NCAA Tournament Pool - Round 1

 

Welcome one and all to the first update of this year's NCAA Tournament Pool.  Just to let everyone know there are two simultaneous pools being run on this site by co-hosts, but both are different styles.  This is a more traditional bracket format, and the other is a "Super Bowl Squares" type format.  If you filled out the bracket - this is the site for you.

For those in this pool, I would like to thank you for following the rules.  And, it might not have been you, as it is a lot fewer people than you think.  Four entries didn't have their name, 2 people forgot to pick a champion, about a dozen submitted a final score tiebreaker, about two dozen just replied to my initial e-mail, and it goes on-and-on and on.  Oh well, I still love this even anyway!

Before I begin, I would be remiss without mentioning the passing of George Foreman, an Olympic gold medalist and a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in boxing, including his second title after coming out of retirement at 76 years old - like his idol Joe Louis!  What does that have to do with this basketball pool?  Well, I know my bracket feels like it went a few rounds with Foreman in the past two days.  And I know I am not the only one, as we have entries that have already lost their champions, but more on that later.

Another unrelated - but at least it is basketball - fact, I want to give some kudos to Alyssa Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts, who recently finished her high school career as the co-leading scorer in her high school's history!  

And, once again we have James Coleman of Boynton Beach, Florida, who has somehow mastered the art of competing and winning in tournament pools, just not winning ours.  His story is here, if you would like some tips for next year, or if you would just like a fun and interesting read.  How to guarantee a win in a March Madness NCAA Tournament pool

Now, back to our pool.  The fact that more entries chose the University of Florida as their champion is not surprising, giving that they are the Co-Betting favorite (with Duke), and we have a number of UF alumni in this pool.  But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we have an actual alligator participating as well.  I mean, technically he might be a Caiman (I forget, honestly), but it is about as close to a Gator as possible.  Even though he has participated before, I do not think that I have had the occasion to mention him, so welcome this year to Bubba Zdrowak of Orlando, Florida.

Since we are on the topics of champions, right behind Florida in selections are Duke and Houston, with Auburn a bit behind.  All told we have 13 different champions, which I will keep listing with each blog post.  In each listing, the champions remaining will remain in bold and caps.  Our potential champions are:

Alabama, Auburn, Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Marquette, Maryland, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Tennessee

Tough opening round for three of our entrants who lost Kansas, Marquette, and Mississippi State in the first round.  I cannot speak for the Kansas and Marquette selectors, but Barkley Sosa of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida selected Mississippi State because she chose all dog mascot teams to win, and if a dog team was not playing, she chose against all cat mascot teams.  I can only assume that whomever selected Connecticut did so because, well hey, they won the last two and have now won 13 tournament games in a row!!!

Since I know standings is what everybody really wants to see, I will give you a little taste as we celebrate our leaders.  Max Macon 3 of Jupiter, Florida and Measha Leonardo Williams of Houston, Texas are our Co-Leaders.  Right behind in third place is Katie Kollmeyer of Lake Worth Beach, Florida.  We have three weekends of basketball to see if they can hold their respective places, or fall back down to the pack.

Part of the reason these brackets are in the lead is because Max Macon 3 and Katie Kollmeyer both selected all three upsets correctly - Colorado State, Drake, and McNeese State, all why selecting one of those as their guaranteed upset.  That is a whole lot of bonus points.  Joining them for the Pick of the Day(s) is Max Macon 1 of Jupiter, Florida and Amanda Staudt of Reston, Virginia.  They also selected all 3 upsets correctly as well as their guarantee.  You will see them high in the standings as well.

The Worst Pick of the Day goes to anyone and everyone that chose Liberty. as Liberty University has a strict no dancing policy for its students, and even attendance at a dance can result in disciplinary action, and a $15 fine.  Hard to dance in the tournament when it is against school rules!

Some frequently chosen upsets that didn't hit largely include UC-San Diego, North Carolina, and Yale.  Serves all of us that selected Yale right (and yes, I typed us - ugh).  Nobody should ever select Yale for anything, even though their promising guard Bez Mbeng did lead the NCAA in triple-doubles this year, with 3.  Too bad they were saddled with an oaf of a power forward in Nick Towsend, who legitimately drug that team down.  Anyway, I digress.

