NCAA Tournament Pool - Final Standings - OFFICIAL!!!

 

Here are the standings after the championship game.  Although I do not expect anything to change, I do want to take the weekend to double-check to finalize everything, especially since we have a tie for third, so I have to go calculate the tiebreaker.  But, I didn't want everyone to think I forgot about the pool while in Arizona.  Congratulations - at least for now - to Dan Barsky of Miami, Florida, Paul Cummings of Palm City, Florida, Jim Coleman of Boynton Beach, Florida and Brigadier General Kareem "Monty" Montague, of Hickham Air Force Base, Hawaii.  3 of those 4 will win a portion of the proceeds, and have been notified separately of the situation and of the timing.

Final Pool Results/Standings

1.  Daniel Barsky 1 - 154

2.  Paul Cummings 2 - 153

3.  James Coleman - 149  - WINNER BY TIEBREAKER!!!

ALL EARNINGS HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED IN THE METHOD YOU SUBMITTED TO ME.

4.  Brigadier General Kareem Montague - 149

5.  Paul Cummings 3 - 146

     Ty Hedgpeth - 146

     Si Nichols - 146

8.  George Fox 2 - 143

9.  Brian McMahon - 137

     Jeff Plamondon - 137

     Cheryl Spuhler - 137

12.  Natalie Moon - 136

13.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 131

       Jeremy Spuhler - 131

15.  Justine Frank - 130

       Javier Rodriguez - 130

       Measha Williams 3 - 130 

18.  Matt Hopps - 128

       William Pujals - 128

       Rich Samuels 1 - 128

21.  Rich Samuels 5 - 126

22.  Alvaro Gonzalez - 125

       Dawn Lamb - 125

       Sean McInerney 2 - 125

25.  Silas Nichols - 123

26.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 120

       Brittany Sosa - 120

       Sasha Moon - 120

29.  Max Macon 2 - 118

       Rich Samuels 2 - 118

       Rich Samuels 3 - 118

32.  Miles Jackson - 117

       Chris O'Neil - 117

       Day Yi - 117

35.  George Fox 1 - 115

       Max Marion 3 - 115

       Keith Wynne - 115

38.     Justin Yung - 114

39.  Rich Samuels 4 - 112

       Jason Spuhler - 112

41.  Adam Jorgensen 1 - 111

       Lee Pagan - 111

       Barkley Sosa - 111

44.  Colleen Giamberini - 110

       Measha Williams 1 - 110

46.  Marcus Spruill - 109

       Amanda Staudt - 109

48.  Barbie Curlett 2 - 108

49.  Noel Martinez 1 - 107

       Shane Jernigan 1 - 107

51.  Chris Simmons - 106

52.  Keith Zdrowak - 105

53.  Bill Ganoe 3 - 99

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 99

       George Walks 3 - 99

       Amy Zdrowak - 99

57.  Barbie Curlett 1 - 98

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 98

       Allison Parker - 98

60.  Jenna Finkelstein - 97

61.  Jacey Fowler 1 - 96

       Blake Jackson - 96

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 96

64.  Marcus Jackson - 94 

       George Walks 4 - 94

66.  Paul Cummings 1 - 93

       John Hedgpeth - 93

       Katie Zdrowak -93

69.  Braeden Helland - 92

       Max Marion 1 - 92

71.  Adam Jorgensen 2 - 91

72.  Daniel Barsky 2 - 90

       Joel Chernoff - 90

       Bill Ganoe 1 - 90

       Dan Laishley - 90

76.  Matt O'Kell - 89

 

77.  Logan Spuhler - 88

78.  Jane Reynolds - 87

       Cassi Spruill - 87

80.  Josh Zdrowak - 86

81.  Kevin Dick - 85

       Carolyn Fowler - 85

83.  James Garvin - 84

       Mark Holbert - 84

85.  Brent Bellinger - 83

       Anne-Marie O'Neil - 83

87.  Measha Williams 2 - 82

       Mike Wolff 1 - 82

89.  Jody Cox - 81

       Dave Piasecki - 81

91.  Karen Katz - 80

92.  Ashley Poer - 79

       Pepe Sosa - 79

       Bubba Zdrowak - 79

95.  Skip LaForte - 76

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 76

97.  Tyler Giamberini - 74

       Katie Kollmeyer - 74

       Sean McInerney 1 - 74

       Jacey Reynolds 2 - 74

       Lily Spuhler - 74

       Jonathan Wasserman - 74

104.  Jessica Samuels - 73

105.  Stephanie Henderson - 72

         Arlene Amo Hopps - 72

107.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 71

         Kisha Marzouca 1 - 71

109.  Michael McNally - 70

         Coco Wynne - 70

111.  Derrick Lowe - 69

         Ryan Rodriguez - 69

         Jamie Toole - 69

114.  Clair Bullock - 68

115.  Nick Kuehl - 67

116.  Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 66

         Melissa Gaynor - 66

         Quinn Jackson - 66

         Chris Pettit - 66

120.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 65

         Kingfish Parham - 65

122.  Savannah Grace Pressly - 64

         Cheryl Spuhler - 64

124.  Max Marions 2 - 63

         George Walks 1 - 63

126.  George Walks 2 - 62

127.  Max Macon 3 - 61

         Max Macon 4 - 61

129.  Kisha Marzouca 2 - 60

 

130.  Max Marion 4 - 59

131.  Guy Hughes - 55

132.  Mike Wolff 2 - 51

133.  Dave Marzouca 2 - 50

134.  Noel Martinez 2 - 49

         A.J. Ripin - 49

136.  Hannah Sosa - 45

137.  ALYSSA HOPPS - QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS - 35 POINTS - CLINCHED LAST PLACE AND RETURN OF ENTRY FEE

NCAA Tournament Pool Elite 8/Day 2

Well, we made it to the Final Four, and you have made it to my last full-blown update of the tournament.  Now, I will post the updated standings after the Semi-Finals on Saturday, but no analysis, report, history, etc., etc., etc.  Why not?  Because your Tournament Host is travelling to the Final Four on Friday, and we will recap all of the excitement right here on this page as we will pseudo-live blog our adventures.  So, you can still keep up with the Final Four without an actual "report". 

As far as this report goes, it is all Zach Edey all the time.  Apparenlty he is a darn good college player.  He had 19 points and 10 rebounds in Purdue's victory over Tennessee - AT HALFTIME!  He finished with 40 and 16.  Just a dominating performance.  Apparently, he was not worried about the jinx I put on Terrence Shannon the day before.  He showed up, showed out, and then talked-smack about Coach Rick Barnes from Tennessee not recruiting him.  He was a three-star recruit out of high school, but right now is the defending NCAA Player of the Year, a finalist, and virtual shoo-in, for the award this year, and right now THE BEST PLAYER in the Final Four.  Tennessee's Dalton Knecht showed why he was the SEC Player of the Year with his gallant effort of 37 points, but there was just too much of the 7'4" Edey.

In the second game, 11-seed North Carolina State defeated the 4-seed Duke Blue Devils by methodically pulling away in the second half using the size of DJ Burns, the 6'9" 275 pound big man with footwork so smooth NFL offensive line coaches must be salivating!  Duke's more lithesome front court - especially star Kyle Filipowski - could not hang as he only scored 11 points, but also fouled out!  It should be noted that Burns received his third foul early in the second half, but was able to avoid his fourth until long-after it mattered.  NC State has won its 9th consecutive tournament game as it was forced to win the ACC Tournament just to qualify for NCAA Tournament, and a missed free throw in the semi-finals of the ACC Tourney by Virginia's Issac McNeely with 5.3 seconds remaining and Virginia up three allowed a game-tying buzzer-beater three by Michael O'Connell to keep NC State's season alive.  And boy have they taken advantage of it!!!

This game was a travesty at half-time, with Duke leading NC State 27-21.  The erudite Charles Barkley remarked that both teams looked like they were thinking about the Final Four instead of playing basketball.  Well, NC State played basketball putting up 55 in the second half.

So, we have NC State versus Purdue in the Final Four - with Alabama versus Connecticut on the other side.  Purdue and NC State have not been to the Final Four since 1980 and 1983 respectively, and Alabama never has played in the Final Four.  Let's hope their fans come correct and show out, because we Connecticut's fans will be in attendance - and boring.

