The below standings include the final two teams selected by each entrant in Champion/Runner-up format. If capitalized and bold, the team is still alive in the tournament.
The below standings include the final two teams selected by each entrant in Champion/Runner-up format. If capitalized and bold, the team is still alive in the tournament.
The first weekend is concluded and we are down to the Sweet Sixteen. Which means only one thing - those of you that haven't paid yet have until Thursday to do so! By my calculations I am only missing payment for 14 brackets. There may be less since with brackets flying at me along with checks, Zelle, Venmo and CashApp, I could have missed your payment. So, if/when I reach out to you later this week and you have already paid, just let me know by which method and I can look it up. Thanks.
Why do I start with payment? Because by and large the games have been boring - and that goes the same for yesterday with only a couple of exceptions. The day started off promising with a very close and exciting game between 10-seed Colorado and 2-seed Marquette, with both teams playing incredibly good basketball. In the end KJ Simpson - fresh off the game-winner against Florida - and his 20 points did not get enough help from Eddie "Big Boi" Lampkin and his 13 points. This was largely due to the fact that Marquette's Tyler Kolek showed that he could at least read a basketball court with a 21 point - 11 assist game. One key moment in this game occurred when David Joplin, a descendant of Scott Joplin [Ed. Note - NOT a descendant]; Okay, a relative of Janis Joplin [Ed. Note - NOT a relative]; Ok, well he hit two free throws with 7 seconds left to make this a two-possession game.
Then we went into the doldrums a bit, with Purdue shellacking Utah State by 39 - the largest spread in the history of the second round of the NCAA tournament - and then Duke putting a 38-point hurt on James Madison. Clemson handled Baylor 72-64 in a game that didn't seem that close. Grand Canyon at least played some exciting ball against Alabama before falling 72-61. Seriously, if you get a chance to watch that game, both teams played the entire last 8 minutes as if it was a tie game in the last 30 seconds. Then defending champion Connecticut coasted to victory over Northwestern 75-58. This was followed up by San Diego State absolutely destroying Yale so bad that New Haven, Connecticut finally felt sorry for the Elis. Speaking of Elis, just thought I should mention that they have a pep song, "Bingo Eli Yale" written by Cole Porter that is so stupid, the only explanation is that it was a prank played by Porter on the entire university before he left to enroll at Harvard. Interestingly, Porter's roommate at Harvard was future Secretary of State Dean Acheson, which may only actually be interesting to me, but I digress. Anyway, if you don't yet know how stupid "Bingo Eli Yale" is, you can judge for yourself HERE. See, I told you.
A couple of points from these games ... Utah State was led by Mountain West Conference player of the year Great Osobor, who finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds in the blowout at the hands of the Boilermakers. No word yet if he has petitioned Cache County courts for a name change to Mediocre Osobor yet.
Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, Houston apparently defeated Texas A&M 100-95 - in what has to be described as the game of the tournament. As a starting point, Houston - the number 1 seed - held a double-digit lead with just over 90 seconds remaining. Texas A&M the scored on its last six possessions, including a top-of-the-key three pointer by Andersson Garcia (yes his name is spelled "ss"), who let's just say is not a three-point specialist. (He's no Steve Sanders.) Then, in overtime, 4 of Houston's 5 starters had fouled out - including their All-American Leader Jamal Shead. It got to the point for the Cougars that walk-on Ryan Elvin was brought into the game to make key free throws. A WALK-ON!!! IN AN IMPORTANT TIME IN AN NCAA TOURNAMENT GAME!!! He made them, and Houston survived 100-95. Seriously, go watch the last two-mintes of regulation and overtime. Ridiculous.
What all of this means is that even with all the favorites winning for the most part we still lost a potential champion. Our remaining champions are: ALABAMA, Auburn, ARIZONA, Baylor, CONNECTICUT, CREIGHTON, DUKE, Florida, Florida Atlantic, GONZAGA, HOUSTON, ILLINOIS, IOWA STATE, Kansas, Kentucky, MARQUETTE, Michigan State, NORTH CAROLINA, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, PURDUE and TENNESSEE.
