2019 NCAA Tournament Pool Standings - Round 1/Day 1

Hello all - and welcome to the first report of the 2019 NCAA Tournament Pool hosted by, well, Your Tournament Host.

We have a good pool this year, with a good amount of newcomers and returnees - with two of our newcomers being incredibly precocious, as they were not yet born this time last year.  A number of our entries have four legs (Biscuit, Jacey, Cubbie. Mac, Duncan, Mango, Abigail, Barkley - and maybe some others).  We have expanded into a new state and a new commonwealth this year (New York, Massachusetts) and vastly expanded our representation from North Carolina. 

Speaking of North Carolina - I want to give a shout out to Glen Merchant, Duncan Merchant, and Mango Merchant, who managed to turn int their respective brackets yesterday morning, despite preparing for the GRAND OPENING of their ax-throwing/craft-beer establishment in Asheville, NC called Axeville Throwing Club.  Here's hoping they had a great opening and continued success, all while watching their respective favorite teams in the tournament!

Unfortunately, we have also expanded our inability to follow all of the directions and the rules.  So many people violated one rule or the other, that you can just go ahead and assume that you did.  In fact, Jenna Finkelstein of St. Petersburg, FL wrote to me about her and Jeremy Spuhler , also of St. Pete, "We aren't very good at following directions!.  You aren't the only ones Jenna.  No worries though, as I think everything is sorted out and we are ready to go with our final count of 121 entries.  The standings below only indicate 120, but Karen Katz - as per her usual - she mailed me her bracket.  It was postmarked Monday and arrived yesterday, but after I started scoring.  She will be included in the next update.

All of that is still better than Bradley Deutchman of Washington, D.C., who e-mailed me the following:

I have a few questions to make sure I understand how this works:

1)  Play-In Games 

How many points do I get for correctly picking the winners of the Play-In games?  I didn’t see it in there.

Also, as for the first round Play-In picks, I’d prefer to specify “generally” and I hope you can respect my choice to do so as all our choices must be respected.

2)  Scoring

Is this the same scoring system as last year?

3)  I would like to get 4 points for second round picks and 20 points for 3rd round picks.  Please effectuate these changes for me.

4)  Guaranteed Upset

Two questions.  First is more philosophical.

How can you really quantify “upset”?  I can tell you from, at least, my personal dating experience, when I accuse someone of being upset, I’m usually told I’m wrong.  

Also, I would prefer to designate my “Guaranteed Upset” in a triangle instead of a circle in respect to the “Triangle Offense.”  I do not know what the “Triangle Offense” is but I recall hearing it has something to do with Michael Jackson and winning.

Thank you for your attention to these items.  I expect there will be no problem fulfilling my requests.

He spent more time on the e-mail than he did on his bracket, as he ultimately did not send me one.  (If you did - please re-send with the e-mail time stamp from your original e-mail).

For our champions, we have 16 different teams selected, with most of the love going to the State of North Carolina.  More people selected Duke than any other score, with North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia and Gonzaga getting significant love.  Surprisingly we have multiple selections of Florida and Florida State, with single entries selecting Houston, Purdue and Syracuse.  Yes your heard that correctly, we had someone select Syracuse.   That means for the second consecutive year someone lost a champion on opening day!  Sorry Edy Pecan of West Palm Beach, FL, you have the worst selection of the day.  We can't blame you entirely, as there was a significant issue with the Orange that occurred last minute (see below).  Our champions (with remaining teams in bold) are:  Duke, Florida, Florida State, Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee, Villanova, Virginia.

In addition to Edy Pecan, I want to make a special note of Colonel Kareem Montague, of Hickham Air Force Base, Hawaii and Justin Yung of Raleigh, North Carolina, for their traitorous selections of Yale to beat LSU.  Alumni of Harvard should never pick Yale for anything - and I mean anything. Serves you right that Yale shot 8-37 from three point range (including 1-10 for Miye Oni, a junior who was considering entering the NBA draft).  After that performance, I want to stress the word WAS.

We like to have a lot of fun here at our tournament pool, and it is fun to look at basketball as a game.  But, sometimes real life intervenes.  That happened twice yesterday, and I mention it because it greatly affected the games (at least one), and perhaps more going forward.  First, Syracuse senior point guard Frank Howard was suspended indefinitely for failing a drug test.  This came out yesterday.  We know how long indefinitely is, though, since Syracuse is out!  The second dose of real life occurred in the Florida State locker room after their first round victory over Vermont, when star Phil Cofer learned of the death of his father after a long illness.  We wish the Cofer family well during this ordeal, and hope that it does not affect the team to negatively going forward.

