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
Showing posts with label Upsets Galore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Upsets Galore. Show all posts
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Friday, March 18, 2016
NCAA Tournament Pool Standings; Round 1, Day 1
NCAA TOURNAMENT
POOL STANDINGS
Round 1 Day 1
AHOY and welcome to my NCAA
Tournament Pool – 2016 edition. For those
of you that are returning participants, thank you very much and welcome
back. For those of you that are new to
this pool, a hearty welcome, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the
tournament, and the pool. I would especially
like to welcome two lovely newcomers, Kline
Kroesen and Samantha Sheehan,
who are both participating in their first year of eligibility, and by that I
mean they are less than 1 year old. And
this year has really gone to the dogs, literally as our four-legged friends
have several entries.
I say this every year, so I should
stop being amazed at how many people fail to follow the rules. For you newbies, I will cut you a break
because the rules – especially those surrounding the bonus points for correct
upset picks – are different. You
veterans however, sigh. The entire
Merchant clan, consisting of Glen
Merchant, Mango Merchant and Duncan Merchant, all neglected to even put
their name on their bracket; and the same with Silas Nichols 1 and 2. I
guess I will just have to rib him while he and I (along with Matt Hopps) are overseeing the Final
Four in Houston to make sure that the entire tournament is not fixed – thus upholding
the integrity of this pool.
Right now we have 95 entrants. As you will see from the standings below,
there are only 94 entrants listed.
However, one entry has stated that he mailed his bracket to me, and I
expect to receive it today. So long as
it is postmarked before yesterday, Jack
Henderson will be accepted into the pool.
We have 13 different champions
selected in this tournament, and nobody has lost their champion as of yesterday. This is different, as last year two entrants
lost their champion on the very first day.
The champions selected in this pool are:
Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Miami,
Michigan State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Villanova and Virginia. This list will remain the same throughout
all of the updates, but I will remove the “bold” from teams as they lose.
For yesterday’s games we only had 3
unanimous picks consisting of all the number 1 seeds. Kansas, North Carolina and Virginia all
coasted through. That means for each of
the other 13 games, we had entries that selected different teams in each of
those games.
Four different teams that were
eligible for bonus points won yesterday.
Those teams are Wichita State, Yale (UGH!), Arkansas – Little Rock, and
Gonzaga. Nobody selected all four of
those games correctly, but we did have 6 entries that selected 3 of the 4
upsets, and won their guaranty. To find
out who they are, they are the Top 6 in the standings. That being said, I know how
hard it must have been for one of those participants to select his arch-rival,
so for that, (and getting 3 of the 4 upsets correct), the “Pick of the Day”
goes to Kareem Montague. A special mention goes to Kingfish Parham as he has starting very
strongly this year in defense of his title from last year’s pool.
On that note, my personal basketball
hell will occur tomorrow as Duke plays Yale.
I will address that game then, but boy do I wish I didn’t have to do
that.
Nobody was hurt too bad from
yesterday’s picks, but 5 entries did lose a Final Four team. Four
entrants had Baylor in the Final Four, and one entrant had Purdue going so far
as the Final Four. For that reason, Kulwadee Yung is the hard-luck
performer of yesterday.
Just so everyone knows, I sent out via e-mail, the four entries from my household to 10 different members of this pool, most of which do not necessarily know each other. I did this before noon yesterday. I did this as a check on the four "Sosa" brackets, so that if anybody ever wants to check on my brackets, those that received the brackets before the tournament began can vouch for the picks. Not that anyone has every accused me of cheating in this pool before, but this keeps me and the pool honest.
Just so everyone knows, I sent out via e-mail, the four entries from my household to 10 different members of this pool, most of which do not necessarily know each other. I did this before noon yesterday. I did this as a check on the four "Sosa" brackets, so that if anybody ever wants to check on my brackets, those that received the brackets before the tournament began can vouch for the picks. Not that anyone has every accused me of cheating in this pool before, but this keeps me and the pool honest.
As always, please review the
standings and double check my math, as I may have missed something, missed an
upset, or just simply miscalculated. I
try to be accurate, but sometimes I do mess up.
I will listen and change things as necessary.
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.