With Tennessee and Duke exiting the tournament, we lost two champions.  Out of the Final Four, we have 4 champions remaining.  Great work collectively, everybody.  That means somebody(ies) is/are going to earn at least 44 points this weekend (16 for a semi-finals win; 28 for the championship), to cement a pool championship.  Our remaining champions are:  Since Illinois lost, another champion is down!  The remaining six-teams all have champions in our pool, so lots of competing interests remain!  Our remaining champions are:  ALABAMA, Auburn, Arizona, Baylor, CONNECTICUT, Creighton, Duke, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Gonzaga, Houston, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, Michigan State, North Carolina, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, PURDUE and Tennessee.  Cheer to your heart's content for your champion.

Yes, I did say that somebody has North Carolina State as their champion.  You heard me correctly.  Who is that?  Well, check the standings below to see.  I can tell you that a ton of entrants had Purdue, so the Pick of the Day Award goes to those that had the Wolfpack in the Final Four:  Clair Bullock of Columbus, Ohio, Barkley Sosa of Riviera Beach, Florida, and Colleen Giamberini of Boynton Beach, Florida.  Clair had the opportunity of earning five bonus points for the upset by 11-seed North Carolina State over 4-seed Duke, except she forgot to pick a winner in the Elite 8 between Houston and Duke.  I think that if NC State goes as far as she wants them to go, those 5-points may not make a difference.  But, we won't  know unless it happens.

Today's Tournament flashback brings us to the 1980 Final Four, which was the last time Purdue made it to the Holy Grail of college basketball.  NC State last made it in 1983, but that tournament is so iconic - Derek Whittenberg's airball alley-oop to Lorenzo Charles for the win over Phi Slamma Jamma ending with Jim Valvano running around the court like a lunatic lookning for someone to hook - that is shouldn't need mentioning.  So, Purdue it is.

The 1980 NCAA Tournament is widely considered as the first modern tournament.  Although the second year using seedings, it was the first in which the teams were seeded by the committee rather than just using conference champions, it was the first that did not limit the number of teams from any given conference so as to have the "best" teams and not just a cross-section, and the first in which top seeds were chosen to travel to different regions so that all the best teams did not end up in one or two geographic regions.

The Final Four was held in Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, and featured Louisville versus Iowa and UCLA versus the aforementioned Purdue.

Lousiville, the second seed in the Midwest Region, feature Derek Smith, Rodney McCray, Jerry Eaves and the man with one of the best nicknames in basketball history, Dr. Dunkenstein Darrell Giffith.  Iowa was the 5-seed in the East, and advanced to the Final Four with a well-rounded team, including Ronnie Lester, Kenny Arnold, Vince Brookins, and Steve Krafcisin.  The game also featured legendary coaches Denny Crum (Louisville) and Lute Olson (Iowa).  Louisville won the game 80-72, behind Darrell Griffith's 34 points, with 14 and 13 from McCray and Smith respectively.  Iowa's Arnold had 20, as he led 4 players in double-figures but it wasn't enough.

In the next matchup, UCLA coached by the just-as-legendary Larry Brown, came into the Final Four as the 8th seed in the west, yes, 8th, and was paced by future NBA star Kiki Vandeweghe - who I had forgotten played for UCLA.  Purdue, with second-year coach Lee Rose earned the 6th seed in the Mid-East regional, and was led by future NBA overall number 1 pick Joe Barry Carroll, about which I could write an entire post, and assited by Keith Edmonson, Brian Walker, and Drake Morris.  Vandeweghe - showing the NBA his future scoring prowess, scored 24 to lead UCLA and to defeat Purdue had 23 from Edmonson, and 17 points a game high 8 rebounds from Carroll.

Purdue defeated Iowa in the third-place game, which they played back then, 75-58, with Carroll going for 35 and 12 and Edmonson scoring 17.  Iowa was paced by Kenny Arnold's 19.  But htis was just the appetizer.

In the main event, a defensive struggle, Louisville defeated UCLA 59-54 behind Darrell Griffith's 23 points and Rodney McCray's 11 rebounds.  Vendeweghe scored 14 with 7 rebounds for UCLA.  UCLA's appearance was ultimately forfeited after several players were declared ineligible.

Joe Barry Carroll went on the be the first overall pick in the 1980 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors and played 11 nondescript seasons in the league, and was widely considered the worst number 1 pick in NBA History until Anthony Bennett in 2013.  Kiki Vandeweghe was drafted with the 11th overall pick in the NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks and became a two-time All-Star and scored over 15,000 points.

 And Darrell Griffith, was named the greatest college dunker of all time; a true, Dr. Dunkenstein.  The first video contains the St. John's dunk.  This one against LSU contains his Around the World.

Griffith was the second overall pick in the 1980 draft by the Utah Jazz, behind Joe Barry Carroll and just ahead of Kevin McHale.  He was named Rookie of the Year in 1981, and scored over 12,300 points in his 11 years with the Jazz, where his number 35 is retired.

Griffith was a helluva player, but we also had some great players yesterday.

Players of the Day

9.  Raegen Beers, Oregon State - 16 points, 8 rebounds

8.  Tess Johnson, South Carolina, 15 points in 20 minutes

7.  Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina - 12 points/9 rebounds

6.  Jared McCain, Duke - 32 points/6 rebounds

5.  DJ Horne, North Carolina State - 20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists

4.  Aziaha James, North Carolina State - 27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists

3.  Dalton Knecth, Tennessee - 37 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist

2.  DJ Burns, North Carolina State - 29 points, 4 rebounds

1.  Zach Edey, Purdue - 40 points, 16 rebounds

Best Players in Each Region

East - Donovan Clingan, Connecticut - AND IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE

West - Mark Sears, Alabama

Midwest - Zach Edey, Purdue - AND THIS WASN'T EVEN CLOSE, EITHER

South - DJ Burns, North Carolina State

Stats of the Day

2.  Zach Edey has taken over 400 free throw attempts this year, the first college player since Pete Maravich in 1970!

1.  Zach Edey had 19 points/10 rebounds at halftime.  Three times in this tournament has a player had a double/double at halftime.  Those three - Zach Edey, Zach Edey, and Zach Edey.

Social Media Post of the Day

This picture sums up this kid's feelings about Duke.

As for the standings, if you had 1 team correct, you moved up.  If you had none you moved down.  Nobody had 2.  And, WE HAVE A NEW LEADER!  As always, feel free to double check my scoring.  As for the teams after the names, if it is before the "/" that is the champion that remains; if it is after the "/" it is the runner-up that remains.  If no school listed either before or after the "/", that entrant's pick no longer remains.

