Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 3 (Reprise)

Day 3 - July 23, 2021

As stated in my previous post, we have a guest poster that will be joining us throughout the Olympics.  She is a long-time friend of mine, and quite possibly the only person that I have ever met that loves the Olympics as much as I do.  She usually posts through her own social media sites - and still does - but will grace us with her presence several times during the next three weekends.  So, for her take on the Opening Ceremonies, I introduce you to Miss Miss.

Miss Miss - 

As you may or may not know, I am a bit of an Olympics fanatic and created a course called "History and the Olympics."  Usually I post recaps on social media; however, this year a friend who writes an Olympic blog [Ed. Note:  She means me/Pepster] asked me to contribute a few posts.  Here is my recap of the Opening Ceremonies this morning and a link to his blog.  Disclaimer: conversational, blog-style writing, only one grammatical check filtered through Doc P.  

Happy viewing! GO USA!  

And We’re Off!

Opening Ceremonies Report

The Olympics Opening Ceremonies commenced at 7am EST with about 40 minutes of artistic acts beginning with the presentation of the Japanese flag and the singing of the national anthem by Misia, pictured in her pastel rainbow-hued puffy gown below. There was a moment of silence, and then it picked up about ten minutes before the parade of athletes with a cool carpenters and tap-dancing-atop-wooden-rolling-tables-performance with a raising of the wooden Olympic rings.  There was a moment of silence, the stands were filled with cardboard place holders, and there was no applause.  Yes, there were fireworks, but the simplicity was reverent, respectful and so perfectly reflected Japanese history and culture, a hallmark component of every Opening Ceremony as conducted by the producers of each host city’s performance. Here we go!

As per tradition, Greece walked out first, followed by the Olympic refugee team (9 athletes representing 11 “countries”), Iceland, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and then a few more before Argentina started the fun with a great jumping song celebration.  The nations were presented in Japanese alphabetical order, and the athlete processional lasted about two hours.  Russia is going under ROC due to the state-sponsored doping program in 2014.  

Israel is participating in a team sport - baseball - for the first time since 1976. Baseball and softball will not appear in the Paris 2024 Olympics but perhaps in LA in 2028.  Which by the way, the IOC made the announcement simultaneously that these two countries would host in 2017 - that was a fun way to bring it back to these two cities.  For both of these cities, it will be their third summer games. Paris hosted in 1900 and 1924, while Los Angeles hosted in 1932 and 1984. (London has also hosted three summer games - 1908, 1948 and 2012). For France, it will be the sixth time hosting any Olympics, as Chamonix hosted the first Winter Olympics in 1924, Grenoble hosted them in 1968, and Albertville hosted in 1992. For Los Angeles, it is the first Olympics since the USSR led boycott in 1984, and the first time the Olympics are back in the US since 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.  Speaking of threepeats…

The Tongan Taekwondo athlete went for the 3peat with his greased bare body - Rio, PyeongChang, and Tokyo! Pita Taufatofua first bared his smile in 2016, then braved the freezing 30 degree weather in 2018 and looked especially oily this morning (evening) in the Tokyo 81 degree weather.  Wait 2016, 2018 and 2021?!! Summer, winter, summer Games?!?!  Yes, this man is one of the few athletes who has competed in BOTH Winter and Summer sports (see Pepster’s post yesterday).  Pita is the first Tongan to compete in a Winter Olympics, and he did so in cross country skiing.  

 Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images

Now for the cool outfits - Angolans were gorgeous in sweet shiny black dresses with ruffled collars and sleeves, Kenyans were festive in red and electric blue gingham, and the women wore long, red capes, Serbian women had nice asymmetrical royal blue dresses, and Beninese athletes brocaded down the stadium with royal blue get ups with blue and dark pink flowers.  The Cook Islands have had a long history of bomb.com opening and closing ceremonies amazing outfits and their Tokyo garb did not disappoint.  As per their tradition, the flag bearers and the other participating athletes have different outfits.  

     Sorry - I did

not get  

               the full length outfit.

Thailand, Morocco, and South Korea - very nattily dressed with country-colored ties and scarves under gray jackets.  Same to Czech Republic with vests for the men and everyone carried coordinated navy with white dotted fans. And, of course Bermuda in their pink Bermudas (they did this in the freezing South Korean weather too!).  Austrians rocked lederhosen shorts.  Tuvalu sent two athletes from their nation of 11,000 and they sported awesome native outfits holding their flag. The most avant garde outfits were donned by Belgium athletes - red casual pajama-like pant suits with Belgique and Tokyo in scribble writing.  

Italy came out quite celebratory on the heels of their Euro Cup win - the first since 1968; Iraq sent 4 athletes; and the world’s second most populous country - India - sent 126 athletes and their most successful team is field hockey.

Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan has her own Barbie doll!  She won bronze in both the 2012 and 2016 Games and is a four time World Champion and five time European Champion.  For team competition, she won gold in 2008 and twice World team champion (2009 and 2013) and twice European team champion. Photo by Olga Kharlan/ Instagram, barbie.mattel.com

Uzbekistan presented a gymnast who is participating in her 8th Olympics (tune into my Olympic Ages post next week).  Always a good trivia fact: Great Britain has been represented in every modern Olympics.  [Ed. Note: So has Australia - sort of - France, Greece and Switzerland].

