NCAA Tournament Pool - Final Four

 

Pool Standings after Final Four

1.  Javier Rodriguez - 130 - PURDUE

     Measha Williams 3 - 130 - PURDUE

3.  Daniel Barsky 1 - 126 - UCONN

4.  Paul Cummings 2 - 125 - UCONN

     Alvaro Gonzalez - 125 - PURDUE

6.  James Coleman - 121 - UCONN

     Brigadier General Kareem Montague - 121 - UCONN

8.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 120 - PURDUE

     Brittany Sosa - 120 - PURDUE

10.  Paul Cummings 3 - 118 - UCONN

       Ty Hedgpeth - 118 - UCONN

       Max Macon 2 - 118 - PURDUE

       Si Nichols - 118 - UCONN

       Rich Samuels 2 - 118 - PURDUE

15.  Miles Jackson - 117

16.  George Fox 1 - 115 - PURDUE

       George Fox 2 - 115 - UCONN

       Max Marion 3 - 115 -PURDUE

19.     Justin Yung - 114

20.  Rich Samuels 4 - 112

21.  Lee Pagan - 111

22.  Measha Williams 1 - 110

23.  Brian McMahon - 109 - UCONN

       Jeff Plamondon - 109 - UCONN

       Marcus Spruill - 109

       Cheryl Spuhler - 109 - UCONN

       Amanda Staudt - 109

28.  Natalie Moon - 108 - UCONN

29.  Noel Martinez 1 - 107 - PURDUE

30.  Chris Simmons - 106

31.  Keith Zdrowak - 105 - PURDUE

32.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 103 - UCONN

       Jeremy Spuhler - 103 - UCONN

34.  Justine Frank - 102 - UCONN

35.  Matt Hopps - 100 - UCONN

       William Pujals - 100 - UCONN

       Rich Samuels 1 - 100 - UCONN

38.  Bill Ganoe 3 - 99

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 99

       George Walks 3 - 99 - PURDUE

       Amy Zdrowak - 99 - PURDUE

42.  Barbie Curlett 1 - 98

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 98

       Allison Parker - 98

       Rich Samuels 5 - 98 - UCONN

46.  Jenna Finkelstein - 97

       Dawn Lamb - 97 - UCONN

       Sean McInerney 2 - 97 - UCONN

49.  Jacey Fowler 1 - 96

       Blake Jackson - 96

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 96

52.  Silas Nichols - 95 - UCONN

53.  Marcus Jackson - 94 

       George Walks 4 - 94 - PURDUE

55.  Paul Cummings 1 - 93 - PURDUE

       John Hedgpeth - 93

       Katie Zdrowak -93

58.  Braeden Helland - 92

       Max Marion 1 - 92

       Sasha Moon - 92 - UCONN

       Rich Samuels 3 - 92 - UCONN

62.  Adam Jorgensen 2 - 91

63.  Daniel Barsky 2 - 90 - PURDUE

       Joel Chernoff - 90

       Bill Ganoe 1 - 90

       Dan Laishley - 90

67.  Matt O'Kell - 89

       Chris O'Neil - 89 - UCONN

       Day Yi - 89 - UCONN

 

70.  Logan Spuhler - 88

71.  Max Macon 1 - 87 - UCONN

       Jane Reynolds - 87

       Cassi Spruill - 87

       Keith Wynne - 87 - UCONN

75.  Josh Zdrowak - 86

76.  Kevin Dick - 85

       Carolyn Fowler - 85

78.  James Garvin - 84 - PURDUE

       Mark Holbert - 84

       Jason Spuhler - 84 - UCONN

81.  Brent Bellinger - 83

       Adam Jorgensen 1 - 83 - UCONN

       Anne-Marie O'Neil - 83 - PERDUE [sic]

       Barkley Sosa - 83 - UCONN

85.  Colleen Giamberini - 82 - UCONN

       Measha Williams 2 - 82

       Mike Wolff 1 - 82

88.  Jody Cox - 81

       Dave Piasecki - 81

90.  Barbie Curlett 2 - 80 - UCONN

        Karen Katz - 80 - PURDUE

92.  Shane Jernigan 1 - 79 - UCONN

       Ashley Poer - 79

       Pepe Sosa - 79

       Bubba Zdrowak - 79

96.  Skip LaForte - 76

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 76

98.  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

2023 NCAA Tournament Pool - Sweet Sixteen/Day 2

 

My apologies on the short-shrifted post yesterday, but sometimes during these pools I do have to work and attend to other obligations.  At least I did a post.  I plan on making up for that with a bit extra today.  And most of that extra is not sponsored by number 1 seeds, as two heavyweights go down.  As Howard Cosell would say, DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!!  For those that don't understand the referencem on January 22, 1973, undisputed heavyweight champion Joe Frazier fought the number 1 contender George Foreman in Kingston, Jamaica for the heavyweight championship of the world.  Frazer was 29-0 with 25 Knockouts, and had won 10 consecutive title fights.  Foreman at the time was 37-0 with 34 knoclouts.  In the second round, Foreman won via TKO with 1:35 remaining, after having knocked down Frazier 6 times.  The first knockdown led to Howard Cosell's legendary call, which now is used anytime a "heavyweight" goes down; heavyweights like Alabama and Houston!

And, Alabama and Houston were - BY FAR - the two most selected champions, and, BY EVEN FURTHER - the most selected finals matchup.  But, BYE-BYE.  That leaves our champions as: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Gonzaga, Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Marquette, Miami, Michigan State, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas.  Yes, we have 6 of the Elite 8.  We are guaranteed to lose 2 of these champions today as FAU plays Kansas State, and Connecticut plays Gonzaga.  Today is a BIG day as far as the entire pool is concerned.  Should be fun to watch.

Before we move on, I owe you a tournament history lesson from yesterday.  My initial thought was to write about tournament 20-point scorers, with Drew Timme of Gonzaga breaking that record yesterday, but he broke the tie with Bill Bradley, Elvin Hayes, Danning Manning, Glen Rice, Corliss Williamson and Richard Hamilton, and there is just so much there, that it would be unfair to just select one of those tournament greats.  So, instead, I am going to focus on the other record broken Thursday, the 19 assists in one game by Markquis Nowell of Kansas State, who broke the record of Mark Wade of UNLV, who had 18 assists in 1987,

Mark Wade was a 6' senior point guard for UNLV in 1987, and he led the team with standout guard Freddie Banks, wing Gerald Paddio and big man Armon Gilliam.  (Although not the best player on the team, my favorite was Jarvis Basnight, a 6'8" forward from Detroit, who played like he was a 6'8" forward from Detroit!)  UNLV, behind legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian - who is probably going to be sanctioned just for me writing this - won the Preseason NIT, and strolled through the season to a 33-1 regular season record, the only loss being to then number 16 ranked Oklahoma 89-88 in Norman.  UNLV stormed through an undefeated conference season and won its conference tournament to secure a 1 seed in the tournament.

In the tournament's first round, UNLV played sacrificial lamb Idaho State in Salt Lake City, Utah, as UNLV, behind Mark Wade's 9 assists that led to 23 points by Freddie Banks, 18 by Gary Graham (from the greatest single high school team of all time - the 1983 Dunbar High School from Baltimore team) off the bench, and 3 other double digit scorers, demolished Idaho State 95-70.  In the second round, Kansas State only put up a little bit of a tougher fight as UNLV won 80-61.  Wade had 13 assists, which led to 24 points by Gilliam, 15 by Banks, 14 by Basnight, and 10 by Paddio to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

In the Sweet Sixteen, Wyoming - behind future NBAer Fennis Dembo's 27 points, but up a tougher fight, but still feel to UNLV 92-78 as Wade once again had 9 assists.  Gilliam dominated the game with 38 points and 13 rebounds as UNLV advanced to the Elite 8 where they would face Iowa.  Iowa fell 84-81 and behind its four future NBA players - Roy Marble, B.J. Armstrong, Brad Lohaus, and Kevin Gamble - gave UNLV its toughest test.  Wade was up to the task dishing 12 assists to his teammates, especially Armon Gilliam, who scored 27 with 10 rebounds.  Paddio added 20, Banks scored 17 and Graham contributed 10 off the bench.  With the victory UNLV goes to the Final Four.

