on his form that he "spent way too much time on the Southland and MEAC." And frankly, we believe him. Special mention goes to Burke who was one of the lucky dozen who was right on three Final Eight teams, but still managed to finish 77th (aka 6th-to-last) in the standings.
We had 82 entrants in this year's contest, meaning there were 328 Final Four selections made. And four of those selections ended up being accurate. That's right, four (4) people chose one (1) Final Four team correctly. Huffnagle and Templeton went with Connecticut, and Leach and Rybaltowski favored Kentucky.
It probably goes without saying that nobody picked any of the Final Four as their champion, but we'll say it anyway. It's a lot more fun that way.
For anyone who is too lazy to click the standings link on the right hand side of the page, full standings may be found here.
So the contest is over. Congratulations to Huffnagle, E Leach, and Fitch. Your checks will be in the mail.
Tag Team and Rivals totals will be posted sometime this evening. All-Name teams should be up before Saturday, if anybody's interested.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Four
Only E Leach and Rybaltowski picked Kentucky into the Final Four and nobody picked VCU. Updated standings are up (right hand side of the page), and I'll post a recap, etc., on Monday.
Halfway there
Only Huffnagle and Templeton had Connecticut in the Final Four. Nobody selected Butler. I haven't put up the interim standings since the first half of the Final Four was chosen, but it looks suspiciously like the standings from Friday night, except for one thing: Huffnagle is now in the lead, with 223 points. Fitch is now 2nd, with the same 216 points he had before, with everyone else except Templeton exactly the same, too (he now has 197 points and is tied for 17th). I'll post standings after the Final Four is all decided, either late tonight or tomorrow morning.
Also tomorrow, check back here for an Elite Eight/Final Four recap, Tag Team tallies, and Rivals head-to-head.
See ya.
Also tomorrow, check back here for an Elite Eight/Final Four recap, Tag Team tallies, and Rivals head-to-head.
See ya.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Eight
Two blowouts and two last second victories, and the Elite Eight is now known. And six of the Eight were chosen by less than 10 entrants, including Kentucky (9) and VCU (0). Only Kansas (77) was chosen by as many as 20 entrants (UNC got 19 votes).
Fitch has forged into the lead with 216 points, followed by M Josephs and Quint, with 209 each. Crosby (208) and Adams (207) are a whisker behind.
Fitch has forged into the lead with 216 points, followed by M Josephs and Quint, with 209 each. Crosby (208) and Adams (207) are a whisker behind.
Shows what we know
The four winners last night were chosen by 19 entrants, combined. Only nine of us chose Florida, just six liked Arizona, only four intrepid souls picked UConn, and nobody guessed Butler.
Still, it was enough to give us a new leader, Quint, with 199 points. P Leach (192) sits in second, and Baum (189) and M Josephs (189) are currently tied for third. Seven playahs are within three points of third place.
More games tonight.
Still, it was enough to give us a new leader, Quint, with 199 points. P Leach (192) sits in second, and Baum (189) and M Josephs (189) are currently tied for third. Seven playahs are within three points of third place.
More games tonight.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Four Square
In another wonderful example of symmetry, six of our top eleven Final Four choices are no longer playing (Pitt, Texas, Notre Dame, Purdue, Syracuse, & Louisville) while six teams who are still alive were selected by nobody to make it to Houston (Arizona, Marquette, Richmond, VCU, Florida State, Butler).
In a surprising display of competence, six contestants have all four of their Final Four remaining (Templeton, Harlan, Alberts, K Sullivan, D Kedson, Brenner). There are 45 entrants who still have three of their Four left and 27 who have two. Four prognosticators have just one (1) of their Final Four left (Baum, Jr. Donadio, G Rogers, and of course Mad Leach).
All Choices:
Kansas (63)
Ohio State (58)
Duke (54)
Pittsburgh (44)
BYU (21)
Texas (19)
Notre Dame (16)
Purdue (16)
Wisconsin (10)
Syracuse (6)
Louisville (4)
San Diego State (4: N Donadio, M Josephs, B Peloso, K Sullivan)
Kentucky (2: E Leach, Rybaltowski)
St. John's (2)
Connecticut (2: Huffnagle, Templeton)
North Carolina (2: Alberts, M Josephs)
Florida (1: E Pogach)
Texas A&M (1)
Xavier (1)
Villanova (1)
Georgetown (1)
The full Final Four breakdown, showing every contestants' choices, may be found here.
In a surprising display of competence, six contestants have all four of their Final Four remaining (Templeton, Harlan, Alberts, K Sullivan, D Kedson, Brenner). There are 45 entrants who still have three of their Four left and 27 who have two. Four prognosticators have just one (1) of their Final Four left (Baum, Jr. Donadio, G Rogers, and of course Mad Leach).
All Choices:
Kansas (63)
Ohio State (58)
Duke (54)
Pittsburgh (44)
BYU (21)
Texas (19)
Notre Dame (16)
Purdue (16)
Wisconsin (10)
Syracuse (6)
Louisville (4)
San Diego State (4: N Donadio, M Josephs, B Peloso, K Sullivan)
Kentucky (2: E Leach, Rybaltowski)
St. John's (2)
Connecticut (2: Huffnagle, Templeton)
North Carolina (2: Alberts, M Josephs)
Florida (1: E Pogach)
Texas A&M (1)
Xavier (1)
Villanova (1)
Georgetown (1)
The full Final Four breakdown, showing every contestants' choices, may be found here.
Standing Eight count
In keeping with our annual incompetency theme, five of our top ten favorite choices to make the Final Eight did not get out of the second round (Pitt, Purdue, Texas, Notre Dame, Syracuse), while five teams who are still playing got zero (0) Elite Eight votes from our contestants (Marquette, Richmond, VCU, Florida State, Butler).
Looking good, Final Eight-wise, is Fitch, who has six of his Final Eight remaining and also has Marquette as a wild card, although that's not as impressive as it sounds because he also has Marquette's opponent (UNC), as well as both Ohio State and Kentucky. Others who have six of their Final Eight are M KLine 2, Quint, Whiteside, M Josephs, E Pogach, and Crotts.
We have 33 entrants with five Elite Eight teams remaining and 33 more who have four. Seven unfortunates are left with only three of their Final Eight (Steitz, White, Jr. Donadio, A Ripley, George B, M Kline 3, and leader M Peloso). Sitting around with an astonishing two (2) Final Eight teams remaining are Haklar and perennial cellar dweller Mad Leach.
All Selected Teams:
Kansas (77)
Pittsburgh (74)
Duke (73)
Ohio State (73)
Purdue (54)
BYU (51)
Texas (50)
Notre Dame (41)
Wisconsin (23)
Syracuse (21)
San Diego State (20)
North Carolina (19)
Florida (9)
Kentucky (9)
Georgetown (8)
Louisville (8)
Arizona (6: Burke, Crosby, P Leach, Mahalko, Quint, Yolles)
St. John's (6)
Vanderbilt (6)
Xavier (5)
Connecticut (4: George B, Huffnagle, Mad Leach, Templeton)
George Mason (3)
Kansas State (3)
Villanova (3)
Texas A&M (2)
Washington (2)
Belmont (1)
Utah State (1)
Alabama (1)
UCLA (1)
Vermont (1)
UNLV (1)
The full Final Eight breakdown, showing every contestants' choices, may be found here.
Looking good, Final Eight-wise, is Fitch, who has six of his Final Eight remaining and also has Marquette as a wild card, although that's not as impressive as it sounds because he also has Marquette's opponent (UNC), as well as both Ohio State and Kentucky. Others who have six of their Final Eight are M KLine 2, Quint, Whiteside, M Josephs, E Pogach, and Crotts.
We have 33 entrants with five Elite Eight teams remaining and 33 more who have four. Seven unfortunates are left with only three of their Final Eight (Steitz, White, Jr. Donadio, A Ripley, George B, M Kline 3, and leader M Peloso). Sitting around with an astonishing two (2) Final Eight teams remaining are Haklar and perennial cellar dweller Mad Leach.
All Selected Teams:
Kansas (77)
Pittsburgh (74)
Duke (73)
Ohio State (73)
Purdue (54)
BYU (51)
Texas (50)
Notre Dame (41)
Wisconsin (23)
Syracuse (21)
San Diego State (20)
North Carolina (19)
Florida (9)
Kentucky (9)
Georgetown (8)
Louisville (8)
Arizona (6: Burke, Crosby, P Leach, Mahalko, Quint, Yolles)
St. John's (6)
Vanderbilt (6)
Xavier (5)
Connecticut (4: George B, Huffnagle, Mad Leach, Templeton)
George Mason (3)
Kansas State (3)
Villanova (3)
Texas A&M (2)
Washington (2)
Belmont (1)
Utah State (1)
Alabama (1)
UCLA (1)
Vermont (1)
UNLV (1)
The full Final Eight breakdown, showing every contestants' choices, may be found here.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Pathetique
Before this year's contest started, we were worried the old records would be obsolete, seeing as this year we had three more at-large teams out there, giving everyone the opportunity for 9 additional points. It seemed an unfair advantage for our contestants.
As you've probably already guessed, we needn't have worried. This year's top score after selection of the field (187 points, by M Peloso) was the WORST such score since 1994. In fact, in the past 17 years, there's only been one leading score after selection of the field that was within 5 points of this year's lowly leading tally (189, by Reider, in 2000), and that was probably negatively influenced by the Y2K phenomenon.
Of course what else should we expect when there were more conference winners chosen by 8 or fewer entrants (11: Wofford, Akron, Richmond, UConn, UNC-Ashville, UC-Santa Barbara, St. Peter's, Indiana State, UT-San Antonio, Arkansas-Little Rock, & Alabama State) than conference winners chosen by a majority of our contestants (10: Duke, Belmont, Ohio State, Kansas, Butler, Princeton, Long Island U, Bucknell, Oakland, & Utah State). A whopping eight (8) conference winners were chosen by nobody at all.
So it should come as no surprise that only one of us picked a wild card that managed more than 1 point, and that would be Fitch, who chose Marquette. There were 32 contestants who managed 1 wild card point, but for one lousy point we're not going to bother listing them.
Oh, and can we talk about basketball for a minute? Nobody seemed to flinch when the Big East got 11 bids to the tournament this year, but how Big can the conference really be after its performance in the first two rounds of the tournament? Just two of those 11 teams remain (Marquette and UConn), and of all conferences who got more than two bids, the Big East is tied for last in winning percentage (with the Big 12). Here's each conference's record so far:
ACC: 7-1 (.857)
Mountain West: 4-1 (.800)
Colonial: 4-2 (.667)
Atlantic 10: 3-2 (.600)
Big 10: 7-5 (.583)
Pac 10: 4-3 (.571)
SEC: 4-3 (.571)
Big 12: 4-4 (.500)
Big East: 9-9 (.500)
With that sort of record, seems like the Big East should enter our contest, doesn't it?
Coming up in the next day or so will be Final Four and Elite Eight breakdowns, as well as the ever-popular Tag Team Tallies.
See you soon.
As you've probably already guessed, we needn't have worried. This year's top score after selection of the field (187 points, by M Peloso) was the WORST such score since 1994. In fact, in the past 17 years, there's only been one leading score after selection of the field that was within 5 points of this year's lowly leading tally (189, by Reider, in 2000), and that was probably negatively influenced by the Y2K phenomenon.
Of course what else should we expect when there were more conference winners chosen by 8 or fewer entrants (11: Wofford, Akron, Richmond, UConn, UNC-Ashville, UC-Santa Barbara, St. Peter's, Indiana State, UT-San Antonio, Arkansas-Little Rock, & Alabama State) than conference winners chosen by a majority of our contestants (10: Duke, Belmont, Ohio State, Kansas, Butler, Princeton, Long Island U, Bucknell, Oakland, & Utah State). A whopping eight (8) conference winners were chosen by nobody at all.
So it should come as no surprise that only one of us picked a wild card that managed more than 1 point, and that would be Fitch, who chose Marquette. There were 32 contestants who managed 1 wild card point, but for one lousy point we're not going to bother listing them.
Oh, and can we talk about basketball for a minute? Nobody seemed to flinch when the Big East got 11 bids to the tournament this year, but how Big can the conference really be after its performance in the first two rounds of the tournament? Just two of those 11 teams remain (Marquette and UConn), and of all conferences who got more than two bids, the Big East is tied for last in winning percentage (with the Big 12). Here's each conference's record so far:
ACC: 7-1 (.857)
Mountain West: 4-1 (.800)
Colonial: 4-2 (.667)
Atlantic 10: 3-2 (.600)
Big 10: 7-5 (.583)
Pac 10: 4-3 (.571)
SEC: 4-3 (.571)
Big 12: 4-4 (.500)
Big East: 9-9 (.500)
With that sort of record, seems like the Big East should enter our contest, doesn't it?
Coming up in the next day or so will be Final Four and Elite Eight breakdowns, as well as the ever-popular Tag Team Tallies.
See you soon.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Day Two
From our contest's perspective, not a lot to report about Day Two of the tournament. Although we can say that it wasn't a great day for George B or Broder -- both of whom lost two Elite Eight teams (Georgetown & Villanova for George B; Georgetown and Xavier for Broder), and a Final Four team (Villanova for George B; Xavier for Broder). Mad Leach also lost two Final Eight teams (Georgetown & Xavier), and D Kornfeld picked Georgetown into both his Final Eight and Final Four.