From real life heartbreak to basketball heartbreak - WHAT ON EARTH WAS UP WITH A.J. HARRIS?  Harris, a guard for New Mexico State, drove the length of the floor with six seconds to go down 2 to Auburn, and got to the basket uncontested where a layup would have tied the game. Instead, Harris passed it back out to a guarded Terrell Brown who proceeded to miss the potential game-winning three.  Brown, however, was fouled by the Auburn defender and would receive 3 free throws to potentially win the game.  After missing the first and hitting the second, Brown missed the third to keep New Mexico State down 1, but Auburn knocked the ball out-of-bounds with 1.3 seconds left giving the Aggies one last shot, which ended in a wide-open corner three, which was airballed.   If Harris hits the layup, they are tied with 3 seconds or so left, and likely go to overtime.

In the karma department, the Louisville Cardinals, which school is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with former coach Rick Pitino, lost to the the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who are currently coached by Richard Pitino, Rick Pitino's son.  Somewhere the vampire that is Rick Pitino is smiling. 

Minnesota was a lower seed, and 9th seeded Baylor defeated the aforementioned Syracuse, but the real upset of the day was number 12 Murray State defeated 5th seeded Marquette.  Now, apparently this was not too unforeseen, as this game was by far the most picked guaranteed upset in our pool (followed closely by Oregon).  As you will see in the standings, a lot of people received 5 or 10 bonus points for this win.  Murray State, led by a triple double from guard Ja Morant - who will easily be a top 5 draft pick this year - won 84-63, and frankly it wasn't even that close.  Morant finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 16 assists to record only the 9th triple double in NCAA Tournament history and the first since Michigan State's Draymond Green did it in 2012.  Green, now an NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, was the first triple double since 2011, when Draymond Green did it.  I do believe that Ja Morant is the best religious leader-named hoopster since God Shammgod played at Providence College.

Today's history lesson brings us to another NCAA tournament triple double involving a soon-to-be top 5 NBA draft pick in a game involving the Marquette Warriors.  Marquette, the three seed in the midwest, played the number 1 seeded Kentucky Wildcats in the regional final in Minneapolis, home of this year's Final Four.   Winner moved on to the Final Four.  As an aside, this was a particularly important game as I was already headed to the Final Four in New Orleans that year, with a chance to cheer for Kentucky (my favorite team for those that don't know).  I was travelling with Silas Nichols of Washington, D.C., who is an alumnus of Syracuse University, which would qualify for the Final Four that year behind freshman sensation Carmelo Anthony.  (Syracuse would ultimately win).  Being on opposite sides of the brackets meant a Kentucky - Syracuse final was possible until, the Flash appeared.  Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 29, with 11 rebounds and 11 assists as Marquette defeated Kentucky 83-69 to earn their trip to the Final Four.  Wade left Marquette after that Final Four appearance and was drafted 5th in the NBA draft by the Miami Heat, behind such other legendary players as the aforementioned Carmelo Anthony (3rd to Denver), Chris Bosh (4th to Toronto), LeBron James (1st to Cleveland) and the immortal Darko Milicic (2nd to Detroit).  There is no way the Pistons don't regret this draft.

As stated earlier, a bunch of people selected Murray State to advance, so that is the best overall single pick, and too many people to name guaranteed that pick as their upset, earning 10 bonus points.  In light of this fact, I will give the coveted "Pick of the Day" Award to Debbie Igdaloff Nieman of Boca Raton, Florida and Kingfish Rod Parham of Snellville, Georgia, both of whom correctly picked 15 of the 16 games from yesterday.  Interestingly, they both had the Murray State upset, but not as their guarantee, and they both missed the Villanova game, as they both selected St. Mary's for the upset.  Villanova won 61-57, to keep alive their hopes for a repeat championship.

Even though they did not win the "Pick of the Day" Award, we do have a six-way tie for first.  Congratulations to Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds of Greenacres, FL, Marcus Jackson of Reston, VA, Duncan Merchant, of Asheville, NC, Steven Usma #1 of Miami, FL, Harrington Wax III, of Asheville, NC, and Mike Zachary of Jacksonville, FL. 

