NCAA Tournament Pool Enhanced Standings

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Below you will find the standings through to the Sweet Sixteen.  Nothing about the standings have changed, except that I have added some enhanced numbers.  Next to the Place/Name/Number of Points in the List you will see three additions.  The first is how many of the Elite Eight that entry has remaining.  So 6/8 would be 6 of their Elite Eight remain.  The second is how many of the Final Four that entry has remaining.  Thus 3/4 would mean 3 of that entrant's Final Four remain.  Lastly you will see team name/team name.  The team names represent the champion/runner-up on that bracket.  If the name remains in bold, that team is still alive.  Pretty simple, I do believe.

As always, on to the standings:

NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL STANDINGS

1.         Kingfish Rod Parham – 76 – 7/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Duke

            George Walks 1 – 76 – 7/8; 3/4; Wisconsin/Iowa State

3.         Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 – 63 – 7/8; 3/4; Wisconsin/Virginia

            Silas Nichols – 63 – 7/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Duke

5.         Griffey Parker – 61 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Villanova

            Paul John Reichert IV 1 – 61 – 8/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Duke

7.         Adam Jorgensen – 60 – 6/8; 3/4; Wisconsin/Duke

            Anthony LaPira – 60 – 6/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Paul John Reichert IV 2 – 60 – 7/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

10.       Carolyn Fowler/Jane Reynolds – 59 – 5/8; 3/4; Villanova/Kentucky

            Colleen Hamilton – 59 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Villanova

            Si Nichols 1 – 59 – 8/8; 4/4; Wisconsin/Duke

            Si Nichols 2 – 59 – 8/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Duke

14.       Jacey Fowler 2 – 57 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

15.       Sasha Moon – 55 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Steven Usma 4 – 555/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            George Walks 5 – 55 – 5/8; 3/4; Villanova/Arizona

            Day Yi – 55 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

19.       Jacey Fowler I – 54 – 7/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Gonzaga

            Cory Mauro – 54 – 7/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Duke

21.       Carolyn Fowler – 53 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Villanova

            Kyle Henderson 2 – 53 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            Arlene Hopps – 53- 6/8; 3/4; Villanova/Arizona

            Brian Spatchek – 53 – 5/8; 3/4; Wisconsin/Gonzaga

            Cheryl Spuhler – 53 – 6/8; 3/4; Virginia/Kentucky

26.       Ashley Poer 1 – 52 – 6/8; 3/4; Wisconsin Gonzaga

27.       Katie Butler Litsey – 51 – 6/8; 3/4; Arizona/Villanova

            Ashley Poer 2 – 51 – 6/8; 2/4; Iowa State/Kentucky

            Chad Upson – 51 – 4/8; 2/4; Kentucky/Iowa State

            Katie Zdrowak – 51 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Gonzaga

31.       Debbie Nieman – 50 – 6/8; 3/4; Duke/Kentucky

            Rich Samuels 1 – 50 – 4/8; 1/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            Rich Samuels 2 – 50 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            George Walks 2 – 50 – 4/8; 2/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Jonathan Wasserman – 50 – 7/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            Justin Yung – 50 – 6/8; 3/4; Virginia/Kentucky

37.       Brent Bellinger – 49 – 7/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Alvaro Gonzalez – 49 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            Eric Inge – 49 – 4/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Greg Kummerlen – 49 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Traci Lynn Sheehan and Kyle Sheehan – 49 – 6/8; 3/4; Duke/Wisconsin

            Hershey Zdrowak – 49 – 5/8; 3/4; Arizona/Villanova

43.       Steffan Alexander – 48 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Jed Dorsey – 48 – 5/8; 2/4; Wisconsin/Villanova

            Albert Harper III – 48 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Villanova

            Jessica Koch – 48 – 3/8; 2/4; Kansas/Duke

47.       Karen Katz – 47 – 4/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Villanova

            Kareem Montague – 47 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Villanova

            Jason Schultz – 47 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            George Walks 3 – 47 – 6/8; 3/4; Arizona/Virginia

51.       Serena Davila – 46 – 7/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Gonzaga

            Mac Kroesen – 46 – 6/8; 3/4; Virginia/Kentucky

            Trenton May – 46 – 6/8; 3/4; Virginia/Kentucky

            Allison Parker – 46 – 6/8; 3/4; Duke/Kentucky

55.       Kyle Henderson 1 – 45 – 4/8; 2/4; Arizona/Virginia

            Michael Litsey – 45 – 4/8; 2/4; Wisconsin/Virginia

            Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 1 – 45 – 6/8; 3/4; Wisconsin/Virginia

