Monday, April 2
I meant to post this before the game, but my child had different idea of how to spend my time.
For Kansas to win: Robinson and Withey have to have great games in the post and get either Davis or Jones in foul trouble. Taylor has to control Teague's penetration and find some of his own offense. Johnson, Releford and Teahan need to hit some shots from three. Contain Davis to some extent. Make Teague, Lamb and Miller beat you from the perimeter.
For Kentucky to win: Play close to your best. Not your peak, but close.
So far, at halftime, Kentucky has done their part. Kansas has not. I probably won't see the end of this one if it keeps going like that. I can't believe Tammy is about to win this. That's as bad as when Vivian Cade won it, also on a Kentucky pick back in 1998. Sorry Randy. I'll try to find you another point but it looks like she gets you on the tiebreaker.
Saturday, March 31
Twenty years later, who knew that John Chaney had the right idea?
Sunday, March 25
Need I say more?
*****
Kentucky won. I hope that makes some of you happy. I am still trying to figure out what I did to anger the basketball gods.
Saturday, March 24
Well we are now halfway to something I never thought I would see - a Final Four where I find it impossible to have a rooting interest. Ohio State took out Syracuse to advance to New Orleans, and if the expected happens tomorrow, then the foursome of Louisville, Ohio State, Kentucky and North Carolina leave me no options. I guess Ohio State is the least of those evils, but they are everything I hate about college athletics. Massive enrollment, exorbitant coaching salaries, a professional franchise approach, and a money factory for everyone except the players. It's just hard to pull for someone like that who has built in advantages like that.
Whatever. You probably don't care.
Go to Reports, then Possible Finish to see what your best possible outcome is. It's also a column on the full standings spreadsheet.
*****
What a massive, massive choke job by Florida. With 10 minutes to go roughly, they had a double digit lead with Louisville in foul trouble and Pitino had just gotten a technical. After that, complete implosion.
Billy, what's in your throat??
With
the Louisville win, new daddy Ken "Shaky Fingers" Engebretson has made
an appearance on the leaderboard. Welcome to the party Shaky.Friday, March 23
Inches......inches away from Carolina losing to Ohio on a halfcout heave. I knew how overtime was going to play out but Ohio gives me hope that Kansas can do the deed on Sunday. Indiana provided a brief moment of encouragement against Kentucky but wore down in the second half. With all the upsets that have happened on Kentucky's side of the bracket, a date on Monday night seems assured.
Thing in the pool continue to fluctuate as well. Brian Hinkel and Randy Joplin now hold the lead, but still too early to call.
Thursday, March 22
This tournament continues to be a nightmare for me. With every game, it appears that either a team I like or a team good enough to beat my real nightmare teams goes down, and we draw closer and closer to to the dreaded Kentucky-North Carolina championship game.
Tonight it was Michigan State (good) and Marquette (like). Syracuse won again by the skin of their teeth, but they are going to have to actually play 40 minutes to beat Ohio State on Saturday. Louisville also won and is another of those teams and coaches that I have no love for. I am a petty enough person to admit that it goes back to 1986 when Louisville beat Duke in the championship game. If those two teams played 10 times, I swear Duke wins eight of them. No matter, I hate Louisville too, and the thought of Louisville-Kentucky in the Final Four makes my stomach turn.
Then to cap it all off, a 4-foot-10 Asian woman who probably hasn't watched three games all year is leading the pool. Way to go, everyone else.
Monday, March 19
I keep forgetting to post this but finally remembered.
Sarah often tells me that she doesn't know how I stand working with college students. She likes the ones who work for me, but get a pack of them together, and they drive her crazy. On the other hand, I can't help but want to be around them. There's something about those two life transitions they make (from high school to college and from college to the real world) that speaks to me. Always has I guess, since I worked as an RA in a freshman residence hall for my sophomore and junior years of college. College students are just special. Many people think they're self-centered and disrespectful, but in truth I believe the students of today are more community-minded and respectful than they have been at any point in the last 15 years. They just have a different way of showing it sometimes.
