UConn is in Beast Mode: The NCAA Block Squares Pool

Source: University of Connecticut

The Big East keeps rolling! 

Well, maybe I should say that Connecticut keeps rolling. I kept looking up at that game last night and UConn lead kept growing. I have no idea what happened in that game. Literally nothing stands out about the game and I can't remember a single play. And they just keep annihilating teams. And this has been going on for two years. Here is UConn's run as a 4-Seed in the 2023 tournament:

• Round 1: UConn 87 - Iona 63
• Round 2: UConn 70 - St. Mary's 55
• Round 3: UConn 88 - Arkansas  65
• Round 4: UConn 82 - Gonzaga 54
• Round 5: UConn 72 - Miami (FL) 59
• Round 6: UConn 76 - San Diego St 59

That's an average margin of victory of 20 points and is remembered by me as one of the underrated dominant runs we have seen in the tournament. You might ask yourself if a bunch of upsets in front of UConn contributed to this run, and I would tell you no. The big upset in that region was the 1-Seed Kansas being knocked out of the tournament by 8-Seeded Arkansas which was the highest seed UConn would face. The other seeds faced were a 13, a 3, and three 5's. I think that is pretty respectable. 

This year's tournament appears to be no different for the Huskies. Last night, UConn produced the only snoozer in a night of pretty good basketball. Remember that this tournament is mostly chalk at this point, so teams here are essentially supposed to be here.

So, what is UConn's margin of victory through the first 3 rounds of this years tournament? 28.6 points!!

Now, I may be made to eat this column in the next two weeks but even so, we should marvel at what is going on up in Storrs. They have won five national championships in 25 years under three different coaches in the shadow of a magnificent run by the women's program, and they again appear to be a juggernaut this year. 

Look at that, I didn't even mention Grant Nelson arriving on scene like he was bringing a gun. 

As for our squares, a couple of people took some bad late beats in the games yesterday. If you stayed up to watch your winning square turn to crap with under 3 seconds to play, I hope you are okay today. The results are below.

Four more games tonight. Good luck everyone!

-Your Commissioner