            Noel Martinez – 45 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Matt Nieman – 45 – 7/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Nobody – Finalist Left Blank

            Jane Reynolds – 45 – 5/8; 2/4; Kentucky/Iowa State

            Rich Samuels 3 – 45 – 5/8; 3/4; Notre Dame/Oklahoma

            Stacia Wilkaitis 1 – 45 – 4/8; 2/4; Kentucky/Villanova

63.       Matt Hopps – 44 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Martha Kroesen – 44 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Gonzaga

            Steven Usma 2 – 44 – 5/8; 4/4; Duke/Kentucky

            Steven Usma 3 – 44 – 6/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Gonzaga

            Amy Zdrowak – 44 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

68.       Alex King – 42 – 5/8; 3/4; Arizona/Duke

            Sam Lozier – 42 – 6/8; 2/4; Wisconsin/Virginia

            Jen Mahoney – 42 – 3/8; 2/4; Wisconsin/Virginia

            Steven Usma 1 – 42 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Villanova

72.       George Walks 4 – 40 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Stacia Wilkaitis 2 – 40 – 5/8; 3/4; Villanova/Wisconsin

74.       Koma Gandy – 39 – 5/8; 3/4; Wisconsin/Duke

            Ty Leatherman – 39 – 5/8; 3/4; Duke/Kentucky

            Abigail Sosa – 39 – 4/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            Hannah Sosa – 39 – 6/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Jason Spuhler – 39 – 4/8; 2/4; Kentucky/Virginia

            Joshua Zdrowak – 39 – 6/8; 3/4; Duke/Kentucky

80.       Barkley Sosa – 38 – 6/8; 4/4; Kentucky/Duke

            Pepe Sosa – 38 – 6/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Villanova

82.       Vic LaPira – 37 – 5/8; 3/4; Kentucky/Gonzaga

83.       Erin Devlin – 33 – 4/8; 2/4; SMU/Kentucky

            Keith Zdrowak – 33 – 5/8; 3/4; Villanova/Kentucky

85.       Chris Kroesen – 32 – 4/8; 2/4; Arizona/Virginia

86.       Braeden Helland – 31 – 4/8; 2/4; Kentucky/Northern Iowa

NCAA Tournament Pool Round 2 Day 2 Standings

Ladies and Gentlemen:

So we now know the entirety of the Sweet Sixteen, and we have lost more champions with Michigan State’s victory over Virginia and Wichita State’s defeat of Kansas.

Particularly hurt by the loss of Virginia is Justin Yung of Raleigh, NC, and Mac Kroesen of West Palm Beach, FL, who are the highest ranked brackets with Virginia as a champion, and nobody even remotely high had Kansas.

As a reminder, the champions selected this year are:  Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, SMU, Villanova, Virginia, Wisconsin.  As usual, bold teams remain in the tournament.

I would like to welcome Paul John Reichert IV, Allison Parker and Griffey Parker into the pool.  For some reason I never initially printed out Paul’s brackets, but when double checking all of the entrants I saw his timely sent e-mail.  Allison and Griffey Parker’s entries showed up in the mail, appropriately time stamped as being completed prior to the start of the tournament.  Paul and Griffey are doing very well to this point as they are tied for 5^th Place, and a second Paul entry is tied for 7^th.

Kingfish Rod Parham of Atlanta, GA maintains his lead with the help of going 8-0 on Sunday.  The only thing that kept him from maximum points is he had Michigan State defeating Belmont, not Virginia, and thus did not earn the 5 bonus points for that game.  Several entries did earn both bonuses and rocketed up the standings, most notably George Walks 1 of West Palm Beach, FL, who is now tied for first.  Anthony LaPira of Demarest, NJ, Day Yi of New York, NY, Brent Bellinger of Duluth, MN, Cory Mauro of West Palm Beach, FL Carolyn Fowler of West Palm Beach, FL and Steffan Alexander of Portland, OR all earned 10 bonus points for selecting Wichita State and Michingan State.  They, however, did not earn the picks of the day as three entries won their guaranteed bonuses in the second round.  This is even more impressive given the fact that there is no guaranty their preferred second round matchup will occur, as one of the teams could be beaten in the first round.  That being said, Cheryl Spuhler of Acworth, GA, Hershey Zdrowak of Orlando, FL and Brian Spatchek of West Palm Beach, FL won their guaranteed upset picks, Cheryl and Hershey for Wichita State and Brian for Michigan State.

As a reminder here is the payment information:

For those that wish to pay via PayPal, my e-mail address is:  sosalaw@yahoo.com

For those that prefer Google Wallet, my e-mail address is:  pepsosa21@gmail.com

The Sweet Sixteen commences Thursday, so relax until then.  I will have at least one more update before then, showing how many of the Elite 8 and Final 4s each entry has left, along with identifying Champions.

