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

NCAA Tournament Pool Results - Round 1/Day 2

So our first round is complete, and boy was yesterday exciting.  Not necessarily in the "a whole lot of games went down to the wire" exciting, but in a "boy were the favorites a bit overrated" type of exciting.  The lower seeds held their one, literally, but winning exactly half of the games yesterday, going 8-8.  And these were the good kind of lower seeds, with four teams big upsets and earning our pool lots - AND I MEAN LOTS - of bonus points.  Even though they don't count towards our bonuses, it was interesting to me that all four number 9 seeds defeated their 8th seeded opponents in round 1.  Numerically that was interesting to me, at least.

The big upsets were 11th seed Ohio State over Iowa State, 12th seeds Oregon over Wisconsin and Liberty over Mississippi State, and 13th seeded UC-Irvine over Kansas State.  With the guarantee that is a total of 25 bonus points that could be awarded yesterday in any given bracket, and several entries benefited greatly by selecting a number of correct upsets.  A special mention goes to Measha Williams #3 of Houston, Texas, Carolyn Fowler of Greenacres, Florida, Matt Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts, Katie Kollmeyer of Lantana, Florida, Max Macon #s 2 and 4, of Jupiter, Florida, Edy Pecan of West Palm Beach, Florida and Chad Phillips of Syracuse, New York as all 8 of those entries had 3 of yesterday's 4 upsets, with one of those as the guarantee.  Both of Max Macon's entries went 15-1 on the day.

But, they pale in comparison to the dazzling picking skills of Justin Yung of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who selected all 4 of the primary upsets yesterday, betting on UC-Irvine, Liberty, Oregon and Ohio State yesterday.  The only reason that he isn't higher in the standings is that he did not have any of those 4 selections as his guarantee, having missed out when Villanova eeked by Saint Mary's.  Nevertheless, Justin is our "Pick of the Day"!

Despite all of our upsets, this is the first consecutive year that all 4 number 1 seeds advanced to the second round.  Although Virginia, North Carolina and Duke were all incredibly close at the half.  But their talent and depth - well as much depth as they needed - kicked in for the top 3 to advance yesterday (Gonzaga having advanced Thursday).

But, we did lose another champion, when the UC-Irvine Anteaters defeated the Kansas State Wildcats.  That leaves us with 14 remaining champions.  I will update the standings to reflect which entry has which champion later next week.  Our champions (with remaining teams in bold) are:  Duke, Florida, Florida State, Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee, Villanova, Virginia.

Given that someone lost a champion, the Worst Pick of the Day goes to Krystal Travers from frankly I have no idea.  If someone wants to enlighten me that would be great.  She lost Kansas State - her champion.  A close second goes to Kline Kroesen of Port St. Lucie, Florida who selected North Dakota State over Duke, but Kline gets a bit of a pass because he is 3 years old.

Which means that Duke was not a unanimous selection yesterday (if you can believe that?!)  The only unanimous picks from yesterday's games was Virginia and North Carolina.  Iona's three-point barrage in the first half was intriguing, but the Tar Heels prevailed to move forward.

Which brings me to today's history lesson.  Admittedly, it was hard for me to decide what was the applicable history lesson to learn from yesterday's games.  I immediately thought that Iona had a chance to break the three point record and I could have discussed Loyola Marymount from 1990, but Iona cooled off.  Then when I saw Kenny Wooten with monster block after monster block, I thought about writing about Oregon's Jordan Bell and his blocked shot barrage from a few years ago, but then they showed Bell in the audience and the announcers discussed that during the game.  UC-Irvine has 3 players with star NBA and NCAA lineage, with the grandson of Walt Hazzard and the sons of Caron Butler and Doc Rivers, but that has been all over ESPN all week.  As an aside, I highly recommend reading Caron Butler's autobiography Tuff Juice:  My Journey from the Streets to the NBA, it is fantastic, and I believed it has been purchased to make a move.  But, I found my historical tangent regarding another smaller school from California that did well in the NCAA tournament.

