NCAA Tournament Pool - Final Results

No real analysis out, because frankly, I am basketballed out!  Been a long, but great tournament.  I will say congratulations to our winner Day Yi 2 of New York City, who had Villanova as his champion and Michigan in the Final Four.  Congratulations to our second place entry of Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds (joint entry) of Wellington, Florida, who rode Villanova to their second place finish.

For the first time in the history of my pool, I have had to employ the tiebreaker.  Losing the tiebreaker and finishing out of the money is Thomas Bean 1 of Palm Beach Gardens, who also had Villanova as his champion.  He lost due to the tiebreaker of first round games correct, and in that round Thomas went 22-10.

Before I announce the third place winner of our tiebreaker, I want to explain why I have the tiebreaker the way I do.  First off, total points for the finals seem a bit off for me, as everyone is guesstimating the totals based upon their projected finalists, who may not even be in the game.  Second, people who select a lot of games correctly often fall behind early in the standings to those that pick more upsets correctly because of the bonus point structure.  This tiebreaker makes people at least think about which upsets they pick instead of just picking as many as possible to get the bonus points.  Nevertheless, our third place winner went 23-9, only one game better than Thomas Bean 1.  She also had a finals matchup of Villanova over Michigan - the only person in the pool to have both games correct.  Congratulations to Arlene Amo Hopps of Quincy, Massachussetts.

Also congratulations to me for being the highest ranking Sosa, and to all of you that finished the highest in your family/friends group so that you having bragging rights for the next year.

A little special recognition to Dan Barsky of Miami Beach, who amassed the highest point total without correctly having the champion.  Dan finishes in 10th place.

I will be sending out payments shortly, as SOME PEOPLE STILL NEED TO PAY!!!  I could be cordial and just hope you see this statement and pay me quickly, or, I could be rude and post everyone who did not pay to publicly shame them.  Or I suppose I could contact you privately.  Guess which type of person I am?!

If you paypaled me, I can paypal your winnings back.  If you paid by cash, check or in person, let me know how you would like to receive your payments.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL - AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR PLAYING!!!!