El Salvador sent four athletes and the female swimmer went to Nova Southeastern.  Ohio State sprinter Maggie Barrie held the flag for Sierra Leone.  Guatemala had a brother and sister sailor combo holding the flag and Juani went to the College of Charleston. Mongolia had a first-time female flag bearer, Khulan Onolbaatar, who will participate in 3x3 basketball.Tuvalu sent two athletes from their nation of 11,000 and they sported awesome native outfits holding their flag. The United States flag bearers:  phenom ex-UConn and Seattle Storm Basketball player Sue Bird THIS IS HER FIFTH OLYMPICS! SHE HAS FOUR GOLD MEDALS and if you did not know, her partner is soccer standout Megan Rapinoe; and Eddy Alvarez who needs to have a Disney movie made about him - son of Cuban immigrants, his Olympic dream was speed skating and now he is representing the U.S. in baseball.  Yes.  He silver medaled at Sochi in the 5,000 meter relay, after falling in two of his individual events, and dq’ed in his third.  He switched to baseball after the Games and plays for the Miami Marlins.  The Today show put his parents, his wife and 11-month-old ultra cute chunky baby boy on TV live after the ceremonies with him.  Beautiful teary-eyed Olympics story.  

Fashion Trend Alert:  Fans and fanny packs! Botswana, Poland, Czech Republic and Hong Kong, who competes under their OWN FLAG, all donned amazing coordinated flags.  My fave was Ukraine’s awesome yellow fanny packs.  Shout out to Kyrgyzstan with exceptional hats!  

Most excited entrance - Portugal! Also shout out to the last summer Olympics host - Brasil. 

After the athlete processional, there was some dancing and then akin to the PyeongChang technological spectacle: 1,800 drones appeared creating the Tokyo Olympic symbol and then morphed into a globe high above the Tokyo stadium.  A performance of “Imagine” by a Japanese youth chorus, and then pre-recorded singing by international singers, including John Legend and Keith Urban. In her speech, Japan’s Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto remarked, "After more than half a century, the Olympic Games have returned to Tokyo. Now we will do everything in our power to make this Games a source of pride for generations to come." 

There were songs sung - the Japanese national anthem as their flag was raised and the Mt. Fuji, which atop the Olympic flame will shine, changed to red, and then, an Olympic song with the traditional ceremonial releasing of the (paper) doves.  “Together” was added to end of the Olympic motto: “Faster, Higher, Stronger” to reflect the times.  Faster, Higher, Stronger. Together. 

The highlight of the Opening Ceremonies was the mini show of demonstrating the pictograms.  Pictograms are the symbols for each sport and this is a part of the visual representation of the Olympics. Watch the attached video and watch again tonight.  Totally awesome.

There was a Japanese performance and piano playing song then the Olympic flame entered the stadium.

Naomi Osaka lit the torch.  I’ll leave commentary on that to Pepster.  GO USA!  

Thank you Miss Miss.  Pepster back to discuss the choice of Naomi Osaka to light the flame.

When I was thinking which person could (should/would) be selected to light the Olympic torch, I immediately thought of two gymnasts Sawao Kato, and Kohei Uchimura, but I didn't know if either of them were still alive or even around (they are).  Then I thought about breastroker Kosuke Kitajima, a 7-time Olympic medalist, including 4 golds.  Then, Miss Miss told me of the Osaka selection (she watched live, I watched later after DVRing it in the morning), and I thought that this selection was perfect in the age of Athlete-Activism.  Good job TOC.

And Thank you Miss Miss.  We look forward to more of your posts!

Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 3

 Day 3 - July 23, 2021

Opening Ceremonies dominated yesterday, so light schedule at the venues.  We will have a guest host highlighting the Opening Ceremonies, so this post will be short about the on field (river, court, etc.) action.

OK so I lied.  I will mention oe thing about the Opening Ceremonies.  THE DRONE GLOBE!  Oh!  My!  God!  1824 drones.  Amazing.

Sadly, we had our first despicable display of lack of sportsmanship - at its best - and total anti-semitism at its worst.  OK, so it was both.  Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine withdrew from the Olympics, and forfeiting his first round match to Mohamed Abdalrasool of Sudan because a victory in the first round would bring Nourine into a second round match against Tohar Butbul of Israel.  Claiming that his support for Palestine required him to withdraw from the tournament rather than face an Israeli  so that he "would not get his hands dirty."  UGH!!!  By the way, Palestine actually has its own contingent in the Olympics.  

In the women's archery ranking round, American MacKenzie Brown , who finished 17th in Rio in 2016, set a personal best of 668 to finish fifth and move to the medal round.  However, the South Korean team was just too strong, with Chaeyoung Kang, scoring 675, Minhee Jang scoring 677, and San An setting a world record in with 680 to finish 3, 2, and 1 in the rankings.  Here's to Brown setting another personal best in the finals to challenge for a medal.

On the men's side, South Korea was almost equally as strong with 3 of the top 4 men after the ranking round, with only American Brady Ellison, the current World Record holder, interrupting the Korea landslide by scoring 682 to finish second.  (Ellison's world record is 702).  Ellison has won 2 silvers in team competition (London 2012/Rio 2016), and 1 bronze individually (Rio 2016).  Good luck to Ellison in the medal round.