The 1987 NCAA Final Four was held in New Orleans, and the fans in attendance witnessed a classic.  UNVL lost to Indiana 97-93 in the Final Four, but not because of poor play by UNLV.  Banks scored 38 with 8 rebounds, Gilliam had 32 with 10 rebounds, and Mark Wade dished 18 assists, on 35 baskets!!!  Indiana won because of the 33 points scored by Steve Alford, 18 by Dean Garret, 12 by Rick Calloway, and 14 by Keith Smart, who would go on to score 21 in the Final including THIS SHOT that occurs 30 seconds into the video. 

But despite losing in the Final Four, Mark Wade finished the tournament with a total of 61 assists in the tournament - 5.2 PER GAME!!!

Also seriously, if you love basketball, read about that Dunbar High School team.  I recommend The Boys of Dunbar, but ESPN did a documentary as well.  That team was LOADED!

But, back to the present.  Our leader, Rich Samuels 1 of Palm Beach Gardens, FL remains the same, but there have been some dramatic changes behind him. Drew Foster, of Lake Worth Beach, Florida flies into second place followed closely by Carolyn Fowler, of Greenacres, Florida, Mitch K (Lamb) of Delray Beach, Florida and Javier Rodriguez 2 of Coral Gables, Florida - all tied for third.  Drew rose up the standings due to having 3 of the 4 wins yesterday, as did Steven Usma 2 of Miami, Florida and Josh Zdrowak, of Orlando, Florida.  All three of those entrants had Creighton, with Miami and Texas.  Other people that selected Creighton were: Fowler, Dana Williams of somewhere in the Greater West Palm Beach, Florida area, Rich Samuels 2 of Palm Beach Gardens, Brittany Sosa of Orlando, Florida, Steven Usma 2 of Miami, Florida, and Rich Samuels 3 of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.  Apparently Rich Samuels really believed in Creighton.  Should be a nine-way tie for Pick of the Day, right?  NO!!!!

That goes to Jim Baruffi of Jupiter, Florida who was the only person to pick San Diego State into the Final Four.  No word on wether or not Jim has any affiliation with either San Diego State, or the Aztecs, but congratulations Jim, you have earned it!!!

Now, Creighton did beat Princeton, and had Princeton won, I would have written about their 1965 basketball team, which went to the Final Four.  I mean, when will I have the opportunity to write about an Ivy League team making the Final Four.  It hasn't happened since Penn did it in 1979, but nobody cares about Penn in 1979 as that was the Magic-Bird championship between Michigan State/Indiana State.  So, in light of the fact that I will likely not have this opportunity, I will tell you about Princeton's final four run in 1965.

Princeton finished the regular season 23-6, and 13-1 in conference to earn a post-season berth.  They traveled to Philadelphia to play Penn State in the Palestra, which they narrowly won 60-58 behind 22 points and 9 rebounds by future Senator Bill Bradley, Princeton's star.  The Tigers easily handled North Carolina State 66-48 in the second round in College Park, Maryland.  In the second round game, Bradley dominated scoring 27 points (nobody else from either team had more than 13) and a game-high 14 rebounds.  But this game had nothing on Princeton's next win, a 109-69 dominance of Providence in what we would call the Elite 8.  Bradley was once again dominant, scoring 41, with 10 rebounds and 9 assists to advance Princeton to the Final Four.

The Final Four was held in Portland, Oregon, and the Tigers played the Michigan Wolverines, where they lost 93-76.  Michigna was led by future NBAer and College Basketball Hall of Famer Cazzie Russell, who had 28 points and 10 rebounds.  Bill Bradley finished with a game-high 29, but could not get enough help from his teammates.  Princeton still had one game remaining, as back in 1965 the NCAA tournament held a third-place game in which Princeton would play Wichita State - and play them they did.

Princeton won the third-place game 118 - 82.  In that game Bradley had 58 points - YES 58!!! - and 17 rebounds.  Bradley's 58 points are still the most points scored in a Final Four game (the tournament record is Notre Dame's Autin Carr's 61 in 1970), and his 87 are the most cumulative scored in a Final Four.  He also went on the star in the NBA winning 2 NBA titles and making the Hall of Fame, and did a thing in the Senate serving 3 terms.  Bottom line - he was pretty accomplished.

Since I just spent some time going over Bill Bradley's stats, let's see what the players of yesterday accomplished themselves.

Players of the Day

8.  Norchad Omier - Miami - 12 points/13 rebounds/3 assists/1 steal

7.  Isaiah Wong - Miami - 20 points/6 rebounds/3 assists

6.  Darrion Trammell - San Diego State - 21 points/5 rebounds/2 steals

5.  Baylor Scheiermn - Creighton - 21 points/9 rebounds/4 assists

4.  Tosan Evbuimwan - Princeton - 24 points/6 rebounds/9 assists/1 steal

3.  Ryan Langborg - Princeton - 26 points/3 rebounds/1 assists/2 steals

2.  Ryan Kalkbrenner - Creighton - 22 points/5 rebounds/2 assists/amazing interior defense

1.  Nigel Pack - Miami - 26 points (7 three pointers)/4 rebounds/2 assists/1 steal

And for some more stats ...

Stats of the Day

6.  Alabama star Brandon Miller shot 3-19 (1-10 from three).  He became the first person in NCAA tournament history to shoot under 20% for the tournamant, with a minimum of 40 shots.

5.  Texas star Dylan Disu played only 2 minutes, before suffering a foot-injury.  He was later seen in a walking boot on the bench.

4.  Matt Kuchar tied Tiger Woods for the most all-time victories at the WGC Match Play, with 36.  Kuchar finished his group play 2-0-1.

3.  Sandy Alcantara - the reigning unanimous National League Cy Young Award winning, finished his last spring training start against the Houston Astros pitching 3 innings, giving up 0 hits and striking out 8.

2.  San Diego State had the 3rd best three-point defense in the NCAA Tournament (out of 363).  Seems as if that worked out for them as Alabama shot 3-27 from three-point range.

1.  Since tournament seeding began in 1979, this is the first time NO 1 seeds have advanced to the Elite 8.  It has never happened before.  NEVER!

I  know that I have posted yesterday's tournament history, and I did Princeton 1965 and Bill Bradley today, but to make up for yesterday's plain report, I want to give an extra something today, and that extra something is the story of Jim Larranaga, coach of the Miami Hurricanes.

Larranaga was the head coach and American International in 1977-1979, and has been a head coach constantly since 1986, with stints at Bowling Green, George Mason and Miami.  Born in the Bronx to Cuban parents, he seems a natural fit at Miami, but he is probably most well known as coach of George Mason from 1997-2011.  He left Bowling Green for George Mason after being the second-winningest coach in Bowling Green history. His 2004 team became the first 20 win-team at George Mason in 14 years, but with three starters returning for their junior year, disappointingly wen 16-13 in 2005.  This was just setup for the 2006 season, in which George Mason won the Colonial Athletic Conference regular season title (tied with UNC-Wilmington), but lost to Hofstra in the semi-finals, a game known for George Mason's Tony Skinn's punch below-the-belt to a Hofstra player, earning him a 1 game suspension.  George Mason earned an at-large berth, one of the last teams selected into the tournament. but began a magical ride to the final four in Indianapolis defeating Michigan State 75-65, North Carolina 65-60, Wichita State 63-55, and Connecticut 86-84 in overtime, before falling to eventual champion Florida 73-58 in the Final Four.

Larranaga left George Mason as the winningest coach in school - and conference - history.  Larranaga was coached to Miami, and his hiring is a fantastic story.  Larranaga was on vacation and his agent could not get in touch with him.  Miami had contacted the agent about their recent coaching vacancy and really wanted to look at Larranaga.  Although the agent couldn't (or wouldn't) get in touch with the coach while he was on vacation, Larranaga's daughter reached out and asked her dad to send in his resume.  However, having been coach at George Mason since 1997, he didn't have a resume.  So, thinking quickly, Larranaga's daughter sent Miami's Athletic Director a copy of Larranaga's wikipedia page!