1.  Day Yi 2 - 121 - Villanova

2.  Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 113 - Villanova

3.  Arlene Amo Hopps - 111 - Villanova over Michigan

     Thomas Bean 1 - 111 - Villanova

5.  Rich Samuels 2 - 110 - Villanova

6.  Jessica Samuels - 109 - Villanova

7.  Sasha Moon - 105 - Villanova

     Steven Usma 2 - 105 - Villanova

9.  Max Macon 3 - 100 - Villanova

10.  Dan Barsky - 97 - Virginia

11.  Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 96 - Villanova

12.  Katie Kollmeyer - 67 - Villanova

13.  Katie Zdrowak - 93 - Villanova

14.  Noel Martinez 2 - 92 - Villanova

15.  Chris Kroesen - 91 - Xavier

16.  James Garvin - 90 - Villanova
       Steven Usma 5 - 90 - Villanova

18.  Pepe Sosa - 89 - Villanova

      George Walks 3 - 89 - Virginia

20.  Paul Cummings - 87 - Villanova

21.  Kent Armstrong - 86 - Villanova

22.  Dan Laishley - 84 - Virginia

       Max Macon 4 - 84 - Virginia

       Glen Merchant - 84 - Villanova

25.  Jacey Fowler 1 - 83 - North Carolina

       Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 83 - Virginia

27.  Martha Kroesen - 82 - Villanova

       Day Yi 1 - 82 - Virginia

       Joshua Zdrowak - 82 - Kansas

30.  Colleen Hamilton 2 - 80 - Villanova

       Anthony LaPira - 80 - Michigan State

       Allison Parker - 80 - Virginia

33.  Rich Samuels 1 - 79 - Kansas

       Steven Usma 3 - 79 - Michigan

35.  Col. Kareem Montague - 78 - Villanova

       Barkley Sosa - 78 - Kentucky

37.  Michael Litsey - 77 - Villanova

38.  Jeremy Spuhler - 76 - Duke

       George Walks 6 - 76 - Michigan State

40.  Bill Ganoe 2 - 75 - Virginia

41.  Greg Kummerlen - 74 - North Carolina

       Jane Reynolds - 74 - Michigan State

43.  Adam Jorgensen 2 - 72 - Michigan State

       Ty Leatherman - 72 - Virginia

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 72 - Michigan State

46.  Carolyn Fowler 71 - Kansas

       Jeff Plamodon - 71 - Virginia

       Bryan van Gorder - 71 - North Carolina

       George Walks 4 - 71 - North Carolina

50.  Matt Hopps - 70 - Virginia

       Kyle Sheehan - 70 - Duke

52.  Jen Armstrong - 69 - Michigan State

       Thomas Bean 2 - 69 - Michigan State

       Jim Coleman - 69 - Gonzaga

       Duncan Merchant - 69 - Virginia

       Brittany Sosa - 69 - Duke

57.  Alvaro Gonzalez - 68 - Michigan State

       Cheryl Spuhler - 68 - Duke

59.  Colleen Hamilton 1 - 67 - Virginia

       Adam Jorgensen 1 - 67 - Duke

       Edy Pecan - 67 - Michigan
       Wes Wiggins 1 - 67 - Arizona

63.  Albert Harper III - 66 - Michigan State

       Mango Merchant - 66 - Michigan State

65.  Silas Nichols - 65 - Arizona

66.  Abigail Sosa - 66 - Michigan State

67.  Steffan Alexander - 63 - Florida

       Bill Danner - 63 - Virginia
       Measha Williams 2 "Upset City"- 63 - Duke

70.  Steven Usma 1 - 62 - Kansas

71.  Cathy Donahue - 61 - Duke

       Steve Jorgensen - 61 - Arizona

       Max Macon 2 - 61 - Michigan State

       Justin Yung - 61 - North Carolina

75.  Hannah Sosa - 60 - Florida

       George Walks 2 - 60 - Kansas

77.  Bill Ganoe 1 - 59 - North Carolina

       Max Macon 1 - 59 - Kansas

       Noel Martinez 1 - 59 - Duke

       Traci Sheehan - 59 - Duke

       Measha Williams 3 "Spread" - 59 - Virginia

82.  Jenna Finkelstein - 58 - North Carolina

       George Walks 1 - 58 - Kansas

       Keith Zdrowak - 58 -  Duke

85.  Colleen Hamilton 3 - 57 - North Carolina

86.  Kingfish Rod Parham - 56 - Kentucky

87.  Brent Bellinger - 55 - Virginia

       Measha Williams 1 - "Gut" - 55 - Virginia

89.  Joe Carter - 54 - Virginia

       Jonathan Wasserman - 54 - Duke

    
91.  Wes Wiggins 2 - 53 - Michigan State

92.  Samantha Sheehan - 52 - Duke
       Steven Usma 4 - 52 - Duke

94.  David Peterson - 51 - Virginia

95.  Bill Foman - 48 - North Carolina

       Jacey Fowler 2 - 48 - Cincinnati

97.  Mac Kroesen - 47 - Gonzaga

98.  Carter Alexander - 46 - Florida

      Amy Zdrowak - 46 - Michigan State

100.  Karen Katz - 45 - Virginia

101.  George Walks 5 - 44 - Arizona

102.  Eric Inge - 42 - Virginia

103.  Doug Tuttle - 36 - Florida

104.  Griffey Parker - 31 - Xavier

105.  Ashley Poer - 30 - Virginia

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

Final Four Chronicles - The Interregnum

THE INTERREGNUM

Day 4

Sunday, April 1, 2018

It is Easter Sunday here at the Final Four, which means that we have a play day as we wait for the Finals tomorrow.

7:07 – Pepster rises.