With apologies to McNeese State, the story of the first round was Drake, who hired coach Ben McCollum from Division II Northwest Missouri State at the conclusion of last season.  All McCollum did at Northwest Missouri State was win 4 national championships, and he brought 4 of his players with him to Drake.  I guess these proves the old adage of "What do winners do?  Winners win!"

The other story - which will be harped upon a lot today as the game tips-off at 2:40, is that Rick Pitino and John Calipari will match up as Arkansas - fresh off its "upset" of Kansas - takes on St. John's.  Pitino and Calipari are, of course, legendary Kentucky coaches that both won national titles for the Wildcats and are both in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.  Kentucky fans will easily be rooting for ... Sunday to come for their second-round game.

Today's Trivia:  This question comes to me by virtue of the legendary coaching matchup just mentioned:  What two coaches have faced each other the most times in the NCAA Tournament.  (Answer below, immediately before the Standings.)

It should be noted that Rick Pitino's son, Richard Pitino, is the head coach of New Mexico, and with the Lobos' upset of Marquette yesterday, Rick and Richard became the first father-son duo to win games in the same NCAA Tournament.  

And speaking of coaches, did anybody notice Tyler Perry coaching Norfolk State last night?  No Hollywood magic as the Spartans were annihilated by the 1-seed Florida Gators 95-69.

The story from the first round - which is not being publicized that much, interestingly - is that the ratings for Thursday night's primetime games were the highest EVER, with an average of 12.2 million viewers.  The games in that time-slot were:  Arkansas-Kansas; Wofford-Tennessee; Yale-Texas A&M; and Drake-Missouri.

And since we are back to Drake, everybody that knows me knows that I am no fan of Drake - of the Aubrey Graham variety, and I have hated on him a decade or so before Kendrick Lamar himself took aim on the Canadian musician (I will not call him a rapper.)  But, I do have to give credit to whomever came up with this Meme:

Kendrick still won the beef!

Best Stats from the First Round

The best stat from the first round was obviously the tv viewership from Thursday night, but here are the most interesting ones from the games.

5.  The Top 4 seeds went 16-0 for the first time since 2017!

4.  University of Florida had 21 offensive rebounds!  OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS!

3.  Big Ten went 8-0 in the first round.  And since the SEC went 8-6, exactly half of the remaining teams are from the Big Ten and SEC.

2.  The University of Florida had 20 assists on 29 made field goals.

1.  Clemson, which McNeese State defeated 69-67, had scored only 26 points with 10:02 remaining in the second half.  Only 26.  That is a 32.6 points per game pace.  This means they scored 41 in the last 10 minutes.  That is a 164 points per game pace!

And speaking of McNeese State, they just won the school's first NCAA tournament game - ever!  And this even occurred with their head coach - Will Wade - verbally agreeing to take the head coaching job at North Carolina State on Wednesday, the day before their big upset win over Clemson.  So, that brings me to today's bit of (Non-Tournament) History.

Since McNeese State has never won an NCAA Tournament game before, they do not have much tournament history to report, but they do have one of the great shooting guards in basketball history - Joe Dumars.  Dumars attended McNeese State from 1981-1985, averaging 22.5 points per game, and 28.5 per game as a senior - which placed him fourth in the nation.  (Side note - the scoring leader that year was Xavier McDaniel from Wichita State, who also led the nation in rebounding.)  When Dumars left McNeese State he was the 11th leading scorer in NCAA history.  Dumars concluded his college career as a 4-time first team All-Southland Conference player.  He was drafted 18th by the Detroit Pistons, in what became an incredible draft for the NBA (Patrick Ewing, Wayman Tisdale, Xavier McDaniel, Chris Mullin, Detlef Schrempf, Charles Oakley, Karl Malone, A.C. Green, Terry Porter, John "Hot Rod" Williams - at least for his nickname, Michael Adams, Arvydas Sabonis, and Spud Webb.  So basically, some of the best big men, and best little men ever).