As always, please double check your math as I may have missed something.  I corrected a few ballots from yesterday’s results, as yes, I even double-check myself.

Now, on to the standings.  Ties, for now, are listed alphabetically.

1.         Kingfish Rod Parham – 76

            George Walks 1 – 76

3.         Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 – 63

            Silas Nichols - 63

5.         Griffey Parker – 61

            Paul John Reichert IV 1 – 61

7.         Adam Jorgensen – 60

            Anthony LaPira - 60

            Paul John Reichert IV 2 – 60

10.       Carolyn Fowler/Jane Reynolds – 59

            Colleen Hamilton – 59

            Si Nichols 1 – 59

            Si Nichols 2 - 59

14.       Jacey Fowler 2 - 57

15.       Sasha Moon – 55

            Steven Usma 4 - 55

            George Walks 5 – 55

            Day Yi – 55

19.       Jacey Fowler I – 54

            Cory Mauro - 54

21.       Carolyn Fowler – 53

            Kyle Henderson 2 – 53

            Arlene Hopps – 53

            Brian Spatchek - 53

            Cheryl Spuhler – 53

26.       Ashley Poer 1 – 52

27.       Katie Butler Litsey - 51

            Ashley Poer 2 - 51

            Chad Upson – 51

            Katie Zdrowak - 51

31.       Debbie Nieman – 50

            Rich Samuels 1 – 50

            Rich Samuels 2 - 50

            George Walks 2 – 50

            Jonathan Wasserman - 50

            Justin Yung - 50

37.       Brent Bellinger – 49

            Alvaro Gonzalez – 49

            Eric Inge – 49

            Greg Kummerlen - 49

            Traci Lynn Sheehan and Kyle Sheehan - 49

            Hershey Zdrowak - 49

43        Steffan Alexander - 48

             Jed Dorsey - 48

            Albert Harper III – 48

            Jessica Koch – 48

47.       Karen Katz – 47

            Kareem Montague – 47

            Jason Schultz - 47

            George Walks 3 - 47

51.       Serena Davila - 46

            Mac Kroesen – 46

            Trenton May - 46

            Allison Parker – 46

55.       Kyle Henderson 1 – 45

            Michael Litsey - 45

            Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 1 - 45

            Noel Martinez - 45

            Matt Nieman - 45

            Jane Reynolds – 45

            Rich Samuels 3 – 45

            Stacia Wilkaitis 1 – 45

63.       Matt Hopps – 44

            Martha Kroesen – 44

            Steven Usma 2 - 44

            Steven Usma 3 - 44

            Amy Zdrowak – 44

68.       Alex King - 42

            Sam Lozier - 42

            Jen Mahoney - 42

            Steven Usma 1 - 42

72.       George Walks 4 – 40

            Stacia Wilkaitis 2 – 40

74.       Koma Gandy - 39

            Ty Leatherman – 39

            Abigail Sosa – 39

            Hannah Sosa – 39

            Jason Spuhler – 39

            Joshua Zdrowak - 39

80.       Barkley Sosa - 38

            Pepe Sosa – 38

82.       Vic LaPira – 37

83.       Erin Devlin - 33

            Keith Zdrowak – 33

85.       Chris Kroesen – 32

86.       Braeden Helland – 31

NCAA Tournament Pool Round 2 Day 1

Ladies and Gentlemen:

So we are halfway through the second round, and we have lost our first number 1 seed.  Is there any shock that Villanova was the first number 1 seed to lose?  I don’t think so, unless you are one of the 5 people that had Villanova winning the tournament.  

Particularly hurt by the loss of this Wildcat team is the joint entry of Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds, who were in second place before yesterday.  They are still ranked pretty highly, but with their champion gone, hope of success is limited.  Other Villanova champions include Arlene Hopps of Quincy, MA, Keith Zdrowak of Orlando, FL, and Stacia Wilkaitis of Atlanta, GA.

As a reminder, the champions selected this year are:  Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, SMU, Villanova, Virginia, Wisconsin.  As usual, bold teams remain in the tournament.

For yesterday's games we had no unanimous selections, which means that we had entries that picked against Kentucky and Arizona.  Particularly bad picks for their bracket was George Walks 5 of West Palm Beach, FL, who selected Cincinnati over Kentucky, and had Villanova winning the tournament.  This was not even close to the gutsiest (read worst) pick of the round, as Matt Nieman of Boca Raton, FL selected the University of Northern Iowa to win the Villanova – North Carolina State game.  What makes this interesting is that he also selected Northern Iowa to beat Louisville today, which would have set up an incredibly equal Northern Iowa v. Northern Iowa matchup in the Sweet Sixteen. 