In 1996 in the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Arizona, tiny little Santa Clara University and its Broncos played the University of Maryland Terrapins in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Santa Clara, the 10th seed, defeated Maryland 91-79 behind the stellar play of little known Canadian point guard Steve Nash, who had a game high 28 points and 12 assists, and even gathered in 6 rebounds (and 2 steals).  Steve Nash, who in turns out can dribble a little bit, used his skills to get into the lane time and time again, getting to the free throw line 18 times (hitting 17).  Nash defeated a Maryland team that boasted such current and future college stars as Keith Booth, Obinna Ekezie, Exree Hipp - one of my favorite names of all time - Laron Profit and Sarunas Jasikevicius.  Unfortunately for the Broncs, they ran into second seeded Kansas and promptly lost 76-51.  But, Steve Nash was not content to remain a small college player that only starred in the NCAA Tournament, as he went on the NBA as a first round pick (15th overall) of the Phoenix Suns, where he played 19 seasons for 3 franchises, won 2 NBA MVP titles (2005/2006), was an ALl-Star 8 times and will likely be in the basketball Hall of Fame within a few years.

We have a 4-way tie for first among Carolyn Fowlerof Greenacres, Florida, Max Macon #2 of Jupiter, Florida, and Measha Williams #2 and 4 of Houston, Texas.

Welcome to the Pool Karen Katz of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Annette Pritchard of West Palm Beach.  Annette sent her bracket to the participant that invited her instead of me, but the dates on the e-mail chain were sufficient enough for me to include both her entries. Next time, Annette, send the bracket ot me.

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.

Good luck watching today's games, which begin momentarily with Maryland playing LSU!

1 - Carolyn Fowler - 52
     Max Macon #2 - 52
     Measha Williams #2 - 52
     Measha Williams #3 - 52

5 - Max Macon #4 - 51
     Ashley Poer #2 - 51

7 - Marcus Jackson - 50
     Matt Hopps - 50

9 - Silas Nichols - 49

10 - Katie Kollmeyer - 48

11 - Krystal Travers - 47
       Justin Yung - 47

13 - Scott Bieterman - 46
       Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 46
       William Pujals -46

16 - Brian Hinaman - 45

17 - Martha Kroesen - 44
       Edy Pecan - 44
       Michael Spicer - 44

20 - Chad Phillips - 43
       Steven Usma #4 - 43
       George Walks #3 - 43

23 - Kline Kroesen - 42
       Duncan Merchant - 42
       Steven Usma #2 - 42

26 - Karen Katz - 41
       Philip Kroesen - 41
       Mango Merchant - 41

29 - Max Marion - 40
       Dave Piasecki 1 - 40
       Steven Usma #1 - 40
       George Walks #2 - 40
       George Walks #5 - 40
       Jonathan Wasserman - 40

35 - Dan Barsky #2 - 39
       Mac Kroesen - 39
       Anthony LaPira - 39
       Ty Leatherman - 39
       Max Marion #2 - 39
       Colonel Kareem Montague - 39
       Steven Usma #5 - 39

42 - Paul Cummings - 38
       Jacey Fowler #2 - 38
       Hilary Kroesen #1 - 38
       Coby Kroesen - 38
       Rich Samuels #2 - 38
       Melanie Scherr - 38
       Jason Spuhler - 38
       Steven Usma #3 - 38

50 - Allison Parker - 37
       Brittany Sosa - 37
       George Walks #1 - 37

53 - Eric Inge - 36
       Measha Williams #1 - 36

55 - Alyssa Ave - 35
       Max Macon #1 - 35
       Dave Piasecki #2 - 35
       John Santucci - 35
       Kyle Sheehan - 35
       Barkley Sosa - 35
       Harrington Wax III - 35

62 - Dan Barsky #1 - 34
       Jenna Finkelstein - 34
       Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 34
       Alvaro Gonzalez - 34
       Adam Jorgensen - 34
       Sasha Moon - 34
       Jordyn Sheehan - 34
       Traci Sheehan - 34
       Jeremy Spuhler - 34
       Mike Zachary - 34
       Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 34

73 - Robert Hosmer - 33
       Chris Kroesen - 33
       Hilary Kroesen #2 - 33
       Michael Litsey - 33
       Sean McInerney - 33
       Glen Merchant - 33
       Matt Nieman - 33
       Kingfish Rod Parham - 33
      Annette Pritchard #1 - 33
      Jane Reynolds - 33
      Brittany Sosa - 33
      Robert Tanen #1 - 33
      George Walks #4 - 33

86 - Jacey Fowler #1 - 32
       Bill Ganoe #1 - 32
       Robert Tanen #1 - 32

89 - Jean Calixte - 31
       Bill Ganoe #2 - 31
       Skip LaForte - 31
       Jeff Plamondon - 31
       Pepe Sosa - 31