Pool Standings after Elite 8/Day 2

1.  Ty Hedgpeth - 102 - UCONN/

2.  Miles Jackson - 101 - /UCONN

3.  George Fox 2 - 99 - UCONN/

     Bill Ganoe 3 - 99

     Max Marion 3 - 99 -PURDUE/

6.  Allison Parker - 98

     Javier Rodriguez - 98 - PURDUE/UCONN

     Measha Williams 3 - 98 - PURDUE/UCONN

     Justin Yung - 98 - /PURDUE

10.  Blake Jackson - 96

       Rich Samuels 4 - 96 /UCONN

12.  Lee Pagan - 95 - /PURDUE

13.  Daniel Barsky 1 - 94 - UCONN/PURDUE

       Marcus Jackson - 94 - /ALABAMA

       Measha Williams 1 - 94 - /UCONN

16.  Paul Cummings 2 - 93 - UCONN/PURDUE

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 93 - PURDUE/UCONN

       John Hedgpeth - 3

       Brian McMahon - 3 - UCONN/

       Jeff Plamondon - 93 - UCONN/

       Marcus Spruill - 93 - /PURDUE

       Cheryl Spuhler - 93 - UCONN/

       Amanda Staudt - 93 - /PURDUE

24.  Braeden Helland - 92

       Max Macon 2 - 92 - PURDUE/UCONN

       Si Nichols - 92 - UCONN/PURDUE

27.  Joel Chernoff - 90

       Bill Ganoe 1 - 90

       Chris Simmons - 90 - /UCONN

30.  James Coleman - 89 - UCONN/PURDUE

       Brigadier General Kareem Montague - 89 - UCONN/PURDUE

       Matt O'Kell - 89

       Keith Zdrowak - 89 - PURDUE

34.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 88 - PURDUE/UCONN

       Brittany Sosa - 88 - PURDUE/UCONN

       Logan Spuhler - 88

37.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 87 - UCONN/

       Jane Reynolds - 87 - ALABAMA/

       Cassi Spruill - 87

       Jeremy Spuhler - 87 - UCONN/

41.  Paul Cummings 3 - 86 - UCONN/PURDUE

       Justine Frank - 86 - UCONN/

       Rich Samuels 2 - 86 - PURDUE/UCONN

       Josh Zdrowak - 86

45.  Kevin Dick - 85

       Carolyn Fowler - 85

47.  Mark Holbert - 84

       Matt Hopps - 84 - UCONN/

       William Pujals - 84 - UCONN/

       Rich Samuels 1 - 84 - UCONN/

51.  George Fox 1 - 83 - PURDUE/UCONN

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 83 - /UCONN

       George Walks 3 - 83 - PURDUE/

       Amy Zdrowak - 83 - PURDUE

55.  Barbie Curlett 1 - 82 - /UCONN

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 82 - /UCONN

       Rich Samuels 5 - 82 - UCONN/

       Measha Williams 2 - 82

       Mike Wolff 1 - 82

60.  Jody Cox - 81

       Jenna Finkelstein - 81 - /UCONN

       Dawn Lamb - 81 - UCONN/

       Sean McInerney 2 - 81 - UCONN/

       Dave Piasecki - 81

65.  Jacey Fowler 1 - 80 - /PURDUE

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 80 - /PURDUE

67.  Silas Nichols - 79 - UCONN/

       Ashley Poer - 79

       Pepe Sosa - 79

       Bubba Zdrowak - 79

71.  George Walks 4 - 78 - PURDUE/

72.  Paul Cummings 1 - 77 - PURDUE/

       Katie Zdrowak - 77 - /PURDUE

74.  Skip LaForte - 76

       Max Marion 1 - 76 - /UCONN

       Natalie Moon - 76 - UCONN/PURDUE

       Sasha Moon - 76 - UCONN/

       Rich Samuels 3 - 76 - UCONN/

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 76

80.  Adam Jorgensen 2 - 75 - /UCONN

       Noel Martinez 1 - 75 - PURDUE/UCONN

82.  Daniel Barsky 2 - 74 - PURDUE/

       Tyler Giamberini - 74

       Katie Kollmeyer - 74

       Dan Laishley - 74 - /UCONN

       Sean McInerney 1 - 74

       Jacey Reynolds 2 - 74

       Lily Spuhler - 74

       Jonathan Wasserman - 74

90.  Chris O'Neil - 73 - UCONN/

       Jessica Samuels - 73

       Day Yi - 73 - UCONN/

93.  Arlene Amo Hopps - 72

94  Max Macon 1 - 71 - UCONN/

      Kisha Marzouca 1 - 71

      Keith Wynne - 71 - UCONN/

97.  Michael McNally - 70

       Coco Wynne - 70

99.  Derrick Lowe - 69

       Ryan Rodriguez - 69

       Jamie Toole - 69

102.  Clair Bullock - 68 - NORTH CAROLINA STATE/

         James Garvin - 68 - PURDUE/

         Jason Spuhler - 68 - UCONN/

105.  Brent Bellinger - 67 - /PURDUE

         Adam Jorgensen 1 - 67 - UCONN/

         Nick Kuehl - 67

         Anne-Marie O'Neil - 67 - PERDUE [sic]/

         Barkley Sosa - 67 - UCONN/

110.  Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 66

         Melissa Gaynor - 66

         Colleen Giamberini - 66 - CONNECTICUT/NORTH CAROLINA STATE

         Quinn Jackson - 66

         Chris Pettit - 66

115.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 65

         Kingfish Parham - 65

117.  Barbie Curlett 2 - 64 - UCONN/

        Karen Katz - 64 - PURDUE/

        Savannah Grace Pressly - 64

        Cheryl Spuhler - 64

121.  Max Marions 2 - 63

         George Walks 1 - 63

         Shane Jernigan 1 - 63 - UCONN/

124.  George Walks 2 - 62

125.  Max Macon 3 - 61

         Max Macon 4 - 61

127.  Kisha Marzouca 2 - 60

 

128.  Max Marion 4 - 59

129.  Stephanie Henderson - 56 - /UCONN

130.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 55 - /UCONN

         Guy Hughes - 55

132.  Mike Wolff 2 - 51

133.  Dave Marzouca 2 - 50

134.  Noel Martinez 2 - 49

         A.J. Ripin - 49

136.  Hannah Sosa - 45

137.  ALYSSA HOPPS - QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS - 35 POINTS - CLINCHED LAST PLACE AND RETURN OF ENTRY FEE

NCAA Tournament Pool Elite 8/Day 1

 

We are halfway to deciding the Final Four as the Connecticut Huskies and Alabama Crimson Tide both clinched berths in Glendale/Phoenix/Scottsdale for the Final Four.  What this means is that the NCAA says the Final Four in Phoenix (see above), but it is actaully played in Glendale (about an hour away during game days), but the most fun will be in Scottsdale.  Anyway, these two teams both punched their tickets in way different manners.

Connecticut beat Illinois.  I mean it.  Literally beat them.  Like Old Testament, flood the world, turn whole teams into stone or pillars of salt type of ass-kicking.  Really don't need to say much about the game because it was so horrific.  I will give my apologies to Terrence Shannon of Illinois, who apparently I cursed by calling him one of the best two players in the tournament.  We shall see if the curse affects Zach Edey today.

Alabama defeated Clemson in a close, fun, brutally-tough matchup that featured a lot of up-and-down the court, three-pointers and athleticism - and PHYSICALITY!  This matchup was brutal down low.  But fun.  There was one stretch mid-way through the second half where the teams hit 5 consecutive three-pointers.  This is Alabama's fist trip to the Final Four.  I hope their fans bring their football zeal and anxiety to the Arizona!

Social Media Posts

Thousand upon thousands about Connecticut destroying Illinois.  That is all.

Stats of the Day

There are so many amazing stats from the UConn game, that they dominate this list, so of course I will start with the other game.

8.  Clemson was top 10 in the country in free throw shooting for the season, and the #1 ranked free throw shooting team in the tournament at 78.71%.  So of course, they shot 8-16 from the free throw line.

7.  Illinois leading-scorer Terrence Shannon had 2 points at half-time.

6.  Connecticut and Illinois combined to shoot 31% in the first half.

5.  Connecticut has now won 10 straight NCAA Tournament games by double-digits, and including the Big East Tournament, have won 13 straight elimination games, having last lost in the 2023 Big East Conference semi-finals 70-68 to Marquette.

4.  Illinois's shooting efficiency was 29.9%!

3.  Connecticut held Illinois to 14 total points with Donovan Clingan on the court.

2.  Illinois was 019 on shots at the rim with Donovan Clingan challenging.  He blocked 5 of those shots.

1.  CONNECTICUT WENT ON A 30-0 RUN!  A 30-0 RUN!!!

Since Illinois lost, another champion is down!  The remaining six-teams all have champions in our pool, so lots of competing interests remain!  Our remaining champions are:  ALABAMA, Auburn, Arizona, Baylor, CONNECTICUT, Creighton, DUKE, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Gonzaga, Houston, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, Michigan State, North Carolina, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, PURDUE and TENNESSEE.  So, out of the 12 remaining teams in the tournament, entries have each of them as their champion, except Clemson.  Best of luck to all those entrants that have a champion remaining - Your Tournament Host does not.

Eight people in our pool did pick Alabama to advance to the Final Four.  And although Marcus Jackson of Reston, Virginia, Braeden Helland of Riviera Beach, Florida, Dave Piasecki of Tacoma, Washington, Coco Wynne of Delray Beach, Florida, and Savannah Grace Pressly of Boca Raton, Florida all deserve mention for their pick, only Jane Reynolds of Greenacres, Dawn Lamb of Delray Beach and Barbie Curlett 1 of Jacksonville, Florida  had both Alabama AND Connecticut.  So Jane, Dawn and Barbie - congratulations on your award for the "Pick of the Day!"

For the history section, I usually just see what memory or anniversary or something the games of any particular day trigger, and if possible, I will write about that.  For today's history lesson, it wasn't anything that occurred on the Court, but rather the fact that I saw one commercial on numerous occasions yesterday that triggered my memory, likely intentionally.  The commercial is Coach Krzyzewski talking about the importance of being in uniform, with a montage of athletes and members of the military while Coach K keeps talking.  The first person shown is current NBA great C.J. McCollum, in what looks to be a facsimile of his college uniform.