As far as the brackets as a whole, only one team was selected by all of the entrants yesterday, and that was Michigan State.  This means that some people picked Abilene Christian to defeat Kentucky, and Farleigh Dickinson to defeat Gonzaga.  Those didn't happen, but I like the gumption.

I hand score the brackets, so it is possible that I may have made a mistake.  I know, I know, you are surprised that I am fallible.  Feel free to bring any questions you have to my attention at sosalaw@yahoo.com.  I will re-visit your sheet and re-score.  Keep in mind, though, that while if I find a mistake in your favor I will give you your proper points, but if I find a mistake in the opposite direction, I will make the appropriate downward correction.  Also, let me know if I mis-spelled your name.  I would like to correct it if I did so.

1 - Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 24
     Marcus Jackson - 24
     Duncan Merchant - 24
     Steven Usma #1 - 24
     Harrington Wax III - 24
     Mike Zachary 24

7 - Jacey Fowler #2 - 23
     Philip Kroesen - 23
     Col. Kareem Montague - 23
     Matt Nieman - 23
     Allison Parker - 23
     Ashley Poer #2 - 23
     Steven Usma #3
     Measha Williams #2 - 23

15 - Coby Kroesen - 22
       Skip LaForte - 22
       Brittany Sosa - 22
       George Walks #3 - 22

19 - Kline Kroesen - 21
       Silas Nichols - 21

21 - Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 20
       Kingfish Rod Parham - 20
       Kyle Sheehan - 20
       Measha Williams #3 - 20

25 - Scott Bieterman - 19
       Scott Hansel - 19
       Dave Piasecki #2 - 19

28 - Carolyn Fowler - 18
       Brian Hinaman - 18
       Matt Hopps - 18
       Robert Hosmer - 18
       Katie Kollmeyer - 18
       Max Macon 1 - 18
       William Pujals - 18
       Jeremy Spuhler - 18
       Robert Tanen 1 - 18
       Robert Tanen 2 - 18
       Steven Usma #4 - 18
       George Walks #5 - 18
       Jonathan Wasserman - 18

41 - Eric Inge - 17
       Ty Leatherman - 17
       Max Macon #2 - 17
       Max Marion #1 - 17
       Jane Reynolds - 17
       Brittany Sosa - 17
       Michael Spicer - 17
       Steven Usma #5 - 17

49 - Bill Ganoe - 16
       Hilary Kroesen - 16
       Max Macon #4 - 16
       Max Marion #2 - 16
       Mango Merchant - 16
       Chris Petit - 16
       Steven Usma #2 - 16

56 - Pepe Sosa - 15

57 - Anthony LaPira - 14
       Dana Mandelbaum - 14
       Meredith Tanen - 14
       Krystal Travers - 14
       Measha Williams #1 - 14
       Justin Yung - 14

63 - Jennifer Armstrong - 13
       Rachel Bornn - 13
       Jenna Finkelstein - 13
       James Garvin - 13
       Alvaro Gonzalez - 13
       Martha Kroesen - 13
       Glen Merchant - 13
       Dave Piasecki #1 - 13
       John Santucci - 13
       Barkley Sosa - 13
       Cheryl Spuhler - 13
       George Walks #2 - 13
       George Walks #4 - 13
        Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 13

77 - Alyssa Ave - 12
       Dan Barsky #1 - 12
       Dan Barsky #2 - 12
       Luis Briones - 12
       Paul Cummings - 12
       Adam Jorgensen - 12
       Chris Kroesen - 12
       Michael Litsey - 12
       Max Macon #3 - 12
       Sasha Moon - 12
       David Olson - 12
       Griffey Parker - 12
       Ashley Poer #1 - 12
       Rich Samuels #1 - 12
       Rich Samuels #2 - 12
       Ira Schulteis - 12
       Jordyn Sheehan - 12
       Samantha Sheehan - 12
       Traci Sheehan - 12
       Hannah Sosa - 12
       Tara Telliott - 12
       Biscuit Zdrowak - 12
       Joshua Zdrowak - 12

100 - Jean Calixte - 11
         Liz Carew - 11
         Jacey Fowler #1 - 11
         Bill Ganoe #2 - 11
         Arlene Amo Hopps - 11
         Cubbie Kroesen - 11
         Hilary Kroesen #2 - 11
         Mac Kroesen - 11
         Sean McInerney - 11
        Edy Pecan - 11
        Jeff Plamondon - 11
        Jessica Samuels - 11
        Melanie Scherr - 11
        George Walks #1 - 11
        Wes Wiggins - 11
        Katie Zdrowak - 11
        Keith Zdrowak - 11

117 - Chad Phillips - 10
          Abigail Sosa - 10
         Jason Spuhler - 10

120 - Amy Zdrowak - 9

A Tale of Two Big Men

As the resident Miami Heat fan here at We Make It Rain, and proudly one of only 863 in existence (and one of only 112 Marlin fans), it falls to me to comment on the trade of Shaquille O'Neal to the Phoenix Suns. In addition, this feels like the time and place to comment on another Heat big man and his affect on the franchise as well, Alonzo Mourning.