Larranaga, at 73 years of age, is the second-winningest coach in Bowling Green history, the winningest coach in George Mason history (by 143 games), and the winningest coach in Miami history.  And tomorrow, Miami will compete in its second consecutive Elite 8.

OK - now I feel better.

Social Media Posts of the Day

3.  As a setup, the NCAA Men's Hockey tournament started Thursday, and yesterday Harvard played Ohio State, with the Buckeyes losing 8-1.  My friend Josh R. found this on twitter:

"Harvard gave us Facebook and this game.  That's two strikes."

2.  From my Facebook page - "Brandon Miller firing blanks for Alabama".

1.  This from Twitter - as shown to me by my friend Brendan H.

IYKYK!

On to the standings.  Feel free to double-check my scores, and let me know if you have any questions.  Please note that the A.J. Ripin/Jeremy Spuhler bracket situation has been solved.  Jeremy's bracket had been scored correctly, with A.J.'s a duplicate of Jeremy's.  I have found A.J.'s origingal bracket and scored it.  He is nominally better that previously listed, but he does have Gonzaga as his champion.

1.  Rich Samuels 1 - 77 - Alabama/Texas

2.  Drew Foster - 70 - Texas/Kansas State

3.  Carolyn Fowler - 65 - Houston/Alabama

     Mitch K (Lamb) - 65 - Gonzaga/Marquette

     Javier Rodriguez - 65 - Miami/Alabama

6.  John Hopps - 64 - Houston/Purdue

     Guy Hughes - 64 - Alabama/Texas

     Allison Parker - 64 - Houston/Alabama

9.  Dana Willias - 63 - Alabama/Houston

10.  Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 62 - Alabama/Houston

       Rich Samuels 2 - 62 - Houston/Alabama

12.  Ty Leatherman - 61 - Houston/Alabama

       Silas Nichols - 61 - Alabama/Houston

14.  Steven Usma 5 - 60 - Alabama/Gonzaga

15.  Shane Jernigan 1 - 59 - Marquette/Gonzaga

       Skip LaForte 1 - 59 - Michigan State/Houston

       Kisha Marzouca 2 - 59 - UCLA/Purdue

       Steven Usma 2 - 59 - Marquette/Connecticut

19.  Karen Katz - 58 - Marquette/Kansas

       Jeff Plamondon 2 - 58 - Texas/Marquette

       Steven Usma 4 - 58 - Miami/Arizona

22.  Jacey Fowler 2 - 57 - Alabama/Texas

       Arlene Amo Hopps - 57 - Florida Atlantic/Gonzaga

       Marcus Jackson - 57 - Kansas/Alabama

       Sasha Moon - 57 - Houston/Arizona

       Jessica Samuels - 57 - Houston/Marquette

27.  Sal DiSanza - 56 - Alabama/Kansas

       Stephanie Henderson - 56 - Connecticut/Baylor

       Blake Jackson - 56 - Purdue/Gonzaga

30.  Martha Kroesen - 55 - Alabama/Houston

       Brittany Sosa - 55 - Kansas/Duke

       Bubba Zdrowak  55 - Kansas/Purdue

33.  Jonathan Cox - 54 - Connecticut/Marquette

       Edy "Almond" Pecan - 54 - Kansas State/Houston 

       Jason Spuhler - 54 - Kansas/Baylor

       Joshua Zdrowak - 54 - Kansas/Marquette

37.  George Fox 3 - 53 - Texas/Baylor

       Bill Ganoe 1 - 53 - Houston/Alabama

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 53 - Duke/Connecticut

       Colonel Kareem Montague - 53 - Purdue/UCLA

41.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 52 - Houston/Arizona

       Jacey Fowler I - 52 - Alabama/Houston

       Matt Okell 1 - 52 - Indiana/Duke

44.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 51 - Purdue/Houston

       Bill Ganoe 2 - Arizona/UCLA

       Kyle Henderson - 51 - Marquette/Houston

       Quinn Jackson - 51 - Houston/Baylor

       Dan Laishley - 51 - Kansas/Alabama

       Sean McInerney 4 - 51 - Alabama/Houston

       Brian McMahon - 51 - Kansas/Marquette

       Ashley Poer 2 - 51 - Arizona/UCLA

       Jane Reynolds - 51 - Alabama/Houston

       Christopher Simmons - 51 - UCLA/Alabama

       Jonathan Wasserman - 51 - Duke/Houston

       Day Yi 1 - 51 - Gonzaga/Alabama

56.  Justin Gaeta - 50 - Houston/Marquette

       Jeff Plamondon 1 - 50 - Alabama/Houston

       Javier Rodriguez 1 - 50 - Alabama/Hosuton

       Pepe Sosa - 50 - Houston/Arizona

       Steven Usma 1 - 50 - Arizona/Connecticut

61.  Alvaro Gonzalez - 49 - Alabama/Texas

       Matt Hopps - 49 - Alabama/Houston

       Eric Inge - 49 - Alabama/Kansas

       Adam Jorgensen - 49 - Kansas/Alabama

       Kisha Marzouca 3 - 49 - Houston/Tennessee

       Bennie Merchant - 49 - Arizona/Houston

       Javier Rodriguez 4 - 49 - Alabama/Houston

       Justin Yung - 49 - Arizona/Connecticut

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 49 - Houston/Texas

70.  Jim Baruffi - 48 - UCLA/Duke

       Liam Gray - 48 - Arizona/Kansas

       Max Macon 2 - 48 - UCLA/Purdue

       Javier Rodriguez - 3 - 48 - Houston/Duke

       Steven Usma 3 - 48 - Houston/Alabama

       Mike Wolff - 48 - Kansas/Arizona

76.  George Fox 1 - 47 - Kansas State/Duke

       Miles Jackson - 47 - Houston/Purdue

       Gracie Kroesen - 47 - Purdue/UCLA

       Max Macon 1 - 47 - Purdue/Houston

       George Walks 3 - 47 - Kansas State/UCLA

81.  Jim Coleman - 46 - Arizona/Kansas

       Paul Cummings 2 - 46 - Texas/Baylor

       Dawn Lamb - 46 - Kansas/Alabama

       Sean McInerney 3 - 46 - Kansas/Alabama

85.  Bill Ganoe 3 - 45 - Alabama/Houston

       Braeden Helland - 45 - Alabama/Gonzaga

       Kyle Henderson - 45 - Houston/Marquette

88.  Paul Cummings - 44 - Houston/Baylor

       James Garvin - 44 - Alabama/Houston

       Chris Kroesen - 44 - Purdue/Houston

       Skip LaForte - 44 - Houston/Purdue

       Kisha Marzouca 1 - 44 - Houston/Alabama

       Duncan Merchant - 44 - Gonzaga/Alabama

       Sean McInerney 2 - 44 - Alabama/Gonzaga

       Kingfish Parham - 44 - Alabama/Kansas

       George Walks 2 - 44 - Texas/Alabama

       George Walks 4 - 44 - Tennessee/UCLA

98.  Brent Bellinger - 43 - Marquette/Texas

       Jenna Finkelstein - 43 - Kansas State/Texas A&M

       George Fox 2 - 43 - Houston/Purdue

       Justine Frank - 43 - Gonzaga/Marquette

       Alyssa Hopps - 43 - Virginia/Gonzaga

       Sean McInerney 1 - 43 - Houston/Kansas State

       Rich Samuels 3 - 43 - Houston/Alabama

       Day Yi 2 - 43 - Purdue/Houston

       Amy Zdrowak - 43 - UCLA/Duke

107.  Annabelle Fowler - 42 - Alabama/Houston

         Keith W 2 (Lamb) - 42 - Kansas/Arizona

         Matt Okell 2 - 42 - Arizona/Kansas

         Jamie Toole - 42 - Houston/Marquette

111.  Mac Kroesen - 41 - Alabama/Houston

         Max Macon 4 - 41 - Alabama/Kansas

         Matt Okell 3 - 41 - Kansas/Purdue

         Hannah Sosa - 41 - Houston/Alabama

         Cheryl Spuhler - 41 - Houston/Purdue

         Amanda Staudt - 41 - Houston/Purdue

         George Walks 1 - 41 - Arizona/Houston

118.  Aly Baruffi - 39 - Purdue/Northwestern

         Katie Kollmeyer - 39 - Indiana/Purdue

         Keith W (1) Lamb - 39 - Texas/Alabama

         Savannah Grace Pressly -39 - UCLA/Alabama

         A.J. Ripin - 39 - Gonzaga/Duke

         Logan Spuhler - 39 - Alabama/Xavier

         Katie Zdrowak - 39 - Duke/Texas

125.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 38 - Duke/Gonzaga

         Ashley Poer 1 - 38 - Houston/Alabama

         Keith Zdrowak - 38 - Purdue/Texas

128.  Max Macon 3 - 37 - Houston/Alabama

         Dave Piasecki - 37 - Houston/Marquette

         William Pujals - 37 - UCLA/Arizona

131.  Mark Holbert - 35 - Houston/Marquette

         Dave Marzouca 2 - 35 - Houston/Purdue

133.  Barkley Sosa - 33 - Houston/Alabama

134.  Dave Marzouca 3 - 32 - Alabama/Houston

         Jeremy Spuhler - 32 - Kansas/Tennessee

136.  Mango Merchant - 29 - UCLA/Purdue

137.  Lizzy W (Lamb) - 25 - Kansas/Duke

         Lily Spuhler - 25 - Houston/Purdue

2023 NCAA Tournament Pool - Round 1/Day 2

 