94 - Scott Hansel - 29
       Ira Schulteis - 29
       Hannah Sosa - 29
       Amy Zdrowak - 29

98 - Rachel Bornn - 28
       Ashley Poer #1 - 28
       Katie Zdrowak - 28

101 - Arlene Amo Hopps - 27
         Max Macon #3 - 27
         Annette Pritchard #2 - 27
         Richard Samuels #1 - 27

105 - David Olson - 26

106 - Dana Mandelbaum - 25
         Chris Petit - 25
         Meredith Tanen - 25
         Wes Wiggins - 25

110 - Abigail Sosa - 24

111 - Jennifer Armstrong - 23
         Luis Briones - 23
        James Garvin - 23
        Cubbie Kroesen - 23
        Cheryl Spuhler - 23

116 - Jessica Samuels - 22

117 - Tara Telliott - 21
          Biscuit Zdrowak - 21
          Joshua Zdrowak - 21

120 - Griffey Parker - 20
         Samantha Sheehan - 20
         Keith Zdrowak - 20

123 - Liz Carew - 19

NCAA Tourney Pool - Round 2/Day 1

What a great start to the second round.  A buzzer beating three by Michigan freshman Jordan Poole turns a 1 point deficit into a two point victory over the Houston Cougar and a running two-point jumper by Loyola's Clayton Custer with 3.6 seconds remaining to secure Loyola's spot in the Sweet Sixteen over Tennessee.   As you learned in the recap after Friday's post, Loyola also made the Sweet Sixteen in its last appearance in the tournament in 1985.

Speaking of Loyola, The Ramblers not only upset Tennessee, they were the only lower seed to win yesterday.  They also qualified for bonus points in our pool with their victory.  Those bonus points went to Max Macon 2 of Jupiter, Florida, Justin Yung of Raleigh, North Carolina, Jim Coleman of Boynton Beach, Florida and Sasha Moon of Plantation, Florida.  Max, Justin, Jim and Sasha, you win the "Pick of the Day".

On the opposite end of the spectrum, it was tough to determine who was the "Worst Pick of the Day".  I first considered George Walks 3 with his combination picks of Seton Hall and Buffalo to both advance to the Sweet Sixteen, but Seton Hall played Kansas very close, even scoring 53 points in the second half before falling to the Jayhawks 83-79.  The closeness of that game more than makes up for the fact that Buffalo was drubbed 95-75 by Kentucky, behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 27 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

So, the award for "Worst Pick of the Day" goes to Doug Tuttle of Vero Beach, Florida, for his selection of Alabama over Villanova.  The award isn't because his thinking a big program falling into a 9 seed couldn't beat Villanova, but rather because Alabama gave up an 18-1 run to start the second half, allowing Villanova to cruise to a 81-58 victory.  Congratulations, Doug.

Since Michigan won yesterday, and Seton Hall lost, today's basketball tournament history lesson goes back to 1989, when the Michigan Wolverines defeated the Seton Hall Pirates 80-79 in the Kingdome in Seattle.  The Pirates were led by John Morton, who led all scorers in the championship game with 35, and the Wolverines were led by the deadly combination of Glen Rice (34 points, 11 rebounds) and Rumeal Robinson (21 points, 11 assists).  To get to the championship game, Seton Hall defeated Duke and Michigan beat Illinois.  Both teams were three seeds in the tournament.  The game entered overtime tied 71-71.  Seton Hall built a 79-76 lead with under a minute to go.  Michigan's Terry Mills hit a short jumper to cut the deficit to 79-78.  Michigan then stopped Seton Hall on the next possession, with Rumeal Robinson being fouled by Seton Hall's Gerald Green with three seconds left.  Robinson calmly hit his free throws to win the game and the championship.Glen Rice was the leading scorer averaging over 30 points per game, and was named the Most Outstanding Player.  Later, when in a tryout for the Miami Heat before the NBA Draft, one executive was asked about Glen Rice's shooting range.  That executive's response was "out of bounds".

Those that selected Florida in our pool will not be so lucky as to win a championship like the 1989 Michigan Wolverines, as Florida lost 69-66 to the Texas Tech Red Raiders.  Their chances to win the championship have dulled, much like Florida in the champions list.  Steffan Alexander of Portland, Oregon is the highest ranking breaking that had Florida as the champion.