Joining the above in taking Georgetown into the Elite Eight were N Donadio, M Kline 1, Templeton, and early leader M Peloso. Additional Xavierophiles (Elite Eight division) were Steitz, G Warner, and White. The rest of the Villanova backers (at least to the Elite Eight) consisted of only R Simon and M Wanger. Yolles (Eight and Four) and Fitch (Eight) put misplaced faith into Texas A&M, while M Kline 3 went out on a limb for UNLV into the Elite Eight.
Eight more games today. Enjoy.
Joining the above in taking Georgetown into the Elite Eight were N Donadio, M Kline 1, Templeton, and early leader M Peloso. Additional Xavierophiles (Elite Eight division) were Steitz, G Warner, and White. The rest of the Villanova backers (at least to the Elite Eight) consisted of only R Simon and M Wanger. Yolles (Eight and Four) and Fitch (Eight) put misplaced faith into Texas A&M, while M Kline 3 went out on a limb for UNLV into the Elite Eight.
Eight more games today. Enjoy.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Day One
It goes without saying that everybody likes Morehead. I suppose it should also go without saying that if something goes without saying then you don't have to say it. Not to mention (and putting aside that if something's "not to mention" then we probably shouldn't mention it), in this case we doubt it's even true. The eight entrants who chose Louisville (the team blown away by Morehead's last second game winning shot) into their Elite Eight (Baum, Jr. Donadio, Huffnagle, E Leach, S Leach, M Paston 1, M Paston 2, Yolles), and the four entrants who took Louisville into their Final Four (Baum, Jr. Donadio, S Leach, M Paston 2), are probably thrilled at neither the upset nor the puerile wordplay.
Other first round losers on whom contestants languished their precious Elite Eight and Final Four choices include St. John's (picked by Booth, Crosby, Haklar, Nelson, M Paston 2, and G Rogers into the Elite Eight; by Haklar and G Rogers into the Final Four) and Vanderbilt (selected by Alberts, Booth, Karlsruher, S Leach, M Paston 1, and G Warner into the Elite Eight). Haklar and G Rogers also liked St. John's as national champions, and they have our condolences for losing their champion on the very first day of the tourney. That has to sting a little.
D Kornfeld selected Alabama into his Final Eight, and Alabama wasn't even invited to play in the tournament. B Wright deserves his own sentence for choosing Vermont, Utah State, and Belmont among his Final Eight teams, and we're so flabbergasted we don't even know what else to say about that.
True to form in our contest, the team who was our overwhelming favorite as wild card (St. John's, with 44 votes) lost in the first round. Others who have already lost wild cards include B Wright (UAB), M Wanger (Old Dominion), Templeton (Missouri State), and White (Michigan State).
More hopes to be dashed, starting in half an hour. Can't wait.
Other first round losers on whom contestants languished their precious Elite Eight and Final Four choices include St. John's (picked by Booth, Crosby, Haklar, Nelson, M Paston 2, and G Rogers into the Elite Eight; by Haklar and G Rogers into the Final Four) and Vanderbilt (selected by Alberts, Booth, Karlsruher, S Leach, M Paston 1, and G Warner into the Elite Eight). Haklar and G Rogers also liked St. John's as national champions, and they have our condolences for losing their champion on the very first day of the tourney. That has to sting a little.
D Kornfeld selected Alabama into his Final Eight, and Alabama wasn't even invited to play in the tournament. B Wright deserves his own sentence for choosing Vermont, Utah State, and Belmont among his Final Eight teams, and we're so flabbergasted we don't even know what else to say about that.
True to form in our contest, the team who was our overwhelming favorite as wild card (St. John's, with 44 votes) lost in the first round. Others who have already lost wild cards include B Wright (UAB), M Wanger (Old Dominion), Templeton (Missouri State), and White (Michigan State).
More hopes to be dashed, starting in half an hour. Can't wait.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Multiple Personalities
Most years our contestants have a favorite for champion, which is convenient because it gives us an opportunity to bet on everybody else. Alas, this year we don't have that advantage, because our entrants have split almost exactly evenly among Kansas (20), Duke (20), and Ohio State (19). Pitt is our fourth most popular champion, meaning we went with all four number one seeds, although frankly we're not sure whether being in mind-meld with the Selection Committee is a good or bad thing.
Full breakdown of champion choices:
Kansas: 20
Duke: 20
Ohio State: 19
Pittsburgh: 9
Texas: 3 (Baum, M Kline 3, Mad Leach)
BYU: 3 (K Ripley, L Schlegel, K Sullivan)
St. Johns: 2 (Haklar, G Rogers)
Purdue: 2 (M Paston 2, Rybaltowski)
Wisconsin: 1 (Brenner tha Don)
Villanova: 1 (George B)
Syracuse: 1 (A Ripley)
Notre Dame: 1 (Bland)
Full breakdown of champion choices:
Kansas: 20
Duke: 20
Ohio State: 19
Pittsburgh: 9
Texas: 3 (Baum, M Kline 3, Mad Leach)
BYU: 3 (K Ripley, L Schlegel, K Sullivan)
St. Johns: 2 (Haklar, G Rogers)
Purdue: 2 (M Paston 2, Rybaltowski)
Wisconsin: 1 (Brenner tha Don)
Villanova: 1 (George B)
Syracuse: 1 (A Ripley)
Notre Dame: 1 (Bland)
Less Wild than usual
Things appear to be looking up for the economy. Last year, we performed an in-depth economic analysis of the worldwide economy and its effect on wild card behavior, and concluded that in poor economic times our contestants were even more clueless than usual when it comes to selecting wild cards. Case in point was last year's pathetic performance in which members of our group chose seven (7) illegal wild cards and 13 wild cards who didn't make the tournament.
This year, however, while we are pleased that the world finally seems to be shaking off the effects of the long recession, we are disappointed to announce we can only make fun of two (2) entrants for picking ineligible wild cards: Burke and D Kornfeld, both of whom chose #8 Notre Dame. A special award for reading comprehension goes to D Kornfeld, who chose an illegal wild card for the second consecutive year.
Our only entrant who went with a wild card who's off playing in the NIT was Templeton, who selected Missouri State. B Wright chose UAB, who made the field but was eliminated in a play-in game, meaning they didn't actually make the bracket, so maybe we can snicker just a little about that.
St. Johns, with 44 votes, was by a factor of four our most popular wild card. The complete breakdown of wild card selections:
St. Johns: 44
Kansas State: 10
UCLA: 8
West Virginia: 6
George Mason: 4
xxxNotre Dame: 2 (Burke, D Kornfeld)
Washington: 2 (Crotts, ACCBBallFan)
UAB: 1 (B Wright)
Old Dominion: 1 (M Wanger)
Missouri State: 1 (Templeton)
Michigan State: 1 (White)
Marquette: 1 (Fitch)
Gonzaga: 1 (M Josephs)
This year, however, while we are pleased that the world finally seems to be shaking off the effects of the long recession, we are disappointed to announce we can only make fun of two (2) entrants for picking ineligible wild cards: Burke and D Kornfeld, both of whom chose #8 Notre Dame. A special award for reading comprehension goes to D Kornfeld, who chose an illegal wild card for the second consecutive year.
Our only entrant who went with a wild card who's off playing in the NIT was Templeton, who selected Missouri State. B Wright chose UAB, who made the field but was eliminated in a play-in game, meaning they didn't actually make the bracket, so maybe we can snicker just a little about that.
St. Johns, with 44 votes, was by a factor of four our most popular wild card. The complete breakdown of wild card selections:
St. Johns: 44
Kansas State: 10
UCLA: 8
West Virginia: 6
George Mason: 4
xxxNotre Dame: 2 (Burke, D Kornfeld)
Washington: 2 (Crotts, ACCBBallFan)
UAB: 1 (B Wright)
Old Dominion: 1 (M Wanger)
Missouri State: 1 (Templeton)
Michigan State: 1 (White)
Marquette: 1 (Fitch)
Gonzaga: 1 (M Josephs)
Sunday, March 13, 2011
And we're off...
The NCAA tournament field is set and the games start the day after tomorrow. As most of you know we give out a little incentive to the entrant in first place right after the field has been selected, and if the race for that $100 prize is any indication, we're in for a doozy of a tournament.
Coming out of nowhere, the mid-term winner is M Peloso, with 187 points, edging L Schlegel (186) by a measly point, and Harlan (185) by two. Full standings may be found on the right hand side of the page, or here.
At first blush, a couple of the committee's decisions seem odd, like picking VCU and UAB instead of Colorado and Virginia Tech, or giving SEC runner up Florida a 2 seed while snubbing Big 12 runner up Texas with a 4. But we're not ready to give our complete analysis yet. If anybody else wishes to do so, just click on the "comments" link and sound off.
Coming out of nowhere, the mid-term winner is M Peloso, with 187 points, edging L Schlegel (186) by a measly point, and Harlan (185) by two. Full standings may be found on the right hand side of the page, or here.
At first blush, a couple of the committee's decisions seem odd, like picking VCU and UAB instead of Colorado and Virginia Tech, or giving SEC runner up Florida a 2 seed while snubbing Big 12 runner up Texas with a 4. But we're not ready to give our complete analysis yet. If anybody else wishes to do so, just click on the "comments" link and sound off.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Wow, the sequel
Well, the Saturday night games weren't quite as enthralling as the Saturday afternoon games, but they were close. UConn over Louisville by 3, Washington over Arizona by 2 in overtime, Akron over Kent by 1 in overtime. And the best game of the night had no pool or NCAA tournament implications whatsoever, as North Dakota beat South Dakota 77 to 76 in double overtime to win the Great West conference title.
We were unanimously correct in predicting Utah State would win the WAC, but don't get cocky. We also had four more conference champions where absolutely none of us believed in the winner (Texas-San Antonio, Connecticut, UC-Santa Barbara, and Alabama State), while including Utah State only 3 of today's 13 winners were chosen by a majority of our contestants (also Princeton and Kansas). Overall, a majority of us has been right in 8 conferences out of 27, and zero of us has been right in 8 others. Symmetry at its finest.
Tonight's conference breakdown: Kansas (picked by 62) beat Texas (13); San Diego State (19) hammered the celibate Cougars of BYU (56); Washington (16) edged Arizona (37) in OT, UConn (0) snuck past Louisville (5); Akron (6: M Kline 1, M Kline 3, M Peloso, M Paston 1, M Leach, and A Alberts -- although we're not sure how Alberts managed it without having a first initial of "M") survived Kent State (57) in overtime; UC-Santa Barbara (0) rolled in the tide on Long Beach State (74); Alabama State (0) topped Grambling (0) in a battle of zero heroes; and Utah State (82) pulled away from Boise State (0) in the last few minutes.
The last four conferences finish tomorrow. Dayton (chosen by, surprise -- 0) comes up against Richmond (4); Duke (67) takes on arch-rival UNC (12); Ohio State (50) is waiting at the state line for Penn State (0); and Kentucky (28) faces Florida (35).
L Schlegel is still holding on to the contest lead, with 13 correct conference champs and 77 points. Nipping at his heels are Coach Doc (73), M Paston 1 (73), and Quint (72).
About 16 hours until the field is set...
We were unanimously correct in predicting Utah State would win the WAC, but don't get cocky. We also had four more conference champions where absolutely none of us believed in the winner (Texas-San Antonio, Connecticut, UC-Santa Barbara, and Alabama State), while including Utah State only 3 of today's 13 winners were chosen by a majority of our contestants (also Princeton and Kansas). Overall, a majority of us has been right in 8 conferences out of 27, and zero of us has been right in 8 others. Symmetry at its finest.
Tonight's conference breakdown: Kansas (picked by 62) beat Texas (13); San Diego State (19) hammered the celibate Cougars of BYU (56); Washington (16) edged Arizona (37) in OT, UConn (0) snuck past Louisville (5); Akron (6: M Kline 1, M Kline 3, M Peloso, M Paston 1, M Leach, and A Alberts -- although we're not sure how Alberts managed it without having a first initial of "M") survived Kent State (57) in overtime; UC-Santa Barbara (0) rolled in the tide on Long Beach State (74); Alabama State (0) topped Grambling (0) in a battle of zero heroes; and Utah State (82) pulled away from Boise State (0) in the last few minutes.
The last four conferences finish tomorrow. Dayton (chosen by, surprise -- 0) comes up against Richmond (4); Duke (67) takes on arch-rival UNC (12); Ohio State (50) is waiting at the state line for Penn State (0); and Kentucky (28) faces Florida (35).
L Schlegel is still holding on to the contest lead, with 13 correct conference champs and 77 points. Nipping at his heels are Coach Doc (73), M Paston 1 (73), and Quint (72).
About 16 hours until the field is set...
Wow
Wow, what a championship week this year. Plenty more on tap tonight, but so far we've had five conference champions decided today, and the largest margin was 5 points.
BU (picked by 16 of us) came back from a 15 point deficit and needed free throws with 2 seconds left to beat Stony Brook (picked by no one) by 2 in the America East conference. Princeton (51) beat Harvard (31) by 1 point on a buzzer beater to win the Ivy League. Memphis (25) hit two free throws with 7 seconds left to beat UTEP (17) by 1 point in Conference USA. Texas San Antonio (another winner picked by none of us) edged McNeese State by 3 in the Southland. And Hampton (39) "crushed" Morgan State (10) by 5 in the MEAC.
This is without even mentioning UNC coming back from a double-digit deficit for the second straight day, this time roaring back from 14 down against Clemson to win their ACC semifinal match in overtime. The Tar Heels (12) face Duke (67) tomorrow for the ACC championship. And at least one commissioner is holding his breath.