Once on Detroit, Dumars settled in as the starting shooting guard - and eventual captain - of a great Pistons team whose guard rotation included Isaiah Thomas and Vinny Johnson. If you add in their big men - Bill Laimbeer, James Edwards, John Salley, and Dennis Rodman, and their scoring wings Adrian Dantley and mark Aguirre, they had talent, which ultimately won two NBA titles.

Dumars individual accolades include being the 1989 NBA Finals MVP, a 6-time All-Star, All-NBA second team in 1993, All-NBA third team in 1990 and 1991 (when Michael Jordan was the perennial 1st-team shooting guard), 4-time All-NBA Defensive first team and 1-time All-NBA Defensive second-team.

After his playing career ended, Dumars became an executive, and won NBA's Executive of the Year with the Pistons in 2003, and won an NBA title in 2004.  Dumars is currently the Executive Vice-President and Head of Basketball Operations for the NBA.

He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

I usually list the best players of the previous day, but since we have two days of action, I am going to make separate lists for those that excelled for winning teams, and those that shone in losing matchups, please the best women's performances from yesterday.

Best Men's Players in Losing Efforts

8.  Zeb Jackson, Virginia Commonwealth - 23 points

7.  John Poulakides, Yale - 23 points, 3 rebounds

6.  Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State - 26 points, 2 assists

5.  Dain Dainja - Cue Mystikal, Memphis - 22 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks

4.  Tyler McGhie, UC-San Diego - 25 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

3.  Dailyn Swain, Kansas - 27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals

2.  David Joplin, Marquette - 28 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

1.  Amarrion Dickerson, Robert Morris - 25 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks

Best Players in the Women's Tournament

10.  Trinity San Antonio, Grand Canyon - 27 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals

9.  Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame - 24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals

8.  Aronette Vonleh, Baylor - 25 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist

7.  Sonia Citron, Notre Dame - 24 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists

6.  Joyce Edwards, South Carolina - 22 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals - in only 21 minutes!

5.  Jordan Hobbs, Michigan - 28 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

4.  Audi Crooks - Iowa State - 28 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists

3.  Sammie Puisis - South Florida - 28 points, 7 rebounds

2.  Georgia Amoore - Kentucky - 34 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks

1.  Maggie Doogan - Richmond - 30 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists

Best Men's Players - Winning Edition

10.  Kasparas Jakucionis, Illinois - 16 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists

9.  Otega Oweh, Kentucky - 20 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals

8.  Sean Pedulla, Mississippi - 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals

7.  R.J. Luis, St. John's - 22 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists

6.  Walker Clayton, Jr., Florida - 23 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists

5.  Kerwin Walton, Texas Tech - 27 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists

4.  Mark Sears, Alabama - 22 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists

3.  Pharrel Payne, Texas A&M - 25 points, 10 rebounds

2.  Chaz Lanier, Tennessee - 29 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals

1.  Jumiya Neal, Creighton - 29 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists

As we move to the standings, may we all have as much fun as AMIR KHAN, the team manager for McNeese State - the only team manager with his own NIL deal!!!  Seriously!

As we turn to the standings, please understand that I am hand-scoring all of the brackets, so mistakes will likely be made.  E-Mail me, Call me, Text me, or whatever you want if you think I have a problem with your bracket.  I will check it out.  But, please note, if I catch any mistakes, either pro or con, those mistakes will be rectified.  Please note - all ties are listed alphabetically.  Next week I will be integrating champions and runners-up into the standings.

Trivia Answer:  Mike Krzyzweski and Tom Izzo - they have met 6 times in the NCAA Tournament.