Conversely, we had several people select UCLA into the Sweet Sixteen, and that pick has helped Kingfish Rod Parham of Atlanta, GA maintain his lead.  However, the pick of the day goes to those entries that correctly selected North Carolina State over Villanova, thus earning an additional 5 bonus points.  So the honor for today goes to Rich Samuels 2 of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Justin Yung, Raleigh, NC (of course), Kyle Henderson 1, George Walks 1 of West Palm Beach, FL of and Traci Lynn Sheehan of Jupiter, FL.  Tracy actually selected 6 of the 8 games correctly yesterday to vault up the standings.

I have been promising payment information for days, so here it is:

For those that wish to pay via PayPal, my e-mail address is:  sosalaw@yahoo.com

For those that prefer Google Wallet, my e-mail address is:  pepsosa21@gmail.com

Have fun watching the remainder of the second round.  Remember today’s game count for two points each, plus bonuses.

As always, please double check your math as I may have missed something.  I corrected a few ballots from yesterday’s results, as yes, I even double-check myself.

Now, on to the standings.  Ties, for now, are listed alphabetically.

1.       Kingfish Rod Parham – 55

2.       George Walks 1 – 52

3.       Carolyn Fowler/Jane Reynolds – 49

          Colleen Hamilton – 49

5.       Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 – 46

                    Silas Nichols - 46

7.       Kyle Henderson 2 - 45

          Adam Jorgensen – 45

9.       Jessica Koch – 44

                        Ashley Poer 1 – 44

          George Walks 2 – 44

12.     Karen Katz – 43

                   Traci & Kyle Sheehan - 43

                   Chad Upson – 43

          15.     Jacey Fowler 2 - 42

                   Si Nichols 1 - 42

                   Si Nichols 2 - 42

          Rich Samuels 2 - 42

                   Steven Usma 4 - 42

                   Jonathan Wasserman - 42

          21.     Alvaro Gonzalez - 41

                   Katie Butler Litsey - 41

          23.     Arlene Hopps – 40

                   George Walks 5 – 40

                   Justin Yung - 40

          26.     Greg Kummerlen - 39

                   Jane Reynolds – 39

                   Stacia Wilkaitis 1 - 39

          29.     Jacey Fowler I – 38

                   Albert Harper III - 38

                   Anthony LaPira - 38

                   Sasha Moon – 38

                   Rich Samuels 1 – 38

          34.     Kyle Henderson 1 – 37

                   Eric Inge - 37

                   Debbie Nieman – 37

          37.     Matt Hopps - 36

                    Martha Kroesen - 36

                   George Walks 4 - 36

                   Katie Zdrowak - 36

          41.      Michael Litsey - 35

                   Day Yi – 35

          43.     Alex King - 34

                   Mac Kroesen - 34

                   Sam Lozier - 34

                   Cory Mauro - 34

                   Ashley Poer 2 - 34

          48.     Jed Dorsey - 33

                   Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 1 - 33

                   Rich Samuels 3 – 33

          51.     Cheryl Spuhler – 33

                   Jason Spuhler - 33

                   Hershey Zdrowak - 33

          54.     Jason Schultz - 32

                   Steven Usma 1 - 32

                   George Walks 3 - 32

          57.     Serena Davila - 31

                   Carolyn Fowler – 31  

                   Trenton May - 31

                   Brian Spatchek - 31

                   Steven Usma 2 - 31

                   Steven Usma 3 - 31

          63.     Brent Bellinger - 30

                   Noel Martinez - 30

                   Kareem Montague - 30

          66.     Koma Gandy - 29

                   Vic LaPira – 29

                   Ty Leatherman – 29

                   Abigail Sosa - 29

                   Hannah Sosa – 29

                   Amy Zdrowak – 29

          72.     Matt Nieman - 28

                   Stacia Wilkaitis 2 – 28

          74.     Braeden Helland – 27

                   Jen Mahoney - 27

                   Keith Zdrowak – 27

          77.     Chris Kroesen – 26

                   Joshua Zdrowak - 26

          79.     Erin Devlin - 25

          80.     Steffan Alexander - 25

          81.     Barkley Sosa - 23

                   Pepe Sosa - 23

NCAA Tournament Pool Round 1 Day 2

Ladies and Gentlemen:

So the first round is complete, and unfortunately day 2 was nowhere near as exciting as day 1.  Only 1 lower seeded team was victorious (more on that later), meaning chalk rules the day.  Let’s hope Round 2 starts off with a bang.