In tomorrow's Atlantic 10 final, it will be Richmond (chosen by 4: M Josephs, Mahalko, Booth, and Kovolski) against Dayton (yet another possible winner picked by absolutely nobody).
L Schlegel leads us all with 11 successful conference champion guesses and 58 points, followed by Coach Doc (54), Quint (53), Canning (50), and M Paston 1 (49). And eight more players right behind with 48.
And still we have eight more championship games tonight, and then a handful more tomorrow to wrap it all up.
See ya. Gotta get back to the TV.
BU (picked by 16 of us) came back from a 15 point deficit and needed free throws with 2 seconds left to beat Stony Brook (picked by no one) by 2 in the America East conference. Princeton (51) beat Harvard (31) by 1 point on a buzzer beater to win the Ivy League. Memphis (25) hit two free throws with 7 seconds left to beat UTEP (17) by 1 point in Conference USA. Texas San Antonio (another winner picked by none of us) edged McNeese State by 3 in the Southland. And Hampton (39) "crushed" Morgan State (10) by 5 in the MEAC.
This is without even mentioning UNC coming back from a double-digit deficit for the second straight day, this time roaring back from 14 down against Clemson to win their ACC semifinal match in overtime. The Tar Heels (12) face Duke (67) tomorrow for the ACC championship. And at least one commissioner is holding his breath.
In tomorrow's Atlantic 10 final, it will be Richmond (chosen by 4: M Josephs, Mahalko, Booth, and Kovolski) against Dayton (yet another possible winner picked by absolutely nobody).
L Schlegel leads us all with 11 successful conference champion guesses and 58 points, followed by Coach Doc (54), Quint (53), Canning (50), and M Paston 1 (49). And eight more players right behind with 48.
And still we have eight more championship games tonight, and then a handful more tomorrow to wrap it all up.
See ya. Gotta get back to the TV.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Oh boy
Quite a day in NCAA land. ACC top seed North Carolina took it's only lead of the game at the final buzzer to beat Miami, while tops-in-the-nation Ohio State needed overtime to dispatch Northwestern. And those were the games that came out the way we expected.
Late last night UCLA (vainly chosen by 28 of us in the PAC 10) fared poorly while in Conference USA, the team with the most votes (UAB with 32) went down in the quarterfinals, leaving UTEP (17) to square off with Memphis (25) for that conference's automatic bid.
Two more favorites stumbled today, as Texas Southern (selected by 71 entrants) lost in the SWAC, and Xavier (picked by 41) got slapped around in the Atlantic 10.
The SWAC finals are tomorrow, with Alabama State (selected by nobody) facing off against Grambling (chosen by no one), which guarantees yet another winner that completely stumped our contestants. In the Big East, we're looking at Louisville (favored by five: P Leach, Karlsruher, Booth, Crotts, and Jr Donadio) against Connecticut (taken by none of us).
The only champion crowned today was Bucknell (picked by 74) in the Patriot. So I suppose we can feel good about that.
Late last night UCLA (vainly chosen by 28 of us in the PAC 10) fared poorly while in Conference USA, the team with the most votes (UAB with 32) went down in the quarterfinals, leaving UTEP (17) to square off with Memphis (25) for that conference's automatic bid.
Two more favorites stumbled today, as Texas Southern (selected by 71 entrants) lost in the SWAC, and Xavier (picked by 41) got slapped around in the Atlantic 10.
The SWAC finals are tomorrow, with Alabama State (selected by nobody) facing off against Grambling (chosen by no one), which guarantees yet another winner that completely stumped our contestants. In the Big East, we're looking at Louisville (favored by five: P Leach, Karlsruher, Booth, Crotts, and Jr Donadio) against Connecticut (taken by none of us).
The only champion crowned today was Bucknell (picked by 74) in the Patriot. So I suppose we can feel good about that.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Predictable
Yeah, we've been making fun of our contestants ability to predict the small conference champions, but it will all even out when the big conferences go down, right?
Think again.
Pitt, the Big East favorite according to our contestants (chosen by 41) failed to win even a single Big East tournament game, falling to Connecticut earlier today. Kansas (picked by 62) lucked out and won their first Big 12 tourney game by 1 lousy point over Oklahoma State, who missed a free throw in the last minute and then had the last shot but somehow managed to waste 20 seconds before putting up a desperation airball at the buzzer.
And things are just getting started.
Think again.
Pitt, the Big East favorite according to our contestants (chosen by 41) failed to win even a single Big East tournament game, falling to Connecticut earlier today. Kansas (picked by 62) lucked out and won their first Big 12 tourney game by 1 lousy point over Oklahoma State, who missed a free throw in the last minute and then had the last shot but somehow managed to waste 20 seconds before putting up a desperation airball at the buzzer.
And things are just getting started.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Two more in the truck
The University of Northern Colorado (chosen by 35 of us) won its first ever NCAA tournament bid, beating Big Sky stalwart Montana (liked by 40). And overwhelming favorite Long Island University (selected by 70) took the Northeast conference championship over underwhelming underdog Robert Morris (chosen only by E Pogach, ACCBBallFan, and N Donadio), although LIU needed overtime to do it.
That's 13 conference championships down and a majority of us have correctly predicted the winner in four (4) of them, for a rousing 30.8% success rate, and the same number of conferences in which zero of us predicted the winner. Not surprisingly, only four entrants have gotten more than half of the conferences right: Canning and L Schlegel each have eight right; M Josephs and G Wright each have seven.
Not counting the four conferences where nobody picked the winner, L Schlegel finally missed one, and is now tied for first with Canning, with both having 40 points. Right behind the co-leaders are M Josephs (38 points), Coach Doc (36), Harlan (36), and G Wright (35). Full standings may once again be found through the link on the right side of the page.
That's 13 conference championships down and a majority of us have correctly predicted the winner in four (4) of them, for a rousing 30.8% success rate, and the same number of conferences in which zero of us predicted the winner. Not surprisingly, only four entrants have gotten more than half of the conferences right: Canning and L Schlegel each have eight right; M Josephs and G Wright each have seven.
Not counting the four conferences where nobody picked the winner, L Schlegel finally missed one, and is now tied for first with Canning, with both having 40 points. Right behind the co-leaders are M Josephs (38 points), Coach Doc (36), Harlan (36), and G Wright (35). Full standings may once again be found through the link on the right side of the page.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Butler did it
Butler made it back to the NCAA tournament, winning the Horizon League and bringing much joy to 42 contestants, while fellow favorite Oakland (74) took the Summit. We considered requiring our entrants to correctly identify which state Oakland comes from before awarding credit, but decided it would just be too depressing to ask (the correct answer is Michigan, not California, if you're scoring at home; or even if you're alone).
Still, it wouldn't be a pool update unless some small conference nobody who went unselected in our contest earned a bid, and tonight it was Arkansas-Little Rock (0) filling the bill. (We considered requiring our entrants to correctly identify which state Arkansas-Little Rock comes from, as well, but based on our entrants' success in the contest so far we decided even that was too much to hope for.) This brings us up to 4 out of 11 conference champions that were picked by absolutely none of our entrants.
Amazingly, L Schlegel has accurately guessed all 7 of the conference champs who were picked by at least one person, and thus he still leads the pool with 35 points. Canning has six right and sits in 2nd place with 30 points. Full standings may be found through the link on the right hand side of the page.
Princeton beat Penn in its regular season finale, meaning the Tigers (selected by 51) will take on the Crimson of Harvard (chosen by 31) for the Ivy League crown.
Come on back tomorrow for yet another riveting update.
Still, it wouldn't be a pool update unless some small conference nobody who went unselected in our contest earned a bid, and tonight it was Arkansas-Little Rock (0) filling the bill. (We considered requiring our entrants to correctly identify which state Arkansas-Little Rock comes from, as well, but based on our entrants' success in the contest so far we decided even that was too much to hope for.) This brings us up to 4 out of 11 conference champions that were picked by absolutely none of our entrants.
Amazingly, L Schlegel has accurately guessed all 7 of the conference champs who were picked by at least one person, and thus he still leads the pool with 35 points. Canning has six right and sits in 2nd place with 30 points. Full standings may be found through the link on the right hand side of the page.
Princeton beat Penn in its regular season finale, meaning the Tigers (selected by 51) will take on the Crimson of Harvard (chosen by 31) for the Ivy League crown.
Come on back tomorrow for yet another riveting update.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Four more champions...
...and some of our entrants even picked three of them!
St. Peters won the MAAC, bringing up to three the number of conference champions who none of us picked (out of eight winners so far). But we prefer to dwell upon the positive. Eight of us guessed right about Wofford (L Schlegel, Steitz, M Paston 1, M Paston 2, Packman, Kline 3, N Donadio, and S Leach) in the Southern Conference, 20 of us correctly chose Old Dominion to win the Colonial, and almost half of us (39, to be precise) accurately predicted Gonzaga to win the WCC. Meaning out of eight conference champions so far, a majority of us were right about one of them (Belmont, picked by 79). Hey, and one out of eight is better than none out of eight, right? That's positive, isn't it?
Interestingly enough, with only five conference champs who had more than zero votes, we have a contestant (L Schlegel) who hit the jackpot on all five (Belmont, Old Dominion, Gonzaga, Wofford, and Morehead State), and three others (Canning, M Josephs, and Quint) who scored on four out of five. And of course these four individuals lead the pack (with L Schlegel five points ahead of the others). Full standings may be found here.
Two more league finals are set, the Sun Belt, featuring North Texas (selected by just three entrants - ACCBBallFan, Crotts, and the ubiquitous M Josephs) against Arkansas-Little Rock (selected by three fewer, aka zero entrants); and the Summit, where Oakland (chosen by 74 of us) lines up against Oral Roberts (chosen by four - Steitz, E Pogach, Kline 2, and Kline 3). And of course the commissioners are very much looking forward to a play-in game between Oral Roberts and Morehead State.
Ba-dum-bum.
St. Peters won the MAAC, bringing up to three the number of conference champions who none of us picked (out of eight winners so far). But we prefer to dwell upon the positive. Eight of us guessed right about Wofford (L Schlegel, Steitz, M Paston 1, M Paston 2, Packman, Kline 3, N Donadio, and S Leach) in the Southern Conference, 20 of us correctly chose Old Dominion to win the Colonial, and almost half of us (39, to be precise) accurately predicted Gonzaga to win the WCC. Meaning out of eight conference champions so far, a majority of us were right about one of them (Belmont, picked by 79). Hey, and one out of eight is better than none out of eight, right? That's positive, isn't it?
Interestingly enough, with only five conference champs who had more than zero votes, we have a contestant (L Schlegel) who hit the jackpot on all five (Belmont, Old Dominion, Gonzaga, Wofford, and Morehead State), and three others (Canning, M Josephs, and Quint) who scored on four out of five. And of course these four individuals lead the pack (with L Schlegel five points ahead of the others). Full standings may be found here.
Two more league finals are set, the Sun Belt, featuring North Texas (selected by just three entrants - ACCBBallFan, Crotts, and the ubiquitous M Josephs) against Arkansas-Little Rock (selected by three fewer, aka zero entrants); and the Summit, where Oakland (chosen by 74 of us) lines up against Oral Roberts (chosen by four - Steitz, E Pogach, Kline 2, and Kline 3). And of course the commissioners are very much looking forward to a play-in game between Oral Roberts and Morehead State.
Ba-dum-bum.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
More Zero Heroes
Mighty Vermont (selected by 65 of us) has fallen to puny Stonybrook (selected by nobody even associated with one of our entrants). The Stonybrooksterians will play BU (16) for the America East championship.
Also reaching their league final after being completely ignored by our contestants are Lafayette (0) in the Patriot League, who will play Bucknell (74) (who beat Lehigh (0) by 2 points tonight), and St. Peters (0) who smacked Fairfield (63) around and will face off against Iona (13) in the MAAC.
In the Southern Conference, favorite Charleston (66) must play Wofford (18) for the automatic bid. Gonzaga (39) is still playing, but if the Zags hold on to their lead they'll be playing St. Mary's (43) for the WCC crown.
Also reaching their league final after being completely ignored by our contestants are Lafayette (0) in the Patriot League, who will play Bucknell (74) (who beat Lehigh (0) by 2 points tonight), and St. Peters (0) who smacked Fairfield (63) around and will face off against Iona (13) in the MAAC.
In the Southern Conference, favorite Charleston (66) must play Wofford (18) for the automatic bid. Gonzaga (39) is still playing, but if the Zags hold on to their lead they'll be playing St. Mary's (43) for the WCC crown.
You'd have been better off picking Murray as your accountant...
We should have known it would be that kind of year when Murray State (chosen by 57 of us) went down to Tennessee Tech (chosen by none of us) on Friday. But if we didn't know then, we sure know now.
So far, four conference champions have punched their tickets for the big dance, and two of them (UNC-Ashville & Indiana State) were picked by nobody in our contest. Out of 82 contestants, only 18 of us have as many as two right out of four.
The other day we mentioned the chagrin of the five people who chose Liberty (who lost before the pool was due). But now we figure the 77 others who picked Coastal Carolina in the Big South feel pretty much the same way. On the other hand, 79 people accurately selected Belmont as Atlantic Sun champ, but that probably doesn't help Steitz, Mad Leach, or Jr Donadio -- all of whom took ETSU -- feel any better about themselves.
The other winner so far who got any votes in our contest is Morehead State (chosen by 20), who beat Murray-vanquisher Tennessee Tech in the OVC final. In the Colonial, the championship game is set between Old Dominion (taken by 20) and Virginia Commonwealth (picked by three -- Wright, Selig, and D Kornfeld. In the Horizon it's Butler (42) against Milwaukee (16).