7:12 – Hopps rises.

7:31 – Sinickal rises.

7:45 – Tony rises.

8:17 – Watching E:60 about a high school senior wrestler whose younger brother cannot walk, at least until during a 100 plus mile walkathon.  We are all immediately mad at the owner of our house who apparently forgot to dust properly.

8:27 – While discussing the amount of cybersecurity attacks that municipalities are facing nowadays, Sinickal asks Hopps if he sees the reports from his company on how many actual attacks occur.  Hopps disdainfully responds, “Yeah.”  Sinickal replies, “Don’t answer like I am an idiot; I was just asking a question.”  Hopps, “I am in IT.”  Sinickal, “Yes, but yesterday you couldn’t even put in the ESPN Play password!”

9:15 – Breakfast/Coffee

10:33 – Hopps, Sinickal and Pepster are en route to the golf course.

10:36 – As the song Emotions comes on The Fly, we discuss the cultural significance of Mariah Carey.

10:49 – Arrive at La Cantera Resort Course, the former home of the Valero Texas Open through 2009, immediately prior to its move to TPC, the current location.

11:01 – KT from Austin (and from Day 1) arrives as our fourth.  We reintroduce her to Hopps.  She remembers him; he doesn’t remember her.

11:08 – Go to purchase a couple of beers for the cooler on the golf cart.  We are told that we must purchase a food item on the ticket in order to purchase beer, since it is before noon.

11:08:30 – Pepster exclaims that he, “Forgot he left Florida and went south.”

11:48 – Tee Off.  Radio silence during the round.

This course was great, but incredibly hard.  The elevation changes were ridiculous and the greens were impossible to read.  We are played horribly, especially when compared to Friday.  We still had a great time.

17:03 – We head to dinner and Pepster notices the lack of cars in the plaza’s parking lot.  “I guess Easter closes early in Texas.”

17:05 – Enter Yardhouse.

17:07 – We notice a local beer on the sandwich board out front named Full Tang IPA and order it from the bartender.  He responds that he, “has never heard of it.”

17:08 – Hopps inquires that, “If I order the Alamo beer, will it be the last one I remember?”

17:15 – Sinickal notices that the women’s championship game is starting.  “It must get dark early in Columbus.”

17:25 – Pepster apologizes in advance to the bartender for Hopps, and explains that we will be trash talking each other the entire time, so to be prepared.  The bartender thinks this is funny, but doesn’t quite get the severity with which we will be roasting each other until we explain that “We crucified Hopps on Friday.”

17:28 – Pepster asks if the restrooms are in a specific direction and the bartender, answering a different question from a server, “Yes ma’am.”

17:37 – The boys from WeMakeItRain come up with an absolutely great business idea that may get off the ground in 2018l  KT is torn between thinking it is a great idea and being repulsed at being a part of the conversation.

17:45 – Tony rejoins the crew at Yardhouse.

17:57 – Sinickal relives his best man speech from Hopps’s wedding about the first time Hopps played golf.  Unless you were at the scramble tournament where Hopps played that day, you will never get how funny this is.

17:58 – Sinickal, trying to explain Hopps to KT, just says, “Hopps is a caricature of Hopps.”

18:11  - Onto stories from Pepster’s wedding, which include the Irish Kevin’s stage and Racecar’s “something blue”, which was a Chicago Bears garter.  Sinickal remarks that Pepster’s “something blue” must have been “a Florida Gators garter”.

18:17 – Argument over whether Hopps’s kids are Blasian or Halfapinos.

18:55 – While discussing our favorite baseball teams, Tony, a Yankee fan, notes that the Red Sox haven’t been good since 1776,

19:12 – Ogbunbowale for the win!!!

19:23 – Hopps about the women’s game, “It is because Notre Dame is God’s University.  At least that is what they taught us at Boston College.”

19:29 – KT heads back to Austin.  We love KT.