We have solved the nameless bracket, and I found 1 bracket which was more than timely.  My apologies to Karen Katz as her missing bracket was my doing, and not hers, and she even included her name and e-mail address, as per the rules.

Speaking of rules, I just have to include the body of an e-mail I received from Captain Kyle M. Meisner, an Operational Law Attorney with Army Special Operations Aviation Command – and I hope that she appreciates the shout-out and doesn’t put me on any type of “watch list”. 

“Please find my husband’s WINNING entry for the Tournament attached.  He apologizes for not sending it in himself and making his wife (me) do it for him, but those new-fangled printers and scanners are confusing to him, especially when he is on a crunch to, you know, get to the actual games.

In other news, you may owe me 15-20 minutes of my life back because Kareem forced me to listed to your ‘fantastic’ rules last night.  Yawn.”

You have a good one Kareem Montague, if she is willing to call both you and me out.  My wife and bracket participant Hannah Sosa, agrees with your wife’s entire sentiment.  Glad you at least thought the rules were as funny as I did typing them.

We lost no champions yesterday, so the champions in play remain the same.  As a reminder, he champions selected this year are:  Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, SMU, Villanova, Virginia, Wisconsin.  Bold teams remain in the tournament.

For yesterday's games we had only 2 unanimous selections, duke and Gonzaga.  Yes that means somebody picked Coastal Carolina over Wisconsin.  Tough break Braeden Helland.    We had 11 entries select Dayton, with three of the picks being guaranteed.  The pick of the day goes to Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 of West Palm Beach, Florida, Adam Jorgensen of Palm Beach Gardens, FL and Katie Butler Litsey of Redondon Beach, CA.  Katie correctly selected 15 of the 16 games from yesterday as well, with Davidson being her only downfall.  Davidson – by the way – was an extremely popular pick.

The antithesis of the pick of the day goes to two separate entries:  Jason Spuhler of Acworth, GA and Albert Harper III of Pahokee, Florida.  Jason Spuhler simply forgot to select a winner in the Wichita State – Indiana game and Albert Harper III selected Robert Morris.  Now Tournament Host, you may be thinking, how can that be if you said that Duke was a unanimous pick.  If you are thinking that, and chose to ask me, I would answer you by saying that Albert selected Robert Morris to win the San Diego State – St. John’s game.  Boy would that have been an upset!

Have fun watching the second round.  Remember today’s game count for two points each, plus bonuses.

As always, please double check your math as I may have missed something.  I corrected a few ballots from yesterday’s results, as yes, I even double-check myself.

Now, on to the standings.  Ties, for now, are listed alphabetically.