Now, on to the standings. Ties, for now, are listed alphabetically.
1. Greg Kummerlin – 35
Jonathan Wasserman 2 – 35
3. Charli Aichele – 34
Mango Merchant – 34
5. Kareem Montague – 33
Kingfish Parham – 33
7. Keith Bornhorst – 29
Carolyn Fowler – 29
Jacey Fowler II – 29
Katie Kollmeyer – 29
Jane Reynolds – 29
Jason Spuhler – 29
Hershey Zdrowak – 29
14. Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds – 28
Jacey Fowler I – 28
Kyle Henderson – 28
Matt Hopps – 28
Martha Kroesen – 28
Anthony LaPira – 28
Michael Litsey – 28
Kevin McAlister – 28
Abigail Sosa – 28
Measha Williams 2 – 28
Measha Williams 4 – 28
25. Bryan Apolinar – 27
Hilary Kroesen – 27
Duncan Merchant – 27
Pepe Sosa – 27
29. Matt Nieman – 26
30. Silas Nichols – 25
31. Andrew Giannone – 24
32. Stephanie Aichele – 23
Kim Bancsi – 23
Eric Inge – 23
Cory Mauro – 23
Debbie Niemann – 23
Allison Parker – 23
Rich Samuel 1 – 23
Lee Selig – 23
Kyle Sheehan – 23
Roxy Sheehan – 23
Steven Usma 3 – 23
Joshua and Katie Zdrowak – 23
44. Steffan Alexander – 22
Jen Armstrong – 22
Colleen Hamilton 1 – 22
Glen Merchant – 22
Rebecca Seelig – 22
Steven Usma 1 – 22
George Walks 3 – 22
Justin Yung – 22
Joshua Zdrowak – 22
53. Ashley Poer 1 – 21
Jeff Plamondon – 21
Hannah Sosa – 21
Day Yi 1 – 21
57. Karen Katz – 20
Kulwadee Yung – 20
59. Brent Bellinger – 18
Colleen Hamilton – 18
Steven Usma 2 – 18
Day Yi 2 – 18
63. Alex King – 17
Emily Lawson – 17
Ty Leatherman – 17
Rich Samuel 2 – 17
Traci Sheehan – 17
68. Kline Kroesen – 16
Vic LaPira – 16
70. Chris Kroesen – 15
71. Ashley Poer 2 – 14
Silas Nichols 2 – 14
73. Samantha Sheehan – 13
74. Phil Doherty 1 – 12
Phil Doherty 2 – 12
Cheryl Spuhler – 12
George Walks 1 – 12
Jonathan Wasserman 1 – 12
Measha Williams 3 – 12
80. Phil Doherty 4 – 11
Jessica Koch – 11
Jason Murray – 11
George Walks 2 – 11
George Walks 4 – 11
Katie Zdrowak – 11
Keith Zdrowak – 11
87. Kent Armstrong – 10
Serena Davila – 10
Mac Kroesen – 10
Measha Williams 1 – 10
91. Phil Doherty 3 – 9
Alvaro Gonzalez – 9
Amy Zdrowak – 9
94. Barkley Sosa - 8
Sunday, March 23, 2014
NCAA Tournament Pool Standings Round 1 Day 2
NCAA
TOURNAMENT POOL STANDINGS
Welcome
back. I know that games were played
yesterday, but this is the standings after the completion of Round 1 (Friday’s
games). All second round totals/standings
will be sent out after tomorrow.
Some
interesting developments in Day 2. Two
champions went down, with the third seeded Duke Blue Devils losing to Mercer
and the 6th seeded Massachusetts Minutemen losing to Tennessee North Dakota State
beat Oklahoma Tennessee North Dakota State
Stephen F. Austin pulled a VCU and beat VCU with quite possible the most bizarre regulation time ending in tournament history - a four point play. A fair number of people had Stephen F. Austin, so only one entry receives special mention, as Trouble Kroesen was on the edge of the seat watching the ending of the game.
As
far as the brackets go, Virginia , Arizona and Wichita
State
So
I mentioned earlier that two champions went down, Arlene Hopps had selected UMass, and several entries – Steven Usma, Justin Yung, Kristen Bolton and Ty Leatherman all selected Duke.
