Welcome to the first installment of this year's NCAA Tournament Pool Recap/Results. Not a lot of upsets occurred, but nevertheless, a great day of basketball as many of the games were incredibly competitive. Only 3 lower seeded teams won in the sixteen games played yesterday, and one of those teams was 9th seeded Alabama that defeated 8th seeded North Carolina State But, the Miami Hurricanes exit the tournament exclaiming, "What in the Holy Name of Alfrederick Hughes happened?" (This is funny because Loyola is a Jesuit institution - for those that don't know the school's history and for those that don't know humor.)
Alfrederick "The Great" Hughes was a third team All-American in 1985 - and first round NBA draft pick - for the Loyola (Chicago) Ramblers, and he led Loyola into the Sweet Sixteen in the 1985 tournament where they lost to eventual runner-up Georgetown. This was also the last time Loyola appeared in the NCAA Tournament. In 1985, Loyola was a 4 seed, and favored to make the Sweet Sixteen. This year, they held the 11 seed in the south, and defeated the favored Miami Hurricanes on Donte' Ingram's three pointer with 1 second left. Interestingly, Coach Porter Moses did not call his last timeout after Loyola secured a defensive rebound with only nine seconds left preferring to let his team win or lose the game on their own talent/mettle. As noted by a great college basketball writer here back in 2008, it is often better to not call timeout and let the other team set up defensively in this situation. Good work Coach Moses. And yes, this story "Rambled On" - much like Loyola (see what I did there) - just so Your Tournament Host could give himself some kudos. And also yes, you need to click on the link and read it.
The tournament pool featured a good number of entries that selected Loyola, particularly since arguably Miami's best player, Bruce Brown, did not play due to injury. The same cannot be said of Buffalo, as only 4 entrants selected the Bulls to defeat Arizona. Congratulations to Thomas Bean 2 of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Duncan Merchant of Asheville, North Carolina, Edy Pecan Somewhere near West Palm Beach, Florida, perhaps? and George Walks 3 of West Palm Beach, Florida, who all selected Buffalo over Arizona. Perhaps these four knew something the rest of us didn't about the mindset of Arizona, as the Wildcats two best players - Deandre Ayton and Allonzo Trier both declared for the NBA Draft immediately after the defeat. I guess they were not too upset about this upset.
These two upsets were very important to our pool, as two entries selected both Loyola (Chicago) and Buffalo, and for that, the vaunted "Pick of the Day" goes to Thomas Bean 2 of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and George Walks 3 of West Palm Beach, Florida. Congratulations.
Also congratulations to Joshua Zdrowak of Orlando, Florida, who correctly selected 15 of the 16 games yesterday, the only person to win that many games.
Before I get into more breakdown of the pool and the games, here is a little information about the pool itself. We have 106 entries and they literally run the gamut from A (Alexander, Carter) to Z (Zdrowak, Keith). They come from virtually the 4 corners of the US: Florida (obviously and too many to name); Quincy, Massachusetts (Arlene Amo Hopps and Matt Hopps); Portland, Oregon (Carter Alexander and Steffan Alexander); and Hickham Air Force Base, Hawaii (Colonel Kareem Montague). We are happy to have Colonel Montague and that he found time to return to our pool in the midst of saving the world, protecting us, raising a family, and taking orders from his wife who both literally and figuratively outranks him. (Kareem's wife, incidentally, had one of the best trash talk lines in this pool history. When Kareem showed her the rules the first year he joined, she read them, turned to Kareem and said, "Well, that's two minutes I will never get back").
Although most of the entries are bi-pedal, we do have a number of four-legged entrants as well. If one or more of them win, I hope their parents buy them lots of good treats.
We also have a number of people that do not know how to follow directions. Lots (and I mean lots) of entries did not have their name or contact e-mail address listed on their sheet. Also a few, too many really, did not identify their guaranteed selection. Most - I believe all, honestly - of those problems were rectified.
Another problem that was rectified was that of Allison Parker and Griffey Parker, both of Washington, D.C., who declared their champions as "136" and "143" respectively. I was going to call them out in this recap, except for the fact that after them Jessica Samuels of Palm Beach Gardens, FL then entered "87" as her champion. Jessica Samuels gets a bit of a pass - meaning I won't mention her gaffe - as this is her first year in the pool as "Jessica Samuels", having entered previously as "Jessica Koch". Congratulations on your status change!