Athlete of the Day - San An, Archery, South Korea

If it is a slow competition day and you set a world record, you are the Athlete of the Day.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Judoka - A practioner of judoka, traditionally those with a rank of 4th dan or higher.  Those with a lower rank are generally referred to as kenkyu-sei.

Olympic Events Watched:  Archery, Rowing, Opening Ceremonies

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer:  Brady Ellison, Cat Osterman 

Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 2

Day 2 - July 22, 2021

Really light day today, as only some soccer and rowing really in action, well, and training in shooting, but we won't count that.

 

So yes, I did watch some men's soccer - Brazil and Germany was exciting; Spain versus Egypt was not.  But, I did learn something incredibly interesting.  If you are a Spanish player, and you play professionally for a team in Spain's La Liga, if the national team selects you to participate, neither you nor the team can say "no".  You are obligated to play for the national team.  So, whereas Spanish players in the Premier League, or Bundesliga often are not allowed to play in the Olympics, if they play in La Liga - it is required.  It is Spanish law.  Amazing.

In rowing, we had men's single sculls heats, women's single sculls heats, men's double sculls heates, women's double sculls heats, men's quadruple sculls heats, and women's quadruple sculls heats.  These were just the heats, so no medals, but man-oh-man is the rowing venue gorgeous.  The bridges look amazing, and of course, the mountains in the background!

The big story from the games themselves come from the rowing arena, in men's quadruple sculls where Poland won the second heat by .03 seconds over Italy, finishing in 5:39.25, to the Italians 5:39.28.  In the first heat, The Netherlands won in a time of 5:39.80 with Australia in second in 5:41.54.  This sets up an amazing final between those 4 countries and whichever 2 countries make it through the repechage, likely Great Britain (finished in 5:42.01 in heat 1) and China (finished in 5:43.44 in heat 1).  If you want to watch a closely battled race in which all 3 medals are up for grabs, the men's quadruple sculls will be it.  It would seem the Olympic Record of 5:36.20 set by Australia in 2008 in Beijing could be there for the taking.

Athlete of the Day - Men's Quadruple Sculls, Poland

Dominik Czaja, Wiktor Chabel, Szymon Posnik, Fabian Baranski

The rowers in the aforementioned quadruple sculls heat will be the number 1 seed, by .03 seconds heating into the finals.  Regardless of what happens on the water in the future, these were the best performers on day 2!

Olympic Term of the Day:  Repechage - An additional race in rowing that gives non-qualifiers an additional chance to advance to the next round.  For example, in the previously discussed quadruple sculls semi-finals, the top 2 teams in each race advance to the finals, whereas the next 3 finishers advance to the repechage, where the top 2 in the repechage will join the finalists.

Olympic Events Watched:  Men's Soccer; Women's Rowing; Men's Rowing

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer:  Cat Osterman 

Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 1

Day 1 - July 21, 2021

Hello, and welcome to the latest version of the Daily Olympic blog!!!  Those that know me, know that the Olympics are the best part of the sporting calendar to me, and as such, I am going to try to keep up the ambitious schedule of one recap post for each day, focusing on the most important story of the previous day, along with any other interesting or unusual stories.  "So, what are you doing posting about the Olympics already, Pepster?"  Well, they started.  Technically two days ago, given the time zone differential between Japan and me, here in good old Eastern Daylight Time.  "But, but, I thought the Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow night?"  Well, they are, sort of.  They are being broadcast in Eastern Daylight Time Prime Time, but they will actually occur here in about 16 hours, but some team events, specifically softball and soccer have already started, due to the length of time necessary to complete these tournaments.  So, we have Olympics!!!

I will also have a guest poster during these Olympics on a few occasions.  A persion that is just as big a fan of the Olympics as I am - maybe even more.  I will introduce her in time.

Back in Rio of 2016, I made a joke about Ryan Lochte not being selected as the flag-bearer.  At that point I decided to make a Ryan Lochte joke every day.  That was pretty easy at the beginning, but then became easier with his antics at the Rio gas station/convenience store, you know the one, where they may have taken gas and/or money, pissed on the outside wall and apparently tried to bribe the cops?  Boy did I have jokes.  I couldn't do that in Pyeongyang 2018, as Ryan Lochte wasn't involved in those Olympics.  But, the day 1 story gave me an idea.  At the team captains' meeting to decide the US flag-bearer for the Opening Ceremonies, apparently Erin Hamlin, the first American luger to medal in the Olympics and competing in her fourth Olympics tied Shanni Davis, the very talented, multi-medal winning speed-skater.  The teams then flipped a coin, which Hamlin won.  Davis was insulted and complained about the entire process.  So, that gave me the idea to do an "American Disappointment of the Day" segment.  Well, given that our politics the last few years has been the big disappointment, I want something a little more uplifting.  I don't yet know what that is, but I better figure it out soon.

Speaking of flag-bearing, we have great stories with the selection of flag-bearers.  That is right, I said "flag-bearerS", plural.  (Cue How I Met Your Mother last season running joke).  The first selection, and rightfully so, is women's basketball player Sue Bird.  Sue Bird is competing in her fifth Olympics, and aiming - along with teammate Diana Taurasi - to become the only 5-time gold medalists in basketball history.