1.  Kingfish Rod Parham - 45

2.  Carolyn Fowler/Jane Reynolds – 39

       Silas Nichols - 38

4.  Colleen Hamilton – 37

5.  Karen Katz – 37   

6.  Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 – 36

7.  Adam Jorgensen 35

     Katie Butler Litsey - 35

     George Walks 1 - 35

10.  Jacey Fowler 2 - 34

      Jessica Koch - 34

       Ashley Poer 1 – 34

       George Walks 2 - 34

14.  Chad Upson – 33

15.  Arlene Hopps - 32

      Si Nichols 1 - 32

      Si Nichols 2 - 32

     Steven Usma 4 - 32

     George Walks 5 - 32

      Jonathan Wasserman - 32

21.  Alvaro Gonzalez - 31

      Greg Kummerlen - 31

      Stacia Wilkaitis 1 - 31

24.  Albert Harper III - 30

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 30

       Anthony LaPira - 30

       Sasha Moon – 30

      Rich Samuels 1 – 30

      Kyle Henderson 1 – 30

30.  Eric Inge - 29

       Debbie Nieman – 29

       Jane Reynolds – 29

       Rich Samuels 2 - 29

       Cheryl Spuhler - 29

       Day Yi – 29

36.  Jacey Fowler I – 28

       Martha Kroesen - 28

       Cory Mauro - 28

       Ashley Poer 2 - 28

40.  Jed Dorsey - 27

       Michael Litsey - 27

      Justin Yung - 27

43.  Matt Hopps - 26

       Mac Kroesen - 26

        Traci & Kyle Sheehan - 26

      George Walks 4 - 26

       Katie Zdrowak - 26

48.  Carolyn Fowler – 25  

       Koma Gandy - 25

       Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 1 - 25

       Rich Samuels 3 – 25

       Hannah Sosa - 25

       Brian Spatchek - 25

       Steven Usma 2 -25

       Hershey Zdrowak - 25

56.  Alex King - 24

       Sam Lozier - 24

       Kareem Montague - 24

       Jason Schultz - 24

       Steven Usma 1 - 24

       Stacia Wilkaitis 2 - 24

62.  Serena Davila - 23

       Vic LaPira - 23

      Ty Leatherman - 23

       Jen Mahoney - 23

      Trenton May  23

       Jason Spuhler - 23

68.  Brent Bellinger - 22

       Chris Kroesen - 22

       Noel Martinez - 22

71.  Abigail Sosa - 21

       Steven Usma 3 - 21

       Amy Zdrowak – 21

      Keith Zdrowak – 21

75.  Steffan Alexander - 20

       Matt Nieman - 20

       George Walks 3 - 20

       Joshua Zdrowak - 20

79.  Erin Devlin - 19

       Braeden Helland – 19

81.  Barkley Sosa - 17

        Pepe Sosa - 17

NCAA Tournament - Round 1 Day 1

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Welcome back to my gazillionth annual NCAA Tournament Pool.

Every year I am amazed at how many people fail to follow the rules.  Now newbies to the pool I can understand missing something here and there, but for you veterans the mistakes are unbelieveable and deserve to be called out.  For example, Vic LaPira and Ty Leatherman failed to put their respective names on their brackets.  I figured out Ty's because she had Duke winning it all - homer.

I also still have two nameless bracket which I am including in the standings hoping that someone claims it soon.  If you see someone missing, please contact them and me to try to determine the missing bracket.

All told we have about 84 entries.  I say "about" because one entrant, Alison Parker, went old school and mailed her entries.  I do not know whether to expect multiple brackets from that household or not.  They will be added once received.  I also received an unnamed entry which I am still searching for the owner.  Once that is identified, it will be added as well.

We had 10 total champions picked, with the majority of the people selecting Kentucky.  All of the champions that remain will be listed in bold for the remainder of updates.  The champions selected this year are:  Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, SMU, Villanova, Virginia, Wisconsin.

You read that correctly folks.  We have already had two champions eliminated on the first day.  The lucky entries were Ashley Poer 2 who selected Iowa State and Erin Devlin who selected SMU.  Now Erin I understand, as she is an alumna, but who knows what on earth Ashley was thinking.

For yesterday's games we had 4 unanimous selections, those being Arizona, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Villanova.  Good thing for our entries all of those teams won.  If those were the unanimous picks, that means we had winners and losers for each of the remaining 12 games, including 1 that selected UAB.  So the honor of the pick of the day goes to Kingfish Rod Parham of Atlanta, Georgia.  Honorable Mention to those that earned multiple bonuses from the UAB, Georgia State and UCLA.  On the other end are Barkley Sosa and Myself, but yuck it up now, as I will be having the last laugh.

I am referring to yesterday's action as Round 1, Day 1 because that is what it really is, and not the Second Round which is the moniker the NCAA gives to the yesterday's and today's games.  The NCAA, however, doesn't have a great reputation with me, so I will do what I want.

As always, please double check your math as I may have missed something, or even missed your "guaranteed upset" since I had to go back and forth with several of you to make sure I knew which pick was your "guaranteed upset".

I will send out PayPal and Google Wallet information on my next post.

Now, on to the standings.  Ties, for now, are listed alphabetically.

1.  Kingfish Rod Parham - 33
2.  Colleen Hamilton - 25
3.  Ashley Poer 1 - 23
     Chad Upson - 23
     George Walks 1 - 23
6.  George Walks 2 - 22
     George Walks 5 - 22
8.  Steven Usma 4 - 21
9.  Carolyn Fowler/Jane Reynolds - 20
     Rich Samuels 1 - 20
11.  Si Nichols 1 - 19
       Silas Nichols - 19
       Unknown Bracket  (Jessica Koch?)- 19
14.  Arlene Hopps - 18
      Stacia Wilkaitis 1 - 18
16.  Kyle Henderson 2 - 17
      Sasha Moon - 17
      Si Nichols 2 - 17
       Jonathan Wasserman - 17
      Justin Yung - 17
       Amy Zdrowak - 17
22.  Martha Kroesen - 16
       Debbie Nieman - 16
       Rich Samuels 2 - 16
25.  Jacey Fowler I - 15
       Mac Kroesen - 15
       Michael Litsey - 15
       Ashley Poer 2 - 15
       Jane Reynolds - 15
       Rich Samuels 3 - 15
       Day Yi - 15
32.  Jacey Fowler 2 - 14
        Kyle Henderson 1 - 14
       Cheryl Spuhler - 14
35.  Greg Kummerlen - 13
        Traci & Kyle Sheehan - 13
37.  Carolyn Fowler - 12
       Matt Hopps - 12
       Kim Bancsi Lumpkin - 12
       Brian Spatchek - 12
       Steven Usma 1 - 12
42.  Koma Gandy - 11
       Alvaro Gonzalez - 11
       Albert Harper III - 11
       Adam Jorgensen - 11
       Alex King - 11
       Anthony LaPira - 11
       Vic LaPira - 11
       Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 - 11
       Jen Mahoney - 11
       Kareem Montague - 11
       Jason Schultz - 11
       Hannah Sosa - 11
      George Walks 4 - 11
      Keith Zdrowak - 11
56.  Brent Bellinger - 10
       Serena Davila - 10
       Eric Inge - 10
       Chris Kroesen - 10
      Ty Leatherman - 10
       Katie Butler Litsey - 10
       Sam Lozier - 10
       Cory Mauro - 10
       Jason Spuhler - 10
       Stacia Wilkaitis 2 - 10
       Hershey Zdrowak - 10
       Katie Zdrowak - 10
68.  Braeden Helland - 9
       Steven Usma 2 - 9
       Steven Usma 3 - 9
       George Walks 3 - 9
       Joshua Zdrowak - 9
73.  Erin Devlin - 8
       Jed Dorsey - 8
       Noel Martinez - 8
       Abigail Sosa - 8
77.  Steffan Alexander - 7
       Matt Nieman - 7
79.  Trenton May  6
        Barkley Sosa - 6
        Pepe Sosa - 6