This was noticeable because McCollum went to Lehigh, not a basketball powerhouse, but still was a 2-time Patriot League Player of the Year and 2-Time AP Honorable Mention All-American while playing for the Engineers.  He earned both of these awards during the 2012 season, in which Lehigh earned an NCAA Touranment berth, and a 15-2 seed matchup against traditional powerhouse Duke, coached by Krzyzewski.

In that game, Lehigh kept it close at halftime, going into the locker down by 2, 30-28.  The offensive explosion occurred in the second half, as Lehigh scored 47 to defeat Duke 75-70.  McCollum finished the game with 30 points and 6 assists, receiving scoring help from Gabe Knutsen with his 17 points and team-high 8 rebounds.  Duke was paced by Mason Plumlee's 19 points (with 12 rebounds) and Austin Rivers also contributed 19 points.   The downfall for Duke was trying to guard McCollum, who not only scored 30, but also fouled out Duke's starting guards Seth Curry - brother of Steph - and Tyler Thornton.

Lehigh's cinderella-run ended in the second round, as they were beaten by Xavier 70-58, as McCollum couldn't muster the same scoring magic dropping 14 points, but contributing 8 rebounds.

Lehigh, however, remains one of the few 15-seeds to have ever won an NCAA Tournament game over a 2 seed.  That list is:

1991 Richmond over Syracuse

1993 Santa Clara over Arizona

1997 Coppin State over South Carolina

2001 Hampton over Iowa State

2012 Lehigh over Duke

2012 Norfolk State over Missouri

2013 Florida Gulf Coast over Georgetown

2016 Middle Tennessee state over Michigan State

2021 Oral Roberts over Ohio State

2022 St. Peters over Kentucky

2023 Princeton over Arizona

Kentucky behind future first two overall picks Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist would eventually win the 2012 title over Kansas, led by Thomas Robinson.

As for CJ MCCollum, despite being an Honorable Mention All-American in 2012, decided to come back to Lehigh for his senior season, where he became the Patriot League's all-time leading scorer before succumbing to a broken foot.  He was drafted with the 10th overall pick in the 2013 draft by the Portland Trailblazers, where he played for 10 seasons before being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, where he still plays.  He has a career average of 19.4 points per game.  As he is playing, McCollum is beginning his transition into his post-NBA career by hosting a popular basketball-themed podcast called Pull Up with C.J. McCollum, and he will be putting his journalism degree to use as he has signed a deal with ESPN to be an analyst for its various platforms.

Kudos to Coach Krzyzewski for recognizing basketball talent and for having McCollum on the commercial given the history between Lehigh and Duke in the NCAA Tournament.  

Players of the Day

We had many good players in this tournament, but none like Luke Goode from Illinois, but he definitely isn't goode enough to make our top 10.

10.  Joseph Girard, Clemson - 19 points on 5-10 shooting from three-point range

9.  Cam Spencer, Connecticut - 11 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists

8.  Jarin Stevenson, Alabama - 19 points, 3 rebounds, 58-8 from three-point range

7.  Nick Pringle, Alabama - 16 points, 11 rebounds, 8-13 from the free throw line

6.  Mark Sears, Alabama - 23 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 7-14 from three

5.  Paige Bueckers, Connecticut - 24 points

4.  Flau'Jae Johnson, LSU - 24 points, 12 rebounds

3.  Caitlyn Clark, Iowa - 29 points, 15 assists

2.  JuJu Watkins, USC - 30 points, 4 assists

1.  Donovan Clingan, Connecticut - 22 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 5 blocks.

Best Players in Each Region

East - Donovan Clingan, Connecticut - AND IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE

West - Mark Sears, Alabam

Midwest - TBD

South - TBD

And speaking of TBD, what will we see today?  Will the offensive firepower of Tennessee be able to keep up with the size of Zach Edey and the talent of Purdue?  Will North Carolina State become the 7th double-digit seed to make the Final Four, or will the traditional blue blood of Duke join Connecticut in stabilizing the old regimes power in basketball?  Well, we shall see!

And now, to our Leaderboard, where WE HAVE A NEW LEADER!!!  If you had one game correct yesterday, you moved up some.  If you had no games correct, you moved down a lot.  For the three that had both ... flying up the leaderboard!!!  As always double-check your scores to make sure I am accurate and let me know if you find a discrepancy.

Tournament Standings after Elite 8/Day 1

1.  Bill Ganoe 3 - 99 - North Carolina/Houston

2.  Allison Parker - 98 - North Carolina/DUKE

3.  Blake Jackson - 96 - DUKE/Arizona

4.  Ty Hedgpeth - 94 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

     Marcus Jackson - 94 - Kansas/ALABAMA

6.  Miles Jackson - 93 - Kentucky/CONNECTICUT

     Brian McMahon - 93 - CONNECTICUT/Kentucky

     Jeff Plamondon - 93 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

9.  Braeden Helland - 92 - Auburn/Creighton

10.  George Fox 2 - 91 - CONNECTICUT/DUKE

       Max Marion 3 - 91 - PURDUE/Baylor

12.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 90 - North Carolina/TENNESSEE

       Javier Rodriguez - 90 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Chris Simmons - 90 - TENNESSEE/CONNECTICUT

       Measha Williams - 90 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Justin Yung - 90 - North Carolina/PURDUE

17.  Rich Samuels 4 - 88 - Houston/Arizona

       Lee Pagan - 88 - Arizona/PURDUE

       Jane Reynolds - 88 - ALABAMA/TENNESSEE

       Cassi Spruill - 88 - Houston/Illinois

21.  Jeremy Spuhler - 87 - CONNECTICTU/TENNESSEE

22.  Daniel Barsky 1 - 86 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Measha Williams 1 - 86 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

       Josh Zdrowak - 86 - Arizona/Kentucky

25.  Paul Cummings 2 - 85 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 85 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       John Hedgpeth - 85 - DUKE/North Carolina

       Marcus Spruill - 85 - North Carolina/PURDUE

       Cheryl Spuhler - 85 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

       Amanda Staudt - 85 - Arizona/PURDUE

31.  Carolyn Fowler - 84 - North Carolina/TENNESSEE

       Mark Holbert - 84 - North Carolina/Kentucky

       Matt Hopps - 84 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Max Macon 2 - 84 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Si Nichols - 84 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       William Pujals - 84 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

37.  Joel Chernoff - 83 - North Carolina/Houston

38.  Kyle Henderson 1 - 82 - Creighton/CONNECTICUT

       Rich Samuels 5 - 82 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

40.  James Coleman - 81 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Jody Cox - 81 - Marquette/Arizona

       Dawn Lamb - 81 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

       Sean McInerney 2 - 81 - CONNECTICUT/Creighton

       Brigadier General Kareem Montague - 81 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Matt Okell - 81 - North Carolina/Houston

       Dave Piasecki - 81 - Florida/Auburn

       Keith Zdrowak - 81 - PURDUE/Baylor

48.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 80 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Brittany Sosa - 80 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Logan Spuhler - 80 - Arizona/DUKE

51.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 79 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Silas Nichols - 79 - CONNECTICUT/Kentucky

       Bubba Zdrowak - 79 - DUKE/Arizona

54.  Paul Cummings 3 - 78 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Justine Frank - 78 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

       Rich Samuels 2 - 78 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

57.  Kevin Dick - 76 - Kentucky/North Carolina

       Max Marion 1 - 76 - Kentucky/CONNECTICUT

       Sasha Moon - 76 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Rich Samuels 1 - 76 - CONNECTICUT/HOUSTON

       Rich Samuels 3 - 76 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

62.  George Fox 1 - 75 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 75 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

       George Walks 3 - 75 - PURDUE/Baylor

       Amy Zdrowak - 75 - PURDUE/Baylor

66.  Barbie Curlett 1 - 74 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

       Tyler Giamberini - 74 - Arizona/Kansas

       Dan Laishley - 74 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

       Jacey Reynolds 2 - 74 - North Carolina/TENNESSEE

       Lily Spuhler - 74 - Kansas/North Carolina

       Measha Williams 2 - 74 - Houston/Auburn

       Mike Wolff 1 - 74 - DUKE/North Carolina

73.  Jenna Finkelstein - 73 - Florida/CONNECTICUT

       Chris O'Neil - 73 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Day Yi - 73 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