The second is USA Baseball team member, Eddie Alvarez (currently of the Miami Marlins organization, playing with the Triple AAA Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp).  Now, with no major league baseball players allowed to leave their teams to play in the Olympics, what is Alvarez doing as a flag-bearer?  Well, Alvarez, from Miami of all places, has won an Olympic medal previously - a silver medal in Sochi in 2014 in SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING!!!!  Athletes have competed in both winter and summer Olympics before, especially with USA Bobsled's recruitment of athletes to be pushers for the sled team.  See Jones, Lolo.  And, we have seen several long trace speed skaters compete as cyclists (which makes sense given that both sports use most of the same muscle sets and body movements.)  But baseball has such a unique skill set compared to just pure speed and/or strength.  Congratulations to Eddy Alvarez, and I hope he brings home a medal in baseball.

The big story of the day is the US women's soccer team being defeated 3-0 by Sweden.  USA, on a 44 game unbeaten streak comes to an end.  But, let's not get too carried away.  First, Sweden is ranked number 5 in the world, and, in the last year is the only team to not be defeated by the US Women's team (they tied in their last match).  Also, Sweden knocked the US out of the quarterfinals in Rio in 2016.  They are a legitimate team.  And, this is simply pool play.  Eight of the twelve teams in the Olympics make it to the knockout quarterfinals.  Team USA will be there.

The story with the women's Olympic team is just the ruthless and scathing social media response they are receiving for taking a knee - which any soccer fan knows that every team around the world with the exception of some Eastern European countries - have been taking a knee at the start of the game for a couple of years now.  But, some people feel that just because someone is an athlete that disallows them from taking stances - stances which the International Olympic Committee now allows to take place during the Olympics.  Grow up, and let grown ups do whatever they want.

The other big story from the first day (well, day and a half) of the Olympics is the U.S. Softball team.  The US bats have been relatively quiet, but a 2-0 win against Italy in the opening match, followed up by an incredibly important 1-0 win over Canada are a great start.  Why was the win against Canada so huge?  Well, by all accounts there are only really 3 legitimatily competitive teams out of the six in the tournament - Canada, host Japan, and the U.S.  Each of hte six teams play a round robin against the other 5, with the top 2 teams in round-robin play matched-up in the gold medal game and the third and fourth place teams meeting for the bronze medal.  This means that whichever of the 3 competitive teams can beat at least one of the other teams is most likely guaranteed a spot in the gold-medal game.  So, barring something incredibly extreme, the U.S. basically guaranteed themselves a gold-medal appearance with the win over Canada.

The U.S. team is all about pitching, with Cat Osterman pitching 6 innings of one-hit ball in the opener, and Monica Abbot pitching a perfect seventh in the opener, and a one-hitter against Canada.  If the US is going to win the gold, it will be because of Osterman and Abbott.  Of note, this is Osterman's third Olympics (softball is returning after a hiatus since 2008), and Abbott's second, so both are international mainstays.  Both are also hoping for revenge after a silver medal in Beijing in 2008.

Athlete of the Day - Marta, Brazil, Soccer

Marta, one of the top handful of women's soccer players EVER, scored two goals in Brazil's 5-0 blanking of China, making her the first person in history to ever score a goal in FIVE separate Olympics.  If soccer wasn't already in action, she would be a perfect selection to carry Brazil's flag in the opening ceremonies.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Riseball - A softball pitch that is thrown with upward trajectory AND backspin.

Olympic Events Watched:  Women's Soccer; Softball

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer:  Cat Osterman

NCAA Tournament Pool - Champion!!!

 We have a champion!!!  Congratulations to the Baylor Bears, and congratulations to everyone in our pool that selected Baylor!

Baylor was just too fast, too physical, too maniacal, and just better than Gonzaga.  But, we should have known that.  There is no way that Indiana, which professes to be a great basketball state, was going to allow the NCAA's first undefeated champion since 1976, which was Indiana.  Come to think of it, that makes as much sense as anything for the reason why Wisconsonsin was able to defeat Kentucky in the Final Four in Lucas Oil Stadium in 2015 (See, it really is all about Kentucky).

I won't make you all read too much, as I know most of you are just here for the Final Standings, but I am still going to add some information about the game, this tourney, and the history because, well, it's my pool.

Stats of the Day

2.  This was the 6th time in the history of the Associated Press pre-season basketball poll (circa 1961) that the preseason numbers 1 and 2 faced each other in the championship game - and the first since 2001 - with the preseason number 2 winning each of the games.

1.  Mark Vital had 9 offensive rebounds inthe game - and 3 in the first 3 minutes.  He finished with 11 total rebounds.

Players of the Day

6.  Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, Baylor.  He had the best name in the tournament.

5.  Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga.  He did finish with 22 points, but his early foul trouble against an agressive Baylor defense (1 of those fouls was a charge) really allowed Baylor to set the early tone and tempo.

4.  MaCio Teague, Baylor.  Sometime overlooked, but oh-so-important to the Bears finished with 19 points, including 2 of 3 from three point range.

3.  Haley Jones, Stanford.  The Stanford star was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Women's Final Four deserves a mention here, even though the best player in the tournament was clearly Aari McDonald of Arizona.