Our pool has thirteen different champions named, and 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. Wait, not so fast Arizona. That should read: Arizona.
And as quickly as I un-bolded Arizona, the tournament hopes of Steve Jorgensen imputed to be from near West Palm Beach, Florida - although I don't really know, Silas Nichols of Washington, D.C., Wes Wiggins, of Tucson, Arizona, and George Walks 5 of West Palm Beach, FL are out the window, as they lost their champion on the first day. In fact, Silas Nichols had an Elite Eight matchup of Arizona versus Miami. He is done. As much as that loss hurt, many people selected Arizona to go a long way in the tournament, so the pick of the Pac-12 champions wasn't such a bad pick - despite the fact that they cannot defend the perimeter in any manner. So these four do not receive the "Worst Pick of the Day".
In the running for that award was Bill Foman of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; the aforementioned Silas Nichols of Washington, D.C., and Samantha Sheehan of Jupiter, Florida, each of whom selected University of North Carolina at Greensboro to defeat Gonzaga. This one was a nail-biter until Gonzaga's Zach Norvell, Jr. hit a big three point shot to give the Bulldogs a 67-64 lead with 21 seconds remaining. That and the ensuing offensive foul on UNC-Greensboro's James Dickey ended the Spartans' chance at an upset. But, it takes guts to pick an upset, and is heart-wrenching to have it come so close to fruition, so I won't call you out on this pick.
The same cannot be said for Ashley Poer of Lake Worth, Florida. Now Ashley, I know beer-pong is thicker than blood (inside joke), but you guaranteed Wright State over Tennessee. That might have taken guts, but the fact that Tennessee absolutely annihilated Wright State 73-47, coupled with the fact that only one other person selected Wright State (coincidentally it was Katie Kollmeyer of Lantana, Florida) makes this pick the "Worst Pick of the Day".
The only unanimous picks from yesterday were Villanova and Kansas, as at least one person selected each of the other teams that played. This means that even Iona (1 selection) and Montana (1 selection) had their fans.
Our leader after day one is George Walks 3 of West Palm Beach. This makes him the Rob Gray of the tournament so far. Rob Gray, the senior guard from Houston, scored 39 points including the game-winning layup, in the Cougars win against San Diego State. (See, tournament AND pool analysis). As an aside, many entries selected the SDSU Squared combinations, of San Diego State and South Dakota State Universities. Both of them lost. So sorry.
You may notice that several entrants entered multiple times, and thus the numerical denomination after their name. This happens every year, and even last year Measha Williams of Houston, Texas finished first AND third. I don't know if he will defend his title this year or not, but he explained his three different brackets as being (1) Gut; (2) Upset City; and (3) Spread. At least he will know which of those theories was best and which was worst. Right now Measha Williams 2 - Upset City is worst as it is tied for last place with Colleen Hamilton 3, of Vero Beach, Florida and Jeff Plamadon, of ... honestly I don't know where.
A few notes about the standings - No matter what I say or think, I am not perfect and I do make some mistakes, so please check the standings and your bracket. Let me know, via e-mail and/or text (from the rule sheet) if you have any questions. If necessary, I will go back and re-score your sheet. But, this also means that if I find a mistake that I made in your favor, I will also correct that error. The listings below are Place/Entry/Points/Champion. Ties - for now - are listed alphabetically.
Good luck to everyone, and I hope you enjoy the tournament!!!
On to the standings ...