Tremendous Losses in the Sports World

The last few weeks have brought tremendous losses in the sports world.  Honestly, some of the great players, coaches, personalities and groundbreakers in sports.  In alphabetical order, we have lost:  Ernie Banks, Billy Casper, Stuart Scott, Charlie Sifford, Dean Smith, and Jerry Tarkanian.  And with Anthony Mason in dire straits and fighting for his life at age 48, we here at We Make It Rain just want to pay a collective homage to these amazing athletes, coaches and personalities.

I feel that all of the tribute pieces on television and in writing have gone over the collective histories of these gentlemen, so I will refrain from doing the same thing, but I just will give some mention to each.

Ernie Banks - Mr. Cub, had 512 home runs, including leading the league twice.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977 in his first year on the ballot.

Billy Casper - He is 7th all-time in PGA Tour wins, including 3 majors.  He has scored more points than any other American in Ryder Cup history.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1978,  

Stuart Scott - Although he is widely credited with bringing an urban twist to sports broadcasting, he definitely brought youth, excitement and charisma.

Charlie Sifford - He was the first African-American to play on the PGA Tour.  He won twice, and he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004

Dean Smith - Four time national coach of the year, winning two national championships.  Only person that could keep Michael Jordan under 20 points per game.  He was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Jerry Tarkanian - He won 706 games at the collegiate level, while making UNLV a national powerhouse.  Won a national title.  He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2013.

If people are superstitious, and believe that famous people die in threes, then we are in for some more losses in the sports world, if we categorize the above by like groups.

For instance:

North Carolina alums - (1) Stuart Scott; (2) Dean Smith; (3) _____________?

Basketball coaches - (1) Dean Smith; (2) Jerry Tarkanian; (3) ____________?

Basketball - (1) Dean Smith; (2) Jerry Tarkanian; (3) ____________ (Anthony Mason)?

Groundbreakers - (1) Ernie Banks; (2) Charlie Sifford; (3) Stuart Scott

Golf - (1) Charlie Sifford; (2) Billy Casper; (3) Tiger Woods' golf game

Rest in Peace knowing that you brought great joy to sports fans everywhere!

End of an Era? Not just yet...

I am fascinated by the results of the five New Year's Day bowl games. Not because your boy Sinickal had EVERYTHING wrong. After all, everyone had most of them wrong. And for those of you claiming that you did have the SEC going winless, Florida State getting blown out, and the Big Ten going 3-1, where were you on New Year's Eve? I don't remember hearing the trash talk before the games at the volume that I am hearing it now. And if you did believe it before you saw it, you were in a very small minority of sports fans. And none of you said anything!

Okay, back to football. What the hell happened yesterday? I am not quite sure yet, but I am going to classify it as more aberration than evolution. Let's discuss this in the form of questions and answers...

1. Is the SEC over rated?

No, I don't believe it is. I still think that the SEC is a formidable conference and either the best or second best in the country. If I were a school in the Big Ten, I would not start scheduling SEC teams for homecoming just yet. I get that five of the top teams in the conference lost in big spots over two days, but lets look as some of the facts regarding the conferences...

According to fbschedules.com, here are the non-conference winning percentages for the power five conferences against power five teams prior to conference play this year.