Indiana State won the MVC over Missouri State (45) and Wichita State (36), but at least the latter two have a theoretical shot of getting picked at large. As does George Mason (57), who went down to VCU.
In the Northeast, it's LIU (70) against Robert Morris (3 -- E Pogach, ACCBBallFan, & N Donadio), each of which won their semifinal games by 2 measly points over Central Connecticut State (Templeton, M Wanger, & Kline 2) and Quinnipiac (A Ripley, Quint, K Ripley, Wright, Mad Leach, & Steitz), respectively. And, as always, we love saying "Quinnipiac."
In what's probably the second Ivy League race that wasn't decided before the pool was due, if Princeton (chosen by 51) can get by Penn this week they'll play Harvard (taken by 31) in a playoff.
More games tonight. Enjoy.
So far, four conference champions have punched their tickets for the big dance, and two of them (UNC-Ashville & Indiana State) were picked by nobody in our contest. Out of 82 contestants, only 18 of us have as many as two right out of four.
The other day we mentioned the chagrin of the five people who chose Liberty (who lost before the pool was due). But now we figure the 77 others who picked Coastal Carolina in the Big South feel pretty much the same way. On the other hand, 79 people accurately selected Belmont as Atlantic Sun champ, but that probably doesn't help Steitz, Mad Leach, or Jr Donadio -- all of whom took ETSU -- feel any better about themselves.
The other winner so far who got any votes in our contest is Morehead State (chosen by 20), who beat Murray-vanquisher Tennessee Tech in the OVC final. In the Colonial, the championship game is set between Old Dominion (taken by 20) and Virginia Commonwealth (picked by three -- Wright, Selig, and D Kornfeld. In the Horizon it's Butler (42) against Milwaukee (16).
Indiana State won the MVC over Missouri State (45) and Wichita State (36), but at least the latter two have a theoretical shot of getting picked at large. As does George Mason (57), who went down to VCU.
In the Northeast, it's LIU (70) against Robert Morris (3 -- E Pogach, ACCBBallFan, & N Donadio), each of which won their semifinal games by 2 measly points over Central Connecticut State (Templeton, M Wanger, & Kline 2) and Quinnipiac (A Ripley, Quint, K Ripley, Wright, Mad Leach, & Steitz), respectively. And, as always, we love saying "Quinnipiac."
In what's probably the second Ivy League race that wasn't decided before the pool was due, if Princeton (chosen by 51) can get by Penn this week they'll play Harvard (taken by 31) in a playoff.
More games tonight. Enjoy.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Breaking News -- BYU's Davies case not about beer
No, apparently Brandon Davies was dismissed from BYU's basketball team after he admitted to having sex with his girlfriend, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Here's a link to ESPN if you want to read more.
We're sure everyone who picked BYU to go far and just watched or heard about the Mormons getting hammered in BYU-ville by unranked New Mexico (by 18) feels really good about that so-called Code of Honor. Or at least you probably feel good that you didn't personally sign the BYU honor pledge, so at least you can go out somewhere and drown your sorrows.
Here's a link to ESPN if you want to read more.
We're sure everyone who picked BYU to go far and just watched or heard about the Mormons getting hammered in BYU-ville by unranked New Mexico (by 18) feels really good about that so-called Code of Honor. Or at least you probably feel good that you didn't personally sign the BYU honor pledge, so at least you can go out somewhere and drown your sorrows.
Now comes the fun
Well, the entry deadline has passed and now we know what we have. And what we have is 82 contestants this year.
And already so many things to talk about. For starters, how about BYU starting center Brandon Davies being kicked off the team for violating the BYU honor code (the rumor being he committed the heinous crime of drinking a beer). Not the best news for K Ripley, L Schlegel, or K Sullivan, all of whom went out on a limb for BYU as their national champion, and probably not putting smiles on the faces of the 22 entrants who picked BYU into their Final Four and the 51 contestants who selected the Mormons into their Elite Eight.
In other news, Liberty went down in their conference tournament to High Point last night, a few hours before our contest deadline, much to the presumed chagrin of M Josephs, M Kline, G Rogers, Steitz, and Templeton, who all said, "Give me Liberty" for Big South champion.
Fasten your seat belts. The fun is just beginning.
And already so many things to talk about. For starters, how about BYU starting center Brandon Davies being kicked off the team for violating the BYU honor code (the rumor being he committed the heinous crime of drinking a beer). Not the best news for K Ripley, L Schlegel, or K Sullivan, all of whom went out on a limb for BYU as their national champion, and probably not putting smiles on the faces of the 22 entrants who picked BYU into their Final Four and the 51 contestants who selected the Mormons into their Elite Eight.
In other news, Liberty went down in their conference tournament to High Point last night, a few hours before our contest deadline, much to the presumed chagrin of M Josephs, M Kline, G Rogers, Steitz, and Templeton, who all said, "Give me Liberty" for Big South champion.
Fasten your seat belts. The fun is just beginning.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Here we go!
Hard to believe, but the Pool is back for its 22nd year. Entries are due Tuesday, March 1, 2011.
The link to the entry form is: http://www.davidkedson.com/NCAA.asp
The link to the rules is: http://www.davidkedson.com/Rules.htm
Everybody's welcome. So tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your pets.
It's Pool time.
The link to the entry form is: http://www.davidkedson.com/NCAA.asp
The link to the rules is: http://www.davidkedson.com/Rules.htm
Everybody's welcome. So tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your pets.
It's Pool time.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Duke
Well, it's over. Congratulations to Crotty, who won the contest in his first year of trying, but didn't pay so all he'll get is our undying adulation.
Even more congratulations to Biebel, who has won 1st prize in this year's contest, and R Schlegel and Harlan, who win 2nd and 3rd prize, respectively.
There were 59 paying entries in this year's contest, so you all can do the math for yourselves. Checks should be in the mail next week, to Biebel, R Schlegel, and Harlan, as well as Adams, McKillip, and Whiteside, who split the prize for leading after selection of the field.
Full final standings may (as always) be found at the "Standings" link on the right side of the page.
The rumor is that the NCAA will probably irrevocably alter the greatest sporting event on Earth, expanding to 96 teams next year and likely killing the proverbial golden goose. But that's a lament for another day.
Have a great year, everyone.
Even more congratulations to Biebel, who has won 1st prize in this year's contest, and R Schlegel and Harlan, who win 2nd and 3rd prize, respectively.
There were 59 paying entries in this year's contest, so you all can do the math for yourselves. Checks should be in the mail next week, to Biebel, R Schlegel, and Harlan, as well as Adams, McKillip, and Whiteside, who split the prize for leading after selection of the field.
Full final standings may (as always) be found at the "Standings" link on the right side of the page.
The rumor is that the NCAA will probably irrevocably alter the greatest sporting event on Earth, expanding to 96 teams next year and likely killing the proverbial golden goose. But that's a lament for another day.
Have a great year, everyone.
The Omen
We were looking for omens. It's a long drive from Philadelphia to Indianapolis, and on Friday, April 2, we were unsure what the weekend would bring. We crossed Pennsylvania without seeing anything unusual, and left West Virginia in the dust (which felt good). Soon after that, however, the psychic vibes became evident.
Two trucks vied for supremacy in the right and middle lanes, the one with "Baylor" scrawled across its side moving confidently ahead of the one reading "Old Dominion." An RV with "Georgetown" written in large letters seemed to be stuck in first gear as little compact cars with Ohio license plates raced past it.
And then we saw it. A towering pole with a sign in the shape of a crown, and a single word etched inside. And suddenly all our doubts evaporated into the Ohio air. We knew who the champion would be. And all seemed right with the world.
Two trucks vied for supremacy in the right and middle lanes, the one with "Baylor" scrawled across its side moving confidently ahead of the one reading "Old Dominion." An RV with "Georgetown" written in large letters seemed to be stuck in first gear as little compact cars with Ohio license plates raced past it.
And then we saw it. A towering pole with a sign in the shape of a crown, and a single word etched inside. And suddenly all our doubts evaporated into the Ohio air. We knew who the champion would be. And all seemed right with the world.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tag Team Tallies
We don't yet know how the Final Four will play out, of course, but so far nobody could deny it's been the Year of the Upset. So it's only fitting that in our contest we've had a couple of upsets that put even Ohio U over Georgetown to shame: Males (222.10) have scored better than females (216.75), and lawyers (232.0) have outproduced humans (220.46). Perhaps even more surprising, the average Commissioner (226.0) has fared better than the average pool participant (221.31).
How good a year has it been for Duke in 2010? Well, we all know about Duke's Final Four appearance and arch-rival UNC's ignominious descent into the NIT, but adding insult to insult is the fact that those affiliated with Duke lead all institutions with an average score of 242.0 in the contest, while those claiming ties to UNC are dead last with an average of 185.0. Villanova fans outperformed their team, as their 229.33 average is second to Duke, and ahead of Texas (223.0), Vanderbilt (219.0), and Syracuse (213.5).
Despite the inclusion of contest winner Crotty, non-paying entrants (215.81) have once again shown that, by and large, they didn't pay for a reason, trailing paying entrants (222.80) by a hefty margin.
In the official Tag Team competition, the winner is the Friends of Claude, who average 237.0 despite professing their admiration for a dead cat. In second place is Whiteside and his Detractors, with 228.60, and just behind them are the Donadios, who average 225.0, and Urban Engineers, with 219.38.
In yet another upset of epic proportions, the Leach Gang (217.6) finds itself ahead of someone, in this case both the Ripley Believe it or Nots (214.25), and the Kleiman Klan (211.33).
In the Name Game, it's Ed (248.5) in a tight one over Steve (245.5), and Rick (238.0). In the Gospel Division (albeit including some slightly alternative spellings), we have John (234.67) over Luke (225.5), Mark (211.0), and Matthew (200.67). David (221.4) is better than the average Joe (214.5), as well as the average Bob (213.0), Brett (211.5), George (206.0), and Andrew (206.0).
This year's top pool-selecting occupation is the medical field (245.0), followed by business executive and accountant (both at 241.33), IT consultant (238.75), and practicing attorney (231.5). Retired people (219.75) should probably stay that way, and students (218.88) still have a lot to learn. And the only good thing we can say about engineers (217.10) this year is that they're better than those working in the media (212.33).
Children (213.29) have once again proved the age-old adage that they should be seen, but not seen gambling.
It's no coincidence that two of this year's Final Four are from the Midwest, as that region leads all others with a 237.75 average. South Jersey (226.5) leads the Philadelphia PA suburbs (224.55), Western PA (219.4), Philadelphia proper (218.6), and North Jersey (205.0). The deep South (222.63) is a lot better than the Washington/Baltimore Beltway (197.0).
If you want to pick a State to pick pools from, this year we'd recommend Illinois (248.5) and if you can't make it there then Indiana (237.0), Florida (237.0), and Louisiana (236.0) aren't too shabby. Georgia (225.0), Pennsylvania (223.4), and New Jersey (222.2) are slightly above average, while Tennessee (219.0), Michigan (217.0), New York (215.0), and Texas (210.0) are not. And if you're from Virginia (203.0), Maryland (197.0), or Washington DC (183.0), you might as well stick to politics.
This commissioner is off to Indianapolis. Enjoy the Final Four.
How good a year has it been for Duke in 2010? Well, we all know about Duke's Final Four appearance and arch-rival UNC's ignominious descent into the NIT, but adding insult to insult is the fact that those affiliated with Duke lead all institutions with an average score of 242.0 in the contest, while those claiming ties to UNC are dead last with an average of 185.0. Villanova fans outperformed their team, as their 229.33 average is second to Duke, and ahead of Texas (223.0), Vanderbilt (219.0), and Syracuse (213.5).
Despite the inclusion of contest winner Crotty, non-paying entrants (215.81) have once again shown that, by and large, they didn't pay for a reason, trailing paying entrants (222.80) by a hefty margin.
In the official Tag Team competition, the winner is the Friends of Claude, who average 237.0 despite professing their admiration for a dead cat. In second place is Whiteside and his Detractors, with 228.60, and just behind them are the Donadios, who average 225.0, and Urban Engineers, with 219.38.
In yet another upset of epic proportions, the Leach Gang (217.6) finds itself ahead of someone, in this case both the Ripley Believe it or Nots (214.25), and the Kleiman Klan (211.33).
In the Name Game, it's Ed (248.5) in a tight one over Steve (245.5), and Rick (238.0). In the Gospel Division (albeit including some slightly alternative spellings), we have John (234.67) over Luke (225.5), Mark (211.0), and Matthew (200.67). David (221.4) is better than the average Joe (214.5), as well as the average Bob (213.0), Brett (211.5), George (206.0), and Andrew (206.0).
This year's top pool-selecting occupation is the medical field (245.0), followed by business executive and accountant (both at 241.33), IT consultant (238.75), and practicing attorney (231.5). Retired people (219.75) should probably stay that way, and students (218.88) still have a lot to learn. And the only good thing we can say about engineers (217.10) this year is that they're better than those working in the media (212.33).
Children (213.29) have once again proved the age-old adage that they should be seen, but not seen gambling.
It's no coincidence that two of this year's Final Four are from the Midwest, as that region leads all others with a 237.75 average. South Jersey (226.5) leads the Philadelphia PA suburbs (224.55), Western PA (219.4), Philadelphia proper (218.6), and North Jersey (205.0). The deep South (222.63) is a lot better than the Washington/Baltimore Beltway (197.0).