1. George Walks 3 - 28 - Virginia
2. Thomas Bean 2 - 26 - Michigan State
3. Joshua Zdrowak - 25 - Kansas
4. Adam Jorgensen 1 - 24 - Duke
Ty Leatherman - 24 - Virginia
Steven Usma 2 - 24 - Villanova
Biscuit Zdrowak - 24 - Michigan State
8. Adam Jorgensen 2 - 23 - Michigan State
Max Macon 2 - 23 - Michigan State
Noel Martinez 2 - 23 - Villanova
Jane Reynolds - 23 - Michigan State
Traci Sheehan - 23 - Duke
Abigail Sosa - 23 - Michigan State
Brittany Sosa - 23 - Duke
Justin Yung - 23 - North Carolina
16. Jen Armstrong - 22 - Michigan State
Mango Merchant - 22 - Michigan State
Sasha Moon - 22 - Villanova
Cheryl Spuhler - 22 - Duke
Measha Williams 3 "Spread" - Virginia
21. Thomas Bean 1 - 21 - Villanova
Carolyn Fowler 21 - Kansas
Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 21 - Villanova
24. Katie Kollmeyer - 20 - Villanova
George Walks 6 - 20 - Michigan State
26. Max Macon 4 - 19 - Virginia
27. Steve Jorgensen - 18 - Arizona
Chris Kroesen - 18 - Xavier
Bryan van Gorder - 18 - North Carolina
Wes Wiggins 2 - 18 - Michigan State
31. Jenna Finkelstein - 17 - North Carolina
Albert Harper III - 17 - Michigan State
Karen Katz - 17 - Virginia
Martha Kroesen - 17 - Villanova
Duncan Merchant - 17 - Virginia
Allison Parker - 17 - Virginia
Rich Samuels 1 - Kansas
38. Kent Armstrong - 16 - Villanova
Jacey Fowler 1 - 16 - North Carolina
Greg Kummerlen - 16 - North Carolina
Edy Pecan - 16 - Michigan
42. Bill Ganoe 2 - 15 - Virginia
Michael Litsey - 15 - Villanova
44. Matt Hopps - 14 - Virginia
Dan Laishley - 14 - Virginia
Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 14 - Villanova
47. Joe Carter - 13 - Virginia
Bill Danner - 13 - Virginia
James Garvin - 13 - Villanova
Colleen Hamilton 1 - 13 - Virginia
Arlene Amo Hopps - 13 - Villanova
Anthony LaPira - 13 - Michigan State
Noel Martinez 1 - 13 - Duke
Keith Zdrowak - 13 - Duke
55. Steffan Alexander - 12 - Florida
Dan Barsky - 12 - Virginia
Brett Bellinger - 12 - Virginia
Cathy Donahue - 12 - Duke
Jacey Fowler 2 - 12 - Cincinnati
Alvaro Gonzalez - 12 - Michigan State
Griffey Parker - 12 - Xavier
Doug Tuttle - 12 - Florida
Steven Usma 5 - 12 - Villanova
George Walks 1 - 12 - Kansas
George Walks 4 - 12 - North Carolina
Day Yi 2 - 12 - Villanova
KatieZdrowak - 12 Villanova
68. Carter Alexander - 11 - Florida
Paul Cummings - 11 - Villanova
Bill Foman - 11 - North Carolina
Eric Inge - 11 - Virginia
Mac Kroesen - 11 - Gonzaga
Max Macon 1 - 11 - Kansas
Kingfish Rod Parham - 11 - Kentucky
Jessica Samuels - 11 - Villanova
Rich Samuels 2 - 11 - Villanova
Barkley Sosa - 11 - Kentucky
Jeremy Spuhler - 11 - Duke
George Walks 2 - 11 - Kansas
Wes Wiggins 1 - 11 - Arizona
81. Glen Merchant - 10 - Villanova
Col. Kareem Montague - 10 - Villanova
Silas Nichols - 10 - Arizona
Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 10 - Virginia
David Peterson - 10 - Virginia
Kyle Sheehan - 10 - Duke
Samantha Sheehan - 10 - Duke
Hannah Sosa - 10 - Florida
Pepe Sosa - 10 - Villanova
Steven Usma 1 - 10 - Kansas
Steven Usma 3 - 10 - Michigan
Steven Usma 4 - 10 - Duke
George Walks 5 - 10 - Arizona
Jonathan Wasserman - 10 - Duke
Measha Williams 1 - "Gut" - 10 - Virginia
Day Yi 1 - 10 - Virginia
Amy Zdrowak - 10 - Michigan State
98. Bill Ganoe 1 - 9 - North Carolina
Colleen Hamilton 2 - 9 - Villanova
Max Macon 3 - 9 - Villanova
Ashley Poer - 9 - Virginia
102. Colleen Hamilton 3 - 8 - North Carolina
Jeff Plamodon - 8 - Virginia
Measha Williams 2 "Upset CIty"- 8 - Duke
Unknown - Matt Nieman - There is a question about bracket that I have to resolve with him; will be scored soon.
Unknown - Jim Coleman - Mailed his bracket. Should have postmark of Wednesday, and if so, will score once received.
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