Take the following video for example. It's from Bowling Green State University. They opened a new basketball arena this past fall thanks to the generosity of some elderly donors. These men came together to be honored by a freshman men's basketball player and a senior gospel music major. The results, in my opinion, are just spectacular. Enjoy.
*****
Whichever brilliant entity/person decided that it was a good idea to reconfigure the opening weekend of the tournament so that instead of ending at around 6 pm on Sunday it would end at about 11 pm on Sunday should be forced to watch WNBA games for the rest of his life. In standard def. With Tim Brando announcing.
Terrible, terrible decision. I like hoops as much as anyone, but even I'd like to be a little productive on Sunday night after doing nothing resembling productive since Thursday. But since it was my duty to you, our poolers, to watch the games....watch I did. The only ones I missed were pretty much never in doubt - Florida and Carolina. I understand that John Henson played and pitched a hissy fit when someone touched him on his wrist that has the boo-boo. Waaaaaahhhhh......
Kansas-Purdue had me somewhat captivated last night. On the one hand, I was for Kansas because they have a better shot of preventing North Carolina from making the Final Four (which is the type of cheering I am now reduced too in this tournament - cheering AGAINST teams), but on the other hand I was for Purdue because of Robbie Hummell. For about three years I have expected to write a lot about Purdue and Hummell during this pool, but Robbie Hummell must have been born on Friday the 13th, and on the way to the hospital a black cat must have crossed the street in front of his parents, redirecting them directly under a ladder. He's THAT unlucky.
Let's recap his career.
Freshman year: 11 points per game, All Big 10, second round loss in NCAAs.
Sophomore year: 13 ppg, Sweet 16, buuuuut.....missed games because of back spasms and broken vertebra. Managed to come back late in the year but was limited while wearing a back brace.
Junior year: 16 ppg and 7 rebounds. Preseason All Big 10 and All American. Had his team rolling along but in late February, tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season. Still made first team All Big 10.
Senior year: Came back to play his senior year with some members of his recruiting class to make a run for an NCAA championship. At the first practice of the year, he tore his ACL again and missed the entire season. The team did well, but lost in the second round of the NCAAS (the real second round, the round of 32). With a healthy Hummell there is no doubt they would have been a serious contender for the Final Four and more.
Senior year part two (this year): Again made first team All Big 10, but with most of the talent on his team having graduated, the team was not quite as good, and his chance to go to a Final Four was diminished. It was sad to see him go out last night knowing what could have been had he been blessed with good health.
Thanks for the memories and best of luck to a true warrior.
But on to the pool, which is why you are all here.
The first thing that has to be recognized is the 26 points earned in the second round by Kade Kolka. Kade nailed 13 of the Sweet 16 teams, which you don't even have to look up to check - it was better than you did. No one else got more than 12, so Kade jumped all the way to 7th place in the pool and proved himself a force to be reckoned with for the next two weeks. He'll have to overcome the Florida State pick in the championship game, but that's doable since a lot of people took them at least another round if not two. Did I mention that Kade is 11 years old and in the 5th grade????? Yeah, he's pretty awesome. I've been lucky to know him his whole life, and outside of anyone with the last name Armstrong, theres no one in the pool I'd rather write a big fat check to than Kade Kolka.
Brian Hinkel finds himself atop the pool though, and while he only has nine of the Sweet 16 teams, seven of them could advance to the Elite Eight. The odds of that aren't great, but I can think of about 150 or more people who would gladly trade places with him. Gail Hansen holds down second place, and Irby Dossett, Tony Fiori, Fred Gignac and Tammy Jang are tied for third. Irby is another of our young contestants, but he's such an old pro at this and so frequently finds himself toward the top of the leaderboard that I've run out of things to say about him. One of these years I have no doubt that he's going to win this thing, and it may well be this year.