We now have ten of the original thirteen different champions remaining.  Those teams will continue to be listed in every update in bold so long as they remain in the pool.  Arizona, Cincinnati, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Villanova, Virginia and Xavier.

Most people had 5 of the 8 games yesterday, and a good number had 6.  So, if you picked 5 games, you most likely did not move much in the standings.  If you picked 6 correctly, then you moved up in the standings.  If you had 4 or less, then you dropped.  Eleven entrants - including Your Tournament Host, correctly selected 7 of the 8 games yesterday, and those entries moved up dramatically.  Conversely, seven entrants correctly picked only 3 of yesterday's games to plummet.

The games which made the biggest difference was Texas Tech over Florida, with Michigan and Houston also being a big difference-maker.  We had no unanimous choices yesterday, meaning each game yesterday was incredibly important.



As always, please check and double check your brackets with the standings and let me know if you think something is incorrect.  If necessary, I will go back and re-score your sheet.  I did find an error in the listing of a couple of people in yesterday's standings.  While their sheet was tabulated correctly, three entrants were listed with the incorrect score (all of the errors involved me typing the score incorrectly into the standings and all of the mistakes involved showing the entrants as having one more point than the actually earned - for example they were listed as 19, when they had 18.). The listings below are Place/Entry/Points/Champion.  Ties - for now - are listed alphabetically.

Good luck to everyone, and let's enjoy Round 2 of the tournament with a St. Patrick's Day 12:10 tip-off between Villanova and Alabama!!!

On to the standings ...