Standings After Round 1

1.  Max Macon 3 - 44

     Measha Leonardo Williams - 44

3.  Katie Kollmeyer - 43

4.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 42

     Marcus Jackson - 42

     Amanda Staudt - 42

7.  Ty Hedgpeth - 41

     Shane Jernigan - 41

     Chris LaForte - 41

     Salvatore Plamondon - 41

     Measha Donatello Williams - 41

12.  Paul Cummings - 40

       Bill Ganoe 3 - 40

       Martha Kroesen - 40

       Dan Laishley - 40

       Dustin Lansing - 40

       Brigadier General Kareem Montague - 40

       Brittany Sosa - 40

       Steven Usma 4 - 40

20.  Guy Hughes - 39

       Jeff Plamondon - 39

22.  Dan Barsky 2 - 38

       Brent Bellinger - 38

       Mark Holbert - 38

       Preston Holbert - 38

       Steven Usma 3 - 38

27.  Justine Frank - 37

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 37

       Max Macon 1 - 37

       Mike Wolff 1 - 37

       Christine Zanzig - 37

32.  John Hedgpeth - 36

       Alyssa Hopps - 36

       Eric Inge - 36

       Marcus Spruill - 36

       Lily Spuhler - 36

       George Walks 2 - 36

       Jonathan Wasserman - 36

39.  Dan Barsky 1 - 35

       Christina Gomez - 35

       Matt Hopps - 35

       Jane Reynolds & Carolyn Fowler - 35

       Steven Usma 2 - 35

       George Walks 3 - 35

45.  Brent Bellinger 2 - 34

       Jonathan Cox - 34

       Kevin Dick - 34

       Jazz Piasecki - 34

       Ashley Poer 2 - 34

       Mike Wolff 2 - 34

       Day Yi - 34

52.  Colleen Giamberini - 33

       Shane Dogmillionaire Jernigan - 33

       Silas Nichols - 33

       Rich Samuels 3 - 33

       Day Yi 2 - 33

57.  Xavier Conway - 32

       Measha Raphael Williams - 32

       Bubba Zdrowak - 32

60.  Rachel Bornn - 31

       Karen Katz - 31

       Natalie Moon - 31

       Javier Rodriguez 2 - 31

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 31

65.  Quinn Jackson - 30

       Sasha Moon - 30

       Allison Parker - 30

       Justin Yung - 30

69.  Joel Chernoff - 29

       James Coleman - 29

       Jacey Fowler 1 - 29

       Adam Jorgensen - 29

       Karen Katz 2 - 29

       Dave Marzouca - 29

       Kingfish Parham - 29

       Rich Samuels 1 - 29

       Brandon Satterwhite - 29

       Barkley Sosa - 29

       Measha Michaelangelo Williams - 29

80.  William Pujals - 28

       Jessica Samuels - 28

       Hannah Sosa - 28

83.  Kline Kroesen - 27

       Dave Piasecki - 27

       Ashley Poer 1 - 27

       Ferris Spuhler - 27

87.  Paul Cummings 2 - 26

       James Garvin - 26

       Max Macon 2 - 26

       Si Nichols - 26

       Pepe Sosa - 26

       Jason Spuhler - 26

       Jeremy Spuhler - 26

       George Walks 4 - 26

95.  Jenna Finkelstein - 25

       Stephanie Henderson - 25

       Arlene Amo Hopps - 25

       Dan Wilson - 25

       Katie Zdrowak - 25

100.  Benny Frank Finkelstein - 24

         Jacey Fowler 2 - 24

         Alvaro Gonzalez - 24

         Kyle Henderson 2 - 24

         Dave Marzouca 2 - 24

         Kisha Marzouca - 24

         Vincent Plamondon - 24

         Jane Reynolds - 24

         Javier Rodriguez 1 - 24

         Steven Usma 1 - 24

         Joshua Zdrowak - 24

111.  Tyler Giamberini - 23

         Kisha Marzouca 2 - 23

         Chris Simmons - 23

         Caroline Spuhler - 23

         Logan Spuhler - 23

         George Walks 1 - 23

         Chuck Whitcomb - 23

         Keith Zdrowak - 23

119.  Luna Frank - 22

         Theo Frank - 22

         Stacia Wilkaitis - 22

         Amy Zdrowak - 22

123.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 21

         Braeden Helland - 21

         Max Macon 4 - 21

         Wes Wiggins - 21

127.  Carolyn Fowler - 20

         Cheryl Spuhler - 20

2024 NCAA Tournament Pool Results: Round 1/Day 1

 

Hello all, and welcome to the very first update to the 2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket Pool.  For those of you that have noticed some posts from a different form of monetary entertainment system regarding this year's NCAA Tournament.  That is a different game from the standard bracket pool being hosted by another of WeMakeItRain's contributors.  You should pretty easily note the differences between the two once you click on a post, but the tournament pool will have a title similar to the one on this post, depicting the round and the day to which it applies.