For many of us, our attention can now be turned to the Sweet 16 Pool where we can display more of our complete ignorance of who is going to win these games. Sweet 16 brackets are $10 and I'll just deduct the fees from the winners. I think we usually just do 75%/25% there unless we have fewer than 15-20 brackets, in which case we'll just do winner take all.
Sunday, March 18
As promised, here are the coaches you MUST TRUST next year in your bracket. Please note that obvious ones like Izzo, Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and even Calipari are not listed here. Each of them has exited early, but more often than not you know what you're getting with them.
Who: Buzz Williams, Marquette
Why: Four years at Marquette, four NCAAs, last two years to the Sweet 16. He's proven to me that he knows what he's doing in-game, and that he can get enough players to compete at a high level.
Who: Bo Ryan, Wisconsin
Why: Five times into the Sweet 16 or better in 11 years at Wisconsin, where he can take a group of players who don't look like much and turn them into winners.
Who: Shaka Smart, VCU (for now)
Why: Havoc. The defense he throws at teams is just brutal. If he finds enough offense, he's gonna win a lot of games with VCU, and if you believe the rumors, Illinois.
*****
I have Tourney Fever!! Literally, apparently. As the afternoon wore on, my health bottomed out peaking with about 102 degrees of fever last night. Did I let that stop me from watching the games? Of course not. But it wasn't very pleasant around here.
A few thoughts about yesterday.....
Vandy got screwed with all the offensive foul calls and the non-call on Ezeli late. Granted, Festus had just missed a free throw, but that call had to be made at that time. More on Kevin Stallings in a minute.
Murray State and Marquette wasn't always pretty, but it was one intense basketball game. You hated to see either team lose, but I beleive the better team won. Every year I get infatuated with a player or two, and this year one of them was Jae Crowder. When you have great talent but supplement it with great effort, good things will follow. If you haven't watched Marquette, make a point of doing it. More on Buzz Williams in a minute too.
Ohio State and Indiana gave the Big 10 a perfect day, surviving tests from what have to be considered the two leading mid-major teams, with all respect to Memphis, St. Mary's, Wichita State, and New Mexico.
Brady Heslip turned in the greatest shooting performance I've seen since I witnessed Hersey Hawkins go for 44 points in the old Omni in Atlanta against Auburn of all people. (Remember when Auburn made the tournament?) Nine threes? Seriously? In only 12 attempts? For all the talk of Baylor's big guys, they disappear for looong stretches at a time, but Heslip and Pierre Jackson saved them last night.
Kentucky and Louisville won. Yippee. They can't lose quickly enough for me. Those two coaches deserve each other.
So with the first weekend drawing to a close, I ask myself this question: When will I learn? I know better than to pick some teams and not to pick others, but I fool myself every year. I'm posting this for my help, your help, everyone's help NEXT March, when we do this again.
THE DON'T TRUST ME TO GET THROUGH THE FIRST WEEEKEND LIST
Who: Kevin Stallings - Vandy
Why: Last five years, three losses in first game, one loss in second game, one missed tourney.
Who: Rick Barnes
Why: Last eight years, six losses in first weekend (three first round, three second round); OK, there were two Elite Eights in there too. Overall, at Providence, Clemson and Texas, he's made the NCAAs 19 times, and get ready for this, he's lost in the first round 12 times!! 12!!!!
Who: Rick Stansbury
Why: Six tournament trips, six losses on the first weekend. But he "retired" so for now you are safe from his tournament disappointments.
Coming soon, the MUST TRUST list.
Saturday, March 17
OK, I am sort of over last night. Even though I picked Duke to win it all, I knew it would take a perfect storm of their play and their potential opponents play to have a chance. I was not counting on the perfect storm happening in the first round though. (I refuse to call those games the second round just so the NCAA can call four games on Tuesday and Wednesday the first round.)
And if they had to lose to a one-bid league, I am happy it was the Patriot League. If you've heard of John Feinstein before, maybe you've heard of his book The Last Amateurs. It's a great book that chronicles a year inside the Patriot League season. It's title comes from the Patriot League's decision to not award athletic scholarships, a policy they have changed since the book came out. Find the book and read it.