Before I get started, I need to apologize to Javier Rodriguez 1, Javier Rodriguez 2, Javier Rodriguez 3, and Javier Rodriguez 4 - all from Coral Gables, Florida, Jonathan Cox of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and Dave Piasecki of Tacoma, Washington who were not included in the first day's update because their e-mailed brackets went to my Spam folder.  I have found them, properly date-stamped, and they have been scored and are be included below.  Welcome also to Karen Katz of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who mailed in her sheet, and I received it yesterday.  She is also scored and included in the standings.  That means seven more entrants than we thought.

While I am handing out apologies, I apologize to Drew Foster of Lake Worth Beach, Florida, as I failed to credit him with the full 10 points for guaranteeing Furman's win.  I have adjusted his score accordingly and his total as shown below is now correct.

As far as the games go, we should have known that we were in for some serious madness just by the end of one of the early games - Xavier over Kennessaw State.  Kennessaw State, after an incredible block by Kennessaw's Chris Youngblood, ends up fouling Colby Jones of Xavier after a scramble for the ball.  He makes one to give Xavier a one-point lead (instead of 2 if he hit both).  Kennessaw's Terrel Burden then drives the lane for a seemingly open layup  and the lead with 5 seconds remaining, when Jack Nunge comes out of nowhere to block his shot.  In the scramble for the rebound a Kennessaw player seemingly recovers the ball and is fouled, but the referees - probably rightly - let the teams keep scrambling, and Xavier's Souley Bourn recovers, and seals the win with 4 straight free throws.  And this was the NON-Upset.

From the first set of games to the last there was excitement, as Florida Atlantic's Nick Boyd makes a layup with 2.5 seconds left to push FAU into a 1-point lead over Memphis, and securing their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.

So, did any upsets occur?  Let me think.  Not sure I remember.  Oh year - A 1-seed lost for only the third time ever in NCAA basketball tournament history as Fairleigh Dickenson, a team that in most ordinary years would not even be in the tournament beat Purdue as the Big-10 regular season and tournament champions folded for the third consecutive tournament to a 16-seed.  So you might ask what I mean that Fairleigh Dickenson wouldn't ordinarily be in the tournament?  Merrimack College won the Northeast Conference tournament championship, but because the are just transitioning from Division II to Division I, the NCAA has a transition period in which that school cannot participate in the post-season.  So, instead of Merrimack playing in the NCAA Tournament, Fairleigh Dickinson, the regular-season champion - received the conference's automatic bid.  They then had to beat the Texas Southern Tigers - a 14-21 team that won the SWAC conference tournament to receive an automatic bid, despite finishing 8th in the conference - which they did handily 84-61 on Wednesday.   You might also ask what I mean by the third time a 16 seed has won.  Well, you probably remember 2018's game in which University of Maryland-Baltimore County absolutely destroyed Virginia.  But, that was not the first time it happened. 

For today's tournament history lesson, let's wander back to Saturday, March 14, 1998.  Your Tournament Host was behind the bar demanding that the television sets be turned to ESPN2 to watch some tournament basketball.  The Harvard Crimson, behind Kathy Delaney-Smith, had traveled to Palo Alto, California to take on the number 1 seeded Stanford Cardinal coached by the legendary Tara Vanderveer.  Everyone - employees and customers alike - chastised Your Tournament Host for wanting to watch women's basketball.  But, as the clock turned to midnight on the east coast and as the 16th-seeded Crimaon, behind th spectacular play of Allison Feaster - the nation's leading scorer and future WNBAer - kept the top-seeded Cardinal on edge, the spectators in my bar became more and more interested in the game (and less interested in chastising me.)  The tension mounted in the arena as Stanford playing on its home court (in the women's tournament at this time the topf 4 seeds host the first and second round games,) could not contain Feaster, who finished with 35 points and 13 rebounds.  As the game approached the under four minute television timeout, my bar was officially closed, but most of the customers stayed to watch the end of the game.  They were not disappointed as Suzie Miller's basket with just under two minutes remaining put the Crimson up for good, as the closed out the Cardinal on a 9-2 run to win the game 71-67. 

Allison Feaster was the first person in any sport to  be named Ivy League Player of the Year three times.  She was a first round draft pick in the WNBA, going 5th to the Los Angeles Sparks.  She played ten years in the WNBA, while simultaneously playing in Europe for those 10 years, whils also playing 8 more.  After she retired she traveled as a Sports Diplomacy envoy for the State Department before taking a front office job in the G-League as the league's Player Personnel & Coach Relations Lead before being hired by the Boston Celtics as the Vice President of Team Operations and Organizational Growth.

Now, back to the pool.  Purdue losing knocks out one of our champions.  But, despite the fact that everyone in our league picks some upset, no entrants received any bonuses for correctly selecting Fairleigh Dickenson.  A special heart-feld condolence to Scott Bieterman 1 and Scott Bieterman 2 of West Palm Beach, Florida, who I believe is an alumnus of Purdue University.

As a reminder, the champions in our league are:  Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Gonzaga, Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Marquette, Michigan State, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, Virginia.

For the day, it was very competitive in terms of selections.  We had exactly zero unanimous selections in our pool, as a couple of entrants selected Grand Canyon over Gonzaga.  So, if nobody received bonus points for the Fairleigh Dickenson win, how was that not a unanimous selection?  Easy, Alyssa Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts thought Purdue was ripe for an upset, but selected Texas Southern to win.  Oh, so close Alyssa.

We did have one other upset occur yesterday, that being Pittsburgh over Iowa State.  Twenty-seven entrants chose Pittsburgh, but 4 had them as their guarantee:  Silas Nichols of Washington, D.C., Sal Disanza of presumably somewhere near West Palm Beach, Florida, Javier Rodriguez 2 of Coral Gables, Florida and Karen Katz of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  For that, you all receive Co-Picks of the Day!  A special mention to Jessica Samuels of Palm Beach Gardens, FL and John Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts for going 15-1 yesterday.

Because of his Pittsburgh pick, Silas Nichols of Washington, DC takes the overall lead from Your Tournament Host, who falls all the way to second.  Newcomer to the pool Sal Disanza rises to third.

Interesting Stats of the Day

4.  At one point in the second half Iowa State made 1 out of 19 shots, after starting the game 0-8 from the field.  Hard to win any games, let along tournament games, with the rate of failure.

3.  Purdue's unanimous first-team All-American Zach Edey was held without a shot in the last 9 minutes of the game, and held to only 1 shot in the final 13:30.  Again, hard to win when you aren't really playing.