Two 5’s, one 6, and one 11. That is what prevents the Sweet 16 from being all chalk. This committee appears to have gotten this tournament seeding correct and I am quite pleased that the best teams in this tournament are being represented. I am also pleased that the non-chalk representatives are teams that we are long familiar with:
So, what do we think now? Well, the 1-seeds are mauling
people. This is what we expect from them.
And, with the exception of Kentucky and Auburn (the SEC has been BAD
this year), all of the top seeds have played very well. Have there been some
close games? Some overtime games? Sure, but that is to be expected in an NCAA
tournament. Hell, the Houston-Texas A&M game was only close because four
Houston starters fouled out and the other one finished the game with four
fouls! So that we are clear, that just doesn’t happen.
The point is that teams that are supposed to be winning are.
And if you gamble, you probably did pretty well this weekend. Overall, this will make for a really good and competitive Final Four that I am
looking forward to attending this year.
One more thing. The ACC and Big East continue to demonstrate
that they are elite in this tournament. The ACC is 8-0 in the Round of 64 and
32 which is tied for the best record in those two rounds with the 2003 Big East
(that trash heap we call Virginia lost in the play-in round). As a reminder, that
2003 tournament finished with America’s University as the National Champion! Also,
the Big East is 6-0 in this tournament and the West Coast Conference is 4-0. Those
three conferences have 9 of the remaining 16 teams!
Starting on Thursday, the dollar values will increase to
$100 per game. Good luck everyone.
--Your Commissioner
Let me quickly get a couple of things off my chest.
As you have noticed, there is a second NCAA tournament pool blogging in this space. Yes, your tournament host shares this blog with another person who calls himself a tournament host also. He is much wordier than me and he likes to take my content and throw it into his blog posts without credit. Hey Pepster, I see you. You had better start acknowledging me by name.
More importantly, your tournament host is in the win column! That is correct, in the 100th game played since I started running this pool, I am in the winners bracket. Adding to this celebration, I also won game number 102. Suck it people! I am getting ready to go on a run so hide your money and your feelings.
Regarding the NCAA tournament games, nothing really earth shattering happened yesterday. The Big East and ACC continue to churn out wins, and NC State as the only double digit seed to advance is recalling memories of 1983. None of that really held my attention yesterday, but this person did.
If you are looking for upsets, yesterday was not your day to watch basketball, as seven of the games resulted in the better seed winning. The only exception to that 5-seed Gonzage defeating 4-seed Kansas, and even then Gonzaga was a betting 4 1/2 point favorite - if anybody is into that sort of thing. What that game did do is elimate one of our potential champions for the third day in a row, as did North Carolina's methodical dismantling of Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans.
Our remaining champions are: ALABAMA, Auburn, ARIZONA, BAYLOR, CONNECTICUT, CREIGHTON, DUKE, Florida, Florida Atlantic, GONZAGA, HOUSTON, ILLINOIS, IOWA STATE, Kansas, Kentucky, MARQUETTE, Michigan State, NORTH CAROLINA, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, PURDUE and TENNESSEE.
In the first game of the day, the Dayton Flyers put up a bit of a fight against the Arizona Wildcats, but in then end Arizona's depth was too much and they won 78-68. In the next game Gonzaga's offense was surgical in its precision 89-68 defeat of the Kansas Jayhawks which, admittedly, was missing its leading scorer Kevin McCullar, Jr. After this, North Carolina crushed Michigan State 85-69 and Iowa State outlasted Washington State 67-56.
Then, the fun began! 11-seed North Carolina State beat Cinderella-darlings Oakland 79-73, a game in which Oakland's Trey Townsend was easily the best player on the Court playing all 45 minutes. Close game, overtime, threes falling all over the place ... if you thought this was going to be the best game of the day, you might have been right as this game was followed by an ugly Tennessee 62-58 victory over Texas and Illinois absolutely shellacking Duquesne 89-63, which wasn't even that close.