19:36 – Due to the previous conversation, KT, who we now call Lexi Thompson, walks backward out of the Yardhouse.

19:38 – Hopps switches to Bud Light because albeit the fact that the Alamo beer was good, “he wants to remember it”.

20:22 – Sinickal to Hopps, “Both of you are fixed, right?”

20:24 – New bartender at Yardhouse and we apologize for Hopps and tell her to not even ask him any questions, not even something as innocuous as what is your favorite color.  Hopps yells, “It’s yellow!”

20:54 – The Live song Lightning Crashes comes on at the Yardhouse, Pepster mentions how sad this song is, especially the line, “Her placenta falls to the floor.”

20:55 – Hopps then says about Pepster, “I don’t think he used the word “placenta” correctly.  In fact, he has no kids so he has never used a placenta correctly.

21:14 – Hopps tells Sinickal that he will drive.  Sinickal says, “That is not the best idea you have come up with all weekend!”

21:38 – Head to the Pearl District.

21:46 – Discussion turns to how ridiculous Hopps’s snoring is.  Hopps on the phone with his  wife, “That is why I race you to bed!”

21:46:15 – Hopps to his wife, “I love you!:

22:03 – Down on Grayson is closed.

22:06 – We head to Viva Taco Land.

22:10 – They have a Dougie Contest, or should we say, a Dougie No-Contest.

00:19 – Head for home.

00:33 – Go to bed, as the Finals are tomorrow!

Final Four Chronicles - The Semi-Finals

THE SEMI-FINALS

Day 3

Saturday, March 31, 2018

            We all wake up flummoxed on the events of yesterday, and a little tired as it was a long, long day.  But that is OK because today is all about the basketball.  We have semi-final action between Loyola and Michigan, followed by Kansas versus Villanova.  As much as this trip is about friendship, camaraderie, having fun and good cities – the purpose is basketball, and that starts today.

6:30 – Road to the Final Four 5K registration.

8:00 – Road to the Final Four 5K race begins.

7:30 – 8:40 – We all wake up.  Thus, once again we missed the Road to the Final Four 5K.  Congratulations to all participants who helped to raise money for the Coaches versus Cancer charity and other pediatric oncology servicing organizations.

8:51 – Hopps and Tony make a coffee/breakfast run.  Some days breakfast sandwiches just taste better.

9:41 – Sinickal and Tony just now receive the text that Hopps and Pepster ducked into the Republic of Texas last night.

9:47 – Hopps screams out Oh My God!  Nobody moves, turns around or in any way acknowledges Hopps.  Sinickal notes that we should be worried that nobody even flinches when he does that anymore.

10:13 – SportsCenter showing the Cleveland Cavaliers highlights, specifically about LeBron breaking the consecutive games record for scoring double digit points.  Hopps, at the dining room table behind everyone in the living room, exclaims that LeBron has three people above him.  After a brief pause, Pepster turns his head, rolls his eyes and says, “OK, I’ll bite.  Who are the three?”  Jordan (of course) Russell (Hopps is a Boston homer) and Magic (at least he didn’t say Bird).  [Ed. Note – Not a bad three, but if Chamberlain switches places with Russell, the Celtics probably have 15 or 16 championships in a row, and although Magic is great, he might not even be the best Laker.  See Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem.

11:00 – We turn on Thursdays episode of the Dan BeBatard Show just to hear his live call of Ian Happ’s home run on the first pitch of the entire MLB season against the Marlins.  The call consists of massive laughter, screaming, the phrase “Welcome Derek Jeter” and “That concludes our Marlins coverage for the season.