2.  Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky finished the game with 25 rebounds, the most since Phil Hubbard of Michigan grabbed 26 rebounds in 1977.

1.  Fairleigh Dickenson ranked 353rd in the nation in defensive efficiency this year.  To state the obvious, 352 college basketball team played better defense than Fairleigh Dickinson did this year.  Yikes.

No fun social media posts as I tried to mix basketball watching with St. Patrick's Day.   Hopefully see some good ones on Saturday.

Players of the Day

8.  RaeQuan Battle - Montana State - The Chef finished with 27 points in a loss to Kansas State.  Probably need a RZA, a GZA, a Ghostface Killah, a Method Man, an Inspectah Deck, a U-God, and an Ol' Dirty Bastard in the rotation to help.

7.  Terquavion Smith - North Carolina State - Finished with 32 points.  Would have placed higher if his team had won.

6.  Mike Miles - TCU - Finished with 26 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

5.  Oscar Tshiebwe - Kentucky - The star from the Democratic Republic of the Congo finished with 8 points, 25 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

4.  Trayce Jackson-Davis - Indiana - Scored 24 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished 4 assists.

3.  Julian Strawther - Gonzaga - 28 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks

2.  Ryan Kalkbrenner - Creighton - 31 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks

1.   Adama Sanogo - Connecticut - 28 points, 13 rebounds.

As far as our players, our standings are below.  Feel free to let me know if you think I made a mistake, as sometimes I do.  Just know that if I re-score your sheet and find a mistake that was made in your favor, I will correct that too.  

1.  Silas Nichols - 39

2.  Pepe Sosa - 38

3.  Sal Disanza - 36

4.  Javier Rodriguez 2 - 35

5.  Jeff Plamondon 1 - 34

     Rich Samuels 1 - 34

7.  Shane Jernigan 1 - 33

     Mitch K (Lamb) - 33

     Colonel Kareem Montague - 33

10.  Karen Katz - 32

11.  Carolyn Fowler - 31

       Alyssa Hopps - 31

       Kisha Marzouca 2 - 31

       Jessica Samuels - 31

15.  Drew Foster - 30

       Jacey Fowler 1 - 30

       John Hopps - 30

       Allison Parker - 30

19.  George Fox 2 - 29

       Gracie Kroesen - 29

       Jonathan Wasserman - 29

22.  Justin Gaeta - 28

       Stephanie Henderson - 28

       Skip LaForte 1 - 28

       Ty Leatherman - 28

       Max Macon 2 - 28

       Jeff Plamondon 2 - 28

       Jason Spuhler - 28

       Steven Usma 3 - 28

       Steven Usma 5 - 28

31.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 27

       Dan Laishley - 27

       Max Macon 1 - 27

       Rich Samuels 2 - 27

       Brittany Sosa - 27

       Steven Usma 4 - 27

       Day Yi 1 - 27

38.  Aly Baruffi - 26

       Jim Baruffi - 26

       Scott Bieterman 2 - 26

       Paul Cummings 2 - 26

       Shane Jernigan 2 - 26

       Sean McInerney 3 - 26

       Edy "Almond" Pecan - 26

       Dana Williams - 26

       Bubba Zdrowak - 26

47.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 25

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 25

       Kyle Henderson - 25

       Eric Inge - 25

       Adam Jorgenson - 25

       Katie Kollmeyer - 25

       Martha Kroesen - 25

       Sean McInerney 1 - 25

       Sean McInerney 4 - 25

       Bennie Merchant - 25

       Sasha Moon - 25

       Amy Zdrowak - 25

59.  Jim Coleman - 24

       Jonathan Cox - 24

       Jacey Fowler II - 24

       James Garvin - 24

       Blake Jackson - 24

       Chris Kroesen - 24

       Kisha Marzouca 1 - 24

       Duncan Merchant - 24

       Matt Okell 1 - 24

       Javier Rodriguez 1 - 24

       Javier Rodriguez 3 - 24

       Jamie Toole - 24

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 24

       Joshua Zdrowak - 24

73.  Brent Bellinger - 23

       Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 23

       Bill Ganoe 1 - 23

       Bill Ganoe 3 - 23

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 23

       Mark Holbert - 23

       Guy Hughes - 23

       Kisha Marzouca 3 - 23

       Brian McMahon - 23

       Javier Rodriguez 4 - 23

       Chris Simmons - 23

       Barkley Sosa - 23

       Cheryl Spuhler - 23

       Steven Usma 2 - 23

       George Walks 4 - 23

       Justin Yung - 23

89.  Annabelle Fowler - 22

       Liam Gray - 22

       Matt Hopps - 22

       Marcus Jackson - 22

       Skip LaForte 2 - 22

       Dawn Lamb - 22

       Matt Okell 2 - 22

       Ashley Poer 2 - 22

       George Walks 2 - 22

       Mike Wolff - 22

99.  Jenna Finkelstein - 21

       George Fox 1 - 21

       George Fox 3 - 21

       Justine Frank - 21

       Miles Jackson - 21

       Quinn Jackson - 21

       Mac Kroesen - 21

       Matt Okell 3 - 21

       William Pujals - 21

       Logan Spuhler - 21

       Amanda Staudt - 21

       George Walks 3 - 21

       Katie Zdrowak - 21

112.  Paul Cummings 1 - 20

         Arlene Amo Hopps - 20

         Keith W. 1 (Lamb) - 20

         Keith W 2 (Lamb) - 20

         Dave Marzouca 1 - 20

         Sean McInerney 2 - 20

         Ashley Poer 1 - 20

         Jane Reynolds - 20

         A. J. Ripin - 20

         Jeremy Spuhler - 20

         Steven Usma 1 - 20

         Day Yi 2 - 20

124.  Max Macon 3 - 19

         Max Macon 4 - 19

         Dave Piasecki - 19

         Savannah Grace Pressly - 19

         Rich Samuels 3 - 19

         Hannah Sosa - 19

         George Walks 1 - 19

131.  Braeden Helland - 18

         Dave Marzouca 3 - 18

         Kingfish Parham - 18

         Keith Zdrowak - 18

135.  Lizzy W (Lamb) - 17

         Dave Marzouca 2 - 17

         Mango Merchant - 17

138.  Lily Spuhler - 13

2022 NCAA Tournament Pool - Round 2/Day 2

Sorry for the late posting of the standings, but yesterday I had to do some actual work.

Phew!  Somehow we made it through the opening weekend, with some of us more successful than others.  Those that rested on Kentucky, Baylor and Tennessee have previously been disappointed.  More disappointment followed yesterday, as champions Auburn, Illinois and Wisconsin will not be making the trip to the Sweet Sixteen.  That leaves us with these champions: Auburn, ARIZONA, Baylor, DUKE, GONZAGA, Illinois, KANSAS, Kentucky, Tennessee, TEXAS TECH, VILLANOVA, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin.

Illinois was a particularly disappointing loss, since I just added them as a champion in the last update!  Their best player, Kofi Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn) was held so much in check that Houston must have been made of penicillin.   (Yeah, that is a bad joke, but I really have been saving that one up all year for their ultimate tourney loss).

Duke and Arizona survived really close battles, otherwise we would be shy additional 1 or 2 seeds.  Did the closeness of the games show vulnerabilities in these teams, or will the battle-testing make them tougher?  We shall see.

With the dismissal of Auburn and Wisconsin we had to potential bonuses in the second round.  Nobody was prescient enough to select both Iowa State over Wisconsin and Miami over Auburn.  But, we did have entrants select each of those teams.  Ten picked Iowa State over Wisconsin, and nine selected the Hurricanes.  With that,  Jeff Plamondon of Lincoln, Rhode Island, Edith Pecan of West Palm Beach, Florida, Braeden Helland 1 of Jacksonville, Florida, Dawn Lamb (Colbie) of Delray Beach, Florida, Jamie Toole of Springfield, Illinois, Steven Usma 3 of Miami, Florida, George Fox 3 of West Palm Beach, Florida, Dawn Lamb of Delray Beach, Florida, and Steven Usma 4 of Miami, Florida have the Co-Selections of the Day. 