And then, the magic happened. Creighton, coming off a season in which they missed the Final Four by one shot, played host to 11 seed Oregon, who had to rip through a run in the Pac-12 tournament to even qualify for this tournament,in PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. This game had runs, masterful - even dominating - individual performances, great unselfish team play, and it was close. So, overtime wasn't enough. How about DOUBLE OVERTIME!!! And, since the North Carolina State - Oakland game was in the same arena, lots of free basketball for the fans. This was the first time the same arena hosted multiple overtime games during the tournament on a single day since 1997! Oregon's stars N'Faly Dante (28 points/20 rebounds) Jermaine Cousinard (32 points/8 rebounds) carried the Ducks all game - scoring every single point for the team in the second half, and all but 2 in the overtime periods. But it was too much as Cousinard was visibly spent in the second overtime. I would have felt sorry for him if it wasn't for the fact the Creighton's Ryan Kalkenbrenner, Baylor Sheierman, and Trey Alexander all played all 50 minutes themselves!!! In the end, Creighton prevailed - and Your Tournament Host was extremely tired!
This means no bonus points for our pool. It also makes for a very boring "Pick of the Day" award. Gonzaga wasn't really an underdog despite being the lower seed - besides most of the pool had them. That would leave NC State as an 11-seed making the Sweet Sixteen as a potential pick of the day, except that was chosen by 13 people, most of which are not even alumni (looking at you Cassi Spruill of Fairfax, Virginia, who apparently took along herr friend Clair Bullock from Columbus, Ohio into Wolfpackdom).
So, where does that leave us? Well, Quinn Jackson of Reston, Virginia was the sole entry to select Oakland into the Sweet Sixteen. That was a bold pick that was only eliminated due to an overtime loss. But, it was still a loss. Since no single pick stands out, our award for "Pick(s) of the Day" is going to go to .... George Fox 2 of West Palm Beach, Florida, who went an amazing 8-0 yesterday. That's right, a perfect day by The Fantastic Mr. Fox helps him move up the leaderboard.
Given the lack of upsets and the fact only a couple of games were close, the round was pretty ho-hum. But some of the stats coming out of the games were absolutely amazing.
Stats of the Day
Welcome back all. We have concluded the first round with some more surprises, but before we get to the tournament update, I have an update to the pool We now have 137 entries. "So Pepster, how did we increase in entries after the tournament has started" some you might ask. Well, it is because I received the bracket from Karen Katz of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mail, postmarked March 19. She is now included in the standings.
Day 2 gave us some incredibly exciting games, the kind we missed on Thursday. It all started in the 8/9 game pitting last year's darling Florida Atlantic against Northwestern and we got some free basketball. Although Northwestern curb-stomped FAU in overtime, the game was back-and-forth most of the day.
Northwestern was not the only smart boys advancing to the second round as Yale outlasted SEC champion Aurburn 78-76, as Auburn Tre Donaldson missed 2 free throws with six seconds remaining that would have tied the game despite John Poulakidas of Yale pulling his best Jack Grohlke.
Another incredibly close - and exciting - game was Colorado over Florida 102-100 with Florida's Walker Clayton, Jr. making a three-pointing to tie the game at 100 with 9 seconds left followed by KJ Simpson rushing dow to hit the eventual game-winner with 3 seconds remaining. A last-ditch heave by Clayton, who had 33 points in this game - came dangerously close as it hit the backboard.
All three of these games have one thing in common, they knocked out a champion in our pool. Multiple people selected Florida Atlantic, Auburn and Florida. Our remaining champions are: ALABAMA, Auburn, ARIZONA, BAYLOR, CONNECTICUT, CREIGHTON, DUKE, Florida, Florida Atlantic, GONZAGA, HOUSTON, ILLINOIS, IOWA STATE, KANSAS, Kentucky, MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN STATE, NORTH CAROLINA, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, PURDUE and TENNESSEE.
Other close games include last year's finalist San Diego State defeating UAB 68-65, and Grand Canyon defeating Saint Mary's 75-66. Grand Canyon joins Yale as being upsets worth bonus points in our pool, as was James Madison with its 11-point victory over 5 seed Wisconsin. People in our pool had everyone of the upsets, and each of these upsets was guaranteed by multiple people, meaning lots of movement in the standings. Another game of note is that 6th-seeded Clemson handily beat New Mexico 77-56 to be the only 6 seed to advance to the second round, as the 3 other 11 seeds all won on Thursday.