The current state of the Heat has to start and end with the phenomenally gifted and tough, Dwyane Wade. I remember where I was when Wade was drafted. About 18 of us went to watch a minor league baseball game in my town, and I was about 7 beers in when it came time for the Heat to pick fifth in that draft. You might have heard of that draft, the first four picks were: (1) Lebron James; (2) Darko Milicic; (3) Carmelo Anthony (or as sinickal would say - "My man, my Melo"); and (4) Chris Bosh. Now, as much as I root for the Heat, there was no way I was staying home to watch the NBA draft, but I did follow it online through my phone. I registered for a text update everytime a pick was made. The Heat organization had been floating rumors about all kinds of picks, Kirk Hinrich and the immortal Pole turned Swede, Maciej Lampe among them. Lampe's name was being thrown around a ton for about the 3 or 4 days before the draft. My boy George, not in any way, shape or form to be confused with Boy George, looks at me and goes, "Wade, nice pick". (Lampe by the way now plays for Khimki BC in the Russian Basketball League).

Now, I actually liked the pick when I first heard it. Wade was fresh off leading Marquette to the Final Four, complete with the first triple double in the NCAA tournament since Magic Johnson. Wade did that in the regional finals against Kentucky. (Sinickal and I attended that Final Four in New Orleans, what a trip). Heat fans were optimistic with the Wade pick after a series of drafts that included the likes of Willie Burton, Alec Kessler and "Baby Jordan" Howard Minor (Yes, I know it's really Harold, but it doesn't really matter what his name is as good as he played). Things were looking up.

Now, as great a player as Wade was and is, you cannot win a championship by yourself, LeBron James circa 2007 notwithstanding. As Wade grew as a player, the question then became, how are we going to surround Wade with the proper players to get to a championship level. Enter Shaquille O'Neal.

Shaquille O'Neal is quite possibly the most physically imposing player the NBA has ever had, and is definitely the most physically gifted since Wilt Chamberlain. As an organization, the Heat surrounded Wade with not only the right parts and pieces, but with literally the one player in the league that could single-handedly take the pressure off Wade both on the court by attracting double teams in the post, and off the court with the media and local sponsors. As we all know, this led to the 2006 NBA championship.

After 2006, the Heat tried to repeat, but had remarkably gotten older almost overnight. Crippled with Shaq and Wade missing a lot of games with injuries, the team limped into the playoffs where they were summarily swept by a much younger and more athletic Chicago Bull squad.

This year, the team has started rebuilding by casting off some of the outside pieces from 2006 (James Posey, Jason Kapono, Gary Payton and my personal favorite - Antoine Walker) and trying to get younger (playing Dorrell Wright, signing Smush Parker) but with injuries to Shaq and Wade, Udonis Haslem having a subpar shooting year, Jason Williams losing a step, and the Heat actually playing Chris Quinn (how on earth is he in the NBA?!), the Heat has the worst record in the NBA. Dwyane Wade is an All-Star starter, so that is something, but even that is rather dubious as he now becomes the All-Star starter with the worst team record in the history of the NBA All-Star game.

The team has made some bad moves, they are handcuffed by salary and are remarkably old and unathletic as a team. At least they have a championship, which should abate some criticism from the few fans that exist. Exit Shaq.

Out west, the Spurs are the Spurs, the Mavericks are the Mavericks, New Orleans is rising with Chris Paul and David West, the Nuggets are exciting with Carmelo, Iverson and Marcus Camby, Houston has T-Mac and Yao, the Lakers have Kobe and the Suns are the most exciting team of all to watch. The Lakers swing the deal with Memphis to get Pau Gasol to go with Kobe, Lamar Odom, and the stabilizing force of Derek Fisher at point. All of sudden, the team with the best record, the Phoenix Suns, who at times have been robotic and lackadaisacal despite their record, felt they had to do something. Enter Shaq.