Now that we have cleared that up ... Thank you all for joining the pool  We have 136 entrants and it does take some time to go through that many brackets each day, at least through the first weekend, so please give me some leeway in getting the posts up the following day.  They will always be as soon as I am able to post.

With regard to the 136 entries, I would like to make special mention to some.  Chris Pettit of Tallahassee, Florida and Olympia, Washington is a newcomer to the pool, and boy was he excited.  He was the first person to send me his entry - on SUNDAY NIGHT!!!  He must have really been excited as he sent in a bracket without a name, e-mail address, city, or guaranteed bonus.  Chris is an intelligent guy, so I assume it was because of his excitement, and not because he is illiterate like Tyler Kolek of Marquette (please look up if you don't know - this is a diss at Kolek, not Chris.)

Another early entrant was Allison Parker of Washington, D.C., who very artfully placed a heart next to Duke, meaning she might not be invited back next year - not with that attitude!  Especially since she is a Cougar - from Washington State - get your minds out of the gutter.

The opposite of early entrants would be those who send in their entrants at the last minute.  That includes Carolyn Fowler of Greenacres, Florida who, although she had her brackets completed timely, was waiting for the remainder of her household to finish theirs.  Jane Reynolds of Greenacres, Florida, a former professional golf rules official, was one of those taking her time curating her bracket.  Carolyn shared this picture with me, and gave me permission to post it here.

We have had a couple of changes with some entrants in our pool that note some mention.  Longtime participate Colonel Kareem Montague of Fort Carson, Colorado is no longer a member of our illustrious pool - but that is because he has been replaced by Brigadier General Kareem Montague of Fort Carson, Colorado.  Congratulations Kareem.  Another longtime particpant, Ty Leatherman of Wilmington, North Carolina did not submit an entry, but Ty Hedgpeth of Wilmington, North Carolina did - and she brought along a fellow that shares the last name Hedgpeth!  Congratulations you two!

And, once you start reviewing the standings, you will see a Max Macon of Jupiter, Florida and a Max Marion of West Palm Beach, Florida, each with 4 entries.  I will try my absolute best to make sure I keep the appropriate person labeled to the appropriate bracket.

For the pool, we have 21 different champions selected by various entrants, all except for Michigan State selected by multiple entries.  So if you see an unusual championt, know that more than 1 person thinks that team is going to win the championship.  Also, as is always the case, we already lost a champion yesterday; see if you can guess which team that is!  (More on that later).

I will continually list all predicted champions, with those remaining in all capital letters and bolded.  Our 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.

Yes, you guessed it.  We lost Kentucky.  I am still not well.  I contemplated scrapping the whole tournament and returning everyone's money.  But, I will push through.  (That reminds me - if you have not paid your entry fee, please do that before the Sweet Sixteen starts - but hopefully earlier.)   (And, more on Kentucky later.)

The first game to tip-off was an 8/9 matchup of Missippi State v. Michigan Statea, and four brackets succumbed to simply selecting MSU.  Well, 3 did, one went so far as selecting MISU.  Still didn't work.  So Jenna Finkelstein of St. Petersburg, Florida, Ty Hedgpeth of Wilmington, North Carilona, Max Marion of West Palm Beach, Florida and Silas Nichols of Washington, DC do not receive the point they may, or may not have earned.  In that game Michigan State pulled a Tom Izzo and won a game in the tournament many thought they couldn't/wouldn't.

All in all we had 4 upsets that qualified for bonus points - Oakland defeated Kentucky (more on that later); 11 seed Duquense defeated BYU; 11 seed Oregon defeated South Carolina, and 11 seed North Carolina State defeated Texas Tech.  I would be very leery of 11 seed New Mexico today if I was Clemson.