Another favored team that lost, the Illinois Fighting Illini lost to Houston in a 4-5 matchup.  Illinois lost primarily because of a lack of scoring punch from its guards, even though the Illini start three guards in their lineup.  Trent Frazier, Da'Monte Williams, and Alfonso Plummer - and primary backup Andre Curbelo - combined to score 16 points.  This hasn't always been a problem for Illinois.

The 1989 Illinois Fighting Illini advanced all the way to the Final Four behind a three-guard lineup led by Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, and Steven Bardo.  These high-powered, high-flying guards were joined in the rotation by the uber-athletic Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle, Larry Smith and J.P. Bowman.  Nick Anderson, who would ultimately come to define choking in the NBA, was the leading scorer, with Kendall Gill filling it up and second on the team in steals, and Bardo, the floor general, not only scoring, but passing, playing defense, and doing whatever the team needed to win.  These guards garnered plenty of awards and honors, with Nick Anderson winning the NCAA regional Most Valuable Player award, and Steven Bardo winning the Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Illinois earned a 1 seed that year, and started the tournament playing 16th seed McNeese State winning 77-71 with the three guards scoring 33 points.  Incidentally, the team was led by Kenny Battle's 18.  In the second round Illinois defeated Ball State 72-60, with Anderson, Gill and Bardo combining for 43, led by Anderson's 24.  In the Sweet Sixteen, Illinois defeated Louisville 83-69, with the trio scoring 49 to advance to the Elite Eight where they played Syracuse.  The guard trio scored 42 to outpace the Orangemen of Derrick Coleman, Billy Owens, Sherman Douglas and Stephen Thompson to advance to the Kingdome in Seattle.  In the Final Four, the Illini ran into the buzzsaw that was Glen Rice, who scored 28, while the guard trio for Illinois only scored 35 as Michigan prevailed 83-81.  Michigan would go on to win the title defeating Seton Hall 80-79.

In 2005 Illinois advanced one round further, making it to the NCAA Championship game paced by a three-guard lineup of Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head.  The three were the top three scorers that year for the Illini, paced by Head's 15.9, Brown's 13.3 and Williams' 12.5.

Ilinois, the 1 seed in the tournament, defeated Farleigh Dickenson in the opening round 67-55, with the trio scoring 40 of the 67 points.  In the second round, Illinois defeated Nevada 71-59.  The guards only scored 31 as the team was paced by James Augustine's 23 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.  There, Illinois played Milwaukee, defeating them 77-63.  Dee Brown and Deron Williams each scored 21 and Luther Head chipped in 12.  In the Elite 8, Illinois beat the Arizona Wildcats 90-89 to advance to the Final Four in the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis as the guards scored 57 points.  Illinois defeated the Louisville Cardinals 72-57, being paced by Luther Head's 20, with Williams and Brown chipping in 13 collectively.  The Illini's magical run ends in the finals, falling to North Carolina 75-70, despite the 50 collective points scored by Illinois' starting guards.  In the end, Most Outstanding Player Sean May had too much size, and scored 26 with 10 rebounds.  Illinois finished the season 37-2.

And even though Illinois could not win a title in 1989 or 2005, the one thing that could not be said is that its guards had problems scoring.

Back to 2022.

Players of the Day

5.  Jordan Miller, Miami - It isn't his actual statistics that were important, but rather his defense on Jabari Smith.

4.  Taze Moore, Houston - 21 points and 7 rebounds as Houston defeated Illinois.

3.  Kevin Obanor, Texas Tech - Following up his last year's run to the Sweet Sixteen with Oral Roberts with 15 points and 15 rebounds as Texas Tech defeated Notre Dame.

2.  Isaiah Wong, Miami - 21 points 6 rebounds in Miami's upset of Auburn.

1.  Christian Koloko and Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona.  28 points/12 rebounds and 30 points/8 rebounds collectively, as Arizona narrowly avoided being upset by TCU.

Stats of the Day

2.  Kevin Obanor of Texas Tech had 7 OFFENSIVE rebounds!

1.  With Texas losing to Purdue, Chris Bears just narrowly missed by the second coach to defeat one school with 3 separate schools, having previously beaten Purdue as the head coach of University of Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas Tech.  This leaves Tubby Smith, who defeated UCLA with three different schools.

Best Social Media Posts

1.  From Tim Reynolds on Twitter:  "Hurricanes v. Cyclones in the Sweet 16.  Send Jim Cantore for the greatest weather event in sports history."

Now, back to the pool.  Javier Rodriguez 2 of Coral Gables, Florida remains the leader, with Day Yi of Forest Hills, New York still hanging in second place.  When you review the standings, keep in mind I will be adding things like each bracket's champions during the week prior to the beginning of the Sweet Sixteen, so you will all have more information to gauge your possibilities of winning.

Please double check your scores, and let me know if you think I made a mistake.