76.  Jacey Fowler 1 - 72 - North Carolina/PURDUE

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 72 - Auburn/PURDUE

78.  Max Macon 1 - 71 - CONNECTICUT/TENNESSEE

       Ashley Poer - 71 - Iowa State/Houston

       Pepe Sosa - 71 - Arizona/Kentucky

       Keith Wynne - 71 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

82.  Michael McNally - 70 - Gonzaga/Baylor

       George Walks 4 - 70 - PURDUE/North Carolina

       Coco Wynne - 70 - Creighton/Illinois

85.  Paul Cummings 1 - 69 - PURDUE/Iowa State

       Derrick Lowe - 69 - Kentucky/North Carolina

       Ryan Rodriguez - 69 - DUKE/Auburn

       Jamie Toole - 69 - Houston/Arizona

       Katie Zdrowak - 69 - Arizona/PURDUE

90.  Skip LaForte - 68 - Michigan State/Houston

       Natalie Moon - 68 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 68 - Kentucky/Iowa State

93.  Adam Jorgensen 1 - 67 - CONNECTICUT/Creighton

       Adam Jorgensen 2 - 67 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

       Noel Martinez 1 - 67 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

96.  Daniel Barsky 1 - 66 - PURDUE/Baylor

       Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 66 - TENNESSEE/Arizona

       Melissa Gaynor - 66 - Illinois/South Carolina

       Quinn Jackson - 66 - Iowa State/Gonzaga

       Katie Kollmeyer - 66 - Arizona/Houston

       Sean McInerney 1 - 66 - Marquette/North Carolina

       Chris Pettit - 66 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Jonathan Wasserman - 66 - Kentucky/Illinois

104.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 65 - Kentucky/Auburn

         Kingfish Parham - 65 - Auburn/Oregon

         Jessica Samuels - 65 - Florida Atlantic/Houston

107.  Barbie Curlett 2 - 64 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

         Arlene Amo Hopps - 64 - North Carolina/DUKE

         Savannah Grace Pressly - 64 - Florida Atlantic/Marquette

         Cheryl Spuhler - 64 - Iowa State/Marquette

111.  Max Marion 2 - 63 - North Carolina/Marquette

         Kisha Marzouca 1 - 63 - Arizona/DUKE

         George Walks 1 - 63 - North Carolina/Kentucky

114.  Shane Jernigan 1 - 62  CONNECTICUT/Marquette

         George Walks 2 - 62 - Baylor/Gonzaga

116.  Max Macon 3 - 61 - Florida/North Carolina

         Max Macon 4 - 61 - Houston/North Carolina

118.  Clair Bullock - 60 - NORTH CAROLINA STATE/North Carolina

         James Garvin - 60 - PURDUE/Iowa State

         Kisha Marzouca 2 - 60 - Arizona/Houston

         Jason Spuhler - 60 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

122.  Brent Bellinger - 59 - Illinois/PURDUE

         Nick Kuehl - 59 - Auburn/Marquette

         Max Marion 4 - 59 - Houston/Iowa State

         Anne-Marie O'Neil - 59 - PURDUE/Arizona

         Barkley Sosa - 59 - CONNECTICUT/Gonzaga

127.  Colleen Giamberini - 58 - CONNECTICUT/NORTH CAROLINA STATE

128.  Stephanie Henderson - 56 - Marquette/CONNECTICUT

         Karen Katz - 56 - PURDUE/Auburn

130.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 55 - Wisconsin/CONNECTICUT

131.  Guy Hughes - 51 - Houston/Iowa State

         Mike Wolff 2 - 51 - North Carolina/Florida

133.  Dave Marzouca 2 - 50 - Arizona/DUKE

134.  Noel Martinez 2 - 49 - Auburn/TENNESSEE

         A.J. Ripin - 49 - North Carolina/Houston

136.  Hannah Sosa - 45 - Florida/Arizona

136.  Alyssa Hopps - 35 - North Carolina/Kentucky - CLINCHED LAST PLACE AND RETURN OF ENTRY FEE!!!!  CONGRATULATIONS ALYSSA.

2024 NCAA Tournament Pool Sweet 16/Day 2

 

The Sweet 16 is over, and we already have a mathematical winner.  That's it - Pool is over.  Wait, it is a winner for last place.  Congratulations to Alyssa Hopps of Quincy, Massachussetts, who is currently in 137th place, with no possibility of earning any additional points.  You will be receiving your entry fee back (or at the least person that paid your fee will).  Before making fun of Alyssa's performance just note that she is likely the best current basketball player in this pool.  And that includes the few of you that hooped in college.  With regard to the other end of the pool, we have a lot of movement at the top.  But I will get to that later.

Social Media Post of the Day

1.  Michigan State Representative Matt Maddock, the self-proclaimed "Trump Endorsed, Ranked Most Conservative State Representative, Freedom Caucus, Anti-communist, Husband of Michigan's Most Wanted Republican" posted this on Thursday ...

For those that can't, don't know how, or won't enlarge that, it is a picture of three buses at Detroit Metro airport with a police escort.  The post reads, "Happening right now.  Three busses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro.  Anyone have any idea where they're headed with their police escort?"

Well, I actually do, because it was the Gonzaga basketball team that landed in Detroit to play in last night's Sweet Sixteen game against Purdue.  Now, to be honest, throughout the last couple of decades many higher-seeded teams have considered the Gonzaga Bulldogs to be illegal invaders into the bastion that is the upper-echelon of the NCAA basketball elite.  See, you all thought I was going to get political with this, but it is all about the baskeball.

Sadly, it isn't all about the basketball anymore for Gonzaga, which fell to the number 1 seed Purdue 80-68, behind the stellar play of Zach Edey - who along with Terrence Shannon has been the best player in this tournament.  Gonzaga, on the other hand, is back on its way to invade Spokane, Washington.

Purdue will move on to play the Tennessee Volunteers, who eliminated Creighton 82-75 despite a fantastic game from Baylor Scheierman, who had 25 points and 6 boards.  He was no match for Tennessee's Dalton Knecht, who scored 24, and added 6 rebounds, 5 assists, two steals, and 1 block.

On the other side of the bracket Duke outlasted Houston 54-51, after Houston's All-American leader Jamal Shead left with approximately 16 minutes left due to an ankle injury sustained in the game.  Not to say that the game would have been different, but Jeremy Roach, whom Shead was primarily guarding, scored 12 of his 14 points after Shead's injury.  Yes, injuries are part of the game, but they are also part of the story.

Duke advances to play its old ACC foe North Carolina State, who continued its surprise run defeating Marquette 67-58.  This was a weird game to watch as NC State took a big lead and as Marquette kept chipping away, they just couldnt' get close enough.  NC State was offensively discombobulated the entire lsat 12:30, but from about the 12:30 mark until the under 8 minute time-out, Marquette could barely score either. 

With North Carolina State being an 11-seed  and defeating 2-seed Marquette, bonus points were in play.  However, none of the 4 people that selected North Carolina State into the Elite Eight had them defeating Marquette.  So no bonuses awarded.  But kudos to Logan Spuhler of Acworth, Georgia, Clair Bullock of Columbus, Ohio, Barkley Sosa of Riviera Beach, Florida and Colleen Giamberini of Boynton Beach, Florida for selecting the Wolfpack.  Wait, did I say 4?  I meant 5.  The Pick of the Day is awarded to John Hedgpeth of Wilimington, North Carolina who not only selected North Carolina State, but also chose Duke, Purdue and Tennessee.  He had a perfect 4 for 4.  His only flaw was that he also did not have North Carlina State over Marquette, so no extra 5 bonus points.  Either way, John passed a lot of of entries as he flew up the Leaderboard.  Congratulations, John.

We lost four champions last night, Creighton, Gonzaga, Houston and Marquette, leaving us with 7 possible champions - basically everybody but Clemson.  Our remaining champions are ALABAMA, Auburn, Arizona, Baylor, CONNECTICUT, Creighton, DUKE, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Gonzaga, Houston, ILLINOIS, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, Michigan State, North Carolina, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, PURDUE and TENNESSEE.  So, out of the 12 remaining teams in the tournament, entries have each of them as their champion, except Clemson.

Stats of the Day

2.  North Carolina State's Mohamed Diarra had 11 rebounds in the first half; Marquette had 12.

1.  Indiana's women's basketball team hit more three-pointers (13) in their loss to South Carolina yesterday than South Carolina has ever given up in a single game since Dawn Staley became their coach in the 2008-2009 season.  Also, Dawn Staley has been the coach since the 2008-2009 season!