Most of the games were pretty boring or just rather blaise, so not much to recap.  The few that were exciting included Duquesne getting by BYU 71-67; Dayton defeating Nevada 63-60 after trailing 56-39 with under 8 minutes left in the game; Washington State over Drake [Ed. Note - man am I glad HE lost] 66-61; Oakland besting Kentucky 80-76 (again, more on that later), and Kansas squeaking past Samford 93-89, when this late block was called a foul:

Seriously, that was called a foul!!!

Now, onto the Kentucky loss.  All you need to know about this game is that 6th-year/24 year old guard Jack Gohlke scored 32 points on 10-20 shooting from three-point range.  He also shot 10-20 for the entire game.  You read that right - HE TOOK ZERO TWO-POINT SHOTS.  My dude was on-fire, hitting 7, YES 7, three-pointers in the first half.  Hannah Sosa of Riviera Beach, Florida a/k/a Racecar was calling him "Steve Sanders" as it looked like he was a 33 year old playing a college basketball player in a tv show.  Apparently she wasn't the only one.

Congratulations Jack Gohlke, you are now an NCAA tournament immortal, right up there with Bryce Drew and Ali Faroukmanesh.  Gohlke's ten threes have to be some kind of record, right?  Hmmmm, that reminds me ....

So, it seems obvious to just explore the top three-pointing shooting performances in tournament history, but I already wrote about Loyola Marymount's Jeff Fryer's 11 made threes from the 1990 tournament back in 2019.  You can read that HERE.  I wrote about that because during that tournament Purdue's Carsen Edwards had games where he made 10, and 9 three pointers.  Also hitting 10 in a tournament game was Memphis' Robert Sallie in 2009 and UNLV's Freddie Banks in 1987.  None of those seemed like interesting stories to me - except for Edwards' run, but that was so recent that a good number of us probably remember that.  But then I remember the 1996 NCAA Championship game (sorry Silas.)

Kentucky (34-2) played Syracuse (29-9) on April Fool's Day in East Rutherford, New Jersey.  That Kentucky team was loaded, led by Tony Delk and Antoine Walker, with Anthony Epps, Derek Anderson, and Walter McCarty also starting.  The Wildcats had depth also, bringing Mark Pope, Ron Mercer, Jeff Sheppard - future 1998 Tournament Most Outstanding Player and father of current Wildcat player Reed Sheppard - and Allen Edwards.  Syracuse had tour-de-force John Wallace, possibly the biggest one player carries a team to the finals since Kansas' Danny Manning in 1998.  Wallace did not disappoint, going for 29 points and 10 rebounds.  Kentucky, however, proved too much with Ron Mercer scoring 20 off-the-bench to compliment Tony Delk's 24 as the Wildcats won the title 76-67.

But it wasn't just Delk's 24 points that were the story of the game - it was how he scored them.  He was 7-12 from three point range, hitting six in the first half, just one shy of Gohlke's total last night against Kentucky.  Delk's performance may have caused this statement made at the game by Libby Pataki, the wife of New York Governor George Pataki, as Syracuse took the Court after halftime - a statement overheard by Silas Nichols of Washington, DC as he was at the game - "That's OK, you can stay in the zone Coach [Boeheim] - there is no way he hits more than 5 this half!"  Well, I guess she was right.

Delk was drafted 16th overall in the 1996 draft by the Charlotte Hornets, bouncing around a number of NBA teams for 10 seasons, and playing two overseas.  In 2001, while playing for the Phoenix Suns, Tony Delk scored 53 points on 20-27 shooting, the only time he scored over 30.  I believe it is the only instance of a player scoring 50 points in the NBA having never scored more than 30 in any other game - but honestly I do not feel like looking that up as I am concentrating on the college game today.

And yes, I wrote this history for two reasons: (1) because I might not get to post anything good about my Wildcats for who knows how many years; and (2) to get the Libby Pataki quote into this blog.

I just hope Gohlke has a heckuva second-round game so I can tell the story of Ali Faroukmanesh's tournament run.