Moving forward, Syracuse became the first Sweet 16 team this year, which is fitting since they've been one of the most dominant teams all year long. You have to hand it to Jim Boeheim and company - they've responded to every challenge this year and keep rolling along. Just when you think they might be vulnerable, they put together 20 minutes like the second half against Kansas State. I am sure it made Frank Martin mad. But that's normal for Frank.
Friday, March 16
Duke lost. There's your update.
*****
It's amazing how far our technology has come in 20 years. The first 15 to beat a 2 was Richmond knocking off Syracuse. Video??? Uh, no. I'm lucky to find a still of the postgame.
"We did it! We did it!"
The
next one was Santa Clara beating Arizona in 1993. Since Santa Clara had
Steve Nash before anyone knew who Steve Nash was, this one is
understandable. Well that and because it was Lute Olsen on the other
bench.
Does this look like a future two time NBA Most Valuable Player?
Two
years later, in 1993, it happened again, when Coppin State knocked off
South Carolina. I clearly remember having South Carolina picked to the
Final Four that year.
"I love you man!"
So after 11 long years, we can add another to the list of 15 seeds who won a game in the tournament. No 15 seed has ever won a second round game. Yes Billy Donovan, I am trying to jinx you.
*****
Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops.
Clearly no one saw THAT coming. It had happened only happened four times since 1985 when the tournament expanded to 64 teams, and not since Hampton knocked off Iowa State in 2001, but Norfolk State did it today, becoming the fifth 15 seed to win a game in the NCAAs. The game cost everyone a point and a shot at a perfect region, but it cost some people sooo much more. A whopping 82 people to Missouri to the Final Four, with 14 brackets having them as the champion. Those brackets are in serious trouble now. But you know who feels good?? Those who picked Michigan State, or maybe Florida to the Final Four.
Unbelievable. But that's why they play 'em!
*****
It appears that bonus points are about to start flying out the door....
Earning +5 if Florida State wins for perfect East region
Chuck Adams
Sarah Armstrong
Callum #2
Dan Cicconi
CoachB59
Brad Cunningham
Brad Dossett
Chris Dossett
Guy Dossett
Irby Dossett
Matt Dunn
Ken Engebretson #1
Jon Feidt
Tony Fiori #1
Fred Gignac
Robert Glenn #2
Bill Hansen
Gail Hansen
Dustin Hawkins
Brian Hinkel
Tammy Jang #2
Randy Joplin
Kevin Kolka
Denny Lea #1
Rachel Lea
Vanessa Mancill
Chris Martin
Kenneth Matthews #2
Kenneth Matthews #3
Amanda Nims
RChad21
Ken Reeves #2
sacurry
Drew Streich
Andrew Taylor
Shauna Tucker #1
Randy Walters
Bobby Williams #2
Earning +5 if Memphis wins (all 8/9 games correct)
Mark Armstrong #1
Mark Armstrong #2
Turner Armstrong
Callum #2
Brian Clark
Cooper Dunn
Joe Fortner
Robert Glenn #1
Robert Glenn #2
Jake Goodwin
Ken Goodwin #1
Viktor Holmberg #1
Tammy Jang #2
Randy Joplin
Kevin King #2
Rachel Lea
Mark Lyles
Mike Morgan
Philip Moss
sacurry
Joe Schenk #1
Mark Warner #2
Earning +5 if St. Louis wins (all 8/9 games correct)
Richard Armstrong #2
Irby Dossett
Tony Fiori #2
Brian Hinkel
Arlene Mccloskey
Russ Russell
Earning +5 if Xavier and Duke win for perfect South region
sacurry
*****
You have to love the Midwestern politeness. People from the heartland are just good, harworking people. Like today for example, how nice was it of Creighton to let Alabama lead for most of the game and even have a shot to win at the end? VERY nice I would say. That's just soooo sad that Bama couldn't hit a shot to win it.