Players of the Day

10.  Kyle Filipowski, Duke - 16 points, 9 rebounds

9.  DJ Horne, North Carolina State - 19 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist

8.  Kam Jones, Marquette - 20 points

7.  Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina - 22 points on 10-12 shooting

6.  Graham Ike, Gonzaga, 18 points, 10 rebounds

5.  Braden Smith, Purdue - 14 points, 8 rebounds, 15 assists

4.  Dalton Knecht, Tennessee - 24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block

3.  Aziaha James, North Carolina State - 29 points, 5 assists

2.  Baylor Scheierman, Creighton - 25 points, 6 rebounds

1.  Zach Edey, Purdue - 27 points, 14 rebounds

I don't know how I failed to mention this.  Nobody is talking about it, but I am pretty sure that Jamal Shead of Houston was injured when Duke's Kyle Filipowski tripped him.  Filipowski, knowing that you cannot fully embrace your inner Grayson Allenness until you have multiple trips in one year, needed at least one more after his intentional hit job on North Carolina's Harrison Ingram.  Now, he claims he didn't do it on purpose and didn't even know Ingram was there, but the video doesn't lie; Filipowski BE TRIPPIN'!

So, maybe Filipowki didn't actually trip Shead, but Grayson Allen does have multiple trips.  Here is a walk down memory lane with a GRAYSON ALLEN TRIPPING COMPILATION.

Of course, none of that compares to the travesty surrounding the greatest non-ejection in NCAA Tournament history, which happened in the Elite 8 in Philadelphia in 1992 when wannabetoughguy (yes, all one word) Christian Laettner stomped on all around nice guy and great citizen Aminu Timberlake and SHOULD HAVE BEEN EJECTED!

And no, I am not bitter.

Here is what we have to look forward to today, Illinois is an 8 1/2 point underdog to defending champion - and rolling like they are in Ibiza - Connecticut.  Both are champions in our pool, so this is a big game.  Illinois is going to have to come out of the gates firing, and it needs a big game from Terrence Shannon who, along with Purdue's Zach Edey, is playing the best of anybody in this tournament.

In the second game, 6-seed Clemson and 4-seed Alabama meet for the first time since Clemson upended Alabama on 44-16 on January 7, 2019 in Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.  Alabama is an incredibly high-scoring team that can be very exciting.  Can Clemson slow them down to crash the party?

Have fun watching the games, and always double check your brackets in case I made a scoring error.  Remember today's games are worth 8 points each.  And, as you will see, there is room to make up on the leaders, if you have your championship game intact, as well as most of your Final Four.  For now, here is your Leaderboard.

Tournament Standings after Sweet Sixteen/Day 2

1.  Blake Jackson - 96 - DUKE/Arizona

2.  Bill Ganoe 3 - 91 - North Carolina/Houston

     Max Marion 3 - 91 - PURDUE/Baylor

4.  Allison Parker - 90 - North Carolina/DUKE

5.  Ty Hedgepth - 86 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

     Marcus Jackson - 86 - Kansas/ALABAMA

7.  Miles Jackson - 85 - Kentucky/CONNECTICUT

     Brian McMahon - 85 - CONNECTICUT/Kentucky

     Jeff Plamondon - 85 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

10.  Braeden Helland - 84 - Auburn/Creighton

11.  George Fox 2 - 83 - CONNECTICUT/DUKE

12.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 82 - NORTH CAROLINA/TENNESSEE

       Javier Rodriguez - 82 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Chris Simmons - 82 - TENNESSEE/CONNECTICUT

       Measha Williams 3 - 82- PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Justin Yung - 82 - North Carolina/PURDUE

17.  Jody Cox - 81 - Marquette/Arizona

18.  Rich Samuels 4 - 80 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

19.  Lee Pagan - 79 - Arizona/PURDUE

       Cassi Spruill - 79 - Houston/ILLINOIS

       Jeremy Spuhler - 79 - CONNECTICUT/TENNESSEE

       Bubba Zdrowak - 79 - DUKE/Arizona

23.  Daniel Barsky 1 - 78 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Rich Samuels 2 - 78 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Measha Williams 1 - 78 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

       Josh Zdrowak - 78 - Arizona/Kentucky

27.  Paul Cummings 2 -77 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 77 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       John Hedgpeth - 77 - DUKE/North Carolina

       Marcus Spruill - 77 - North Carolina/PURDUE

       Cheryl Spuhler - 77 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

       Amanda Staudt - 77 - Arizona/PURDUE

33.  Kevin Dick - 76 - Kentucky/North Carolina

       Carolyn Fowler - 76 - North Carolina/TENNESSEE

       Mark Holbert - 76 - North Carolina/Kentucky

       Matt Hopps - 76 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Max Macon 2 - 76 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Si Nichols - 76 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       William Pujals - 76 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

40.  George Walks 3 - 75 - PURDUE/Baylor

       Amy Zdrowak - 75 - PURDUE/Baylor

42.  Joel Chernoff - 74 - North Carolina/Houston

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 74 - Creighton/CONNECTICUT

       Jacey Reynolds 2 - 74 - North Carolina/TENNESSEE

       Rich Samuels 5 - 74 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Measha Williams 2 - 74 - Houston/Auburn

47.  James Coleman - 73 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Sean McInerney 2 - 73 - CONNECTICUT/Creighton

       Brigadier General Kareem Montague - 73 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Matt Okell - 73 - North Carolina/Houston

       Dave Piasecki - 73 - Florida/Auburn

       Keith Zdrowak - 73 - PURDUE/Baylor

53.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 72 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 72 - Auburn/PURDUE

       Brittany Sosa - 72 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Logan Spuhler - 72 - Arizona/DUKE

57.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 71 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Ashley Poer - 71 - Iowa State/Houston

       Silas Nichols - 71 - CONNECTICUT/Kentucky

       Jane Reynolds - 71 - ALABAMA/TENNESSEE

       Pepe Sosa - 71 - Arizona/Kentucky

62.  Paul Cummings 3 - 70 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

       Justine Frank - 70 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

       George Walks 4 - 70 - PURDUE/North Carolina

65.  Paul Cummings 1 - 69 - PURDUE/Iowa State

       Derrick Lowe - 69 - Kentucky/North Carolina

       Ryan Rodriguez - 69 - DUKE/Auburn

       Katie Zdrowak - 69 - Arizona/PURDUE

69.  Skip LaForte - 68 - Michigan State/Houston

       Max Marion 2 - 68 - Kentucky/CONNECTICUT

       Sasha Moon - 68 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Rich Samuels 1 - 68 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Rich Samuels 3 - 68 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 68 - Kentucky/Iowa State

75.  George Fox 1 - 67 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 67 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