2.  Jared Butler, Baylor.  The men's Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four finished with a game high 22 (with Jalen Suggs), added 3 rebounds and 7 assists while shooting 4-9 from three.

1.  Davion Mitchell, Baylor.  The Bears point guard controlled the game, and although he finished "only" with 15 points, he had 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, all while playing stifling defense on Jalen Suggs and whomever else Gonzaga put in front of him.  He set the tone early by taking a charge against Suggs, and was just as aggressive offensively often driving unimpeded to the rim.  Butler is the first team All-American and the MOP, but this team does not win this year without Mitchell.

My All Tournament Teams (Listed Alphabetically)

Honorable Mention

Javonte Smart, LSU

Justin Smith, Arkansas

MaCio Teague, Baylor

Third Team

Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse

Chris Duarte, Oregon

Tanner Groves, Eastern Washington (Scored 35 points in a game, and now in the transfer portal)

Cameron Krutwig, Loyola

Austin Reaves, Oklahoma

Second Team

Luka Garza, Iowa

Quentin Grimes, Houston

Marcus Sasser, Houston

Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga

Ethan Thompson, Oregon State

FIRST TEAM

Max Abmas, Oral Roberts

Jared Butler, Baylor

Johnny Juzang, UCLA

Davion Mitchell, Baylor

Drew Timme, Gonzaga

Since Baylor defeated Gonzaga to keep Gonzaga from becoming the first undefeated basketball champions since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers, let's take a look at that squad.

While the football Hoosiers were toiling in the fall under the tutelege of coach Lee Corso, (Yes, THAT Lee Corso), the basketball team was riding high, returning 71% of its minutes played and 68% of its scoring from the previous season which saw it advance to the Elite 8 where it lost to eventual runner-up Kentucky (See, it is all about Kentucky!!!)  (As an aside, that Kentucky team had Rick Robey and Jack Givens as freshman, and were led by Kevin Grevey and his 23.5 points per game.  Those freshman would win the 1978 championship as seniors, behind Jack Givens' 41 points in the championship game.  They beat Duke, by the way).

Back to Indiana.  That team was stacked, returning seniors Scott May and Quinn Buckner as well as junior Kent Benson.  That roster had 4 Parade High School All-Americans (Buckner, Benson, and freshmen Bob Bender and Rich Valavicius), and had 6 future NBAers (May, Benson, Buckner, Tom Abernathy, Bob Wilkerson, and Wayne Radford.

Indiana offensively was led by Scott May and his 23.5 points per game (and 7.7 rebounds), with big man Kent Benson contributing 17.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.  The team was led in assists by Bob Wilkerson;s 5.3 per game and Quinn Buckner's 4.2 per game, but as a team they averaged 20.5 assists a game - with an average of 34 made field goals, constantly sharing the ball in an offense that featured movement under then 36 year old coach Bobby Knight.  For more on Bobby Knight and his time at Indiana, I recommend watching the ESPN 30-for-30 Last Days of Knight.

Indiana was the top seed (well, they didn't technically do seeds, but being undefeated, they were) in the Mideast region played in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  And boy, was that region loaded with coaches - Besides Bobby Knight, C.M. Newton at Alabama, Al McGuire of Marquette, Dean Smith of North Carolina, Lou Carnesecca at St. John's and Don DeVoe of Virginia Tech were other coaches in that region.  Just loaded.  (Also coaching in this tournament - Ray Meyer at Depaul, Peter Carril at Princeton, Terry Holland at Virginia, Johnny Orr at Michigan, Norm Stewart at Missouri, Digger Phelps at Notre Dame, John Thompson at Georgetown, Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV and Gene Bartow UCLA - WOW!)

The first round, however, was not played in Baton Rouge as the Hoosiers had to travel all the way to South Bend, Indiana, where they dispatched St. John's 90-70.  Moving to the regional semifinals in Baton Rouge, Indiana beat Alabama 74-69 and then defeated Marquette 65-56 to advance to the Final Four in the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the Final Four, Indiana defeated defending champion UCLA 65-51, and advanced to the championship game against Michigan, which they won 86-68, behind Scott May's 26 points and 8 rebounds, Kent Benson's 25 points and 9 rebounds, Quinn Buckner's 16 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals, and Tom Abernathy's 11 points.  All told, Indiana had 19 assists on its 32 made field goals, and had 10 total steals, led by Buckner's 5.  

Anyway, who cares who won in 1976.  We just care who won in 2021, right?  And not even the tournament - just our pool!!!  Please check and double check if you feel so inclined, I know I did.  And it was important to do so, as we did actually have a tie for first.  As a refresher, rule 20 governs ties, and rule 20 is "Should a tie occur after the championship game, the tiebreaker is determined by number of first round games selected correctly (not total points in the first round); then second round games, etc. until the tie is broken.  Correct score of the Final IS NOT a tiebreaker.  Do not attempt to select the score of the Championship game."  Despite this, 23 of you did submit a championship game score, but none of those involved in the tiebreaker.  So, the tiebreaker is between Edy Pecan of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Steven Usma 3 of Miami, Florida both tied with 142.  Going with the tiebreakers, Steven's first round record was 22-10, and Edy's first round record was 23-9.  So, by the difference of 1 game, Edy Pecan of West Palm Beach is our champion.  Steven Usma 3 of Miami, Florida finishes in second, and Brian Hinaman of Parrish, Florida finishes in third, only 1 point behind our leaders.