Given Gohlke's performance, he is definitely one of the Players of the Day.  But, he didn't have the best performance.  The Players of the Day are:

Players of the Day

10.  Issac Jones, Washington State - 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists

9.  Combination of Riley Minix and Jordan Lathon, Moorehead State - 27 and 23 in a loss

8.  Kylan Boswell, Arizona - 20 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists

7.  Armando Bacot, North Carolina - 20 points, 15 rebounds  (RJ Davis also had 22)

6.  Antonio Reeves, Kentucky - 27 points on 11/18 shooting; 5/9 from three-point range

5.  Hunter Dickinson, Kansas - 19 points and 20 rebounds

4.  Caleb Love, North Carolina - 18 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block

3.  Terrence Shannon, Illinois - 26 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks

2.  Jack Gohlke, Oakland - 32 points - 10/20 from three

1.  Jermaine Cousinard, Oregon - 40 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal - 14/22 from the field; 5/9 from three; 7/7 from the free throw line

And Cousinard did all this playing against the school from which he transferred!!!

Statistics of the Day

Two of these should come as no surprise, as they have already appeared in this post...

4.  Duquesne won their first tournament game since 1969.

3.  Gohlke's 32 points on 10-20 shooting from three-point range.

2.  Dayton trailed Nevada 56-39 with under 8 minutes left to play and won 63-60.  

1.  Enrique Freeman for Akron scored 21 points and had 14 rebounds, This was his 31st double-double this season, tying the NCAA record held by North Carolina's Armando Bacot and Navy's David Robinson.  Too bad for Freeman that his Zips lost to Creighton 77-60, so he will not have a chance at sole possession of the record.

Social Media Posts of the Day

4.  From Twitter (I will not call it "X") - by one of our entrants at 12:40 p.m. E.D.T. yesterday (before the conclusion of a single game in the tournament):  "My bracket is already busted.  Just getting out ahead of this."

3.  From before Kentucky's debacle last night ... (thanks Reed).

2.  Once again, the internet is undefeated.

1.  From Tik-Tokker turned NFL Consultant Annie Agar after Duquesne defeated BYU:  "BYU usually doesn't score, but that is on Friday and Saturday nights!"

So, back to the pool, since that is what we are all here for.  As mentioned earlier, we had 4 games with upsets that qualified for bonus points.  We had nobody select all 4.  We did have 13 entries that selected 3 of the 4, but only 5 of those included their gurantee.  Those people with 3 of the 4 upsets including their guarantee are Jeremy Spuhler of St. Petersburg, Florida, Amanda Staudt of Reston, Virginia, Measha Williams 3 of Houston Texas, Justin Yung of Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Joshua Zdrowak of Tallahassee, Florida by way of Orlando, Florida.  But, these are not the Picks of the Day.  We only had two people that selected Oakland over Kentucky.  For that, our "Picks of the Day" Award goes to Quinn Jackson of Reston, Virginia, and Kisha Marzouca 1 of Boynton Beach, Florida.

A special note to Braeden Helland of Riviera Beach, Florida who correctly picked 15 of the 16 games, missing only Kentucky.  And, he still has his guarantee game to play tomorrow.

Now, for the standings.  Although I try my best to be as accurate as possible, please keep in mind that I score these by hand, and my eyes may get a little dreary from time-to-time from looking at all of the brackets.  So, I may make a mistake here or there.  Just sent me an e-mail or a text and I will re-check the score.  But, keep in mind that if I re-check your bracket and I find any mistakes, in either direction I will make the correction.  With that being said, on to the standings (ties are listed alphabetically) 1....