BIG AL - Slayed by a bunch of Blue Jays
*****Let's get this thing going again!!
One thing I failed to mention yesterday was that the "perfect region" bonus points are up for grabs today too. Anyone who gets all eight first round games in a region earns five points. In the South, only sacurry can get those points. The Midwest hasn't played any games yet, so everyone is alive there. There are lots of people still alive in the other two. Go to Reports, and pull down to "Statistical Analysis" to see if you are one of those people.
OK....Bearcats and Horns tipping off!! Let's go Bearcats!
Thursday, March 15
Anytime you put in a hard 13 hour day of watching hoops, there isn’t a lot of time for other things. I did have to make some time for things like parenting and being a husband, and the spinach-stuffed chicken I made for dinner tonight was met with smiling faces from my two ladies. But offering witty commentary….that didn’t happen so much.
I was also distracted for part of the day by the “retirement” of Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury. For those of you who don’t know, I’m a State grad and have been a Bulldog basketball fan for better than 25 years. I’ve been to every SEC arena except Arkansas (much to the chagrin of my Fayetteville family), and to a few other venues to watch the Dogs play. Many of those games were part of the Stansbury tenure. I won’t get into what led to today’s decision, other than to say thanks to Coach Stansbury for working hard for 14 years and always making it obvious that you were a devoted family man. Best of luck to you.
So then there were games. For the most part the favorites did what favorites do…they won. Some made it difficult, like Syracuse. Some had it rather easy, like Kentucky and Ohio State. The game of the day was probably Wichita State – VCU, although UNLV – Colorado has turned out to be interesting too.
When the dust settled, we were all left trailing sacurry who went a perfect 16 for 16. Hard to believe, but he pulled it off. Congrats, but don’t go spending the money just yet.
It’s also time to start thinking about BONUS POINTS! As you know, the first set of bonus points is awarded to poolers who get all five 8/9 games correct. We’re already down to 38 people left with a chance. The vast majority of that group has Memphis beating St. Louis tomorrow, so if you’re already out of the running for those points, then you’re probably pulling for St. Louis and Alabama, a combination that would award points to only two players – Kade Kolka and Ken Reeves #3.
That’s a wrap for day 1. Everyone get some sleep and let’s do it all again tomorrow!
*****
You've probably seen this by now, and I suspect youtube will take this video down soon for copyright reasons, but here was the call that helped Syracuse escape.
*****
Aaaaaannnnd CALLUM #1 becomes the first pooler to lose a Final Four team with the West Virginia loss. It was such a blowout from start to finish I barely even watched a second of it. I will miss Huggy Bear though, if for no other reason than his sartorial splendor.
*****
Three games in the books and so far, it's all chalk. (Chalk = favorites for the uninitiated.) Murray, State, Kansas State and Louisville all move on, with Wisconsin waiting for the clock to expire on their win before they join them. In other news, Syracuse is struggling mightily against UNC-Ashville. In 1991, Syracuse became the first #2 seed to ever lose to a #15 when Richmond knocked them off. Guess where I was the night that went down......Syracuse! I had traveled up there to watch Mississippi State play in the first round of the tournament. So you know the Syracuse people are sweating it out praying they don't also become the first #1 to lose to a #16.
*****
First game is in the books! After a tough first half, Murray State imposed its defensive will on Colorado State in the second half and cruised home with the win. Nearly everyone had Murray in this game, so you are either tied for first place or you are in about 150th place.
Meanwhile, Kansas State and Southern Miss are doing exactly what you expect teams to do in the 8/9 game - play a close game.
Wednesday, March 14
The field of 64 is now set. With Vermont's rather easy win and South Florida's complete dismantling of Cal, we're where we should be, at nice, perfect 64. The pool number is heading for a record. We're at 140 and there will no doubt be some last minute morning brackets tomorrow.