With 120 entrants into the pool, and last place reciving their $5 back, ordinarily I would split the total amount for 119 entrants among the top 3, but, since 120 is such an even/round number, I will issue payouts based upon the 120.  So, Edy will receive $360, Steve will receive $150, and Brian will receive $90. A reminder, Sean McInerney of Atlantic Beach, Florida receives his $5 back.  Notice I say each of these four will "receive" certain amounts, not that they won.  That is because this was for AMUSEMENT PURPOSES ONLY!

Also, one entrant in this pool was very generous, and made a contribution for my time and effort in hosting.  That was unnecessary and definitely not required, but, I will continue that generous mood and give some to the highest ranking first-timer in the pool.  This is done because (a) I feel like passing some of that good-will forward (some, not all); and (b) that might encourage that person and others to bring in new people next year.  And to the generous participant, THANK YOU!

The first-time participant with the highest score is ...  Emily Lawson 2, of New York City, New York who finished in 5th place with 134 points.  And this was a closer battle than I anticipated as 5th, 6th and 7th place were all first timers.  Sandwiched in between those 4 winners was Ty Leatherman, of Wilmington, North Carolina, who finished in fourth place.  Also of note, William Pujals of Charlotte, North Carolina was the highest finisher that did not have Baylor winning the championship, finishing in 9th place.  Also of note is Biscuit Zdrowak of Orlando, Florida, that is our highest finishing animal entry, finishing in 19th place.  Also a special mention to Rich Samuels 2 of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, who was the lowest ranking bracket that correctly selected Baylor to win the championship; finishing in 40th place.

BUT REMEMBER, NO M ATTER IN WHAT PLACE YOU FINISHED, SO LONG AS YOU WERE THE TOP IN YOUR FAMILY/FRIENDS GROUP YOU ARE A WINNER!!!

Edy, Steven, Brian, and Emily, bear with me a day or two as I consolidate the payments from my bank account, PayPal, Venmo and CashApp, so that I can conveniently pay you all properly.  Just let me know your preferred method to receive your money.

Thank you all for playing - and Your Tournament Host is looking forward to being at next year's Final Four in person, as the The Road to New Orleans begins now.

Now, on to the standings:

