Sunday, March 18, 2018

NCAA Tourney Pool - Round 2/Day 1

What a great start to the second round.  A buzzer beating three by Michigan freshman Jordan Poole turns a 1 point deficit into a two point victory over the Houston Cougar and a running two-point jumper by Loyola's Clayton Custer with 3.6 seconds remaining to secure Loyola's spot in the Sweet Sixteen over Tennessee.   As you learned in the recap after Friday's post, Loyola also made the Sweet Sixteen in its last appearance in the tournament in 1985.

Speaking of Loyola, The Ramblers not only upset Tennessee, they were the only lower seed to win yesterday.  They also qualified for bonus points in our pool with their victory.  Those bonus points went to Max Macon 2 of Jupiter, Florida, Justin Yung of Raleigh, North Carolina, Jim Coleman of Boynton Beach, Florida and Sasha Moon of Plantation, Florida.  Max, Justin, Jim and Sasha, you win the "Pick of the Day".

On the opposite end of the spectrum, it was tough to determine who was the "Worst Pick of the Day".  I first considered George Walks 3 with his combination picks of Seton Hall and Buffalo to both advance to the Sweet Sixteen, but Seton Hall played Kansas very close, even scoring 53 points in the second half before falling to the Jayhawks 83-79.  The closeness of that game more than makes up for the fact that Buffalo was drubbed 95-75 by Kentucky, behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 27 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

So, the award for "Worst Pick of the Day" goes to Doug Tuttle of Vero Beach, Florida, for his selection of Alabama over Villanova.  The award isn't because his thinking a big program falling into a 9 seed couldn't beat Villanova, but rather because Alabama gave up an 18-1 run to start the second half, allowing Villanova to cruise to a 81-58 victory.  Congratulations, Doug.

Since Michigan won yesterday, and Seton Hall lost, today's basketball tournament history lesson goes back to 1989, when the Michigan Wolverines defeated the Seton Hall Pirates 80-79 in the Kingdome in Seattle.  The Pirates were led by John Morton, who led all scorers in the championship game with 35, and the Wolverines were led by the deadly combination of Glen Rice (34 points, 11 rebounds) and Rumeal Robinson (21 points, 11 assists).  To get to the championship game, Seton Hall defeated Duke and Michigan beat Illinois.  Both teams were three seeds in the tournament.  The game entered overtime tied 71-71.  Seton Hall built a 79-76 lead with under a minute to go.  Michigan's Terry Mills hit a short jumper to cut the deficit to 79-78.  Michigan then stopped Seton Hall on the next possession, with Rumeal Robinson being fouled by Seton Hall's Gerald Green with three seconds left.  Robinson calmly hit his free throws to win the game and the championship.Glen Rice was the leading scorer averaging over 30 points per game, and was named the Most Outstanding Player.  Later, when in a tryout for the Miami Heat before the NBA Draft, one executive was asked about Glen Rice's shooting range.  That executive's response was "out of bounds".

Those that selected Florida in our pool will not be so lucky as to win a championship like the 1989 Michigan Wolverines, as Florida lost 69-66 to the Texas Tech Red Raiders.  Their chances to win the championship have dulled, much like Florida in the champions list.  Steffan Alexander of Portland, Oregon is the highest ranking breaking that had Florida as the champion.

We now have ten of the original thirteen different champions remaining.  Those teams will continue to be listed in every update in bold so long as they remain in the pool.  Arizona, Cincinnati, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Villanova, Virginia and Xavier.

Most people had 5 of the 8 games yesterday, and a good number had 6.  So, if you picked 5 games, you most likely did not move much in the standings.  If you picked 6 correctly, then you moved up in the standings.  If you had 4 or less, then you dropped.  Eleven entrants - including Your Tournament Host, correctly selected 7 of the 8 games yesterday, and those entries moved up dramatically.  Conversely, seven entrants correctly picked only 3 of yesterday's games to plummet.

The games which made the biggest difference was Texas Tech over Florida, with Michigan and Houston also being a big difference-maker.  We had no unanimous choices yesterday, meaning each game yesterday was incredibly important.



As always, please check and double check your brackets with the standings and let me know if you think something is incorrect.  If necessary, I will go back and re-score your sheet.  I did find an error in the listing of a couple of people in yesterday's standings.  While their sheet was tabulated correctly, three entrants were listed with the incorrect score (all of the errors involved me typing the score incorrectly into the standings and all of the mistakes involved showing the entrants as having one more point than the actually earned - for example they were listed as 19, when they had 18.). The listings below are Place/Entry/Points/Champion.  Ties - for now - are listed alphabetically.

Good luck to everyone, and let's enjoy Round 2 of the tournament with a St. Patrick's Day 12:10 tip-off between Villanova and Alabama!!!

On to the standings ...

