NCAA Tournament Pool Standings; Round 1, Day 1

NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL STANDINGS

Round 1 Day 1

             AHOY and welcome to my NCAA Tournament Pool – 2016 edition.  For those of you that are returning participants, thank you very much and welcome back.  For those of you that are new to this pool, a hearty welcome, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the tournament, and the pool.  I would especially like to welcome two lovely newcomers, Kline Kroesen and Samantha Sheehan, who are both participating in their first year of eligibility, and by that I mean they are less than 1 year old.  And this year has really gone to the dogs, literally as our four-legged friends have several entries.

             I say this every year, so I should stop being amazed at how many people fail to follow the rules.  For you newbies, I will cut you a break because the rules – especially those surrounding the bonus points for correct upset picks – are different.  You veterans however, sigh.  The entire Merchant clan, consisting of Glen Merchant, Mango Merchant and Duncan Merchant, all neglected to even put their name on their bracket; and the same with Silas Nichols 1 and 2.  I guess I will just have to rib him while he and I (along with Matt Hopps) are overseeing the Final Four in Houston to make sure that the entire tournament is not fixed – thus upholding the integrity of this pool.

             Right now we have 95 entrants.  As you will see from the standings below, there are only 94 entrants listed.  However, one entry has stated that he mailed his bracket to me, and I expect to receive it today.  So long as it is postmarked before yesterday, Jack Henderson will be accepted into the pool.

            We have 13 different champions selected in this tournament, and nobody has lost their champion as of yesterday.  This is different, as last year two entrants lost their champion on the very first day.  The champions selected in this pool are:  Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Miami, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Villanova and Virginia.  This list will remain the same throughout all of the updates, but I will remove the “bold” from teams as they lose.

            For yesterday’s games we only had 3 unanimous picks consisting of all the number 1 seeds.  Kansas, North Carolina and Virginia all coasted through.  That means for each of the other 13 games, we had entries that selected different teams in each of those games.

            Four different teams that were eligible for bonus points won yesterday.  Those teams are Wichita State, Yale (UGH!), Arkansas – Little Rock, and Gonzaga.  Nobody selected all four of those games correctly, but we did have 6 entries that selected 3 of the 4 upsets, and won their guaranty.  To find out who they are, they are the Top 6 in the standings.  That being said, I know how hard it must have been for one of those participants to select his arch-rival, so for that, (and getting 3 of the 4 upsets correct), the “Pick of the Day” goes to Kareem Montague.  A special mention goes to Kingfish Parham as he has starting very strongly this year in defense of his title from last year’s pool.

            On that note, my personal basketball hell will occur tomorrow as Duke plays Yale.  I will address that game then, but boy do I wish I didn’t have to do that.

            Nobody was hurt too bad from yesterday’s picks, but 5 entries did lose a Final Four team.  Four entrants had Baylor in the Final Four, and one entrant had Purdue going so far as the Final Four.  For that reason, Kulwadee Yung is the hard-luck performer of yesterday.
           Just so everyone knows, I sent out via e-mail, the four entries from my household to 10 different members of this pool, most of which do not necessarily know each other.  I did this before noon yesterday.  I did this as a check on the four "Sosa" brackets, so that if anybody ever wants to check on my brackets, those that received the brackets before the tournament began can vouch for the picks.  Not that anyone has every accused me of cheating in this pool before, but this keeps me and the pool honest.

            As always, please review the standings and double check my math, as I may have missed something, missed an upset, or just simply miscalculated.  I try to be accurate, but sometimes I do mess up.  I will listen and change things as necessary.

            Please remember to pay, if you have not.  Payment instructions are on the rule sheet, or you can make other arrangements with me as necessary.

            Now, on to the standings.  Ties, for now, are listed alphabetically.

 

1.         Greg Kummerlin – 35

            Jonathan Wasserman 2 – 35

3.         Charli Aichele – 34

            Mango Merchant – 34

5.         Kareem Montague – 33

            Kingfish Parham – 33

7.         Keith Bornhorst – 29

            Carolyn Fowler – 29

            Jacey Fowler II – 29

            Katie Kollmeyer – 29

            Jane Reynolds – 29

            Jason Spuhler – 29

            Hershey Zdrowak – 29

14.       Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds – 28

            Jacey Fowler I – 28

            Kyle Henderson – 28

            Matt Hopps – 28

            Martha Kroesen – 28

            Anthony LaPira – 28

            Michael Litsey – 28

            Kevin McAlister – 28

            Abigail Sosa – 28

            Measha Williams 2 – 28

            Measha Williams 4 – 28

25.       Bryan Apolinar – 27

            Hilary Kroesen – 27

            Duncan Merchant – 27

            Pepe Sosa – 27

29.       Matt Nieman – 26

30.       Silas Nichols – 25

31.       Andrew Giannone – 24

32.       Stephanie Aichele – 23

            Kim Bancsi – 23

            Eric Inge – 23

            Cory Mauro – 23

            Debbie Niemann – 23

            Allison Parker – 23

            Rich Samuel 1 – 23

            Lee Selig – 23

            Kyle Sheehan – 23

            Roxy Sheehan – 23

            Steven Usma 3 – 23

            Joshua and Katie Zdrowak – 23

44.       Steffan Alexander – 22

            Jen Armstrong – 22

            Colleen Hamilton 1 – 22

            Glen Merchant – 22

            Rebecca Seelig – 22

            Steven Usma 1 – 22

            George Walks 3 – 22

            Justin Yung – 22

            Joshua Zdrowak – 22

53.       Ashley Poer 1 – 21

            Jeff Plamondon – 21

            Hannah Sosa – 21

            Day Yi 1 – 21

57.       Karen Katz – 20

            Kulwadee Yung – 20

59.       Brent Bellinger – 18

            Colleen Hamilton – 18

            Steven Usma 2 – 18

            Day Yi 2 – 18

63.       Alex King – 17

            Emily Lawson – 17

            Ty Leatherman – 17

            Rich Samuel 2 – 17

            Traci Sheehan – 17

68.       Kline Kroesen – 16

            Vic LaPira – 16

70.       Chris Kroesen – 15

71.       Ashley Poer 2 – 14

            Silas Nichols 2 – 14

73.       Samantha Sheehan – 13

74.       Phil Doherty 1 – 12

            Phil Doherty 2 – 12

            Cheryl Spuhler – 12

            George Walks 1 – 12

            Jonathan Wasserman 1 – 12

            Measha Williams 3 – 12

80.       Phil Doherty 4 – 11

            Jessica Koch – 11

            Jason Murray – 11

            George Walks 2 – 11

            George Walks 4 – 11

            Katie Zdrowak – 11

            Keith Zdrowak – 11

87.       Kent Armstrong – 10

            Serena Davila – 10

            Mac Kroesen – 10

            Measha Williams 1 – 10

91.       Phil Doherty 3 – 9

            Alvaro Gonzalez – 9

            Amy Zdrowak – 9

94.       Barkley Sosa - 8