NCAA Tourney Pool - Round 1/Day 2

UMBC - OMG (in the common parlance of today's youth).  The University of Maryland-Baltimore County, a commuter school that is a subset of the University of Maryland collegiate system, shocked the world and beat, nay destroyed, the 1 seeded University of Virginia 74-54.  This is the second time in the NCAA tournament that a 16 seed has defeated a 1 seed.  And not only is Virginia a 1 seed, THEY ARE THE NUMBER 1 RATED TEAM IN THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT.  Wait, they WERE the number 1 rated team in the entire tournament *fixed.

Some notes on UMBC-Virginia:

1.  Jarius Lyles went off for 28 points against Virginia, a team that is renowned for its defense.  This is the same Lyles that sent the Retrievers into the NCAA tournament with a three-pointer with .5 seconds left against Vermont for the American East championship.

2.  Speaking of vaunted defenses, this is the first time this entire season that Virginia has allowed 70 points or more.

3.  UMBC lost to the University of Maryland - a Maryland team that didn't even qualify for this tournament - by 21 earlier this year, 66-45.

4.  This is the first time UMBC has ever beaten a ranked opponent, previously going 0-25.

5.  Virginia's most athletic big and, ACC sixth-man of the year, De'Andre Hunter was out of the game with a broken wrist, and although he only averaged 9 points a game, that is a significant amount for a team that has problems scoring even when at full strength.

6.  No truth to the rumor that Air Bud was on the Court for the Retrievers, but he might have been on the sideline.

This upset was huge!!!  It is in the same conversation as Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson 1990; Rulon Gardner besting Alexander Karelin in 2000 (Karelin had been undefeated in Greco-Roman wrestling for 13 years!); U.S. over U.S.S.R. in hockey in 1980; Chaminade outlasting Virginia in basketball in December 1982 (Yes, Virginia now has the 2 biggest upset defeats in men's college basketball history); and Elin Nordegren's 9-iron over Tiger Woods in November 2009!

So wait, Mr. Tournament Host, are you saying that a 16 seed has beaten a 1 seed before?  Yes, it has happened.  Remember, women play basketball too.

For today's tournament history lesson, let's wander back to Saturday, March 14, 1998.  Your Tournament Host was behind the bar demanding that the television sets be turned to ESPN2 to watch some tournament basketball.  The Harvard Crimson, behind head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith had traveled to Palo Alto, California to take on the number 1 seeded Stanford Cardinal coached by the legendary Tara Vanderveer.  Everyone - employees and customers alike - chastised Your Tournament Host for wanting to watch women's basketball.  But, as the clock turned to midnight on the east coast and as the 16th seeded Crimson, behind the spectacular play of Allison Feaster - the nation's leading scorer and future WNBAer - kept the top-seeded Cardinal on edge, the spectators in my bar became more and more interested in the game (and less and less interested in chastising me).  The tension mounted in the arena as Stanford playing on its home court (In the women's tournament the top 4 seeds host the first and second round games), could not contain Feaster, who finished with 35 points and 13 rebounds.   As the game approached the last under four minute television timeout, my bar was officially closed, but most customers stayed to watch the end.  They were not disappointed as Suzie Miller's basket with just under two minutes remaining put the Crimson up for good, as they closed out the Cardinal on a 9-2 run to win the game 71-67.

Now that Virginia is out, our pool has eleven 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.

Two other performances stood out from yesterday's games. Michigan State's Miles Bridges - a future lottery pick in the NBA - did not show any rust from the extra week off due to the Big 10 moving up its conference tournament by 1 week.  He scored 29 points to go with 9 rebounds as the Spartans defeated a pesky Bucknell squad.  West Virginia's Jevon Carter scored 21 points, and completely controlled the game against Murray State with his pace of play on offense and defense, and he will make it tough for any opposing point guard going forward.

Conversely, Purdue's fortune suffered a big break (wait for it ...) - along with the potential fortune of those that selected Purdue to go a long way, when star center Isaac Haas broke his elbow during the game against Cal State Fullerton.  Haas still tried to play, finishing with 9 points and 10 rebounds in Purdue's 74-48 victory over the Titans, but will be unavailable for the remainder of the tournament.