With this deal, the Suns get the Big Aristotle himself, while sending Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Heat. This column is going to be long enough as it is, so I will refrain from commenting (at least for now) on how this will affect the Suns. For the Heat, this deal is a godsend.

First, Shaquille was hardly playing, and he when he was available, teams were collapsing on him, not letting him do anything once he received the ball in the post as the Heat perimeter players don't scare anybody. Second, Shaq has become an on-the-ball defensive liability in the post, racking up fouls like they were his job. Third, with his $20 million dollar salary, there was no hope at getting a high level player to help him and Wade. Exit Shaq.

Now, the Heat have a lineup that includes Wade (when healthy), Shawn Marion, Udonis Haslem, Mark Blount, Jason Williams with Ricky Davis and Dorrell Wright coming off the bench. Marcus Banks should now take the place of Chris Quinn. Now the Heat have about as good a chance of making the playoffs as Mike Huckabee has of winning the Republican nomination for President, but they do have a chance to make games exciting if Pat Riley will do one thing: RUN! Turn into the Suns. Make the games 125 - 118. The team has suddenly gotten athletic, and if they have any plans for the future, entice future free agents by making the game look fun. Get up and down the court, alley-oop, let Williams jack up threes on the fast break and let Marion go get the rebound when necessary. Give the fans a reason to want to attend the game, regardless of record. And then hope for a top 3 pick in next year's draft to address any deficiencies that they still have (which will be many). If not a top 3 pick, maybe a fast point guard like Darren Collison could be available to continue running. Use what you have. That is what the front office did by trading Shaq. Instead of putting pieces into the puzzle, use the pieces you have to make an entirely different picture.

Us Heat fans will thank Shaq for leading the team to a title and for making Miami a relevant team in the NBA. We will also follow and root for Shaq out west. No ill-will to Shaq at all, but it was time to go.

Alonzo Mourning, however, will never be replaced.

Ever since Mourning came to the Heat in the 1995-1996 season, Mourning became the Heat. Sure he scored 23.2 points/game, had 10.4 rebounds/game and blocked 2.7 shots per game that season, but he was much more than statistics. He epitomized heart and hustle. He was one of those rare athletes who not only had talent, but was also one of the hustle guys that would dive after every loose ball, take the extra base or take the extra hit from the linebacker for that additional yard and a half. Most teams with stars look for that hustle/glue guy. Alonzo Mourning was both. Mourning was Pete Rose (without the gambling).

On the defensive end he was unparalleled, culiminating with 3.9 blocks per game in the 1999 season. Just like any shotblocker, sometimes his best defense is when altering shots, not just blocking them. But Mourning was so much more. He was such an aggressive defender, that teams would simply just not even challenge him (Think Deion Sanders in his prime when teams just would not even throw at his half of the field). Just when you thought he was lining up to block a shot, he would take a charge. He would literally do anything, and give up anything he could to win. Literally.

This includes playing hurt. Mourning was hurt so often, and took enough shots and medications to keep playing through the pain and injuries that he lost his kidney. I am not a doctor, and perhaps Mourning was predisposed to kidney disease, but the drugs in his system for years couldn't have helped. And Mourning's kidney succombed to this overuse. What does Mourning do? He continues to play. He was a key member of that 2006 championship team. When Shaq went down with injuries, teams couldn't take advantage of his backup, because on most occasions, Shaq's backup was better than the other teams' starter. When Shaq was in foul trouble, or when Shaq needed a rest, Mourning was there. Mourning was no longer the star, but he still gave maximum effort, coming up with several huge defensive plays against the Mavericks in the championship series.

(New Jersey Nets fans may disagree with the preceeding paragraphs, but this isn't written from their perspective).

Out of the Heat players, for whom do you think the fans were most happy? With all due respect to Shaq's rapping skills with the Fu Shnickens when presciently talking about three of the Heat's 15 players in 1993's "What's Up Doc?", "Not Christian Laetnner, Not Alonzo Mourning", Shaq was wrong. It was all about Zo. As far as the Miami Heat fans go, it will always be about Zo.

Shaq's talent may have finally brought the Miami Heat the championship that they were close to achieving when Zo was the star, but ask many fans who the best player in Heat history is, and the answer will almost unanimously be "Alonzo Mourning".

At least until this Wade kid gets some experience under his belt.