This is horrific for the city of Cincinnati, who lost its two major colleges (Cincinnati and Xavier) in the same round, to major upsets at that hands of Nevada and Florida State respectively.
Also horrific is the Nike "Let's Go" commercial, in which the earth stops rotating on its axis - yet everything is still ok. (I won't get into that as that will take an entire post just on its own, right scientists?) A female decides that life is now literally a hamster race so she starts to get everyone running to re-start the rotation of the earth, only she is going in the wrong direction. As one of you pointed out (Brent Bellinger of Austin Texas), is Nike trying to say that women are bad with directions? I hope not, but it certainly seems one of the themes as Kevin Hart is trying to point out that he was originally running in the correct direction. Perhaps they are just saying our daily lives are nothing but running around in circles.
Someone who certainly isn't - or at least wasn't - running around in circles was Michael Litsey of Redondo Beach, California, who likely didn't watch much basketball this weekend as he ran 26.2 miles in a (somewhat) straight line from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica Beach. He ran the Los Angeles Marathon, meaning he ran more yesterday that I have in my life.
The biggest loser of yesterday was our brackets. If you scored 2 points (meaning you selected 1 game correctly) you generally held your own. Anyone that had 2 games correctly generally gained ground and if you had 3 games correct, you flew up the standings. Because of this, I am giving the "Worst Pick of the Day" to everyone, as we all were obliterated in some way shape or form.
Not only did those four favored teams lost, each of them was selected as a champion by at least one entry in our pool. Tough luck for Bryan van Gorder of Canajoharie, New York and Hollywood, California, who still leads in the pool, but gives himself the dubious distinction of being the highest rated bracket to lose North Carolina as his champion. Jane Reynolds of Wellington, Florida is the highest rated bracket (2nd Place) to lose Michigan State, Chris Kroesen of West Palm Beach, Florida is the highest rated bracket (33rd Place) to lose Xavier, and Jacey Folwer II of Wellington, Florida is the highest rated bracket (60th Place) to lose Cincinnati.
Things were not awful for everybody, as we had 10 total entries that selected one of the four main upsets from yesterday. Nobody selected Syracuse, but we had four entrants select Nevada; George Walks 3 of West Palm Beach, Florida, Barkley Sosa of Riviera Beach, Florida, Dan Laishley of Jupiter, Florida and Day Yi 1, of New York, New York. We also had four entrants select Florida State; Steven Usma 3 of Miami, Florida, George Walks 2 of West Palm Beach, Florida, Carter Alexander of Portland, Oregon, and Colleen Hamilton 3 of Vero Beach, Florida.
Since Nevada and Florida State each had 4 correct selectors, the "Pick of the Day" award goes to Biscuit Zdrowak of Orlando, Florida and Edy Pecan of the Greater West Palm Beach, Florida area for correctly selecting Texas A&M over North Carolina. Congratulations.
Today's tournament history brings us to the Nevada Wolfpack, who are making their second trip to the Sweet Sixteen, and first since 2004. In 2004, the 10th seeded Wolfpack defeated the 7th seeded Michigan State Spartans in the first round, and 2nd seeded Gonzaga in the second round, only to fall to Georgia Tech 72-67 in the Sweet Sixteen. Nevada was led that year by junior guard and Conference Player of the Year Kirk Snyder, who led the team in scoring with 18.8 points a game, and freshman forward Nick Fazekas, who added 12.6 points and led the team in rebounding at just under 8 per game. Snyder left Nevada after the tournament and was drafted 16th overall in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. He played a total of 5 years in the NBA and four additional professional years in various leagues around the world. Fazekas was the fourth pick in the second round of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks and stayed in the NBA for 2 years before moving overseas. He currently plays for the Toshiba Kawasaki Brave Thunders, where he has toiled since 2012. The Wolfpack roster in 2004 also included seldom used reserve guard Sean Paul, who went on to fame in music, being nominated for 8 Grammy Awards, winning one for Best Reggae Album for Dutty Rock in .... 2004. Oh wait, not the same Sean Paul; sorry.
We now have only six 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.
Each of the top 7 places in our pool have lost their champion, with 4 people in a T-8 that have their champions still alive. The Thursday and Friday games are each worth 4 points apiece, and next weekend's games are worth 8 points apiece, so expect lots of movement up and down the standings.
For those interested in numerology, 44th Place has exactly 44 points. Not that that means anything, but it is interesting.
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 rest up before we get back after it on Thursday with the Sweet Sixteen!
AN IMPORTANT NOTE - SOME PEOPLE HAVE REPORTED THAT IT IS HARD TO VIEW SOME OF THE STANDINGS VIA A DESKTOP. I AM NOT SURE WHY THAT IS, BUT OTHERS REPORT THAT ALL IS FINE, AND VIA MOBILE DEVICE EVERYTHING LOOKS NORMAL AS WELL.
On to the standings ...