11:10 – We decide to watch Friday’s episode of the Dan LeBatard Show because he is hilarious.  The highlights, Stugotz’s rant on Sister Jean which concludes by him saying, “If Loyola makes it to the Championship game, I guarantee she makes it into the Basketball Hall of Fame” (then under his breath “Mo Cheeks”) .  For those that don’t know, former Philadelphia Sixer Very Good (I cannot call him great) was just elected into the basketball Hall of Fame, along with such luminaries as Dino Radja and Charlie Scott.  Another highlight of the show is LeBatard’s interview with Ice-T, who admits that growing up he robbed banks.  When LeBatard tells him that he might want to disclaim that and say he was just joking on the air, Ice-T mentions that “We have a wonderful thing is this country called the Statute of Limitations.”

11:13 – In the entrances and exits of the Dan LeBatard Show, the camera pans out from a picture of the beach.  Today – or actually Friday’s show, we clearly see a red and blue flag hanging from the lifeguard tower, which Pepster points out generally means no swimming because of rough, or rip tides (red) and Portuguese Man-O-War (blue).  Tony the exclaims that he hopes President Trump doesn’t find out the Portuguese are getting into the country via the shore.  And this concludes the political portion of the show.

11:30 – Pepster and Sinickal struggle with which 30 for 30 to watch on demand.  Settle on something basketball related, and decide not to watch any of them because we don’t want to get stuck going down that rabbit hole and end up missing the games.

12:40 – Leave for downtown.

13:19 – Lost Hopps already.

13:21 – Strong Michigan entry into the Riverwalk

13:30 – Pop into the Thirsty Aztec.  Young college-aged kid wearing a Villanova Scottie Reynolds jersey exits the establishment saying loudly, “I didn’t realize until I just realized”.

13:42 – Walking down the Riverwalk and see a guy in a powder blue shirt that says simply “Duke sucks”.  Since we virtually have to walk single file on the RiverWalk, Sinickal sees it first and toasts him.  Tony toasts him.  Pepster toasts him.  Hopps toasts him.  Then other people we don’t know behind us toast him.

13:50 – Head into Tex’s Sports Bar for some food because it has a good punny name.  And an available table which is not the norm at the restaurants along the Riverwalk.  In fact, one restaurant even had a sign “We are no longer taking names for our Wait List”.

14:07 – Four guys settle in at the table next to us all wearing Villanova gear.  Start up a conversation with Sinickal since he is wearing his Syracuse shirt and the former Big East rivalry between to two clubs.  Guys assume we all went to Syracuse, not noticing Tony’s Texas shirt and Hopps’s BC pullover.  Sinickal tells them Pepster went to an Ivy-covered school near Boston.  Guys obviously missing Sinickal’s context cluse reply, “Which one?”

14:26 – Pepster and Sinickal engage in a conversation about the old Big East.  Noting that Villanova has a great history with the league, Pepster queries if anyone from Villanova even makes an All-Time Big East squad.  Without going into much discussion of the bench, Sinickal and Pepster, settle on a starting 5 of:  PG – Pearl Washington (Syracuse); SG – Ray Allen (Connecticut); SF – Chris Mullins (St. John’s); PF – Derrick Coleman (Syracuse); C – Patrick Ewing (Georgetown).  Others on the team would be: C - Alonzo Mourning (Georgetown); PF – Jerome Lane (Pittsburgh); PG – Allen Iverson (Georgetown) (who would start except his college career was only 2 years);  PG – Kemba Walker (Connecticut).  OK, I guess we did discuss the bench.

14:51 – Hopps is astounded at the number of people wearing Loyola gear.  Sinickal explains to him that Chicago is the third largest city in the country, and has no natural college affiliation like places we are used to, and that the City of Chicago is supporting Loyola as a city, regardless of college affiliation.  Hopps is struggling to believe him.  (By the way, if Northwestern ever makes a final four, that city will be inundated with purple).

14:54 – Young, twenty-something wearing Loyola gear asks if he can sit at the table recently vacated by the Villanova guys.  We tell him yes and then start discussing the Final Four.  Guy admits he did not go to Loyola, but knew someone who dated someone that knew someone who did.  Hopps becomes annoyed (well, even more annoyed than usual).