Pool Standings after Round 1/Day 1

1.  Amanda Staudt - 34

2.  Jeremy Spuhler - 33

     Justin Yung - 33

4.  Measha WIlliams 3 - 32

     Josh Zdrowak - 32

6.  Braeden Helland - 30

7.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 29

     Paul Cummings 3 - 29

     Mark Holbert - 29

     Chris Simmons - 29

     Marcus Spruill - 29

12.  Jody Cox - 28

       Melissa Gaynor - 28

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 28

       Matt Hopps - 28

       Marcus Jackson - 28

       Dan Laishley - 28

       Brian McMahon - 28

       Kingfish Parham - 28

       Allison Parker - 28

       Javier Rodriguez - 28

       George Walks 3 - 28

       Measha Williams 1 - 28

       Katie Zdrowak - 28

25.  Daniel Barsky 1 - 27

       Jacey 2 (Reynolds) 2 - 27

       Bill Ganoe 3 - 27

       Blake Jackson - 27

       Max Marion 1 - 27

       Max Marion 3 - 27

       Dave Piasecki 1 - 27

       George Walks 4 - 27

33.  Paul Cummings 2 - 26

       Bill Ganoe 2 - 26

       Miles Jackson - 26

       Lee Pagan - 26

       Ashley Poer - 26

       Rich Samuels 4 - 26

       Measha Williams 2 - 26

40.  Tyler Giamberini - 23

       Skip LaForte - 23

       Silas Nichols - 23

       George Walks 2 - 23

       Bubba Zdrowak - 23

45.  Clair Bullock - 22

       Joel Chernoff - 22

       Jacey 1 (Fowler) - 22

       Bill Ganoe 1 - 22

       James Garvin - 22

       Ty Hedgpeth - 22

       Kisha Marzouca 1 - 22

       Si Nichols - 22

       A.J. Ripin - 22

       Ryan Rodriguez - 22

       Caroline Spuhler - 22

       Cheryl Spuhler - 22

       George Walks 1 - 22

       Jonathan Wasserman - 22

59.  James Coleman - 21

       Kevin Dick - 21

       Jenna Finkelstein - 21

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 21

       Adam Jorgensen 1 - 21

       Adam Jorgensen 2 - 21

       Max Marion 2 - 21

       Sean McInerney 2 - 21

       Jeff Plamondon - 21

       Rich Samuels 3 - 21

       Pepe Sosa - 21

       Cassi Spruill - 21

       Mike Wolff 1 - 21

       Day Yi - 21

       Amy Zdrowak - 21

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 21

       Keith Zdrowak

76.  Quinn Jackson - 20

       Katie Kollmeyer - 20

       Derrick Lowe - 20

       Jane Reynolds - 20

       Rich Samuels 5 - 20

       Logan Spuhler - 20

82.  John Hedgpeth - 19

       Max Macon 2 - 19

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 19

       Scott Bieterman 1 - 19

       Paul Cummings 1 - 19

87.  Carolyn Fowler - 17

       Justine Frank - 17

       William Pujals - 17

       Mike Wolff 2 - 17

91.  George Fox 2 - 16

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 16

       Dawn Lamb - 16

       Max Macon 3 - 16

       Kisha Marzouca 2 - 16

       Michael McNally - 16

       Sasha Moon - 16

       Hannah Sosa - 16

       Lily Spuhler - 16

100.  George Fox 1 - 15

         Colleen Giamberini - 15

         Guy Hughes - 15

         Nick Kuehl - 15

         Max Macon 1 - 15

         Chris O'Neil - 15

         Savannah Grace Pressly - 15

107.  Daniel Barsky 2 - 14

         Shane Jernigan 1 - 14

         Max Macon 4 - 14

         Matt Okell - 14

         Barkley Sosa - 14

         Jason Spuhler - 14

         Keith Wynne - 14

114.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 13

         Jessica Samuels - 13

116.  Barbie Curlett 1 - 12

         Barbie Curlett 2 - 12

         Arlene Amo Hopps - 12

         Alyssa Hopps - 12

         Dave Marzouca 2 - 12

         Natalie Moon - 12

122.  Brent Bellinger - 11

         Noel Martinez 1 - 11

         Sean McInerney 1 - 11

         Coco Wynne - 11

126.  Stephanie Henderson - 10

         Noel Martinez 2 - 10

         Anne-Marie O'Neil - 10

         Rich Samuels 10 - 10

         Rich Samuels 2 - 10

         Brittany Sosa - 10

         Jamie Toole - 10

133.  Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 9

         Brigadier General Kareem Montague - 9

         Chris Pettit - 9

136.  Max Marion - 8