1.  Javier Rodriguez 2 - 75

2.  Day Yi 1 - 73

3.  Jeff Plamondon - 72

4.  Bill Ganoe 3 - 70

5.  Scott Kroesen - 68

     Scott Bieterman 1 - 68

     George Fox 1 - 68

     Dawn Lamb (Keith) - 68

9.  Brian McMahon - 67

10.  Silas Nichols - 66

11.  Colone Kareem Montague - 65

       Jeremy Spuhler - 65

       Josh Zdrowak - 65

14.  Sean McInerney  2 - 63

       George Walks 1 - 63

16.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 62

       Justin Yung - 62

18.  Brent Bellinger 2 - 61

19.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 60

       Brian Hinaman - 60

       Alyssa Hopps - 60

       John Hopps - 60

       Adam Jorgensen - 60

24.  Kline Kroesen - 59

       Allison Parker - 59

       Dave Piasecki 1 - 59

       Barkley Sosa - 59

28.  Brent Bellinger 1 - 58

       Justine Frank - 58

       Edith Pecan - 58

       Jonathan Wasserman - 58

32.  Mac Kroesen - 57

       Pepe Sosa 1 - 57

34.  Guy Hughes - 56

       Blake Jackson - 56

       Mike Wolff - 56

37.  Jim Coleman - 55

       Bill Ganoe 1 - 55

       Sean McInerney 1 - 55

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 55

41.  Braeden Helland 3 - 54

       Matt Hopps - 54

       Javier Rodriguez 3 - 54

       Ryan Rodriguez - 54

       Steven Usma 1 - 54

46.  Rachel Bornn - 53

       Jonathan Cox - 53

       Braeden Helland 2 - 53

       Eric Inge - 53

       Chris Kroesen - 53

       Dawn Lamb (Colbie) - 53

       Ron Stewart - 53

53.  Paul Cummings 1 - 52

       Jenna Finkelstein - 52

       Rich Samuels 3 - 52

       Amanda Staudt - 52

       Steven Usma 2 - 52

       George Walks 2 - 52

       Amy Zdrowak - 52

60.  Carolyn Fowler - 51

       Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 51

       Jacey Fowler 1 - 51

       Sean McInerney 3 - 51

       Javier Rodriguez 1 - 51

       Bubba Zdrowak - 51

66.  Chris LaForte - 50

67.  Dan Laishley - 49

       Dave Marzouca 2 - 49

       Ashley Poer 2 - 49

       Brandon Satterwhite - 49

       Jamie Toole - 49

       Steven Usma 3 - 49

       George Walks 4 - 49

74.  Alvaro Gonzalez - 48

       Larry Green - 48

       Arlene Amo Hopps - 48

       Kevin Kroesen - 48

       Martha Kroesen - 48

       Philip Kroesen - 48

       Dave Piasecki 1 - 48

       Annette Pritchard 1 - 48

       Jessica Samuels - 48

       Hannah Sosa - 48

       Keith Zdrowak - 48

85.  James Davis - 47

       Marcus Jackson - 47

       Chris LaForte 2 - 47

       Dawn Lamb - 47

       Emily Lawson 2 - 47

       Kisha Marzouca 1 - 47

       Glen Merchant - 47

       Jane Reynolds - 47

       Brittany Sosa - 47

       Pepe Sosa 2 - 47

       Steven Usma 4 - 47

96.  Dawn Lamb (Mitch) - 46

       Rich Samuels 1 - 46

98.  Jen Armstrong - 45

       Daniel Barsky - 45

       George Fox 3 - 45

       Mark Holbert - 45

       Katie Kollmeyer - 45

       Ty Leatherman - 45

       Dave Marzouca 1 - 45

       Matt Nieman - 45

       Rich Samuels 2 - 45

107.  George Fox 2 - 44

         Jeff Kroesen - 44

         Hilary Kroesen - 44

         Dave Marzouca 3 - 44

         Jeff Plamondon - 44

         Chris Simmons - 44

         George Walks 3 - 44

114.  Paul Cummings 2 - 43

         Quinn Jackson - 43

         ShaneDog Millionaire Jernigan 2 - 43

         William Pujals - 43

118.  Steph Stewart - 42

119.  ShaneDog Millionaire Jernigan - 41

         Sasha Moon - 41

121.  Annette Pritchard 2 - 40

         Carl Walker - 40

123.  Scott Bieterman 3 - 39

         Miles Jackson - 39

         Kingfish Parham - 39

         Katie Zdrowak - 39

127.  Jacey Fowler 2 - 38

         Kisha Marzouca 2 - 38

         Kisha Marzouca 3 - 38

130.  James Garvin - 37

         Braeden Helland 1 - 37

         Rich Samuels 4 - 37

133.  Emily Lawson 3 - 36

134.  Gracie Kroesen - 35

135.  Emily Lawson 1 - 34

136.  Nancy McInerney - 33

         Jason Spuhler - 33

138.  Dawn Lamb (Quarter) - 30

         Randy Pacheco - 30

140.  Ashley Poer 1 - 29

141.  Day Yi 2 - 28

2022 NCAA Tournament Pool - Round 2/Day 1

The second round started off with a BANG, a weird, crazy likely never-before-seen BANG!  And I missed it as I was watching my beloved Marlins open their home Spring Training schedule off with a 10-2 victory over a bunch of people masquerading as the Houston Astros.  The Marlins with three home runs from Avisail Garcia, Brian Anderson and Jerar Encarnacion.  So, even though the Marlins started off with 3 bangs, they couldn't hold a candle to what happened in the North Carolina - Baylor game.   North Carolina soars out to a 25-point lead with 10:08 remaining in the second half, when Brady Manek is ejected with a flagrant 2 elbow to the face of Jeremy Sochan.  And yes, it WAS a flagrant 2.  By definition, AND by intent.  (If only we had a basketball referee in the pool that could chime in with his thoughts, right Larry Green of Palm City, Florida?)  Manek had scored 25 points to that point, and there is no way Baylor was going to advance.  But, bye-bye Manek, and a few minutes later point guard Caleb Love fouls out, and Baylor begins its full-court pressure and then all of a sudden we go to overtime.  Baylor, however, ran out of gas, and North Carolina' Dontrez Styles banks a three-pointer and North Carolina wins 93-86.  With that win, we lost a champion, Baylor.

We also lost a second champion yesterday when the 11th seeded Michigan Wolverines defeated the Tennessee Volunteers.  Tennessee, who was probably playing the best in the country entering the tourney, just could not withstand the punches delivered by the Juwan Howard-led Wolverines (see what I did there?), and Michigan advances to the Sweet Sixteen.  

Gonzaga and Kansas also withstood some serious challenges from Memphis and Creighton, respectively, to avoid the same upset at the number 1 seed that befell Baylor.

Joining North Carolina and Michigan as lower seeds to crash the Sweet Sixteen is St. Peter's.  The Peacocks defeated the Murray State Racers to win only their second NCAA Tournament game ever, the first being Thursday night.  This loss also deprives me of my story on the history of great tournament rebounding by Murray State, which I had queued up in my mind in case of a Murray State victory.  But, St. Peter's victory also leaves me to hold a possible Shaheen Holloway story from his playing days for future use.

Arkansas also escaped with a close victory over New Mexico State, who just couldn't keep up with Arkansas' relentless defense which stymied leading scorer Teddy Allen, who could only score 12 after his round-one leading 27 on Thursday.

As far as the pool goes, nobody selected St. Peter's, but we did have two other games eligible for bonus points, North Carolina and Michigan, and we had plenty of people capitalize.  A total of 11 people picked North Carolina to defeat defending-champion Baylor (so no repeat this year), and 10 people selected Michigan to defeat Tennessee (plus Dave Marzouca of Boynton Beach, Florida who selected Michigan to defeat Longwood - not bonusable, but still impressive to have a correct 11 in the Sweet Sixteen.)  But, only one single entry - Jeremy Spuhler of St. Petersburg, Florida - selected both North Carolina AND Michigan.  For that, he is awarded our "Selection of the Day" award, and also shoots up the leaderboard.

The antithesis of Jeremy is Dawn Lamb (Quarter), of Delray Beach, Florida, who managed to receive 0 points yesterday, and conversely shot down the leaderboard.

So, although we lost 2 champions yesterday, we also gained a champion.  How so?  Well, I neglected to include Philip Kroesen of Southampton, New York's choice of Illinois.  Not sure how I missed that, as I have included his bracket in the scoring after each day, but perhaps I was just overlooking them, which is not what Houston is doing right now.  So, although I add Illinois now, they may be removed shortly!  The selected champions are:  AUBURN, ARIZONA, Baylor, DUKE, GONZAGA, ILLINOIS, KANSAS, Kentucky, Tennessee, TEXAS TECH, VILLANOVA, Virginia Tech, WISCONSIN.

Gonzaga is lucky to remain in bold as they held on to defeat Memphis 82-78.  Memphis, coached by its greatest basketball alumnus Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, didn't look like they should even be in this tournament starting the season 9-8 with some really bad losses.  (Memphis most prominent alumni include Isaac Bruce, Dixie Carter, Wink Martindale, Fred Thompson and former Marlins great Dan Uggla.)  And although Hardaway looks a little rough managing his rotation when players have foul trouble and may need some seasoning with handling the clock and time outs, we cannot say that he cannot control his team.  Hardaway allowed Emoni Bates, one of his "star" freshmen to return home to Michigan to check out his injured back - an injury that the team and medical staff never reported as having occurred, and this also allowed the team to be rid of Bates' controlling father and entourage, which developed since Bates was heralded as "The Next Kevin Durant" at 14, and named Gatorade National Player of the Year his sophomore year.  Memphis then went 10-1 and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.  Hardaway's handling of the Bates situation likely saved the school from having to fire its favorite son (or more likely, just putting him on the proverbial  hot seat.).  But, that has me wondering that if Penny Hardaway is Memphis' best basketball player (with Ja Morant quickly rising - literally), who else is there?  Ah, I remember.

So the Memphis Tigers made the NCAA Championship games in 1973 and 2008, the latter team led by Derrick Rose and falling to Kansas as mentioned yesterday.  [Ed. Note:  The NCAA vacated Memphis' 2008 run due to SAT test-taking issues surrounding Derrick Rose.]  But I remember vividly a player from Memphis' heyday, with four straight Sweet Sixteen or better appearances from 1982-1985, led by the incomparable Keith Lee!  Keith Lee is Memphis' leading scorer, having scored 2,408 points in his career, and being named to the AP All-America list four times (first team as a junior and senior).  In 1982, Lee's freshman year, Memphis defeated Wake Forest 56-55 before falling to Villanova 70-66 in the Sweet Sixteen.  The following year, Lee led the squad past Georgetown before falling to to the Akeem Olajuwon led Houston Cougars 78-71 in the Sweet Sixteen.  (Olajuwon spelled his name "Akeem" in college, changing it to "Hakeem" once he converted.).  The Cougars would ultimately lose in the finals on the Derrick Whittenberg missed-shot/rebound dunk by Lorenzo Charles which gave North Carolina State the victory.  Memphis lost to Houston again the following year in the Sweet Sixteen after beating Oral Robert and Houston.  But, it was the 1985 Final Four run in which Lee really made his mark.  [Ed. Note:  The NCAA vacated Memphis' 1982-1986 seasons.