77.  Melissa Gaynor - 66 - ILLINOIS/South Carolina

       Tyler Giamberini - 66 - Arizona/Kansas

       Quinn Jackson - 66 - Iowa State/Gonzaga

       Dan Laishley - 66 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

       Lily Spuhler - 66 - Kansas/North Carolina

       Mike Wolff 1 - 66 - DUKE/North Carolina

       Jonathan Wasserman - 66 - Kentucky/ILLINOIS

84.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 65 - Kentucky/Auburn

       Jenna Finkelstein - 65 - Florida/CONNECTICUT

       Dawn Lamb - 65 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

       Chris O'Neil - 65 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

       Kingfish Parham - 65 - Auburn/Oregon

       Jessica Samuels - 65 - Florida Atlantic/Houston

       Day Yi - 65 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

91.  Jacey Fowler 1 - 64 - North Carolina/PURDUE

       Cheryl Spuhler - 64 - Iowa State/Marquette

93.  Max Macon 1 - 63 - CONNECTICUT/TENNESSEE

       Max Marion 2 - 63 - North Carolina/Marquette

       Kisha Marzouca 1 - 63 - Arizona/DUKE

       George Walks 1 - 63 - North Carolina/Kentucky

       Keith Wynne - 63 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

98.  Michael McNally - 62 - Gonzaga/Baylor

       George Walks 2 - 62 Baylor/Gonzaga

       Coco Wynne - 62 - Creighton/ILLINOIS

101.  Max Macon 3 - 61 - Florida/North Carolina

         Max Macon 4 - 61 - Houston/North Carolina

         Jamie Toole - 61 - Houston/Arizona

104.  Clair Bullock - 60 - NORTH CAROLINA STATE/North Carolina

         James Garvin - 60 - PURDUE/Iowa State

         Natalie Moon - 60 - CONNECTICUT/PURDUE

107.  Brent Bellinger - 59 - ILLINOIS/PURDUE

        Adam Jorgensen 1 - 59 - CONNECTICUT/Creighton

        Adam Jorgensen 2 - 59 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

        Nick Kuehl - 59 - Auburn/Marquette

        Max Marion 4 - 59 - Houston/Iowa State

        Noel Martinez - 59 - PURDUE/CONNECTICUT

113.  Daniel Barsky 2 - 58 - PURDUE/Baylor

         Barbie Curlett 1 - 58 - Houston/CONNECTICUT

         Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 58 - TENNESSEE/Arizona

         Katie Kollmeyer - 58 - Arizona/Houston

         Sean McInerney 1 - 58 - Marquette/North Carolina

         Chris Pettit - 58 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

119.  Barbie Curlett 2 - 56 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

         Arlene Amo Hopps - 56 - North Carolina/DUKE

         Karen Katz - 56 - PURDUE/Auburn

         Savannah Grace Pressly - 56 - Florida Atlantic/Marquette

123.   Shane Jernigan 1 - 54 - CONNECTICUT/Marquette

124.  Kisha Marzouca 2 - 52 - Arizona/Houston

         Jason Spuhler - 52 - CONNECTICUT/Houston

126.  Guy Hughes - 51 - Houston/Iowa State

         Anne-Marie O'Neil - 51 - PURDUE/Arizona

         Barkley Sosa - 51 - CONNECTICUT/Gonzaga

         Mike Wolff 2 - 51 - North Carolina/Florida

130.  Colleen Giamberini - 50 - CONNECTICUT/NORTH CAROLINA STATE

         Dave Marzouca 2 - 50 - Arizona/DUKE

132.  Noel Martinez 2 - 49 - Auburn/TENNESSEE

         A.J. Ripin - 49 - North Carolina/Houston

134.  Stephanie Henderson - 48 - Marquette/CONNECTICUT

135.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 47 - Wisconsin/CONNECTICUT

         Hannah Sosa - 47 - Florida/Arizona

137.  ALYSSA HOPPS - QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, 35 - North Carolina/Kentucky - CLINCHES LAST PLACE AND ENTRY FEE RETURNED

2024 NCAA Tournament Pool Sweet 16/Day 1

 

Sorry for the late post - but I did have work I had to do today (Damn depositions.)  But finishing this up while actually watching basketball, so that is nice!

Well, the Sweet Sixteen is now halfway done, and we had some pretty good games last night.  WE HAVE A NEW LEADER(S), but before we get started, I have to relay this story from one of the entrants in our pool.

Jody Cox of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was on vacation last week and as we all know, that was when our brackets were due.  He and his family were on a Spring Break ski trip, or in the jungle, or Serengeti, or Australian Outback, who knows.  [Ed. Note - I know, but it isn't my place to put his business out there.]  But, he really, really wanted to enter the pool.  So, being the bright, MacGyverish guy that he is, he drew his own brackets, took a picture and sent it to me so that I could timely receive his entry.  Now, it is perfectly legible and I had no problem scoring his sheet.  However, I found out in talking to him this week that he drew the brackets on a pizza box!!!  That my friends, is resourcefulness and dedication!!!  He is the Andrew Tate of our pool - without all of the criminality and horrible personality.

There are also some pretty interesting facts and statistics pertaining to the beginning of the Sweet Sixteen!

Purdue and Gonzaga - both in the Sweet Sixteen - have the most tournament wins without winning a national title at 46.  Illinois has 44.  [Spoiler Alert - 45].

The Illinois-Iowa State game is a matchup of KenPom's number 1 ranked offense (Illinois) and defense (Iowa State).

Duke hasn't beaten a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament since 1994.  They play the one-seed Houston Cougars in the Sweet Sixteen tonight.

San Diego State has more tournament wins the past two years (7) than in all previous tournaments combined (6).

Louisiana Tech won the first women's NCAA Tournament in 1982 over Cheyney State.  The starting point guard for Louisiana Tech was Kim Mulkey.  You can read some about here on this post from SINICKAL.  (There's your F'in cite!)  You can also find us making fun of here in last year's Final Four Chronicles, and possibly more this year if LSU makes the Women's Final Four.

The Connecticut-San Diego State game is the rematch of the 2023 title game; The Marquette-NC State game is a rematch of the 1974 NCAA title game.  NC State won that game 76-64, behind the Most Outstanding Player David Thompson, in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Some big basketball names in that tournament:  Besides Thompson, Norm Sloan coached NC State and Tom Burleson was a standout, Al McGuire coached Marquette who had Maurice Lucas, and some featured players from outside that championship game included Bill Walton and Jamaal Wilkes from UCLA, Marvin Barnes from Providence, Campy Russell from Michigan and John Shumate from Notre Dame.  Loaded!

But, due to the rules of the day, we missed the possibility of the greatest tournament championship game, if the ACC Championship game was any indication.  See, back then only conference champions could participate in the NCAA Tournament, and NC State and Maryland were both in the ACC.  At the time of the tournament, NC State was ranked number 1 in the country and Maryland was ranked #4, but was probably the hottest non-Wolfpack team in the country entering the ACC tourney.  Being the number 1 seed, NCAA had a quarterfinal bye and dispatched Virginia 87-66 to make the finals.  Maryland, with the conference's number 2 seed, ran through Duke 85-66 and North Carolina 105-85 to set up the most collosal of conference finals, which NC State won 103-100 in overtime.  NC State qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and Maryland went home - as by far the greatest team to never even make the NCAA Tournament.  But that score is just the start ...

As stated earlier, NC State was led by David Thompson, three-time ACC Player of the Year and 1975 National Player of the Year.  His co-stars were Tom Burleson - the ACC Tournament's Most Outstnding Player - and Monte Towe, looking like polar opposites at 7'4" and 5'7" respectively.  Future Baltimore Oriole pitcher Tim Stoddard also started on this team coached by Norm Sloan.

Maryland had its own assortment of star players, including 6 future NBA draft picks.  It is even hard to say who "led" this team, but the six future draft picks included John Lucas, future Congressman Tom McMillan, Len Elmore, Mo Howard, Tom Roy, and Owen Brown.  Maryland was coached by the legendary Lefty Driesell, who passed away this February.

This game went back-and-forth all night, with Maryland hitting 12 of its first 14 shots.  NC State withstood that storm, and trailed only 55-50 at halftime.  NC State had a four-point lead with just over 2 minutes left in regulation, but Maryland scored two late buckups to force overtime.  Three lead changes in the extra frame occurred before NC State prevailed 103-100.

Most impressive state of this game is that both teams combined for zero turnovers in the second half and overtime.  Let me say that for the people in the back:  BOTH TEAMS COMBINED FOR ZERO TURNOVERS IN THE SECOND HALF!!!  That is high quality basketball.

Of course, the following year the NCAA expanded the tournament and allowed at-large teams into the NCAA Tournament.  Also of lasting import is the story that David Thompson could jump so high that he could take a dollar bill of the top of the backboard - and leave four quarters change!  He also scored 73 points in a single NBA game, topped only by Wilt Chamberlain (100, 78, 73 two times), and Koby Bryant (81) and Wilt Chamberlain (78).  [Luka Doncic also scored 73 in a game earlier this year.]

I know this is only NCAA Tournament-adjacent, but this is one of the three greatest basketball games ever, along with Duke-Kentucky 1992 (I can't believe I have to mention this - UGH!) and the 1992 US Olympic team's internal scrimmage chronicled in The Greatest Game Nobody Ever Saw. 

Now, let's get back to the 2024 games.

The first early game was Clemson/Arizona, with the Clemson defeating Arizona 77-72.  Clemson took an early lead, and although it kept seeming like the Wildcats were clawing back, they never could get over that hump.  With 1:06 remaining in the game, Clemson called time out, and then ran a picture-perfect out-of-bounds play for a PJ Hall Dunk that not only ended the game, but showed that all Wildcats must have problem defending the out-of-bounds under the basket play.  And, since I thought of this point as it happened, Guy Hughes of Lexington, Kentucky and Kevin Dick of Alexandria, Virginia have to suffer this thought with me now that I put it out there.

This is Clemson's first Elite 8 since 1980, when they were led by Larry Nance, who eventually went on to win the very first NBA Slam Dunk championship!