1.  Bryan van Gorder - 57 - North Carolina

2.  Jane Reynolds - 54 - Michigan State

3.  Max Macon 2 - 53 - Michigan State

4.  Max Macon 4 - 54 - Virginia

5.  Jim Coleman - 51 - Gonzaga

6.  Greg Kummerlen - 50 - North Carolina

7.  Jen Armstrong - 49 - Michigan State

     Thomas Bean 2 - 49 - Michigan State

      Jacey Fowler 1 - 49 - North Carolina

      Sasha Moon - 49 - Villanova

      Justin Yung - 49 - North Carolina

12.  Anthony LaPira - 48 - Michigan State
       Rich Samuels 2 - 48 - Villanova

14.  Thomas Bean 1 - 47 - Villanova

       Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 47 - Villanova

       Jessica Samuels - 47 - Villanova

        Rich Samuels 1 - 47 - Kansas

        Traci Sheehan - 47 - Duke

        Steven Usma 2 - 47 - Villanova

20.  Albert Harper III - 46 - Michigan State

       Ty Leatherman - 46 - Virginia

       Cheryl Spuhler - 46 - Duke

       George Walks 3 - 46 - Virginia

       Joshua Zdrowak - 46 - Kansas

       Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 46 - Villanova

26.  Steffan Alexander - 45 - Florida

       Carolyn Fowler 45 - Kansas

       Day Yi 2 - 45 - Villanova

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 45 - Michigan State

30.  Mango Merchant - 44 - Michigan State
       Kyle Sheehan - 44 - Duke

32.  Dan Barsky - 43 - Virginia

       Brittany Sosa - 43 - Duke

       Wes Wiggins 2 - 43 - Michigan State

       Measha Williams 3 "Spread" - 43 - Virginia

36.  Jenna Finkelstein - 42 - North Carolina

       Adam Jorgensen 2 - 42 - Michigan State

       Noel Martinez 2 - 42 - Villanova

       Allison Parker - 42 - Virginia

       Abigail Sosa - 42 - Michigan State

        Steven Usma 5 - 42 - Villanova

       George Walks 6 - 42 - Michigan State

43.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 41 - North Carolina

       Bill Ganoe 2 - 41 - Virginia

       Adam Jorgensen 1 - 41 - Duke

       Katie Kollmeyer - 41 - Villanova

       Chris Kroesen - 41 - Xavier

       Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 41 - Virginia

49.  Kingfish Rod Parham - 40 - Kentucky

50.  Steve Jorgensen - 39 - Arizona

       Steven Usma 3 - 39 - Michigan

52.  James Garvin - 38 - Villanova

       Jonathan Wasserman - 38 - Duke

54.  Karen Katz - 37 - Virginia

       Barkley Sosa - 37 - Kentucky

       Pepe Sosa - 37 - Villanova

57.  Martha Kroesen - 36 - Villanova

       Max Macon 3 - 36 - Villanova

       Samantha Sheehan - 36 - Duke

60.  Brett Bellinger - 35 - Virginia

       Paul Cummings - 35 - Villanova

       Cathy Donahue - 35 - Duke

       Colleen Hamilton 1 - 35 - Virginia

       Duncan Merchant - 35 - Virginia

       Silas Nichols - 35 - Arizona

       Edy Pecan - 35 - Michigan

       George Walks 4 - 35 - North Carolina

       Measha Williams 2 "Upset City"- 35 - Duke

69.  Kent Armstrong - 34 - Villanova

       Joe Carter - 34 - Virginia

       Jacey Fowler 2 - 34 - Cincinnati

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 34 - Michigan State

       Matt Hopps - 34 - Virginia

       Hannah Sosa - 34 - Florida

       George Walks 1 - 34 - Kansas

76.  Dan Laishley - 33 - Virginia

       Noel Martinez 1 - 33 - Duke

       Jeff Plamodon - 33 - Virginia

       Wes Wiggins 1 - 33 - Arizona

80.  Bill Foman - 32 - North Carolina

       Eric Inge - 32 - Virginia

       George Walks 2 - 32 - Kansas

       George Walks 5 - 32 - Arizona

       Keith Zdrowak - 32 - Duke

85.  Mac Kroesen - 31 - Gonzaga

       Michael Litsey - 31 - Villanova

       Max Macon 1 - 31 - Kansas

       David Peterson - 31 - Virginia

       Measha Williams 1 - "Gut" - 31 - Virginia

90.  Glen Merchant - 30 - Villanova

       Col. Kareem Montague - 30 - Villanova

       Jeremy Spuhler - 30 - Duke

93.  Carter Alexander - 29 - Florida
       Bill Danner - 29 - Virginia

       Arlene Amo Hopps - 29 - Villanova

       Day Yi 1 - 29 - Virginia

       Katie Zdrowak - 29 Villanova

98.  Colleen Hamilton 2 - 28 - Villanova

       Doug Tuttle - 28 - Florida

       Steven Usma 1 - 28 - Kansas
       Steven Usma 4 - 28 - Duke

       Amy Zdrowak - 28 - Michigan State

103.  Colleen Hamilton 3 - 26 - North Carolina

104.  Griffey Parker - 25 - Xavier

105.  Ashley Poer - 24 - Virginia

Unknown - Matt Nieman - I still need to talk to you about my bracket question!

NCAA Pool Standings - Elite 8 Day 1

NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL STANDINGS

Elite 8 Day 1

The Elite 8 has begun, and both number 1 seeds fell.  Kansas – the overall number 1 seed, the betting favorite, and the most selected champion in our pool, lost to Villanova, and Oregon, the most suspect number 1 seed, lost to Buddy Hield and the Oklahoma Sooners.  See you in Houston Wildcat and Sooner fans.

Kansas and Oklahoma were by far the most popular selections in our group for yesterday’s games, so if you did not at least select 1 game correctly, then you lost ground.  Congratulations to Steve Usma 3, Hilary Kroesen, Katie Kollmeyer, Mac Kroesen and Day Yi 2, for offsetting their choices of teams other than Oklahoma by winning their one game by correctly choosing Villanova for the Final Four.  This is not enough for the “Pick of the Day” award.

That award is shared jointly by Glen Merchant, Justin Yung, Josh and Katie Zdrowak (combined entry), and Amy Zdrowak who correctly selected both Villanova and Oklahoma as advancing to the Final Four.  Those picks, and the 16 points that go along with it, move you up in the standings considerably.

Some movement around the top, but no change to the leader as Greg Kummerlen remains in first.  This is not likely to last, however, as Greg has lost both of his finalists, and his only remaining points possible is by getting North Carolina into the Final Four.  So, if you are behind Greg and still have your winner and/or runner-up, you are still alive!  This is especially true for Glen Merchant, who has risen into a tie for first place.  He still has his entire final four alive!

It is now official that we will have a new champion.  Kingfish Parham, our defending champion, hovered near the top for a while this year, but has slipped in the standings recently, making it incredibly difficult to repeat.  However, as of yesterday, Kingfish can officially no longer earn any more points.  He has been dethroned, but let’s give Kingfish a big round of applause.