Our version of Lyles is Bryan van Gorder of Canajoharie, New York and Hollywood, California, as he correctly picked 14 of the 16 games.  Our version of Bridges and Carter is Jennifer Armstrong, of Monmouth, Illinois as she correctly picked 13 of the 16 games from yesterday.  Her only downfall points-wise is that she did not select any of the three upsets:  the aforementioned UMBC, Marshall over Wichita State and Syracuse over Texas Christian.  (Butler was a lower seeded team when it beat Arkansas, but was only a 10 over a 7 so it doesn't count as an upset for our purposes.)

Our version of Haas is Brittany Sosa of Orlando, Florida, who correctly selected only 6 of the 16 games yesterday, the only bracket to have that few correct.  For Brittany:

Not only did Jennifer Armstrong not pick the UMBC upset, in fact, nobody selected UMBC over Virginia. Virginia, along with Xavier, were the only 2 unanimous picks in our pool yesterday.

Since nobody selected UMBC, we have to look at Syracuse and Marshall to try to find our "Pick of the Day".  But, 16 entries selected Syracuse and of those 16, 7 of the entries guaranteed that upset.  Although less, 9 people selected Marshall to defeat Wichita State (including Your Tournament Host).  That doesn't help narrow things down too much.   Four entrants selected both Marshall and Syracuse, and of those 4, 3 guaranteed one of those victories.  So Bryan van Gorder of Canajoharie, New York and Hollywood, California, Anthony LaPira, of Demarest, New Jersey and Dan Barsky, of Miami Beach, Florida all receive the award for the "Pick of the Day".  Congratulations!

I was going to give the "Worst Pick of the Day" to Carter Alexander of Portland, Oregon, who was the only person to select Cal State Fullerton over Purdue, given that Fullerton lost by 26.  But really, that award has to go to everyone that has Virginia as their champion.  I will be un-highlighting a log of entries in the standings, including Max Macon 4 of Jupiter, Florida, who is the highest ranked entry that has Virginia winning the tournament.  That is too many people to share the award, so I will give the actual "Worst Pick of the Day" award to Ty Leatherman of (or near) Wilmington, North Carolina, who chose nobody to win the Texas A&M versus Providence game.

The first round is complete, and we have a new leader, Bryan van Gorder of Canajoharie, New York and Hollywood, California.  Bryan vaulted into first place from a tie for 27th after the first day's action.  Not only is Bryan in first place, but he was also the first person to submit his bracket way back on Tuesday.  This sports prognosticating stuff must come easily to Bryan!  Ha!

As always, please check and double check your brackets with the standings and let me know if you think something is askey.  If necessary, I will go back and re-score your sheet.  I did find an error in Kyle Sheehan's bracket in his favor, and that has been corrected as reflected below.  The listings below are Place/Entry/Points/Champion.  Ties - for now - are listed alphabetically.  Welcome to the standings Jim Coleman!

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 - 47 - North Carolina

2.  Thomas Bean 2 - 41 - Michigan State

3.  Anthony LaPira - 40 - Michigan State
     Max Macon 4 - 40 - Virginia
     Jane Reynolds - 40 - Michigan State

6.  Greg Kummerlen - 38 - North Carolina

7.  Thomas Bean 1 - 37 - Villanova
      Jacey Fowler 1 - 37 - North Carolina

9.  George Walks 3 - 36 - Virginia

10.  Jen Armstrong - 35 - Michigan State

      Traci Sheehan - 35 - Duke

      Steven Usma 2 - 35 - Villanova

13.  Albert Harper III - 34 - Michigan State
       Ty Leatherman - 34 - Virginia

       Max Macon 2 - 34 - Michigan State

       Rich Samuels 2 - 34 - Villanova

       Kyle Sheehan - 34 - Duke

       Cheryl Spuhler - 34 - Duke

       Steven Usma 5 - 34 - Villanova

       Justin Yung - 34 - North Carolina

       Joshua Zdrowak - 34 - Kansas
       Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 34 - Villanova