1.  Bryan van Gorder - 57 - North Carolina

2.  Jane Reynolds - 54 - Michigan State

3.  Max Macon 2 - 53 - Michigan State

4.  Max Macon 4 - 54 - Virginia

5.  Jim Coleman - 51 - Gonzaga

6.  Greg Kummerlen - 50 - North Carolina

7.  Jen Armstrong - 49 - Michigan State
     Thomas Bean 2 - 49 - Michigan State
      Jacey Fowler 1 - 49 - North Carolina
      Sasha Moon - 49 - Villanova
      Justin Yung - 49 - North Carolina

12.  Anthony LaPira - 48 - Michigan State
       Rich Samuels 2 - 48 - Villanova

14.  Thomas Bean 1 - 47 - Villanova


       Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 47 - Villanova
       Jessica Samuels - 47 - Villanova


        Rich Samuels 1 - 47 - Kansas
        Traci Sheehan - 47 - Duke


        Steven Usma 2 - 47 - Villanova

20.  Albert Harper III - 46 - Michigan State
       Ty Leatherman - 46 - Virginia


       Cheryl Spuhler - 46 - Duke
       George Walks 3 - 46 - Virginia
       Joshua Zdrowak - 46 - Kansas
       Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 46 - Villanova

26.  Steffan Alexander - 45 - Florida
       Carolyn Fowler 45 - Kansas


       Day Yi 2 - 45 - Villanova
       Biscuit Zdrowak - 45 - Michigan State

30.  Mango Merchant - 44 - Michigan State
       Kyle Sheehan - 44 - Duke



32.  Dan Barsky - 43 - Virginia


       Brittany Sosa - 43 - Duke

       Wes Wiggins 2 - 43 - Michigan State

       Measha Williams 3 "Spread" - 43 - Virginia

36.  Jenna Finkelstein - 42 - North Carolina
       Adam Jorgensen 2 - 42 - Michigan State


       Noel Martinez 2 - 42 - Villanova

       Allison Parker - 42 - Virginia
       Abigail Sosa - 42 - Michigan State
        Steven Usma 5 - 42 - Villanova
       George Walks 6 - 42 - Michigan State

43.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 41 - North Carolina


       Bill Ganoe 2 - 41 - Virginia

       Adam Jorgensen 1 - 41 - Duke

       Katie Kollmeyer - 41 - Villanova
       Chris Kroesen - 41 - Xavier
       Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 41 - Virginia



49.  Kingfish Rod Parham - 40 - Kentucky

50.  Steve Jorgensen - 39 - Arizona
       Steven Usma 3 - 39 - Michigan



52.  James Garvin - 38 - Villanova

       Jonathan Wasserman - 38 - Duke

54.  Karen Katz - 37 - Virginia


       Barkley Sosa - 37 - Kentucky
       Pepe Sosa - 37 - Villanova



57.  Martha Kroesen - 36 - Villanova


       Max Macon 3 - 36 - Villanova


       Samantha Sheehan - 36 - Duke

60.  Brett Bellinger - 35 - Virginia


       Paul Cummings - 35 - Villanova
       Cathy Donahue - 35 - Duke


       Colleen Hamilton 1 - 35 - Virginia

       Duncan Merchant - 35 - Virginia

       Silas Nichols - 35 - Arizona

       Edy Pecan - 35 - Michigan

       George Walks 4 - 35 - North Carolina

       Measha Williams 2 "Upset City"- 35 - Duke

69.  Kent Armstrong - 34 - Villanova


       Joe Carter - 34 - Virginia
       Jacey Fowler 2 - 34 - Cincinnati


       Alvaro Gonzalez - 34 - Michigan State
       Matt Hopps - 34 - Virginia

       Hannah Sosa - 34 - Florida

       George Walks 1 - 34 - Kansas



76.  Dan Laishley - 33 - Virginia

       Noel Martinez 1 - 33 - Duke
       Jeff Plamodon - 33 - Virginia

       Wes Wiggins 1 - 33 - Arizona

80.  Bill Foman - 32 - North Carolina

       Eric Inge - 32 - Virginia
       George Walks 2 - 32 - Kansas

       George Walks 5 - 32 - Arizona
       Keith Zdrowak - 32 - Duke

85.  Mac Kroesen - 31 - Gonzaga

       Michael Litsey - 31 - Villanova

       Max Macon 1 - 31 - Kansas
       David Peterson - 31 - Virginia

       Measha Williams 1 - "Gut" - 31 - Virginia

90.  Glen Merchant - 30 - Villanova

       Col. Kareem Montague - 30 - Villanova
       Jeremy Spuhler - 30 - Duke

93.  Carter Alexander - 29 - Florida
       Bill Danner - 29 - Virginia


       Arlene Amo Hopps - 29 - Villanova

       Day Yi 1 - 29 - Virginia

       Katie Zdrowak - 29 Villanova


98.  Colleen Hamilton 2 - 28 - Villanova
       Doug Tuttle - 28 - Florida
       Steven Usma 1 - 28 - Kansas
       Steven Usma 4 - 28 - Duke
       Amy Zdrowak - 28 - Michigan State

103.  Colleen Hamilton 3 - 26 - North Carolina

104.  Griffey Parker - 25 - Xavier

105.  Ashley Poer - 24 - Virginia

Unknown - Matt Nieman - I still need to talk to you about my bracket question!

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