Ty gets a pass as she is an
alumna. Steve Usma also gets special mention as he not only lost Duke, but
he was the only person to have selected North
Carolina Central.
Please
note – I will be sending out PayPal information soon!
Please
check and/or double check my math with our brackets. I am definitely not perfect, so I welcome the
opportunity to correct any mistakes I may have made.
Congratulations
to Cesar Gonzalez – who vaults into
first place after correctly picking 28 of the first 32 games. His only misses – he had Oklahoma State
over Gonzaga, UMass over Tennessee , George
Washington over Memphis and New Mexico
A
note – the standings will be posted over at WeMakeItRain.blogspot.com starting
with this one. Head over to that website
to view the standings as I post them. As
this is new for this year, I will still send out an e-mail when the standings
are completed – at least for the next couple of days. After that – keep checking the blog for the
results.
On
to the standings!
1. Cesar Gonzalez – 53
2. Jane Reynolds – 52
3. Anthony LaPira – 51
Pepe Sosa – 51
5. Greg Kummerlan – 49
6. Alvaro Gonzalez – 47
Ava Manon Gonzalez – 47
Barkley Sosa – 47
9. Steffan Alexander – 46
Kim Bancsi I – 46
Brent Bellinger – 46
12. Jacey Fowler I – 45
Colleen Hamilton 1 – 45
Megan Kossove – 45
15. Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds – 44
Jason Spuhler – 44
17. Karen Katz – 43
Silas Nichols – 43
Jacey Fowler II – 43
20. Willa Fearrington 1 – 41
Adam Jorgensen – 41
Marc Rodney – 41
Rich Samuels – 41
Abigail Sosa – 41
Hershey Zdrowak – 41
26. Erin Devlin – 40
Albert Harper III – 40
Meredith Tanen – 40
Jonathan Wasserman I – 40
30. Philip Kroesen – 38
Trouble Kroesen – 38
Allison Parker I – 38
Katie Zdrowak – 38
Keith Zdrowak – 38
Train Zimmerman – 38
36. Ashley Poer 1 – 37
Ryan Whitten – 37
38. Michael Litsey – 36
Cheryl Spuhler – 36
Michael Williams 2 – 36
Amy Zdrowak – 36
42. Kyle Henderson 2 – 35
Martha Kroesen – 35
George Walks 1 – 35
Michael Williams 3 – 35
46. Willa Fearrington 2 – 34
Matt Hopps – 34
48. Kim
Bancsi 2 – 33
Carolyn Fowler – 33
Hilary Grace – 33
Katie Butler Litsey – 33
Sam Lozier – 33
Hannah Sosa – 33
Jonathan Wasserman 2 – 33
Stacia Wilkaitis – 33
56. Melissa Lazaerchick – 32
Robert Tanen – 32
George Walks 5 – 32
59. Debbie Igdaloff Nieman – 30
Alex Sotelo – 30
61. Kyle Henderson 1 – 29
Kyle Henderson 3 – 29
Eric Inge – 29
Mango Merchant – 29
Allison Parker 2 – 29
Steven Usma – 29
67. J.C. Carralero 1 – 28
Matt Nemo Nieman – 28
Griffey Parker – 28
George Walks 3 – 28
71. Ashley Poer 2 – 27
Justin Yung – 27
Christina Pagdilao – 27
74. Sean McInerney 2 – 24
Kingfish Parham – 24
Bridget Talley – 24
George Walks 2 – 24
78. Kristen Bolton – 23
Arlene Hopps – 23
Hilary Kroesen – 23
Antonio Marinucci – 23
82. J.C. Carralero 2 – 22
Tanya Fresneda – 22
George Walks 4 – 22
Joshua Zdrowak – 22
86. J.C. Carralero 3 – 21
Jack Henderson – 21
Chris Kroesen – 21
Bill Lazarchick – 21
Ty Leatherman – 21
Sasha Moon – 21
Michael Williams 1 – 21
93. Colleen Hamilton 2 – 20
Day Yi – 20
95. Mac Kroesen – 19
Colin White – 19
97. Sean
McInerney 1 – 17
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