UConn is in Beast Mode: The NCAA Block Squares Pool

Source: University of Connecticut

The Big East keeps rolling! 

Well, maybe I should say that Connecticut keeps rolling. I kept looking up at that game last night and UConn lead kept growing. I have no idea what happened in that game. Literally nothing stands out about the game and I can't remember a single play. And they just keep annihilating teams. And this has been going on for two years. Here is UConn's run as a 4-Seed in the 2023 tournament:

• Round 1: UConn 87 - Iona 63
• Round 2: UConn 70 - St. Mary's 55
• Round 3: UConn 88 - Arkansas  65
• Round 4: UConn 82 - Gonzaga 54
• Round 5: UConn 72 - Miami (FL) 59
• Round 6: UConn 76 - San Diego St 59

That's an average margin of victory of 20 points and is remembered by me as one of the underrated dominant runs we have seen in the tournament. You might ask yourself if a bunch of upsets in front of UConn contributed to this run, and I would tell you no. The big upset in that region was the 1-Seed Kansas being knocked out of the tournament by 8-Seeded Arkansas which was the highest seed UConn would face. The other seeds faced were a 13, a 3, and three 5's. I think that is pretty respectable. 

This year's tournament appears to be no different for the Huskies. Last night, UConn produced the only snoozer in a night of pretty good basketball. Remember that this tournament is mostly chalk at this point, so teams here are essentially supposed to be here.

So, what is UConn's margin of victory through the first 3 rounds of this years tournament? 28.6 points!!

Now, I may be made to eat this column in the next two weeks but even so, we should marvel at what is going on up in Storrs. They have won five national championships in 25 years under three different coaches in the shadow of a magnificent run by the women's program, and they again appear to be a juggernaut this year. 

Look at that, I didn't even mention Grant Nelson arriving on scene like he was bringing a gun. 

As for our squares, a couple of people took some bad late beats in the games yesterday. If you stayed up to watch your winning square turn to crap with under 3 seconds to play, I hope you are okay today. The results are below.

Four more games tonight. Good luck everyone!

-Your Commissioner

It Tastes Like Chalk: The NCAA Block Squares Pool

Two 5’s, one 6, and one 11. That is what prevents the Sweet 16 from being all chalk. This committee appears to have gotten this tournament seeding correct and I am quite pleased that the best teams in this tournament are being represented. I am also pleased that the non-chalk representatives are teams that we are long familiar with:

• 5-seed San Diego St was in the final game last year and is clearly showing itself to potentially be a power
• 5-seed Gonzaga has been a recent mainstay in the tournament out of the West Coast Conference
• 6-seed Clemson and 11-seed NC State are power conference teams making a strong run from the clearly underrated ACC

So, what do we think now? Well, the 1-seeds are mauling people. This is what we expect from them.  And, with the exception of Kentucky and Auburn (the SEC has been BAD this year), all of the top seeds have played very well. Have there been some close games? Some overtime games? Sure, but that is to be expected in an NCAA tournament. Hell, the Houston-Texas A&M game was only close because four Houston starters fouled out and the other one finished the game with four fouls! So that we are clear, that just doesn’t happen.

Anyway, here is a tweet from The Bear at Fox Sports regarding how vanilla this tournament has been up to now.

The point is that teams that are supposed to be winning are. And if you gamble, you probably did pretty well this weekend. Overall, this will make for a really good and competitive Final Four that I am looking forward to attending this year.

One more thing. The ACC and Big East continue to demonstrate that they are elite in this tournament. The ACC is 8-0 in the Round of 64 and 32 which is tied for the best record in those two rounds with the 2003 Big East (that trash heap we call Virginia lost in the play-in round). As a reminder, that 2003 tournament finished with America’s University as the National Champion! Also, the Big East is 6-0 in this tournament and the West Coast Conference is 4-0. Those three conferences have 9 of the remaining 16 teams!

So, the Block Squares Pool saw Erik Rosales pick up a couple of wins as we close out the 2^nd Round. The winners are shown below.

Starting on Thursday, the dollar values will increase to $100 per game. Good luck everyone.

--Your Commissioner 

Why I Love College Basketball

Syracuse losing to the new Pride of the Horizon League: Cleveland State (watch out Butler) - SERIOUSLY? I will take a moment here to revel in the absolute pain and disbelief that one particular 'Cuse Alum is feeling today. Coming off a absolute beatdown of tourney perennial Long Beach State University 79-55, the Orange simply forgot what a basketball was. Forget about the last-second shot to win and focus on the true tragedy that was how POORLY the Orange played at home the WHOLE game.

The cherry on the cake is not the last second 3/4 court length shot that was nuttin' but net to win - but the seriously crappy AV setup at the post game and Jimmy looking like he is passing a kidney stone. Oh the humanity...!