If you want to pick a State to pick pools from, this year we'd recommend Illinois (248.5) and if you can't make it there then Indiana (237.0), Florida (237.0), and Louisiana (236.0) aren't too shabby. Georgia (225.0), Pennsylvania (223.4), and New Jersey (222.2) are slightly above average, while Tennessee (219.0), Michigan (217.0), New York (215.0), and Texas (210.0) are not. And if you're from Virginia (203.0), Maryland (197.0), or Washington DC (183.0), you might as well stick to politics.
This commissioner is off to Indianapolis. Enjoy the Final Four.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Rivals 2010
We like it that the contest means different things for different people. R Wanger's aspiration to win the contest, for example, seems to annually take a backseat to his desire to mercilessly crush his own daughter (K Ripley), son-in-law (P Ripley), and even his one-year-old grandchild (A Ripley)! Without commenting on the psychological health of such goals, this year R Wanger's wish came true as he came in with 244 points, more than 27 points ahead of any of his kinfolk. P Ripley has been heard to lament, "I can't lose to my wife and father-in-law every year, can I???" And we'd like to offer some assurance... but we can't. For the fifth straight year both R Wanger (244) and K Ripley (216) finished significantly ahead of P Ripley (191), with the kicker this year being one-year-old A Ripley (206) also thrashed his old man.
A step up in inter-familial intensity may be seen from Whiteside, who promised to "annihilate" sister-in-law Booth, and delivered, outscoring his relation-by-marriage, 231 to 169. Butscher (230) rashly declared that Whiteside and Booth "have no chance," and he was half right, ending up a mere point behind Whiteside. It's not all felicity for Whiteside, however, as he wasn't even close to co-workers McKillip (266) and Canning (247).
E Leach, the "granddaddy of all the Leaches," has shown that venerability has its compensations, as his 231 points are superior to every other Leach. Second grader Madison Leach (227) stated she is no longer counting on her father, P Leach (217) for tips, and we believe her, as she left her daddy in the dust by ten points. Madison's sister, S Leach also claims she's "smarter than my daddy," but she couldn't back it up with only 186 points. Alien creature Mash Leach (227) fell squarely in the middle of the Leach clan, which we suppose makes sense in a warped sort of way.
In a couple of sibling rivalries, D Kornfeld (219) edged R Kornfeld (217) and Bill Acchione (247) easily handled Bud Acchione (206), while L McAtee (235) smoothly skated by her brother M McAtee (229).
Millan (227) boldly declaimed that Karlsruher (219) was "going down" -- and he was right.
Upstart L Schlegel (241) didn't have enough juice to get past his dad, R Schlegel (258), and commissioner M Josephs (197) probably ought to watch some "Father Knows Best" re-runs himself, as he fell to D Josephs (228) by 31 points. On the other hand, Adams (251) didn't have any trouble dispatching her paternal relative, Coach Doc (229). Mike Paston (232) put the hurt on Matt Maston (185). J Donadio (263) left no doubt who was head of his household, besting both spouse ME Donadio (202), and offspring L Donadio (210). In Kleimanland, it was B Kleiman (215) finishing ahead of both M Kleiman (211), and E Kleiman (208).
M Peloso, who we fear may have to turn in her Duke-loving credentials after refusing to pick the Blue Devils into the Final Four, still managed to sneak by her husband B Peloso, 218 to 215. G Wright (227), in her first time entering the contest, took out her hubby B Wright (215) with points to spare.
Baum somehow managed to lose to himself, 191 to 214.
A step up in inter-familial intensity may be seen from Whiteside, who promised to "annihilate" sister-in-law Booth, and delivered, outscoring his relation-by-marriage, 231 to 169. Butscher (230) rashly declared that Whiteside and Booth "have no chance," and he was half right, ending up a mere point behind Whiteside. It's not all felicity for Whiteside, however, as he wasn't even close to co-workers McKillip (266) and Canning (247).
E Leach, the "granddaddy of all the Leaches," has shown that venerability has its compensations, as his 231 points are superior to every other Leach. Second grader Madison Leach (227) stated she is no longer counting on her father, P Leach (217) for tips, and we believe her, as she left her daddy in the dust by ten points. Madison's sister, S Leach also claims she's "smarter than my daddy," but she couldn't back it up with only 186 points. Alien creature Mash Leach (227) fell squarely in the middle of the Leach clan, which we suppose makes sense in a warped sort of way.
In a couple of sibling rivalries, D Kornfeld (219) edged R Kornfeld (217) and Bill Acchione (247) easily handled Bud Acchione (206), while L McAtee (235) smoothly skated by her brother M McAtee (229).
Millan (227) boldly declaimed that Karlsruher (219) was "going down" -- and he was right.
Upstart L Schlegel (241) didn't have enough juice to get past his dad, R Schlegel (258), and commissioner M Josephs (197) probably ought to watch some "Father Knows Best" re-runs himself, as he fell to D Josephs (228) by 31 points. On the other hand, Adams (251) didn't have any trouble dispatching her paternal relative, Coach Doc (229). Mike Paston (232) put the hurt on Matt Maston (185). J Donadio (263) left no doubt who was head of his household, besting both spouse ME Donadio (202), and offspring L Donadio (210). In Kleimanland, it was B Kleiman (215) finishing ahead of both M Kleiman (211), and E Kleiman (208).
M Peloso, who we fear may have to turn in her Duke-loving credentials after refusing to pick the Blue Devils into the Final Four, still managed to sneak by her husband B Peloso, 218 to 215. G Wright (227), in her first time entering the contest, took out her hubby B Wright (215) with points to spare.
Baum somehow managed to lose to himself, 191 to 214.
Monday, March 29, 2010
The real winners
As we said yesterday, we'd like to lead a big round of applause for Crotty, who solved the intellectual puzzle and won the contest, while not being interested in trivial things such as money.
Most of you, however, are probably more interested in our prizewinners, who are listed below. Note that NOBODY chose Michigan State, Butler, or West Virginia to win it, and only six (6) people took Duke (Biebel, Crotty, Harlan, R Schlegel, R Simon, Tester) as champion. So...
IF DUKE WINS
Crotty** 317
Biebel 305 (wins first prize)
R Schlegel 298 (wins second prize)
Harlan 292 (wins third prize)
IF SOMEONE OTHER THAN DUKE WINS
Crotty** 277
McKillip 266 (wins first prize)
Biebel 265 (wins second prize)
J Donadio 263 (wins third prize)
** -- (gets nothing and likes it)
Congratulations to all the prizewinners.
At least one commissioner is heading to Indianapolis on Friday, but we'll make our best efforts to provide a Rivals update, Tag Team tallies, and All Name teams (and maybe Mascot Trivia -- we'll see) before we leave.
If possible we'll also provide updates on the scene in Indy, which should be wild with Butler playing in the Final Four about seven miles from their campus.
Most of you, however, are probably more interested in our prizewinners, who are listed below. Note that NOBODY chose Michigan State, Butler, or West Virginia to win it, and only six (6) people took Duke (Biebel, Crotty, Harlan, R Schlegel, R Simon, Tester) as champion. So...
IF DUKE WINS
Crotty** 317
Biebel 305 (wins first prize)
R Schlegel 298 (wins second prize)
Harlan 292 (wins third prize)
IF SOMEONE OTHER THAN DUKE WINS
Crotty** 277
McKillip 266 (wins first prize)
Biebel 265 (wins second prize)
J Donadio 263 (wins third prize)
** -- (gets nothing and likes it)
Congratulations to all the prizewinners.
At least one commissioner is heading to Indianapolis on Friday, but we'll make our best efforts to provide a Rivals update, Tag Team tallies, and All Name teams (and maybe Mascot Trivia -- we'll see) before we leave.
If possible we'll also provide updates on the scene in Indy, which should be wild with Butler playing in the Final Four about seven miles from their campus.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Four
Duke and Michigan State will join Butler and West Virginia in Indianapolis, but that didn't stop 49 of our 75 contestants (65.3%) from predicting exactly zero (0) Final Four teams correctly. We had 22 entrants who got one (1) right, and four players (Crotty, D Kedson, Madison Leach, Tester) whose success rate (two (2) accurate selections -- 50%) couldn't pass a fifth grade science test but who look like Einstein compared to the average pool-picker (funny hair and all).
Updated standings may be found at the ubiquitous link on the right side of the page. We'll have more comments tomorrow, but for now we'd like to congratulate Crotty for winning the pool while not paying the entry fee. No matter what happens in Indianapolis next weekend, Crotty will have the most points and someone else will win first prize. Mr. Crotty, at least three entry-fee paying contestants salute you.
We'll break down who and how many tomorrow.
Updated standings may be found at the ubiquitous link on the right side of the page. We'll have more comments tomorrow, but for now we'd like to congratulate Crotty for winning the pool while not paying the entry fee. No matter what happens in Indianapolis next weekend, Crotty will have the most points and someone else will win first prize. Mr. Crotty, at least three entry-fee paying contestants salute you.
We'll break down who and how many tomorrow.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The Kingpins keep dropping
Only three teams that were still alive going into the Final Eight games had received more than eight Final Four votes from our group of prognosticators. So naturally, two of them lost today (Kentucky (55), Kansas State(18)).
West Virginia (chosen by 8: Crotty, D Kedson, Madison Leach, M McAtee, Merril, R Perry, Smith, Tester) and Butler (picked by nobody, or at least nobody who chose to enter our contest) are in the Final Four, while two of tomorrow's four teams (Duke (20), Michigan State (2: Templeton, Yolles), Baylor (a very large goose egg), and Tennessee (also the big oh)) will join them.
What's the over/under on the number of "Butler Did It" headlines tomorrow morning? Whatever it is, we're taking the over.
And for those who don't already know, Butler is from Indianapolis, the site of this year's Final Four. So not only did none of our contestants pick them, but now they're the home team!
Smith, the man who tattled on Bill Acchione and Durkin, has slithered into first place, with 258 points. Non-paying entrant Crotty (who even if he wins will get nothing and like it) is right behind with 257, while McKillip (246), Biebel (245), Wanger (244), J Donadio (243), and Nowakowski (241) are clumped up behind the leaders.
This has been one amazing, crazy, unbelievable tournament. Tune in tomorrow for more.
West Virginia (chosen by 8: Crotty, D Kedson, Madison Leach, M McAtee, Merril, R Perry, Smith, Tester) and Butler (picked by nobody, or at least nobody who chose to enter our contest) are in the Final Four, while two of tomorrow's four teams (Duke (20), Michigan State (2: Templeton, Yolles), Baylor (a very large goose egg), and Tennessee (also the big oh)) will join them.
What's the over/under on the number of "Butler Did It" headlines tomorrow morning? Whatever it is, we're taking the over.
And for those who don't already know, Butler is from Indianapolis, the site of this year's Final Four. So not only did none of our contestants pick them, but now they're the home team!
Smith, the man who tattled on Bill Acchione and Durkin, has slithered into first place, with 258 points. Non-paying entrant Crotty (who even if he wins will get nothing and like it) is right behind with 257, while McKillip (246), Biebel (245), Wanger (244), J Donadio (243), and Nowakowski (241) are clumped up behind the leaders.
This has been one amazing, crazy, unbelievable tournament. Tune in tomorrow for more.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Eight
The Final Eight is set, with Duke (chosen by 56 to make the Eight), Michigan State (picked by 18), Tennessee (taken by Freidhof only), and Baylor (liked by absolutely nobody) joining yesterday's advancees.
In perhaps the worst performance in the history of the pool, here's what our contestants thought of the possiblity of the actual Elite Eight moving on to the Final Four:
Kentucky (55 votes for Final Four)
Duke (20)
Kansas State (18)
West Virginia (8)
Michigan State (2 -- Templeton, Yolles)
Butler (nada)
Tennessee (zip)
Baylor (zilch)
Only 26 of us got as many as half of the Final Eight correct, led by Biebel, who was the only entrant who managed more than half (5 of 8), plus 25 who were right on four. There were 29 contestants who got three right, 15 who got only two, and five hapless individuals who managed a measly one apiece (Richardson, Pike, Booth, DaLauro, and Packman).
McKillip has surged into the lead with 246 points, followed closely by Biebel (245), R Wanger (244), and J Donadio (243). Another 18 entrants are within one Final Four pick (20 points) of the leader.
In perhaps the worst performance in the history of the pool, here's what our contestants thought of the possiblity of the actual Elite Eight moving on to the Final Four:
Kentucky (55 votes for Final Four)
Duke (20)
Kansas State (18)
West Virginia (8)
Michigan State (2 -- Templeton, Yolles)
Butler (nada)
Tennessee (zip)
Baylor (zilch)
Only 26 of us got as many as half of the Final Eight correct, led by Biebel, who was the only entrant who managed more than half (5 of 8), plus 25 who were right on four. There were 29 contestants who got three right, 15 who got only two, and five hapless individuals who managed a measly one apiece (Richardson, Pike, Booth, DaLauro, and Packman).
McKillip has surged into the lead with 246 points, followed closely by Biebel (245), R Wanger (244), and J Donadio (243). Another 18 entrants are within one Final Four pick (20 points) of the leader.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Blue Orange
Butler really did it this time, taking out Syracuse and leaving us with only one of our top four votegetters for the Final Four (Kentucky in; Kansas, Syracuse, Villanova out). E Leach and Mahalko scored with Butler into the Final Eight, bringing themselves all the way up to 11th (tied) and 46th place. Nobody has Butler in the Final Four.
Baum and DaLauro just missed with Xavier (along with 12 entrants who had Xavier as their wildcard), as the X-men succumbed in a double OT thriller to Kansas State.