1.  EDY PECAN - 142 - BAYLOR

2.  STEVEN USMA 3 - 142 - BAYLOR

3.  BRIAN HINAMAN - 141 - BAYLOR

4.  Ty Leatherman - 138 - Baylor

5.  Emily Lawson - 134 - Baylor

6.  Justin Hallack - 126 - Baylor

7.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 121 - Baylor

8.  Kyle Henderson 2 - 120 - Baylor

9.  William Pujals - 119

10.  Brent Bellinger 1 - 118

       Matt Hopps - 118

       Steven Usma 4 - 118

13.  Measha Williams 3 - 116

14.  Max Macon 4 - 115 - BAYLOR

       Joshua Ward - 115 - BAYLOR

16.  Ashley Poer 3 - 113 - BAYLOR

       Cheryl Spuhler - 113 - BAYLOR

18.  Kisha Marzouca 2 - 112 - BAYLOR

19.  Biscuit Zdrowak - 111 - BAYLOR

20.  Day Yi 1 - 110

21.  Jeff Plamondon - 109

       Measha Williams 2 - 109

23.  James Garvin - 108

       Colleen Hamilton 2 - 108

25.  Braeden Helland 4 - 106

26.  Stephanie Henderson - 105

       Silas Nichols 1 - 105

       Measha Williams 1 - 105

29.  Dan Laishley - 104 - BAYLOR

30.  Guy Hughes - 103

       Chris Igtiben 1 - 103

32.  Skip LaForte - 101

       Silas Nichols 2 - 101

34.  Emily Lawson 1 - 100

       Javier Rodriguez - 100

       Steven Usma 1 - 100

37.  Ashley Poer 2 - 98

38.  Rich Samuels 1 - 97

       Joshua Zdrowak - 97 - BAYLOR

40.  Kingfish Parham - 96

       Rich Samuels 2 - 96 - BAYLOR

       Pepe Sosa - 96

43.  Jacey Fowler-Reynolds 2 - 95

       Max Macon 1 - 95

45.  Braeden Helland 3 - 94

       Measha Williams 4 - 94

47.  Amy Zdrowak - 92

48.  Martha Kroesen - 91

       Brittany Sosa - 91

50.  Rachel Bornn - 90

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 90

       Jeremy Spuhler - 90

53.  Jacey Fowler-Reynolds 1 - 89

       Larry Green - 89

       Carey Taylor - 89

56.  Jenna Finkelstein - 88

       Colleen Hamilton 3 - 88

       Adam Jorgensen 1 - 88

       Jason Spuhler - 88

60.  Adam Jorgensen 3 - 87

61.  Paul Cummings - 86

       Justin Yung - 86

63.  Dan Barsky 1 - 85

       Ashley Poer 1 - 85

65.  Colonel Kareem Montague - 84

66.  Colleen Hamilton 4 - 83

       Katie Zdrowak - 83

68.  Liz Carew - 81

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 81

70.  Sasha Moon - 80

71.  Keith Zdrowak - 79

72.  Scott Bieterman - 78

       Rich Samuels 3 - 78

       George Walks 2 - 78

75.  Mac Kroesen - 77

       George Walks 4 - 77

77.  Braeden Helland 1 - 75

       Quinn Jackson - 75

        Jess Samuels - 75

        Ken Ward - 75

81. Luis Briones - 74

82.  Brent Bellinger 2 - 73

       Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 73

       Marcus Jackson - 73

       Shane Dogmillionaire Jernigan 1 - 73

       Michael McNally - 73

       George Walks 1 - 73

88.  Shane Dogmillionaire Jernigan 2 - 72

89.  Dan Barsky 2 - 71

       Nancy McInerney - 71

       Steven Usma 2 - 71

92.  Jonathan Wasserman - 70

93.  Jane Reynolds - 68

94.  Chris Igtiben 2 - 67

       Chris LaForte - 67

       Wes Wiggins - 67

97.  Max Macon 2 - 65

98.  Eric Inge - 64

       Max Macon 3 - 64

100.  Adam Jorgensen 2 - 63

         Brian McMahon - 63

102.  Colleen Hamilton 1 - 60

         Greg Lieberman - 60

         Kisha Marzouca 1 - 60

         Hannah Sosa - 60

106.  George Walks 3 - 59

107.  Carolyn Fowler - 58

         Brandon Satterwhite - 58

         Amanda Staudt - 58

110.  Arlene Amo Hopps - 56

         Miles Jackson - 56

112.  Karen Katz - 55

         Katie Kollmeyer - 55

114.  Blake Jackson - 52

115.  Day Yi 2 - 51

116.  Dave Marzouca 2 - 45

         Barkley Sosa - 45

118.  Bubba Zdrowak - 43

119.  Braeden Helland - 41

120.  Sean McInerney - 39

NCAA Tournament Pool - Final Four

 

WOW!!!  That is all I can say.  Jalen Suggs - welcome to the pantheon of NCAA Tournament memorable last second shots, joinging the likes of Kris Jenkins, Lorenzo Charles, Christian Laettner, Bryce Drew, Tate George, Danny Ainge and Ali Faroukmanesh.  

I, and many others, expected one close game and one blowout last night, and that is exactly what we got - in reverse order.  Baylor, for the majority of the year the number 2 ranked team in the country, just annihilated Houston from the get-go, whereas UCLA gave Gonzaga everything they could handle, taking the Bulldogs to overtime, which culminated in the Jalen Suggs banked-in game-winning three- pointer at the buzzer from Damian Lillard territory.

So, we get the game between the teams that have basically been the best 2 teams all year.  Who would have thought it?

 With Houston out of the tournament, only 2 chamions remain in our pool, and, obviously, whether Gonzaga or Baylor wins will determine the winners of the pool.  If Gonzaga wins, then our current leader, William Pujals of Charlotte, North Carolina wins the pool, with Brent Bellinger 1 of Austin, Texas in second and Measha Williams 3 of Houston, Texas in third.  If Baylor wins, Edy Pecan of the Greater West Palm Beach, Florida and Steven Usma 3 of Miami, Florida tie for first, and Brian Hinaman of Parrish, Florida finishes third.  I have not yet done the computation to break the tie, so if Baylor wins, our winners will be surprised too!  Matt Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts, currently sits tied for second, but has Michigan as the winner.

 While we await tomorrow night's final between Gonzaga and Baylor, Houston joins the rest of our dismissed champions: Alabama, Florida, Florida STate, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Michgan State, Ohio State and Virginia.

Most entrants had at least 1 game correct.  If you had both, you rocketed up the standings.  If you had zero, you fell.

Stats of the Day

 3.  As Juwan Howard was the first person to be a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament as a player and a coach, I then wanted to see if any players of the year had success as coaches on the college level.  As it turns out, South Carolina women's basketball coach was a Naismith Award winner as player of the year, and has also coached in the Final Four.

2.  Speaking of South Carolina women's basketball, although the Gamecocks lost in the Final Four to Stanford, in the Elite 8 South Carolina held Texas to 0 points for the entire fourth quarter.  ZERO POINTS!!!

1.  This is the fifth time that the NCAA championship game has been played by the teams ranked 1 and 2 in the preseason poll since 1961 (when the preseason poll started).  It is, however, the first time since Duke defeated Arizona in 2001.

Players of the Day

8.  Marcus Sasser, Houston.  Sasser was the only Cougar not overwhelmed by Baylor, scoring 20 points with 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

7.  Cody Riley, UCLA.  Riley had 14 points and 10 rebounds, but 6 important points late in the game to keep UCLA close.

6.  Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga.  The freshman phenom finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 6 asissts, 2 steals and 1 block.

5.  Jared Butler, Baylor.  In an ominous sign for Baylor opponents, Butler is starting to find his shot, finishing 4-5 from 3 points range for 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

4.  Joel Ayayi, Gonzaga.  For long stretches of the game, Ayayi was Gonzaga's best player.  He scored 22 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

3.  Drew Timme, Gonzaga.  He finished with 25 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, but had 6 straignt Gonzaga points to start overtime.

2.  Johnny Juzang, UCLA.  Scored 29 points on 12-18 shooting, and 3-6 from three point range.  Also added 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.  He has been the best player in the tournament.

