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

Final Four Chronicles - The Finals

The Finals are here, and we all expect Villanova to run right through Michigan.  Michigan just doesn't have enough people that can score for them, and Villanova has those players, everywhere, even on the bench.  Here is our the route we took to the final game.

8:55 - Everyone is awake.

9:28 - Hopps and Pepster head to the store/coffee shop for well, coffee and breakfast.  Three doors down there is a gentlemen outside his house (decrepit with a weed-ridden yard) pointing at things and discussing with a woman who looked like she was a neighbor walking down the sidewalk before he stopped her.  Hopps says, "Is he trying to convince her that his house is nice?"  We were pretty sure that he was hitting on her.

10:07 - Hopps pulls into the Church's Fried Chicken parking lot as the sign on the door says they open at 10.  (Yes, there was a Church's in our neighborhood).  Hopps goes to the door, but it is locked.  Waits for several minutes until he sees someone inside and goes back to the door.  It turns out the sign says open at 10:30.  Hopps blames his glaucoma.

Entire morning - We do work.  It is a Monday after all.

12:20 - Uber downtown.

12:28 - We pass the Texas Liver Institute, conveniently located within blocks of the Riverwalk.

12:31 - Strong opening presence for Villanova.

12:36 - At MadDogs for lunch.

12:45 - 8 ladies in Villanova garb sit down at the table near us and immediately order shots of Jameson's.  We take bets as to whether they will make it to the game or not.

13:13 - This bar serves Coors Lite or water in tins that resemble large solo cups.  The cans are Coors Lite swag given to the bar.  Sinickal asks the bartender if he can have his water in a regular cup and his Bud Light in the tin.  The bartender tells him that it would feel like lying if he did that since the cups were from Coors Lite, and then continues, "I only lie to girls."  The other bartender has no such qualms.

14:10 - Finish lunch and go to the Alamo.  This is the quickest academic trip any of us have ever taken.

15:00 - Some homeless guys on the Riverwalk go to toast us because they also have "energy drinks".  The toast ends with them saying, "And don't forget to, uh ... uh ... well ... just be careful tonight."

15:25 - At Durty Nelly's on Riverwalk.  As we approach the bar a piano player is playing Country Roads.  Pepster remarks that "If he really liked country roads, he wouldn't have flown his own airplane!"

15:32 - See a lady walking wearing a "Michigan Alumna" shirt.  Pepster applaudes her because it says "alumna" where all the rest of the shirts say "alumni", and this annoys admittedly way more than it should.

15:40 - As we sit at the outside patio tables at Durty Nelly's, gusts of wind blow all types of "things" off the trees on the Riverwalk.  Hopps is annoyed (go figure).  Hopps responds that, "In Quincy [MA} the trash is on the streets."  Sinickal reminds  him that "In Quincy, the trash walks the streets!"

15:41 - Pepster just responds to Hopps (about something different from the above statement), "Really Hopps?  We are in public!"

15:43 - After a random discussion, Sinickal mentions that, "We party so hard we brought our lawyer.".  Lady sitting alone at the table next to Hopps and Pepster and across from Tony and Sinickal finally laughs.  It should be noted that she is alone because her husband has been out of the restaurant on the phone for about 20 minutes.  She has been trying to ignore us, but this line brought her into the conversation.

15:45 - Sinickal decides that next year we all share our phones with each other's location finders because "Racsan always turns right".  Racsan in this situation is Hopps, and it is Nascar spelled backwards.  (For those that don't understand, the Nascar races on ovals, or most of the races, only include left turns.  This is not the first nickname for Hopps (See "K-Fed" 2007; See also De Angelo Russell 2016).

15:46 - The husband of the lady at the table next to us returns from phone calls and texts.  It turns out he is just like us, travelling to as many final fours as possible.  This is also his fourth in a row, just as it is for Pepster, Sinickal and Tony.  It's Hopps's third out of four years.  We tentatively make plans to meet in Minneapolis.

15:48 - It is becoming increasingly hot outside.  Sinickal wants to find some air conditioner, at states, "We need some shade."  Hopps responds that "I have been trying to throw shade for 4 days!"

16:00 - We meet Mike and Larissa at The River's Edge.  Mike is a fellow member at Sinickal's golf club in the D.C. area.

16:00 - 18:00 - Mostly radio silence as we try to make Hopps behave in front of Mike and Larissa.

18:22 - While discussing a memorial golf tourney in honor of Dr. Hopps, which will be in D.C. later this year, Sinickal tells Mike that "This is something that you want to be a part of",  Mike, grasping his beer for another sip says, "Thing is, I don't drink."

18:41 - We seea young girl walking on a stone wall on the Riverwalk near her parents but not really paying attention to her surroundings.  She hits a tree, causing her to fall onto the wall and then onto the sidewalk.  We think she is OK.

As an aside, we have no idea how more people don't fall into the river at the Riverwalk.  The walkways are narrow, made mostly of uneven stone, with no guardrails of any kind, with too many people, and lots of beverages.  It is a good thing the river is only about 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep.

19:00 - We notice that at the table next to us is Tubby Smith, Lute Olson, and their respective wives.  Go Cats!

19:02 - Hopps actually takes a picture with Tubby Smith, but Hopps doesn't share.

19:34 - After finally getting our tab (boy is service generally bad here), we head to the Alamodome.

20:01 - In the concourse, see 3 of 8 Villanova girls that had the early Jameson shot at lunch.  I guess some of them were able to make the game.

20:08 - In seats for the championship game.

20:12 - 20:14 - After watching Michigan's dapmaster, we determine that a dapmaster is somebody that everyone should recruit for their team!

20:20 - Tipoff.  Mostly radio silence.

21:47 - Villanova's band plays Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas.  After destroying Kansas in the semi-finals, this is funny.

22:30 - Villanova Wildcats - YOUR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

As a side note on the game, despite jumping out to a lead, the Wolverines never had a chance, especially once Mo Wagner caught a personal and a double foul on the same play early in the second half.  He was legitimately the only scoring threat on Michigan's team, and he had to monitor his play in the second half to keep from getting an early fourth.  This is coincidentally when Donte DiVincenzo went on his second run of the game.  We glossed him "Donny Buckets!"

22:45 - Villanova's band plays All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled.

22:52 - One Shining Moment!  The pinnacle of the Final Four.

22:57 - Sarah Spain tweats, "Is it better to be on One Shining Moment crying, or not on One Shining Moment.  We all agree the former.

As an aside, watching a game like this while simultaneously monitoring social media - especially twitter - is AMAZING!!!! (Assuming your follow sports writers and commentators).

23:18 - Off the Alamodome campus.

23:31 - Meet up with Hopps at Durty Nelly's.  (Hopps left before the end of the game to beat the rush).

00:38 - Order Uber home.  The drive that picks us up is the same driver that took us to Riverwalk.

00:40 - We try to calculate the percentage likelihood that this would happen.  Driver reminds us that only 30% of Uber vehicles classify as "Uber XL".

00:56 - Go to sleep.  Pepster has to leave at 5:00 to go to the airport in the morning.

00:57 - Immediately start planning to go to Minneapolis 2019.