Wanger is our current leader, with 234 points, followed closely by J Donadio (233) and Nowakowski (231). Booth (169) has slid into the cellar, not too far behind Richardson and Matt Paston (175 each).
Baum and DaLauro just missed with Xavier (along with 12 entrants who had Xavier as their wildcard), as the X-men succumbed in a double OT thriller to Kansas State.
Wanger is our current leader, with 234 points, followed closely by J Donadio (233) and Nowakowski (231). Booth (169) has slid into the cellar, not too far behind Richardson and Matt Paston (175 each).
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Four Score
Two of our entrants' favored four didn't make it to the Sweet Sixteen (Kansas and Villanova), while nine of us chose a Final Four team that lost on the first day (Booth, who took Texas, and Butscher, Fitch, S Leach, Missy Peloso, A Ripley, Rybaltowski, Sakowski, and Templeton, who chose Georgetown).
Trying to cash in on unorthodox picks are Templeton and Yolles, who believed in Michigan State, Karlsruher, M Kleiman, D Kornfeld, R Kornfeld, Missy Peloso, Richardson, and B Wright, who dared to choose Purdue, and Crotty, D Kedson, Madison Leach, M McAtee, Merril, R Perry, Smith, and Tester, who went with West Virginia.
We have 39 contestants who still have three of their Final Four alive; 33 who have two left; and three who are hanging their hopes on a single team (Matt Paston and Fitch, who have just Syracuse left; and former Duke-lover Missy Peloso, with only Purdue).
All selected teams:
Kansas (73)
Syracuse (61)
Kentucky (55)
Villanova (30)
Duke (20)
Kansas State (18)
Ohio State (15)
Georgetown (8)
West Virginia (8)
Purdue (7)
Michigan State (2 -- Templeton, Yolles)
Gonzaga (Freidhof)
Texas (Booth)
Wake Forest (Matt Paston)
The full Final Four breakdown, showing every contestants' choices, may be found here.
Trying to cash in on unorthodox picks are Templeton and Yolles, who believed in Michigan State, Karlsruher, M Kleiman, D Kornfeld, R Kornfeld, Missy Peloso, Richardson, and B Wright, who dared to choose Purdue, and Crotty, D Kedson, Madison Leach, M McAtee, Merril, R Perry, Smith, and Tester, who went with West Virginia.
We have 39 contestants who still have three of their Final Four alive; 33 who have two left; and three who are hanging their hopes on a single team (Matt Paston and Fitch, who have just Syracuse left; and former Duke-lover Missy Peloso, with only Purdue).
All selected teams:
Kansas (73)
Syracuse (61)
Kentucky (55)
Villanova (30)
Duke (20)
Kansas State (18)
Ohio State (15)
Georgetown (8)
West Virginia (8)
Purdue (7)
Michigan State (2 -- Templeton, Yolles)
Gonzaga (Freidhof)
Texas (Booth)
Wake Forest (Matt Paston)
The full Final Four breakdown, showing every contestants' choices, may be found here.
Eight is Enough
Well, three of our top eight votegetters for the Elite Eight are no longer playing (Kansas, Villanova, Georgetown), while nobody bothered to cast a single vote for any of Northern Iowa, Cornell, Washington, Baylor, or St. Mary's.
There were 52 Final Eight selections that didn't make it out of the first round (including Georgetown (30), Vanderbilt (8), Texas (7), Richmond (Templeton, B Wright), Louisville (Pike), Temple (J Broder), and Oklahoma State (Packman). Special kudos to DaLauro and L McAtee, who both chose a team for their Final Eight (UConn) who ended up playing in the NIT.
There are 19 contestants who still have six of their Final Eight; 29 who have five alive; and 21 with four Elite Eight teams remaining. Five entrants (Pike, Packman, Matt Paston, R Perry, and B Wright) have only three left, with a big shout out to B Wright, who has two of his three remaining Final Eight teams playing each other in their Sweet Sixteen game (Duke and Purdue, but at least he's guaranteed to have one team of his Final Eight, right?). Booth goes one better, with a meager two (2) Final Eight teams left to root for.
Looking to sneak in with an advantage are Baum and DaLauro, who are the only entrants to like Xavier into the Final Eight; E Leach and Mahalko, who think Butler will do it; and Freidhof, who craftily chose Tennessee.
All selected teams:
Kansas (75)
Kentucky (71)
Syracuse (71)
Villanova (64)
Duke (56)
Kansas State (54)
Ohio State (37)
Georgetown (30)
West Virginia (25)
Purdue (23)
Michigan State (18)
Gonzaga (10)
New Mexico (10)
Pittsburgh (10)
Vanderbilt (8)
BYU (7)
Texas (7)
Wisconsin (6)
Xavier (2 -- Baum, DaLauro)
UConn (2 -- L McAtee, DaLauro)
Butler (2 -- E Leach, Mahalko)
Texas A&M (2 -- Fitch, Pike)
Wake Forest (2 -- Matt Paston, Mike Paston)
Richmond (2 -- Templeton, B Wright)
Louisville (Pike)
Missouri (Packman)
Old Dominion (B Wright)
Temple (J Broder)
Tennessee (Freidhof)
Oklahoma State (Packman)
The full Final Eight breakdown, showing every contestants' choices, may be found here.
There were 52 Final Eight selections that didn't make it out of the first round (including Georgetown (30), Vanderbilt (8), Texas (7), Richmond (Templeton, B Wright), Louisville (Pike), Temple (J Broder), and Oklahoma State (Packman). Special kudos to DaLauro and L McAtee, who both chose a team for their Final Eight (UConn) who ended up playing in the NIT.
There are 19 contestants who still have six of their Final Eight; 29 who have five alive; and 21 with four Elite Eight teams remaining. Five entrants (Pike, Packman, Matt Paston, R Perry, and B Wright) have only three left, with a big shout out to B Wright, who has two of his three remaining Final Eight teams playing each other in their Sweet Sixteen game (Duke and Purdue, but at least he's guaranteed to have one team of his Final Eight, right?). Booth goes one better, with a meager two (2) Final Eight teams left to root for.
Looking to sneak in with an advantage are Baum and DaLauro, who are the only entrants to like Xavier into the Final Eight; E Leach and Mahalko, who think Butler will do it; and Freidhof, who craftily chose Tennessee.
All selected teams:
Kansas (75)
Kentucky (71)
Syracuse (71)
Villanova (64)
Duke (56)
Kansas State (54)
Ohio State (37)
Georgetown (30)
West Virginia (25)
Purdue (23)
Michigan State (18)
Gonzaga (10)
New Mexico (10)
Pittsburgh (10)
Vanderbilt (8)
BYU (7)
Texas (7)
Wisconsin (6)
Xavier (2 -- Baum, DaLauro)
UConn (2 -- L McAtee, DaLauro)
Butler (2 -- E Leach, Mahalko)
Texas A&M (2 -- Fitch, Pike)
Wake Forest (2 -- Matt Paston, Mike Paston)
Richmond (2 -- Templeton, B Wright)
Louisville (Pike)
Missouri (Packman)
Old Dominion (B Wright)
Temple (J Broder)
Tennessee (Freidhof)
Oklahoma State (Packman)
The full Final Eight breakdown, showing every contestants' choices, may be found here.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Our bad
We spoke about wildcard scofflaws in an earlier post, and we've given several kudos to Bill Acchione and Durkin for their astute selection of Baylor as their wildcard. Well, thanks to undercover detective Smith, some new information has come to our attention.
Well, actually it's old information, and it originally came from us. Right from our own rules and entry form, both of which contained a link to the AP Top 25 upon which wildcard selections were required to be made, which most clearly showed Baylor to be the #22 ranked team at the time.
What's the lesson here? Well, as the old adage goes, you can fool some of the commissioners all the time, and all of the commissioners some of the time, but eventually someone's going to tattle. We've updated the standings (link on the right) to take those ill-gotten wildcard gains away from Bill Acchione and Durkin, and dispatched a team of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to their homes.
This brings the total of illegal wildcard choices up to seven (7), the most since 2002.
Well, actually it's old information, and it originally came from us. Right from our own rules and entry form, both of which contained a link to the AP Top 25 upon which wildcard selections were required to be made, which most clearly showed Baylor to be the #22 ranked team at the time.
What's the lesson here? Well, as the old adage goes, you can fool some of the commissioners all the time, and all of the commissioners some of the time, but eventually someone's going to tattle. We've updated the standings (link on the right) to take those ill-gotten wildcard gains away from Bill Acchione and Durkin, and dispatched a team of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to their homes.
This brings the total of illegal wildcard choices up to seven (7), the most since 2002.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Not so fast
Thanks to Xavier, R Wanger's stay at the top was short-lived. Now it's McKillip, whose selection of Xavier as his wildcard has put him in first place (for now), with 206 points.
There were 21 people who got more than 1 point for their wildcard, having chosen Xavier (12), No Iowa (7), or Cornell (2 -- Brindisi, Cohan).
Booth is still in second-to-last place.
G'night all.
There were 21 people who got more than 1 point for their wildcard, having chosen Xavier (12), No Iowa (7), or Cornell (2 -- Brindisi, Cohan).
Booth is still in second-to-last place.
G'night all.
Who's got Kansas?
Sorry to be absent for the last couple days. I was closeted in a big room with lots of beer and TVs.
Well, we warned the good people of Lawrence, Kansas of their impending doom (as augured by negative omen of Kansas' being a clear favorite of our entrants), and they ignored us to their peril. Our contestants are now a solid 5 for 21 in predicting champion. The Jayhawks were chosen by 28 of us as national champs, 73 of us as a Final Four team, and 75 of us as a Final Eight team. Oops.
Villanova's demise was perhaps less obvious to longtime contest observers, but we would be remiss if we didn't mention that nine of us have the Wildcats as champs (Bill Acchione, Brindisi, J Broder, DeMaso, D Kornfeld, Mash Leach, M Paston, Sakowski, and L Schlegel); 30 of us liked Villanova into the Final Four, and 64 took Villanova into the Final Eight.
The No. Iowa surprise was good news to the seven entrants who had the pesky Panthers as their wild card (Bud Acchione, Booth, E Leach, L McAtee, M Paston, B Peloso, and R Wanger). R Wanger has parlayed his savvy selection into a (possibly temporary) run into first place, where he now stands with 204 points. Booth's choice of No. Iowa has allowed her to scramble into second-to-last place, two points ahead of Madison Leach.
The only other Saturday wild card winners were Bill Acchione and Durkin, who chose Baylor. [EDIT: they only thought they were winners, but now they've been caught red handed.] There are 39 contestants who have a wild card playing today (Sunday, 3/21), having chosen Maryland (17), Xavier (12), Missouri (3), Cornell (2), Georgia Tech (2), and California (1).
Full standings are at the link on the right. Full Elite Eight and Final Four information will be available sometime this week. And of course we'll be looking into Rival performances and the annual Tag Team competitions in the next few days.
More games, starting now...
Well, we warned the good people of Lawrence, Kansas of their impending doom (as augured by negative omen of Kansas' being a clear favorite of our entrants), and they ignored us to their peril. Our contestants are now a solid 5 for 21 in predicting champion. The Jayhawks were chosen by 28 of us as national champs, 73 of us as a Final Four team, and 75 of us as a Final Eight team. Oops.
Villanova's demise was perhaps less obvious to longtime contest observers, but we would be remiss if we didn't mention that nine of us have the Wildcats as champs (Bill Acchione, Brindisi, J Broder, DeMaso, D Kornfeld, Mash Leach, M Paston, Sakowski, and L Schlegel); 30 of us liked Villanova into the Final Four, and 64 took Villanova into the Final Eight.
The No. Iowa surprise was good news to the seven entrants who had the pesky Panthers as their wild card (Bud Acchione, Booth, E Leach, L McAtee, M Paston, B Peloso, and R Wanger). R Wanger has parlayed his savvy selection into a (possibly temporary) run into first place, where he now stands with 204 points. Booth's choice of No. Iowa has allowed her to scramble into second-to-last place, two points ahead of Madison Leach.
The only other Saturday wild card winners were Bill Acchione and Durkin, who chose Baylor. [EDIT: they only thought they were winners, but now they've been caught red handed.] There are 39 contestants who have a wild card playing today (Sunday, 3/21), having chosen Maryland (17), Xavier (12), Missouri (3), Cornell (2), Georgia Tech (2), and California (1).
Full standings are at the link on the right. Full Elite Eight and Final Four information will be available sometime this week. And of course we'll be looking into Rival performances and the annual Tag Team competitions in the next few days.
More games, starting now...
Monday, March 15, 2010
The economy and your wildcard
Word on the street is the Sociology department of a major midwestern university is conducting an in-depth study on the correlation between worldwide economic conditions and wildcard selection in pre-NCAA tournament pools. And while we hesitate to steal their thunder on the eve of their submission to a prominent sociological journal, we feel obligated to post our own findings here:
In early 2008, prior to the unexpected collapse of Bear Stearns, we had three (3) contestants choose illegal wildcards and four (4) who chose wildcards that failed to make the NCAA tournament field. These numbers were fairly representative of the totals for the previous five years (where we had an average of 4.4 illegal wildcards chosen and 4.2 wildcards that didn't make the field).
In 2009, with many of us tightening our belts, it became apparent that more and more of those belts were worn around their owners' heads. Again we had three (3) illegal wildcards, but the number of entrants who picked wildcards that didn't get into the bracket rose to seven (7).