 

Two more potential champions, including the favorite, have been defeated, leaving our pool with 4 remaining champions.  For those of you that selected the favorite, Kansas, or took a flyer on Oregon, your chances took a tremendous hit. The remaining champions in the pool are:  Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Miami, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Villanova and Virginia. 

We have an All-ACC day today, as North Carolina plays Notre Dame and Virginia takes on Syracuse.  Crazy, but yes Notre Dame and Syracuse are in the ACC.  Who knew?

For those of you that have North Carolina and Virginia as your champions/runners-up, the games today are of tremendous importance.  Nobody has Syracuse advancing into the Final Four, but we do have someone with Notre Dame.  Could that person know more than the rest of us?  We shall see.

Please remember to pay, if you have not.  Payment instructions are on the rule sheet, or you can make other arrangements with me as necessary.

Good luck to everyone, and happy game watching.  Now, on to the standings.

1.         Greg Kummerlen – 108

            Glen Merchant – 108

3.         Kevin McAlister – 100

4.         Jane Reynolds – 96

5.         Keith Bornhorst – 95

6.         Mango Merchant – 94

            Jonathan Wasserman 2 – 94

8.         Duncan Merchant – 93

            Kareem Montague – 93

            Debbie Niemann – 93

11.       Anthony LaPira – 92

            Measha Williams 2 – 92

13.       Steven Usma 3 – 91

            Justin Yung – 91

15.       Kent Armstrong – 90

            Kim Bancsi – 90

            Colleen Hamilton 1 – 90

            Eric Inge – 90

            Allison Parker – 90

            Rich Samuel 2 – 90

21.       Rebecca Seelig – 89

22.       Alex King – 88

23.       Jacey Fowler II – 87

            Karen Katz – 87

            Joshua Zdrowak – 87

26.       Carolyn Fowler – 86

            Pepe Sosa – 86

            Joshua and Katie Zdrowak – 86

29.       Matt Hopps – 84

            Hilary Kroesen – 84

            Measha Williams 4 – 84

32.       Jen Armstrong – 83

            Martha Kroesen – 83

            Measha Williams 3 – 83

35.       Bryan Apolinar – 82

            Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds – 82

            Ty Leatherman – 82

            Lee Seelig – 82

            Roxy Sheehan – 82

            Amy Zdrowak – 82

41.       Cory Mauro – 81

            Abigail Sosa – 81

            Jason Spuhler – 81

44.       Kline Kroesen – 80

            Kyle Sheehan – 80

46.       Matt Nieman – 79

47.       Brent Bellinger – 78

            Katie Kollmeyer – 78

            Steven Usma 1 – 78

50.       Jacey Fowler I – 77

            Chris Kroesen – 77

            Mac Kroesen – 77

            George Walks 2 – 77

            Hershey Zdrowak – 77

55.       Andrew Giannone – 76

56.       Barkley Sosa – 75

            Jonathan Wasserman 1 – 75

            Measha Williams 1 – 75

59.       George Walks 3 – 74

60.       Vic LaPira – 73

            Rich Samuel 1 – 73

            Kulwadee Yung – 73

63.       Day Yi 1 – 72

64.       Phil Doherty 1 – 71

            Kingfish Parham – 71

66.       Charli Aichele – 70

67.       Steffan Alexander – 70

            Steven Usma 2 – 70

69.       Stephanie Aichele – 69

            Michael Litsey – 69

            Hannah Sosa – 69

            Katie Zdrowak – 69

73..      Kyle Henderson – 68

            Ashley Poer 1 – 68

75.       Emily Lawson – 67

            Cheryl Spuhler – 67

77.       Colleen Hamilton 2 - 66

            Jason Murray – 66

79.       Jack Henderson – 64

            Traci Sheehan – 64

            Day Yi 2 – 64

82.       Samantha Sheehan – 63

83.       Serena Davila – 61

            Ashley Poer 2 – 61

85.       Alvaro Gonzalez – 60

            Silas Nichols 1 – 60

            Jeff Plamondon – 60

88.       Silas Nichols 2 – 58

89.       Jessica Koch – 57

            George Walks 4 – 57

            Keith Zdrowak – 57

92.       Phil Doherty 4 – 56

93.       Phil Doherty 3 - 53

94.       Phil Doherty 2 – 48

            George Walks 1 – 48