I'm pretty amazed by all the picks. That Kentucky is the overwhleming choice of our poolers is not a surprise, but to see the dominance in their numbers is staggering. If the Kats go down before getting to New Orleans, the 15 or so people who took them out are going to be sitting pretty. Go to reports and pull it down to Prediction Index. Ignore the nerdy number to the far right, and just look at the string of numbers by each team. That's how many people picked that team to win in that round.
If they don't lose in the next two weeks, then my prediction is this pool is going to be decided by three games:
1. Missouri vs Michigan State
2. Florida State vs Ohio State
3. North Carolina vs Kansas
If those three games take place, there will be a lot of poolers living on the edge of their seats hoping their team can pull it out.
Tuesday, March 13
Well now, that was interesting. The early theme of the 2012 tournament is, to quote Yogi Berra, "It ain't over til it's over." Mississippi Valley State was five minutes from a date with Kentucky, but somehow managed to turn a 16-point lead into a one-point loss is the span of 4:51. How does that happen? Simple. Eight fouls, six turnovers, five missed shots, and two missed free throws. IN THAT LAST FIVE MINUTES. Valley is coached by Sean Woods. Sean Woods played at Kentucky in that late 80s and early 90s. If not for a certain 2.1 seconds of ecstasy known simply as "The Shot" you might know more about him. You see, Sean Woods hit a ridiculous shot just before Christian Laettner hit The Shot to give Duke their famoius 1992 win over the Wildcats. Last night was a worse closing performance for Sean Woods than 20 years ago, although I doubt we'll still be talking about it 20 days from now, much less 20 years.
If that weren't enough, then there was the nightcap. For about 16 minutes, Iona looked like the USA Olympic team. Everything they did worked, and with 4:34 to go in the first half, the Gaels had a 24 point lead at 55-31. No one could have seen coming what followed. Iona went cold. I mean STONE COLD. No points the rest of the first half, and only seven points in the first 12 minutes of the second half. Everything that had been working, worked no more. The other side of that coin is Iona plays about the same amount of defense as you would see on the playground. So while they weren't scoring, BYU was. The lead went to 15 by halftime, then to 10, then to 5, then to 1. And when Noah Hartsock drained a three with 2:28 to play to BYU up 71-70, you knew it was over. Fittingly, Iona only scored two more points after that as shot after shot clanged off the rim, and BYU moved through.
But neither of those games nor tonight's games count in our pool. We're up to 89 members now with 91 brackets. I suspect we'll bypass 100 today and begin to threaten the 2008 record of 135 entries.
Please note that I have things set so you can look at anyone else's bracket now. Go to REPORTS, then PLAYER BRACKETS and then select the person whose bracket you want to see. Changes can still be made up until Thursday morning at 11.
Monday, March 12
We're at 72 members and counting, but only 56 brackets thus far. I am sure those of you who are waiting have a good reason. Perhaps you remember VCU's run to the Final Four from the first four last year, and you are waiting for tomorrow night's games to see who this year's miracle team might be. By the way, those winners will be South Florida and Iona. You're welcome.
Sunday, March 11
OK, here we go. Brackets are out, and the site is off and running, so do your research, make your picks and let's get this thing rolling!!
Monday, March 5
Best part of March? Well of course it's the games but in the top five are the human interest stories that come out. This one was great, from ESPN a few days ago.
Sunday, February 26
Time really does go by pretty quickly most of the time, but the next couple of weeks are some of the slowest of the year. Two weeks from today.....BRACKETS. I love it. Can't wait. Makes the days and nights draaaaaag by waiting for that great Sunday afternoon reveal.
To pass the time I've been playing with the website and trying to get it ready to go for 2012. Other than joining as a member, there's not really much you can do. I guess you could relive your bracket picking history by going to the reports menu item above and pulling down to previous years. Or you could brush up on the rules and scoring. You can post of the message board. Even better, you could go ahead and send your payment in so I am not trying to track you down in mid-April for a measly $10.75.
So do as you please, but in the meantime, I guess most of us will be paying attention to odd terms like soft bubble, S curve, seed line and first four. Two more weeks!!!
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