This year, with two years of recession staring us in the face, the wildcard numbers have reached alarming proportions. Five (5) [EDIT: Seven (7)] contestants chose illegal wildcards (as reported previously, those five [EDIT: seven] were Richardson, L Donadio, R Kornfeld, D Kornfeld, and Hubbard [EDIT: add Bill Acchione and Durkin to this slithery collection of individual lawbreakers]), and a mind-boggling thirteen (13) of us wasted our pick on teams who probably didn't even bother to watch yesterday's numerous selection specials. In fact, our fourth and sixth most popular wildcards didn't get invited to play, as Canning, Huffnagle, Mash Leach, Pike, P Ripley, and Rybaltowski chose UConn and Karlsruher, Millan, Sakowski, and Warner took Virginia Tech. Similarly unfortunate were DaLauro (Arizona State), R Perry (Mississippi State), and Freidhof (William & Mary).
The last time it was this bad? You guessed it -- during our last economic recession in 2002, when we had a whopping eleven (11) illegal wildcards and fourteen (14) wildcard teams who watched the tournament on TV. And now that we've beaten the sociologists to the punch we've got at least a decent shot at the Nobel, right?
Some of this year's contestants apparently aren't feeling nearly as much of a pinch. Our most popular wildcard, Maryland (17 votes), is a #4 seed; and Durkin and Bill Acchione are riding high on the hog (or possibly the bear) with their selection of #3 seed Baylor. [EDIT: riding high no longer; the bear market has finally caught up to these two "businessmen."]
Top votegetters:
Maryland (17)
Xavier (12)
Northern Iowa (7)
UTEP (6)
UConn (6)
Virginia Tech (4)
Others:
Missouri (3 -- Brenner, Harlan, Madison Leach)
Cornell (2 -- Brindisi, Cohan)
Georgia Tech (2 -- D Kedson, Tester)
Siena (2 -- Broder, Packman)
Arizona State (1 -- DaLauro)
Florida (1 -- M McAtee)
Mississippi State (1 -- R Perry)
Clemson (1 -- Merril)
California (1 -- L Schlegel)
Louisville (1 -- Fitch)
William & Mary (1 -- Freidhof)
In early 2008, prior to the unexpected collapse of Bear Stearns, we had three (3) contestants choose illegal wildcards and four (4) who chose wildcards that failed to make the NCAA tournament field. These numbers were fairly representative of the totals for the previous five years (where we had an average of 4.4 illegal wildcards chosen and 4.2 wildcards that didn't make the field).
In 2009, with many of us tightening our belts, it became apparent that more and more of those belts were worn around their owners' heads. Again we had three (3) illegal wildcards, but the number of entrants who picked wildcards that didn't get into the bracket rose to seven (7).
This year, with two years of recession staring us in the face, the wildcard numbers have reached alarming proportions. Five (5) [EDIT: Seven (7)] contestants chose illegal wildcards (as reported previously, those five [EDIT: seven] were Richardson, L Donadio, R Kornfeld, D Kornfeld, and Hubbard [EDIT: add Bill Acchione and Durkin to this slithery collection of individual lawbreakers]), and a mind-boggling thirteen (13) of us wasted our pick on teams who probably didn't even bother to watch yesterday's numerous selection specials. In fact, our fourth and sixth most popular wildcards didn't get invited to play, as Canning, Huffnagle, Mash Leach, Pike, P Ripley, and Rybaltowski chose UConn and Karlsruher, Millan, Sakowski, and Warner took Virginia Tech. Similarly unfortunate were DaLauro (Arizona State), R Perry (Mississippi State), and Freidhof (William & Mary).
The last time it was this bad? You guessed it -- during our last economic recession in 2002, when we had a whopping eleven (11) illegal wildcards and fourteen (14) wildcard teams who watched the tournament on TV. And now that we've beaten the sociologists to the punch we've got at least a decent shot at the Nobel, right?
Some of this year's contestants apparently aren't feeling nearly as much of a pinch. Our most popular wildcard, Maryland (17 votes), is a #4 seed; and Durkin and Bill Acchione are riding high on the hog (or possibly the bear) with their selection of #3 seed Baylor. [EDIT: riding high no longer; the bear market has finally caught up to these two "businessmen."]
Top votegetters:
Maryland (17)
Xavier (12)
Northern Iowa (7)
UTEP (6)
UConn (6)
Virginia Tech (4)
Others:
Missouri (3 -- Brenner, Harlan, Madison Leach)
Cornell (2 -- Brindisi, Cohan)
Georgia Tech (2 -- D Kedson, Tester)
Siena (2 -- Broder, Packman)
Arizona State (1 -- DaLauro)
Florida (1 -- M McAtee)
Mississippi State (1 -- R Perry)
Clemson (1 -- Merril)
California (1 -- L Schlegel)
Louisville (1 -- Fitch)
William & Mary (1 -- Freidhof)
The next champeeeen?
As a public service, we routinely make our data available to champagne salespeople so they know who our entrants' favorite is to win it all. It allows them to save time and concentrate on everybody else. The team that has had the most votes for champion in our contest has actually been the champion only five times in our twenty years of existence (a whopping 25% success rate), so the following may give some people in Lawrence, KS, the willies:
Kansas -- 28
Syracuse -- 19
Kentucky -- 12
Villanova -- 9
Duke -- 6
Kansas State -- 1
All #1 or #2 seeds, and nothing too crazy (unless you count P Leach's selection of Kansas State to win it all). Which essentially confirms our earlier suspicions that we're in for one wacky tournament.
Kansas -- 28
Syracuse -- 19
Kentucky -- 12
Villanova -- 9
Duke -- 6
Kansas State -- 1
All #1 or #2 seeds, and nothing too crazy (unless you count P Leach's selection of Kansas State to win it all). Which essentially confirms our earlier suspicions that we're in for one wacky tournament.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The bracket is set
Well, the bracket is set and our hearts are all aflutter. We'll have more later and/or tomorrow, but for now we'll just say we have a three way tie for first place (with 200 points), meaning Adams, McKillip, and Whiteside will split the $100 prize (assuming they all paid, which we haven't checked yet).
Six entrants were within one lousy at-large selection of the leaders: Missy Peloso (198), R Wanger (198), J Donadio (197), R Schlegel (197), Smith (197), and G Wright (197).
Bringing up the rear is Whiteside's whipping girl Booth, with 153 points, followed closely by Madison Leach (156).
Official standing may once again be accessed via the Standings link on the right.
Six entrants were within one lousy at-large selection of the leaders: Missy Peloso (198), R Wanger (198), J Donadio (197), R Schlegel (197), Smith (197), and G Wright (197).
Bringing up the rear is Whiteside's whipping girl Booth, with 153 points, followed closely by Madison Leach (156).
Official standing may once again be accessed via the Standings link on the right.
heartbreak
Mississippi State was, like, a tenth of a second away from winning the SEC. Now the talking heads say they won't even get a bid. It's "heartbreak city," as Dickie V might say, for the players, the coaches, and the university. But what about Baum, Cohan, D Kedson, and R Perry? I mean, they're out five points!
Anyway, Ohio State and Minnesota are still playing, but so far today's winners have been the favorites: Duke (64); Kentucky (58); and Temple (36).
Broder and McKillip are currently tied for first with 102 points, with six teams tied and right behind at 99.
Full standings, blah, blah, blah, on the right.
Anyway, Ohio State and Minnesota are still playing, but so far today's winners have been the favorites: Duke (64); Kentucky (58); and Temple (36).
Broder and McKillip are currently tied for first with 102 points, with six teams tied and right behind at 99.
Full standings, blah, blah, blah, on the right.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
It's South Dakota!
South Dakota beat Houston Baptist tonight to win the inaugural Great West conference championship, in a game that had absolutely no bearing on the NCAA Tournament. Just thought we'd pass that along.
In games that actually matter:
Kansas won the Big 12, as 69 of us said they would;
Vermont secured the automatic bid from the America East conference, much to the delight of 27 of us;
UC-Santa Barbara, picked by 48, won the Big West;
Ohio, predicted by nobody having anything to do with the contest, took the MAC;
Houston, also considered only by people who didn't enter a pool (and probably not very many of them) won the day in Conference USA;
Sam Houston (chosen by 65) beat Stephen F. Austin in the battle of 19th Century Texans also known as the Southland conference;
Morgan State (predicted by 73) took no prisoners in the MEAC;
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (taken by Booth, Brindisi, Canning, DaLauro, ME Donadio, Harlan, D Kedson, E Leach, Missy Peloso, Sakowski, R Wanger, and Merril) played their best hand to win the SWAC;
West Virginia (liked by Canning, Crotty, D Kedson, Templeton, and Tester) emerged victorious in the Big East;
New Mexico State (envisioned by Baum, S Leach, and R Perry) stunned overwhelming favorite Utah State (61).
Washington (wanted by M Josephs, D Kedson, S Leach, and Tester) pulled through in the Pac-10; and
San Diego State (guessed by Baum I, Baum II, and Freidhof) climbed to the top in the Mountain West.
In tomorrow's action, it's Duke (picked by 64) vs. Georgia Tech (picked by no one) in the ACC; Kentucky (58) vs. Mississippi State (Baum I, Baum II, Cohan, D Kedson, R Perry) in the SEC; Ohio State (45) vs. Minnesota (considered by nobody) in the Big 10; and Temple (36) vs. Richmond (15) in the Atlantic 10.
McKillip currently leads the contest with 89 points, followed by J Broder (87) and Missy Peloso (86), while seven additional entrants are right behind with 84. At the other end, Booth (41) is gaining ground on the Leach girls (Samantha Leach (56) and Madison Leach (54)).
Full standings, as always, available through the link on the right.
In games that actually matter:
Kansas won the Big 12, as 69 of us said they would;
Vermont secured the automatic bid from the America East conference, much to the delight of 27 of us;
UC-Santa Barbara, picked by 48, won the Big West;
Ohio, predicted by nobody having anything to do with the contest, took the MAC;
Houston, also considered only by people who didn't enter a pool (and probably not very many of them) won the day in Conference USA;
Sam Houston (chosen by 65) beat Stephen F. Austin in the battle of 19th Century Texans also known as the Southland conference;
Morgan State (predicted by 73) took no prisoners in the MEAC;
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (taken by Booth, Brindisi, Canning, DaLauro, ME Donadio, Harlan, D Kedson, E Leach, Missy Peloso, Sakowski, R Wanger, and Merril) played their best hand to win the SWAC;
West Virginia (liked by Canning, Crotty, D Kedson, Templeton, and Tester) emerged victorious in the Big East;
New Mexico State (envisioned by Baum, S Leach, and R Perry) stunned overwhelming favorite Utah State (61).
Washington (wanted by M Josephs, D Kedson, S Leach, and Tester) pulled through in the Pac-10; and
San Diego State (guessed by Baum I, Baum II, and Freidhof) climbed to the top in the Mountain West.
In tomorrow's action, it's Duke (picked by 64) vs. Georgia Tech (picked by no one) in the ACC; Kentucky (58) vs. Mississippi State (Baum I, Baum II, Cohan, D Kedson, R Perry) in the SEC; Ohio State (45) vs. Minnesota (considered by nobody) in the Big 10; and Temple (36) vs. Richmond (15) in the Atlantic 10.
McKillip currently leads the contest with 89 points, followed by J Broder (87) and Missy Peloso (86), while seven additional entrants are right behind with 84. At the other end, Booth (41) is gaining ground on the Leach girls (Samantha Leach (56) and Madison Leach (54)).
Full standings, as always, available through the link on the right.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Clear the Decks
The Big East and ACC each had one (1) of their top four seeds advance to their conference tournament semifinals, while only two (2) of the top four seeds advanced that far in the Big 10. In the Mountain West, #1 seed New Mexico (chosen by 30) has gone down and #2 seed BYU (chosen by 32) is losing in the 2nd half [EDIT -- BYU lost]. As we've said before, if the conference tournaments are any indication we may be in for a wild ride next weekend.
In today's only conference final, Lehigh (predicted by 58 of us) survived in the Patriot League. New standings are once again available through the link on the right.
Tomorrow's finals include:
America East: Vermont (chosen by 27) vs. BU (just Canning and Madison Leach)
Big 12: Kansas (taken by 69) vs. Kansas State (Baum, Crotty, DeMaso, Freidhof, P Leach)
Big East: Georgetown (Baum, M Josephs, Madison Leach, M Paston, Rybaltowski) vs. West Virginia (Canning, Crotty, D Kedson, Templeton, Tester)
Big West: UC Santa Barbara (picked by 48) vs. Pacific (25) OR Long Beach St. (Brindisi, Pike); [EDIT -- Long Beach won]
Conference USA: UTEP (liked by 55) vs. Houston (nobody)
MAC: Akron (selected by 16) vs. Ohio (zilch)
MEAC: Morgan State (supported by 73) vs. South Carolina State (the big oh)
Mountain West: San Diego State (Baum I, Baum II, Freidhof) vs. BYU (32) OR UNLV (Canning, Cohan, Fitch, D Josephs, M Josephs, S Leach, Richardson, Rybaltowski, R Schlegel, Templeton); [EDIT -- UNLV won]
Pac 10: California (favored by 51) vs. Washington (M Josephs, D Kedson, S Leach, Tester) OR Stanford (zerocity); [EDIT -- Washington won]
Southland: Sam Houston (picked by 65) vs. Stephen F. Austin (Booth, L Donadio, B Kleiman, E Kleiman, M Kleiman, S Leach, Pike)
SWAC: Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Booth, Brindisi, Canning, DaLauro, ME Donadio, Harlan, D Kedson, E Leach, Merril, Missy Peloso, Sakowski, Wanger) vs. Texas Southern (a handful of nothin')
WAC: Utah State (predicted by 61) vs. Nevada (Alberts, Brindisi, Coach Doc, M Josephs, P Leach, Richardson) OR New Mexico State (Baum, S Leach, R Perry); [EDIT -- New Mexico State won]
We're not waiting for the western games to complete [EDIT -- but we've now marked them above], but enjoy your weekend. We're less than 42 [EDIT -- 32] hours away from the final bracket.