Big Ten - 31% 
Big 12 - 40% 
ACC - 44% 
SEC - 71%
PAC 12 - 75% 

With regard to the bowl season, the current record for the SEC is 5-5. By comparison, the Big Ten is 5-4, The ACC is 5-6, and the Big 12 is 1-4. The star of the group is the Pac 12 which is currently 5-1.

So, let's not consider the SEC on the same level as the Sun Belt conference just yet. I am pretty sure that the depth of the conference is real and that the top teams will be just fine.

2. Certainly, we can agree that this is the end of the  current SEC run, correct?

Again, I am not sure that I would stretch that far based on a 40 hour snapshot. Over the last decade, the SEC has shown in wins and in talent that this current run of dominance is not a fluke. Again, here are the facts...

The SEC has produced 8 of the last 10 National Champions, including 7 in a row from 2006 to 2012. This is a near impossible run in which 4 different teams from the conference won more than half of the national championships awarded in the BCS era!

Looking at the NFL draft over the last few years gives the following. According to NFL.com, the SEC has had:

• The most players drafted in each of the last 8 years. 49 players were drafted in the most recent NFL draft.
• The most players drafted in the 1st round in each of the last 4 years. In all four years, at least 10 players have gone in the 1st round. By comparison, the only other conference with as many as 8 during that time is the Big 12.
• The number of 1st round picks by conference in the last five drafts are
• SEC - 50
• Big 12 - 27
• ACC - 21
• Big 10 - 18
• Pac 12 - 17
• Big East - 6
• The total number of picks by conference in the last five drafts are
• SEC - 241
• ACC - 169
• Big 12 - 150
• Big 10 - 154
• Pac 12 - 124
• Big East - 73

It is noted that conference realignment would increase the numbers for the Big East schools that moved to the ACC, Big 10 and Big 12. Despite that, it is difficult to reload over and over again with the amount of talent leaving the SEC every year. And it is an obscene amount of talent!

3. Okay, then what does it mean that Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss all lost in a matter of 40 hours?

I am going to concentrate on Alabama and, to a lesser degree LSU here. Specifically, let's look at two things a little more closely here.

First, go back and look at the rosters of Alabama and LSU from their 2011 regular season game. As of the 2014 NFL Draft, 42 players from those two rosters were selected by teams. By the time all of the players from the rosters have completed their colleges runs, it is estimated that 70 could be drafted. Let me repeat that, 70 players drafted from two rosters in one college game in an "over rated" conference! If you want to see the names and some mind blowing stats, check out this cbssports.com link.

Second, based on information from NFL.com, Alabama has been a talent pipeline for the NFL over the last few years. We can agree that Alabama's biggest weakness was in its secondary this year. It simply gave up too many big plays. That is just one glaring problem caused by the amount of talent lost recently. Consider that Alabama has had 9 defensive backs drafted in the last 5 years, with 5 in the 1st round. The Crimson Tide has also gone 5 consecutive years with multiple 1st round draft picks. That has never been done before. By the way, I could have done the same thing with LSU and it would have been as impressive.

I am not going to say that these schools shouldn't be able to reload, I am saying that sometimes it takes a little time to overcome significant loss. Again, I wouldn't start loading up these teams to enhance your non-conference record.

4. Fine, you can admit that the Big Ten is a much better conference than you thought, right?

Hell. And. No.

Ohio State is really good and Urban Meyer is simply a great football coach. Michigan State is consistently the second best team in that conference and a really good football team. The rest of the Big Ten is dog shit and you can have it.

5. How do we know that the SEC was that good over the last decade, since the playoff system clearly exposed Alabama?

I would simply go back and look at the talent produced. It was not an accident that SEC was pounding anyone it faced when it mattered. This year, the playoff format matched the four best teams in the country. No one, and I mean no one argued that Alabama was not one of them. Even those of you who think that the SEC is over rated as a conference thought Alabama belonged in the Final Four teams.

6. Is this the end of SEC dominance?

Let's not treat the last 48 hours with Twitter gloves. The SEC is not going to stop recruiting or simply not try anymore because its top teams lost in bowl games this year. Dominance in college football is most often ended by external means. That is, scandal and sanctions. I don't believe that the entire conference is going to be placed under probation anytime soon. Therefore, you can continue to fear the talent showing up at those schools

7. Is there anything else you want to talk about?

Yes!! In a separate post, we are going to talk about trash talking among fans and fan bases. The trolling that you currently see and hear is not trash talk. It is gloating and post-game posturing. That is different. If you are confident enough in your team to trash talk and tongue wag, then do it right. Damn, I hate people that hide before and during a game then tell you how great they are after the fact!