14:57 – We realize that our food has not arrived yet.   Hopps is even more annoyed (as are the rest of us).  This is a bit of foreshadowing on service for the day, only we didn’t know it at the time.

15:26 – Food FINALLY arrives.

15:58 – To the Alamodome.

16:17 – Pass by an NCAA Final Four employee carrying a sign with a question mark on it.  Sinickal asks him, “What does the sign mean?”  Employee answers “Information.”  Sinickal responds, thanks, I just was looking for that information”. 

16:18 – Sinickal to Pepster, “Those guys hate guys like us.  Just asking them purposefully dumb questions every two minutes”.

16:23 – After the off ramp from the walkover to the stadium, Army band is Playing Michael Jackson’s Rock With You.

16:28 – On the Alamodome campus.  The way they are funneling people here and there and splitting up the crowd entering the campus is logistically great.  Makes things a lot easier, and no long lines, even through security (which was set up well outside the perimeter of the stadium.)  Unfortunately the people and the signage that make for great entrance logistics ended up making horrible exit logistics.

16:32 – See a guy wearing a hoodie that says, “I DISAGREE.  But I respect your right to be stupid.”

16:33 – And Loyola takes the lead.

16:38 – Seeing two more Loyola fans, Hopps exclaims, “That’s Chicago”.  This we are sure will not come off anywhere near as funny as it was at the time.

16:47 – Settle into seats for the games.

16:59 – Great rendition of the national anthem as the NCAA did it right this time.  They had one student from each of the four participating institutions.  Each student sang two lines solo, then finished the song together.  Michigan’s grad student clearly studies opera and dominates the end of the song, but it was amazing.

17:09 – Tip-off to Game 1.

Radio Silence (mostly) during the game.

In the first half Michigan shoots 9/31 and Loyola shoots 10/25.  Not good basketball.  Second half is much, much better and played at a faster pace.

18:12 - The spirit teams for Michigan and Loyola are not very strong at all.  Not a whole lot of spirit going on.

19:45 – We head to the concourse for some nourishment between the games.  Concessions are out of almost everything meaningful.

Radio silence (mostly) during game 2.

Entire game:  Villanova is ON FIRE from three.  In fact, we see security running toward the extinguishers.

21:02 – If I ever have to answer the question “Do you remember the worst version of Jungle Boogie that you ever heard”, the answer is “Yes I do.  March 31, 2018 at 21:02 by the University of Kansas Pep Band.”

21:15 – Kansas band now butchers Cameo’s Word Up.  Hopps remarks, “The Kansas band has no soul”.

Villanova shows why they are easily the best team in the NCAA right now, and have been all year long.  They should be a heavy favorite for the championship game.

22:20 – After trying to coordinate a meet-up all afternoon, we run into Christy and her friend Kat to say hello after the game.

22:22 – Say goodbye to Christy and Kat as we go our respective ways for dinner.

22:41 – We have comfortably vacated the Alamodome vicinity and outside of the crowd.  There is NO chance we hit the Riverwalk tonight as it is hard to maneuver down there with just a light crowd.  We can only imagine what it will be like with 77,000 people vacating the game just blocks away.

22:56 – Hit La Gloria for dinner as we hear that San Antonio has pretty good Mexican food, or at least Tex-Mex.  That statement is accurate as our dinner is really good.  In a continuation of today’s lunch problems, service is really SLOW.  Unlike lunch, this place is staffed correctly for a big event as there are employees everywhere; ours is just slow.  Food comes up fairly quickly, so we don’t mind the rest of slowness too much.

00:09 – On the Lyft ride home we end up in a discussion in which Tony recounts some of the weirdest situations that he has ever been in, concluding with “In my past I have had some unsavory friends”.  Sinickal responds with, “I have too”.  Pepster adds that “some of them might be in this car”.   Hopps, “Come on guys, I am sitting right here!”

00:17 – Off to bed.  We have another tee time tomorrow.