In today's only conference final, Lehigh (predicted by 58 of us) survived in the Patriot League. New standings are once again available through the link on the right.
Tomorrow's finals include:
America East: Vermont (chosen by 27) vs. BU (just Canning and Madison Leach)
Big 12: Kansas (taken by 69) vs. Kansas State (Baum, Crotty, DeMaso, Freidhof, P Leach)
Big East: Georgetown (Baum, M Josephs, Madison Leach, M Paston, Rybaltowski) vs. West Virginia (Canning, Crotty, D Kedson, Templeton, Tester)
Big West: UC Santa Barbara (picked by 48) vs. Pacific (25) OR Long Beach St. (Brindisi, Pike); [EDIT -- Long Beach won]
Conference USA: UTEP (liked by 55) vs. Houston (nobody)
MAC: Akron (selected by 16) vs. Ohio (zilch)
MEAC: Morgan State (supported by 73) vs. South Carolina State (the big oh)
Mountain West: San Diego State (Baum I, Baum II, Freidhof) vs. BYU (32) OR UNLV (Canning, Cohan, Fitch, D Josephs, M Josephs, S Leach, Richardson, Rybaltowski, R Schlegel, Templeton); [EDIT -- UNLV won]
Pac 10: California (favored by 51) vs. Washington (M Josephs, D Kedson, S Leach, Tester) OR Stanford (zerocity); [EDIT -- Washington won]
Southland: Sam Houston (picked by 65) vs. Stephen F. Austin (Booth, L Donadio, B Kleiman, E Kleiman, M Kleiman, S Leach, Pike)
SWAC: Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Booth, Brindisi, Canning, DaLauro, ME Donadio, Harlan, D Kedson, E Leach, Merril, Missy Peloso, Sakowski, Wanger) vs. Texas Southern (a handful of nothin')
WAC: Utah State (predicted by 61) vs. Nevada (Alberts, Brindisi, Coach Doc, M Josephs, P Leach, Richardson) OR New Mexico State (Baum, S Leach, R Perry); [EDIT -- New Mexico State won]
We're not waiting for the western games to complete [EDIT -- but we've now marked them above], but enjoy your weekend. We're less than 42 [EDIT -- 32] hours away from the final bracket.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Big Sky
In last night's action, Montana, considered only by Madison Leach, bested big favorite Weber State (chosen by 64 entrants) in the Big Sky finals, bringing young Madison all the way up into a tie for 34th place. Bob Morris (picked by 51) snuck by fan favorite Quinnipiac (taken by 20).
In perhaps a harbinger of postseason upsets to come, both Syracuse (selected by 39 contestants) and Villanova (favored by 23) went down in their very first 2010 Big East tournament games.
Standings, of course, are reachable through the link on the right.
In perhaps a harbinger of postseason upsets to come, both Syracuse (selected by 39 contestants) and Villanova (favored by 23) went down in their very first 2010 Big East tournament games.
Standings, of course, are reachable through the link on the right.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Butler did it
Three more teams have gotten on the tourney train. Butler was a unanimous selection in the Horizon, North Texas was chosen by 30 entrants in the Sun Belt, and Oakland was picked by 60 contestants in the Summit.
In the Big Sky, overwhelming favorite Weber State (selected by 64) faces off against Montana (taken only by Madison Leach). In the Patriot League, big timer Lehigh (favored by 58) goes up against its traditional rival Lafayette (picked by 9: Canning, Cohan, L Donadio, Huffnagle, D Kornfeld, Madison Leach, MASH Leach, R Perry, and Sakowski).
The news that Mash Leach has once again dipped into the pool is enough to send shivers down many a spine. But that will have to wait and be the subject of another post.
As always, standings are available on the link on the right.
In the Big Sky, overwhelming favorite Weber State (selected by 64) faces off against Montana (taken only by Madison Leach). In the Patriot League, big timer Lehigh (favored by 58) goes up against its traditional rival Lafayette (picked by 9: Canning, Cohan, L Donadio, Huffnagle, D Kornfeld, Madison Leach, MASH Leach, R Perry, and Sakowski).
The news that Mash Leach has once again dipped into the pool is enough to send shivers down many a spine. But that will have to wait and be the subject of another post.
As always, standings are available on the link on the right.
How the standings work
Every single year at least one or two people e-mail us to ask how [fill in your favorite entrant moniker here] could have six correct conference champions and have 30 points while Adams has six correct conference champs but has 33 points. Do the commissioners like Adams better than them? (And every year it's always Adams, for some reason. Isn't that weird?)
So, after 21 years, here is the answer: We get 5 points for every correct conference champion and 3 points for every team we've identified at-large who makes the field.
Still flummoxed? Well, suppose Adams picked Gonzaga to win the WCC and St. Mary's as an at-large team. Well, St. Mary's won, and thus they've made the field, so Adams gets 3 points for that, in addition to the 5 points for each of the six conference champions she has so far selected.
This seeming anomaly goes away, of course, when the entire field is chosen, because then all the people who picked Gonzaga get their 3 points. True, Adams will get 6 points (3 for St. Mary's and 3 for Gonzaga), but that's because she picked two teams who made the field while someone who picked Gonzaga to win the conference and didn't pick St. Mary's at all only picked one.
Still confused? Tough.
So, after 21 years, here is the answer: We get 5 points for every correct conference champion and 3 points for every team we've identified at-large who makes the field.
Still flummoxed? Well, suppose Adams picked Gonzaga to win the WCC and St. Mary's as an at-large team. Well, St. Mary's won, and thus they've made the field, so Adams gets 3 points for that, in addition to the 5 points for each of the six conference champions she has so far selected.
This seeming anomaly goes away, of course, when the entire field is chosen, because then all the people who picked Gonzaga get their 3 points. True, Adams will get 6 points (3 for St. Mary's and 3 for Gonzaga), but that's because she picked two teams who made the field while someone who picked Gonzaga to win the conference and didn't pick St. Mary's at all only picked one.
Still confused? Tough.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Four more
The majority of us guessed right on three of four tonight, although all three were close games. Old Dominion (chosen by 51) eked by William & Mary (selected by 4) in the CAA final, Wofford (favored by 40) edged Appalachian State (taken by 8) in the Southern, and Siena (picked by 74) got by Fairfield (liked by nobody) in the MAAC. The only blowout was by the sole underdog to win: St. Mary's (selected by Canning, D Kedson, M Leach, Paston, Sakowski, and Yolles) kicked Gonzaga's keister in the WCC.
In the Summit conference, Oakland (selected by 60) faces off against IUPUI (taken by 12: Alberts, Booth, DaLauro, Coach Doc, Freidhof, Harlan, D Kedson, S Leach, Merril, Sakowski, Templeton, Tester). In the Sun Belt, it's North Texas (thought highly of by 30) versus Troy (fought for by 5: Claude, L Donadio, Karlsruher, E Leach, B Peloso).
Updated standings are, of course, available via the link on the right.
In the Summit conference, Oakland (selected by 60) faces off against IUPUI (taken by 12: Alberts, Booth, DaLauro, Coach Doc, Freidhof, Harlan, D Kedson, S Leach, Merril, Sakowski, Templeton, Tester). In the Sun Belt, it's North Texas (thought highly of by 30) versus Troy (fought for by 5: Claude, L Donadio, Karlsruher, E Leach, B Peloso).
Updated standings are, of course, available via the link on the right.
No Iowa
Northern Iowa became the 5th team into the tournament, as foreseen by 66 of us. Only D Baum (I & II), Booth, Fitch, M McAtee, Merril, Paston, Richardson, and Templeton thought the MVC tournament would end differently.
Five conferences are down to their Finals. In the America East conference, our favorite Stony Brook (chosen by 44) went down in the semis, leaving Vermont (picked by 27) vs. Boston University (selected only by Canning and M Leach).
Canning and M Leach could look like heroes if they land the perfecta of BU and St. Mary's (chosen by the two of them plus D Kedson, Paston, Sakowski, and Yolles), although history suggests otherwise (at least for M Leach). 69 of us took the safer path and chose Gonzaga in the WCC.
Old Dominion (51) is our favorite in the CAA, with only Friedhof, D Kedson, Templeton, and Tester going with William & Mary.
Everybody except L Schlegel picked Siena in the MAAC, and nobody picked Fairfield. A slight majority (40) picked Wofford in the Southern conference, while Alberts, Booth, ME Donadio, Huffnagle, M Leach, B Peloso, P Ripley, and Sakowski were the only believers in Appalachian State.
Updated standings are available using the link on the right.
Five conferences are down to their Finals. In the America East conference, our favorite Stony Brook (chosen by 44) went down in the semis, leaving Vermont (picked by 27) vs. Boston University (selected only by Canning and M Leach).
Canning and M Leach could look like heroes if they land the perfecta of BU and St. Mary's (chosen by the two of them plus D Kedson, Paston, Sakowski, and Yolles), although history suggests otherwise (at least for M Leach). 69 of us took the safer path and chose Gonzaga in the WCC.
Old Dominion (51) is our favorite in the CAA, with only Friedhof, D Kedson, Templeton, and Tester going with William & Mary.
Everybody except L Schlegel picked Siena in the MAAC, and nobody picked Fairfield. A slight majority (40) picked Wofford in the Southern conference, while Alberts, Booth, ME Donadio, Huffnagle, M Leach, B Peloso, P Ripley, and Sakowski were the only believers in Appalachian State.
Updated standings are available using the link on the right.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Scofflaws
We try, we really do. We write the rules as clearly as we can. We provide links on both the Rules page and the Entry Form which lead to the particular AP Top 25 that governs which teams are ineligible to be Wild Cards. Yet every single year a few entrants figure they can sneak one by us.
Well, after 21 years we've finally had enough. According to our lawyers, this post will serve as legal notice to Richardson (#25 Richmond), L Donadio (#23 Wake Forest), R Kornfeld (#21 Temple), D Kornfeld (#20 Tennessee), and Hubbard (#15 Texas) that we have submitted all your names to the Enforcement Division of the IRS.
Good luck with the audit.
EDIT: Two more wildcard scofflaws have come to light: Bill Acchione and Durkin, who both chose #22 Baylor, bringing the total of bad guys up to seven (7).
Well, after 21 years we've finally had enough. According to our lawyers, this post will serve as legal notice to Richardson (#25 Richmond), L Donadio (#23 Wake Forest), R Kornfeld (#21 Temple), D Kornfeld (#20 Tennessee), and Hubbard (#15 Texas) that we have submitted all your names to the Enforcement Division of the IRS.
Good luck with the audit.
EDIT: Two more wildcard scofflaws have come to light: Bill Acchione and Durkin, who both chose #22 Baylor, bringing the total of bad guys up to seven (7).
First Four In
Four teams have had their ticket punched, and in typical form our contestants were ready for two of them. Cornell clinched the Ivy League, as they were very close to doing before the pool was due, an easy five points for all concerned. Well, for all but Sakowski, who picked Harvard. OVC favorite Murray State also came through, as all of us except Booth, M Leach, S Leach, and L Schlegel predicted.
Only five entrants saw the Music Man and picked Big South winner Winthrop -- Bud Acchione, Cohan, ME Donadio, P Leach, and Rybaltowski. Only one of us (Brindisi) had any inkling that ETSU might outlast Lipscomb, Belmont, and Jacksonville in the Atlantic Sun.
For those like Sakowski who like to eschew the obvious, contest standings may be seen by clicking on the link to the right that says, "Standings."
Only five entrants saw the Music Man and picked Big South winner Winthrop -- Bud Acchione, Cohan, ME Donadio, P Leach, and Rybaltowski. Only one of us (Brindisi) had any inkling that ETSU might outlast Lipscomb, Belmont, and Jacksonville in the Atlantic Sun.
For those like Sakowski who like to eschew the obvious, contest standings may be seen by clicking on the link to the right that says, "Standings."
The Dance Card is filling up....
Congrats to those who had the foresight to take Cornell to win the Ivy. Hopefully it's a 75 way tie for first in the pool.
I don't believe many if anyone had Winthrop to win the Big South. Coastal Carolina and Radford were the favorites in that one.
I don't believe many if anyone had Winthrop to win the Big South. Coastal Carolina and Radford were the favorites in that one.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Upset City Already
For those of you in the pool who weren't up on their Atlantic Sun basketball, the one seeded Lipscomb lost to the eight seeded Kennesaw State. Yikes, some of us are already behind the eight ball.
It has begun
Here we go. 75 brave souls have entered this year's Contest and subjected themselves to our scrutiny. Bwahaha.
Not sure yet how many paid for the privilege.
We'll be going into the details over the next days and weeks, so check back soon for a whole lot of clever remarks and witty repartee (or at least what passes for clever remarks and witty repartee 'round these parts -- your mileage may vary).
Not sure yet how many paid for the privilege.
We'll be going into the details over the next days and weeks, so check back soon for a whole lot of clever remarks and witty repartee (or at least what passes for clever remarks and witty repartee 'round these parts -- your mileage may vary).
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