In the opening round, Memphis played the Penn Quakers, defeating them 67-55.  Lee started off slowly, as he was saddled with foul trouble, finishing with only 8 points and 3 rebounds in only 20 minutes.  In the second round, Lee was electric scoring 28 points, with 6 rebounds, in a narrow overtime victory over UAB.  Lee again experienced foul trouble in the Sweet Sixteen against Boston College, and Memphis struggled to a 59-57 win.  Lee scored 8 points in 25 minutes. (Boston College was led by a then-uneard-of Michael Adams, who would go on to be one of the greatest three-point shooters in NBA history.) But, in the Elite 8, with a Final Four berth on the line, Lee scored 23, with 11 rebounds, as Memphis beat Wayman Tisdale's Oklahoma Sooners 63-61.

The Semi-Finals game against Villanova is a tough one to review from the point of statistics, as Villanova routinely held the ball for minutes at a time to slow down the game, and would ultimately win the championship over Patrick Ewing's Georgetown Hoyas, with Villanova winning 52-45.  Lee still finished with 10 points.

Lee finished the season averaging 19.7 points per game and 9.2 rebounds.  This followed a junior year averaging 18.4 and 10.8, and 18.7 and 10.8 his sophomore year.  Lee was even amazing his freshman year, scoring 18.3 points per game and gathering 11 rebounds per game.

Lee was ultimately selected 11th by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1985 NBA draft, playing 5 seasons in the NBA.

Back to the pool, Javier Rodriguez 2 of Coral Gables, Florida is in sole possession of first place.

 Players of the Day

5.  Arthur Kaluma, Creighton - 24 points and 12 rebounds in the loss to Kansas.

4.  KC Ndefo, St. Peter's - 17 points and 10 rebounds, 6 blocks, and by far the best player in the St. Peter's - Murray State game.

3.  Hunter Dickenson, Michigan - 27 points on 8/13 shooting, 11 rebounds, 4 assists in Michigan's victory over Tennessee.

2.  Brady Manek, North Carolina - Although R.J. Davis scored 30 for the victorious Tar Heels, Manek was THE story.  26 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 28 minutes, and a really stupid Flagrant 2 ejection.

1.  Drew Timme, Gonzaga - 25 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists.  Timme scored 20 of his 25 in the second half as Gonzaga outscored Memphis by 14 in the half to win 82-78.

Stats of the Day

3.  The entire bench for St. Mary's scored ZERO points in their 72-56 loss to UCLA.

2.  JD Notae of Arkansas fouled out against New Mexico State by committing 5 fouls in the second half, four of them charges!  Arkansas held on to win 53-48.

1.  KC Ndefo of St. Peter's shot 7-9 from the free throw line.  He is a 53% free throw shooter this year.

Best Social Media Posts

To be fair, I didn't really pay attention to social media yesterday.

Anyway, on to the standings.  Let me know if you think I made a mistake.  

1.  Javier Rodriguez 2 - 65

2.  Day Yi 1 - 63

3.  Scott Bieterman 1 - 60

4.  Bill Ganoe 3 - 59

5.  Goerge Fox 1 - 58

6.  Brian McMahon - 57

     Jeff Plamondon - 57

     Jeremy Spuhler - 57

9.  Silas Nichols - 56

10.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 54

       George Walks 1 - 54

       Justin Yung - 54

13.  Brent Bellinger 2 - 53

       Colonel Kareem Montague - 53

15.  Scott Bieterman 2 - 52

16.  Allison Parker - 51

       Barkley Sosa - 51

18.  John Hopps - 50

       Jonathan Wasserman - 50

20.  Kline Kroesen - 49

       Scott Kroesen - 49

       Dawn Lamb (Keith) - 49

23.  Brent Bellinger 1 - 48

       Justine Frank - 48

       Braeden Helland 3 - 48

       Alyssa Hopps - 48

       Matt Hopps - 48

       Adam Jorgensen - 48

       Sean McInerney 2 - 48

       Josh Zdrowak - 48

31.  Edith Pecan - 47

       Dave Piasecki 1 - 47

       Pepe Sosa 1 - 47

34.  Blake Jackson - 46

       Mike Wolff - 46

       Amy Zdrowak - 46

37.  Rachel Bornn - 45

       Jim Coleman - 45

       Mac Kroesen - 45

       Sean McInerney 1 - 45

41.  Braeden Helland 2 - 44

       Guy Hughes - 44

       Javier Rodriguez 3 - 44

       Ryan Rodriguez - 44

       Amanda Staudt - 44

46.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 43

       Brian Hinaman - 43

       Eric Inge - 43

       Bubba Zdrowak - 43

    

50.  Chris LaForte 1 - 42

       Rich Samuels 3 - 42

       Hannah Sosa - 42

       Steven Usma 1 - 42

       Steven Usma 2 - 42

55.  Jacey Fowler 1 - 41

       Chris Kroesen - 41

       Chris LaForte 2 - 41

       Dave Marzouca 2 - 41

       Sean McInerney 3 - 41

       Ashley Poer 2 - 41

       Jane Reynolds - 41

       Javier Rodriguez 1 - 41

       Brandon Satterwhite - 41

       Ron Stewart - 41

       George Walks 4 - 41

66.  Jonathan Cox - 40

       Paul Cummings 1 - 40

       Jenna Finkelstein - 40

       Larry Green - 40

       Dawn Lamb (Colbie) - 40

       Keith Zdrowak - 40

72.  Daniel Barsky - 39

       Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 39

       Marcus Jackson - 39

       Dan Laishley - 39

       Dave Marzouca 1 - 39

       William Pujals - 39

       Brittany Sosa - 39

       Pepe Sosa 2 - 39

80.  Philip Kroesen - 38

       Dawn Lamb (Mitch) - 38

       Dave Piasecki 2 - 38

       Annette Pritchard 1 - 38

       Jessica Samules - 38

85.  Jen Armstrong - 37

       James Davis - 37

       Emily Lawson 2 - 37

       Kisha Marzouca 1 - 37

       Matt Nieman - 37

90.  Carolyn Fowler - 36

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 36

       Arlene Hopps - 36

       Kevin Kroesen - 36

       Martha Kroesen - 36

       Dave Marzouca 3 - 36

       Chris Simmons - 36

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 36

98.  Mark Holbert - 35

       ShaneDog Millionaire Jernigan - 35

       Katie Kollmeyer - 35

       Glen Merchant - 35

       Rich Samuels 2 - 35

103.  George Fox 2 - 34

         Hilary Kroesen - 34

         Rich Samuels 1 - 34

         Jamie Toole - 34

         Steven Usma 3 - 34

         Carl Walker - 34

         George Walks 3 - 34

110.  Scott Bieterman 3 - 33

         Paul Cummings 2 - 33

         Quinn Jackson - 33

         Ty Leatherman - 33

         Sasha Moon - 33

         Kingfish Parham - 33

         George Walks 2 - 33

117.  George Fox 3 - 32

         Jeff Kroesen - 32

         Dawn Lamb - 32

         Jeff Plamondon 2 - 32

         Annette Pritchard 2 - 32

         Steph Stewart - 32

         Katie Zdrowak - 32

124.  Jacey Fowler 2 - 30

125.  Miles Jackson - 29

         Jason Spuhler - 29

127.  Emily Lawson 3 - 28

         Steven Usma 4 - 28

129.  James Garvin - 27

         Braeden Helland 1 - 27

131.  Nancy McInerney - 27

         Rich Samuels 4 - 27

133.  ShaneDog Millionaire Jernigan - 26

         Dawn Lamb (Quarter) - 26

         Kisha Marzouca 2 - 26

         Kisha Marzouca 3 - 26

         Day Yi 2 - 26

138.  Gracie Kroesen - 25

139.  Emily Lawson 1 - 24

         Randy Pacheco - 24

141.  Ashley Poer 1 - 21

123.