The second game was absolute annihilation:  Connecticut over San Diego State 82-52.  Some numbers from defending-champion UConn's run:

9 straight double-digit wins;

17 years since a defending champion reached the Elite Eight;

28 seconds that UConn trailed in last night's game; the only time they have trailed in this year's tourney;

86 - UConn's total margin of victory this tournament - the largest since 1985; and

+152 - The total +/- of Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer, UConn's starting back court.

Alabama defeated North Carolina 89-87 in a super-exciting game punctuated by North Dakota State transfer Grant Nelson's go-ahead three-point play and game-saving block for the Crimson Tide.

Then, Illinois beat Iowa State behind Terrence Shannon's 29 points, including two free throws with 6 second left to raise the lead to 5.

With a 3, 4 and 6 seed all advancing over a 1, 2, and 2 seed, we lost three champions last night, including Your Tournament Host.  Our remaining champions are:  ALABAMA, Auburn, Arizona, Baylor, CONNECTICUT, CREIGHTON, DUKE, Florida, Florida Atlantic, GONZAGA, HOUSTON, ILLINOIS, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, MARQUETTE, Michigan State, North Carolina, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, PURDUE and TENNESSEE.  So, out of the 12 remaining teams in the tournament, entries have each of them as their champion, except Clemson.

Most entries had Connecticut in the Elite 8, and a surprisingly large number of entries picked Illinois into this weekend's game.  There were 12 entries with the Crimson Tide into the Elite 8, but only 3 that had Clemson surviving this far.  For that reason Kyle Henderson 1 of Fort Worth, Texas, Cheryl Spuhler of Acworth, Georgia, and Savannah Grace Pressly of Boca Raton, Florida all win the coveted "Pick of the Day"!  Congratulations you three.

Players of the Day

10.  Aaron Estrada, Alabama - 19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists

9.  Armando Bacot, North Carolina - 19 points, 12 rebounds

8.  Stephon Castle, Connecticut - 16 points, 11 rebounds

7.  Jaden Bradley, Arizona - 18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks

6.  Oumar Bello, Arizona - 15 points, 15 rebounds

5.  Cam Spencer, Connecticut - 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists

4.  Chase Hunter, Clemson - 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assist

3.  Curtis Jones, Iowa State - 26 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

2.  Grant Nelson, Alabama - 24 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 5 blocks

1.  Terrence Shannon, Illinois - 29 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals

Social Media Posts of the Day

I saw this on both TikTok and Twitter - from two different posters.  It simply said, "I really hope Ke$ha did't wake up this morning feeling like P. Diddy!"

Ok Mr. Tournament Host - given the severity of the accusations against P. Diddy, that seems like kind of a shot.  How are you going to connect that to this tournament?  Here, let me show you.

So, there are a number of people implicated in the P. Diddy criminal investigation.  Among them is a 25-year old who is accused of working as a "drug mule" for Diddy, and has been arrested on charges of cocaine possession and possession of controlled substances.   In addition to being a "drug mule", this 25-year old has been accused in civil suits as procuring guns as well for Diddy.  This man is Brendan Paul.  Paul was arrested at the Opa-Locka airport attempting to board a private plane either owned or leased by Diddy.

Brenden Paul played basketball for Syracuse University during its heyday from 2018-2020 before transferring to Division II Fairmont State.  See, I told you could make the connection.

Anyway, it is important to note that everything stated above is still just an allegation and that in the United States we are innocent until proven guilty.

Now, on to the rankings.  You will notice a whole lot of Jacksons near at the top.  In fact, the Jackson Five are all doing very well.  I'll bet you can't find the 5th Jackson!  (You can't - it's Staudt!)  Anyways, as always, please check your scores and if you feel that a discrepancy exists, let me know.

Tournament Standings after Sweet Sixteen/Day 1

1.  Allison Parker - 86

     Marcus Jackson - 86

3.  Blake Jackson - 84

4.  Bill Ganoe 3 - 83

5.  Brian McMahon - 81

6.  Braeden Helland - 80

7.  Max Marion 3 - 79

8.  Ty Hedgpeth - 78

9.  Miles Jackson - 77

     Jeff Plamondon - 77

11.  George Fox 2 - 75

12.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 74

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 74

       Chris Simmons - 74

       Measha Williams 3 - 74

       Josh Zdrowak - 74

17.  Jody Cox - 73

       Amanda Staudt - 73

19.  Carolyn Fowler - 72

       William Pujals - 72

       Rich Samuels 4 - 72

22.  Cassi Spruill - 71

       Bubba Zdrowak - 71

24.  Daniel Barsky 1 - 70

       Javier Rodriguez - 70

       Rich Samuels 2 - 70

       Rich Samuels 5 - 70

       Measha Williams 1 - 70

       Justin Yung - 70

30.  Paul Cummings 2 - 69

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 69

       Sean McInerney 2 - 69

       Dave Piasecki - 69

       Marcus Spruill - 69

       Cheryl Spuhler - 69

36.  Kevin Dick - 68

       Mark Holbert - 68

       Matt Hopps - 68

       Si Nichols - 68

40.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 67

       Silas Nichols - 67

       Lee Pagan - 67

       Pepe Sosa - 67

       Jeremy Spuhler - 67

       George Walks 3 - 67

       Amy Zdrowak - 67

47.  Joel Chernoff - 66

       Paul Cummings 3 - 66

       Quinn Jackson - 66

       Jacey Reynolds 2 - 66

       Measha Williams 2 - 66

52.  James Coleman - 65

       Paul Cummings 1 - 65

       Brigadier General Kareem Montague - 65

       Matt Okell - 65

       Kingfish Parham - 65

       Day Yi - 65

       Katie Zdrowak - 65

       Keith Zdrowak - 65

60.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 64

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 64

       Skip LaForte - 64

       Max Macon 2 - 64

       Max Marion 1 - 64

       Sasha Moon - 64

       Rich Samuels 1 - 64

       Rich Samuels 3 - 64

       Brittany Sosa - 64

69.  Kyle Henderson 2 - 63

       Ashley Poer - 63

       Jane Reynolds - 63

       Keith Wynne - 63

73.  Justine Frank - 62

       Melissa Gaynor - 62

       Tyler Giamberini - 62

       Lily Spuhler - 62

       George Walks 4 - 62

78.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 61

       John Hedgpeth - 61

       Dawn Lamb - 61

       Derrick Lowe - 61

       Ryan Rodriguez - 61

83.  Jacey Fowler 1 - 60

       Cheryl Spuhler - 60

       Logan Spuhler - 60

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 60

87.  George Fox 1 - 59

       Max Macon 1 - 59

       Max Marion 2 - 59

       Michael McNally - 59

       George Walks 1 - 59

92.  Dan Laishley - 58

       George Walks 2 - 58

       Jonathan Wasserman - 58

95.  Jenna Finkelstein - 57

       Max Macon 3 - 57

       Chris O'Neil - 57

       Jessica Samuels - 57

       Jamie Toole - 57

100.  James Garvin - 56

101.  Adam Jorgensen 1 - 55

         Adam Jorgensen 2 - 55

         Max Marion 4 - 55

104.  Daniel Barsky 2 - 54

         Barbie Curlett 1 - 54

         Katie Kollmeyer - 54

         Mike Wolff 1 - 54

         Coco Wynne - 54

109.  Max Macon 4 - 53

110.  Clair Bullock - 52

         Barbie Curlett 2 - 52

         Karen Katz - 52

         Natalie Moon - 52

         Savannah Grace Pressly - 52

115.  Brent Bellinger - 51

         Nick Kuehl - 51

         Noel Martinez 1 - 51

         Kisha Marzouca 1 - 51

119.  Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 50

         Shane Jernigan 1 - 50

         Chris Pettit - 50

122.  A.J. Ripin - 49

123.  Arlene Amo Hopps - 48

124.  Anne-Marie O'Neil - 47

         Barkley Sosa - 47

126.  Colleen Giamberini - 46

         Sean McInerney 1 - 46

128.  Hannah Sosa - 45

129.  Stephanie Henderson - 44

         Kisha Marzouca 2 - 44

         Jason Spuhler - 44

132.  Guy Hughes - 43

         Dave Marzouca 1 - 43

         Mike Wolff 2 - 43

135.  Dave Marzouca 2 - 42

136.  Noel Martinez 2 - 41

137.  ALYSSA HOPPS - QUINCY, MASS - 35 - CLINCHED LAST PLACE