1. Bryan van Gorder - 63 - North Carolina
2. Jane Reynolds - 58 - Michigan State
3. Max Macon 2 - 57 - Michigan State
George Walks 3 - 57 - Virginia
5. Max Macon 4 - 56 - Virginia
Biscuit Zdrowak - 56 - Michigan State
Thomas Bean 2 - 53 - Michigan State
Jim Coleman - 53 - Gonzaga
Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 53 - Villanova
Sasha Moon - 53 - Villanova
Jessica Samuels - 53 - Villanova
Justin Yung - 53 - North Carolina
Jessica Samuels - 53 - Villanova
15. Anthony LaPira - 52 - Michigan State
16. Thomas Bean 1 - 51 - Villanova
Jacey Fowler 1 - 51 - North Carolina
Rich Samuels 1 - 51 - Kansas
Traci Sheehan - 51 - Duke
Kyle Sheehan - 50 - Duke
Barkley Sosa - 50 - Kentucky
Traci Sheehan - 51 - Duke
20. Albert Harper III - 50 - Michigan State
Rich Samuels 2 - 50 - Villanova
Joshua Zdrowak - 50 - Kansas
25. Steven Usma 2 - 49 - Villanova
Day Yi 2 - 49 - Villanova
Day Yi 2 - 49 - Villanova
27. Ty Leatherman - 48 - Virginia
Noel Martinez 2 - 48 - Villanova
George Walks 2 - 48 - Kansas
Noel Martinez 2 - 48 - Villanova
Cheryl Spuhler - 48 - Duke
George Walks 6 - 48 - Michigan State
Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 48 - Villanova
33. Steffan Alexander - 47 - Florida
Dan Barsky - 47 - Virginia
Chris Kroesen - 47 - Xavier
Measha Williams 3 "Spread" - 47 - Virginia
Steven Usma 5 - 46 - Villanova
Dan Barsky - 47 - Virginia
Carolyn Fowler 47 - Kansas
Steven Usma 3 - 47 - Michigan
39. Jenna Finkelstein - 46 - North Carolina
Mango Merchant - 46 - Michigan State
42. Brittany Sosa - 45 - Duke
Wes Wiggins 2 - 45 - Michigan State
Wes Wiggins 2 - 45 - Michigan State
Dan Laishley - 44 - Virginia
Allison Parker - 44 - Virginia
Abigail Sosa - 44 - Michigan State
49. Bill Ganoe 1 - 43 - North Carolina
Bill Ganoe 2 - 43 - Virginia
Adam Jorgensen 1 - 43 - Duke
Katie Kollmeyer - 43 - Villanova
Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 43 - Virginia
Edy Pecan - 43 - Michigan
55. James Garvin - 42 - Villanova
Jonathan Wasserman - 42 - Duke
57. Steve Jorgensen - 41 - Arizona
Edy Pecan - 43 - Michigan
57. Steve Jorgensen - 41 - Arizona
Karen Katz - 41 - Virginia
Pepe Sosa - 41 - Villanova
Colleen Hamilton 1 - 39 - Virginia
Wes Wiggins 1 - 39 - Arizona
Measha Williams 2 "Upset City"- 39 - Duke
Pepe Sosa - 41 - Villanova
60. Jacey Fowler 2 - 40 - Cincinnati
Max Macon 3 - 40 - Villanova
Samantha Sheehan - 40 - Duke
63. Brent Bellinger - 39 - Virginia
Paul Cummings - 39 - Villanova
George Walks 4 - 39 - North Carolina
69. Carter Alexander - 38 - Florida
Matt Hopps - 38 - Virginia
George Walks 1 - 38 - Kansas
Day Yi 1 - 38 - Virginia
Kent Armstrong - 38 - Villanova
Joe Carter - 38 - Virginia
Martha Kroesen - 38 - Villanova
Keith Zdrowak - 38 - Duke
77. Cathy Donahue - 37 - Duke
Duncan Merchant - 37 - Virginia
Silas Nichols - 37 - Arizona
Alvaro Gonzalez - 36 - Michigan State
Hannah Sosa - 36 - Florida
George Walks 5 - 36 - Arizona
Arlene Amo Hopps - 35 - Villanova
Mac Kroesen - 35 - Gonzaga
Max Macon 1 - 35 - Kansas
Noel Martinez 1 - 35 - Duke
David Peterson - 35 - Virginia
Jeff Plamodon - 35 - Virginia
Measha Williams 1 - "Gut" - 35 - Virginia
Col. Kareem Montague - 34 - Villanova
95. Colleen Hamilton 3 - 33 - North Carolina
Unknown - Matt Nieman - I still need to talk to you about my bracket question!
77. Cathy Donahue - 37 - Duke
Duncan Merchant - 37 - Virginia
80. Bill Foman - 36 - North Carolina
84. Bill Danner - 35 - Virginia
92. Eric Inge - 34 - Virginia
Steven Usma 1 - 34 - Kansas
95. Colleen Hamilton 3 - 33 - North Carolina
Michael Litsey - 33 - Villanova
Katie Zdrowak - 33 Villanova
Glen Merchant - 32 - Villanova
105. Griffey Parker - 27 - Xavier
98. Colleen Hamilton 2 - 32 - Villanova
Jeremy Spuhler - 32 - Duke
Doug Tuttle - 32 - Florida
Steven Usma 4 - 32 - Duke
103. Ashley Poer - 30 - Virginia
Amy Zdrowak - 30 - Michigan State
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