23.  Steffan Alexander - 33 - Florida
       Dan Barsky - 33 - Virginia

       Carolyn Fowler 33 - Kansas
       Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 33 - Villanova

       Adam Jorgensen 1 - 33 - Duke

       Jessica Samuels - 33 - Villanova

       Rich Samuels 1 - 33 - Kansas

       Wes Wiggins 2 - 33 - Michigan State

       Measha Williams 3 "Spread" - 33 - Virginia

       Day Yi 2 - 33 - Villanova
       Biscuit Zdrowak - 33 - Michigan State

34.  Jim Coleman - 32 - Gonzaga
       Jenna Finkelstein - 32 - North Carolina

       Adam Jorgensen 2 - 32 - Michigan State

       Noel Martinez 2 - 32 - Villanova

       Mango Merchant - 32 - Michigan State

       Abigail Sosa - 32 - Michigan State

40.  Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 31 - Virginia

41.  Sasha Moon - 30 - Villanova

       George Walks 6 - 30 - Michigan State

43.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 29 - North Carolina

       Bill Ganoe 2 - 29 - Virginia

       Katie Kollmeyer - 20 - Villanova

       Silas Nichols - 29 - Arizona

        Edy Pecan - 29 - Michigan

        Brittany Sosa - 29 - Duke

       Allison Parker - 29 - Virginia

50.  Steve Jorgensen - 27 - Arizona
       Chris Kroesen - 27 - Xavier
       Duncan Merchant - 27 - Virginia

       Barkley Sosa - 27 - Kentucky

54.  Kent Armstrong - 26 - Villanova

       Martha Kroesen - 26 - Villanova

       Kingfish Rod Parham - 26 - Kentucky

       Samantha Sheehan - 26 - Duke

       Jonathan Wasserman - 26 - Duke

59.  Karen Katz - 25 - Virginia
       Jeff Plamodon - 25 - Virginia

       Steven Usma 3 - 25 - Michigan

62.  Joe Carter - 24 - Virginia

       James Garvin - 24 - Villanova

       Matt Hopps - 24 - Virginia

       Max Macon 3 - 24 - Villanova

       Hannah Sosa - 24 - Florida

       George Walks 2 - 24 - Kansas

68.  Brett Bellinger - 23 - Virginia

       Paul Cummings - 23 - Villanova

       Bill Danner - 23 - Virginia

       Cathy Donahue - 23 - Duke

       Colleen Hamilton 1 - 23 - Virginia

       Arlene Amo Hopps - 23 - Villanova

       Dan Laishley - 23 - Virginia

       Michael Litsey - 23 - Villanova

       Noel Martinez 1 - 23 - Duke

       Pepe Sosa - 23 - Villanova

       George Walks 4 - 23 - North Carolina

        Measha Williams 2 "Upset City"- 23 - Duke

80.  Bill Foman - 22 - North Carolina

       Jacey Fowler 2 - 22 - Cincinnati

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 22 - Michigan State

        Eric Inge - 2 - Virginia

       Doug Tuttle - 22 - Florida

       George Walks 1 - 22 - Kansas

       Keith Zdrowak - 22 - Duke

87.  Mac Kroesen - 21 - Gonzaga

       David Peterson - 21 - Virginia

       Wes Wiggins 1 - 21 - Arizona

       Measha Williams 1 - "Gut" - 21 - Virginia

       Day Yi 1 - 21 - Virginia

       Katie Zdrowak - 21 Villanova

93.  Glen Merchant - 20 - Villanova

       Col. Kareem Montague - 20 - Villanova

       Steven Usma 4 - 20 - Duke

       George Walks 5 - 20 - Arizona

97.  Carter Alexander - 19 - Florida

       Max Macon 1 - 19 - Kansas

       Griffey Parker - 19 - Xavier

       Colleen Hamilton 2 - 19 - Villanova

       Colleen Hamilton 3 - 19 - North Carolina

102.  Ashley Poer - 9 - Virginia

103.  Jeremy Spuhler - 18 - Duke
         Steven Usma 1 - 18 - Kansas
         Amy Zdrowak - 18 - Michigan State

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