As I mentioned, multiple people selected each of yesterday's three bonuses, and several even selected each as a guarantee. But, since way more people selected James Madison and Grand Canyon that Yale, those that selected Yale get special mention. Those include George Walks 1 of West Palm Beach, Florida, Jeff Plamondon if Lincoln, Rhode Island, Barkley Sosa of Riviera Beach, Florida Coco Wynne of Delray Beach, Florida and Rich Samuels 1 of Palm Beach Gardens, FL. They receive special mention, but the "Picks of the Day" Award goes to Cassi Spruill of Fairfax, Virginia, Day Yi of Forest Hills, New York, and Max Marion 4 of West Palm Beach, Florida. Congratulations and now - You are all dead to me. On a side note, I asked Barkley Sosa how on earth she can live under my roof and select Yale - FOR ANYTHING - and she responded, "I pick all the dog and wolf mascots that I can." I went back and reviewed her bracket, and although accurate - still not an excuse.
In fact, entrant Kisha Marzouca of Boynton Beach, Florida, a college classmate of mine, texted me to say "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IVY LEAGUE BASKETBALL?!?! yasssss this is the only time a Harvard person will be happy for Yale" She is a much better person than I.
Day 1 Kentucky loses; Day 2 Yale wins. This tournament got me feeling like a Mint Condition song, which coincidentally was on the radio when I did a breakfast run this morning.
And yes, I was at a red light when I took that picture.
And, since I am obviously in a cheerful mood, I will give an "Anti-Pick of the Day" award. In the running was Colleen Giamberini of Boynton Beach, Florida and Alyssa Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts who both slected Grambling over Purdue, but, that pick took guts. Going out on a limb should be rewarded, not ridiculed, especially since we all know Purdue can lose a first round game as a 1-seed; they did it last year. So, instead, the "Anti-Pick of the Day" award goes to Joshua Zdrowak of Tallahassee, Florida by way of Orlando, Florida who picked Auburn. Why was this such a bad pick? It is because he picked Auburn to win the Florida Atlantic-Northwestern game! Congratulations Joshua!
Social Media Posts/Random Quotes of the Day
5. Facebook post from a college classmate ... "It's weird to root for Yale for any reason. I have a reflexive distaste for Yale -- until March Madness starts up. And then Ivy League prode takes over. It feels very unnatural but, to paraphrase Whitman, 'Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contrdaict myself (I am large. I contain multitudes...)" - Much bigger person than me.
4. Auburn basketball alumnus Charles Barkley, "We're not gonna lose to the smart kids, I'll tell you that!"
3. When a play from Auburn-Yale game comes on the television and a zoom-in on a Yale player, Hannah Sosa of Riviera Beach, Florida commented, "He looks like he goes to Yale." That's my girl.
And, since I am still not over the Kentucky loss
2. From Twitter sent to me by Kevin Dick of Alexandria, Virginia, calling John Calipari the "Italian Doc Rivers."
1. This was posted in the other pool run by this blog, but it needs mentioning here ...
Yeah, this tournament is killing me.
Stats of the Day
6. Tre Donaldson from Auburn was shooting 82.9% from the free throw line when he stepped up and missed two free throws with 6 seconds left in game and Auburn down 2 to Yale.
5. Zach Edey of Purdue pulled down 21 rebounds.
4. Ryan Langborg from Northwestern scored 12 points - IN OVERTIME - as Northwestern downed Florida Atlantic.
3. Iowa State Freshman Audi Cooks scored 40 points as Iowa State came back from a 20-point deficit to defeat Maryland in the women's tournament.
2. Colorado had 14 assists in its first 14 made field goals in the first half against Florida. (Finsihed the half 14 assists/17 made field goals).
1. Northwestern scored 19 total points in overtime over Florida Atlantic. That is the same exact number of points as they scored the ENTIRE FIRST HALF!
Players of the Day