1.  Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga.  Just for the last buzzer-beating shot that put Gonzaga into the finals and kept UCLA out of the second overtime.

Plays of the Day

3.  Under ordinary circumstances, Andrew Nembhard's three-pointer to send the game into overtime would have been the big shot in a game.  It barely registers last night, which is why I want to mention it.

2.  Under ordinary circumstances, Jalen Suggs' block of Cody Riley's dunk with the game tied 77-77 and 2:01 left, and then his subsequent half-court pass to a streakng Drew Timme would be a player's most memorable play of their college career.  Click through to watch this amazing play.  But then ...

1.  Jalen Suggs calls GAME!!!

Jalen Suggs' shot was preceded by Johnny Juzang's missed shot, offensive rebound putback to tie the game at 90.  Not only did Suggs win the game and rip the heart out of UCLA fans everywhere, he deprived Juzang of his place in tournament history.  Which reminds me ..

The 2016 Final Four took place in Houston, at NRG Stadium about 4,286 miles outside of town.  (OK, slight exaggeration, but it is about as far out of town as a stadium can get and still be listed as being in the same city.  At least State Farm Stadium says it is in Glendale, Arizona and not Phoenix.)  This was a rather boring Final Four as Villanova just dumptrucked Oklahoma 95-51, whil Syracuse kept is semi-final game relatively close, losing to North Carolina 83-66.   But, then we get to the Finals between Villanova and North Carolina.  That game happened on April 4, 2016, exactly 5 years ago.  Villanova won 77-74 behind Phil Booth's 20 points off the bench, whereas North Carolina was led by Marcus Paige's 21 and Joel Berry II's 20 points.  But, this ending was very similar to last night's game.

North Carolina led by 5 at halftime, before Villanova gradually caught up and then took the lead late.  North Carolina then eventually completed their comeback from being down 6 with 1:52 left in the game.  The Tar Heels comeback culminated in a Marcus Paige double-clutch off-balance three-pointer to tie the game with 4.7 seconds left.  Paige was all set to be remembered by history.  Then, Kris Jenkins happened.  To quote Villanova coach Jay Wright when Jenkins put up the shot, Bang!  And yes, he said it before the ball had even went through the hoop.  BANG indeed!

And yes, your Tournament Host was there.  Here is the court immediately after the shot, from behind the Villanova basket.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention a bit about the immediate past history of the Baylor Bears men's basketball team.  While the Bears' women's team has had a ton of recent success, being champions in 2005, 2012, and 2019, and adding another Final Four in 2010, and Elite 8s in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021, Baylor's men's team has not been in a Final Four since 1950, and the Final game since 1948, where they lost to the Kentucky Wildcats.  (See, I made a Kentucky reference without menting the Johnny Juzang transfer.)

Scott Drew took over the program in 2003, and has been the head coach for 18 years.  But what was the state of Baylor men's basketball in 2003 when Drew arrived?  In about as awful a place as any team could be.  See, in the summer of 2003, June 12 to be exact, Baylor player Patrick Dennehy was murdered by Carlton Dotson, his teammate on the Bears.  Dennehy and Dotson were concerned about their safety earlier in the summer, so they each purchased two pistols and a rifle, and practiced shooting outside of Waco, Texas.  Dennehy spoke to one of his friends and mentioned that some threats were made to Dotson, but that they would be going out to a party the next night, but neither arrived at the party.  Over the next few days, Dennehy didn't call his partents of Father's Day, his roomate came home and found his dogs not fed, and nobody had seen Dennehy in over a week.  A missing person's report was filed, and on June 25, Dennehy's Tahoe was found in a shopping mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with its license plate removed.  Ultimately, the police were led to Dotson, who spoke with the FBI, and on July 25, Dennehy's body was found in a gravel pit outside of Waco, Texas.  Dotson ultimately pled guilty in 2005, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.  He is eligible for parole later this year.

For more information on this story, Showtime produced a documentary about it called Disgraced.

Not many coaches would have wanted to walk into a situation like that, except Scott Drew did, and now he is in the National Championship game.

Now, on to the standings.  As always, feel free to let me know if you think your score is incorrect, and I will be happy to double-check it.

 1.  William Pujals - 119 - Gonzaga

2.  Brent Bellinger 1 - 118 - Gonzaga

     Matt Hopps - 118 - Michigan

4.  Measha Williams 3 - 116 - Gonzaga

5.  Edy Pecan - 114 - Baylor

     Steven Usma - 114 - Baylor

7.  Brian Hinaman - 113 - Baylor

8.  Ty Leatherman - 110 - Baylor

      Day Yi 1 - 110 - Gonzaga

10.  Jeff Plamondon - 109 - Gonzaga

       Measha Williams 2 - 109 - Gonzaga

12.  James Garvin - 108 - Gonzaga

       Colleen Hamilton 2 - 108 - Gonzaga

14.  Braeden Helland 4 - 106 - Gonzaga

       Emily Lawson 2 - 106 - Baylor

16.  Silas Nichols 1 - 105 - Gonzaga

       Measha Williams 1 - 105 - Gonzaga

18.  Guy Hughes - 103 - Gonzaga

       Chris Igtiben 1 - 103 - Illinois

20.  Skip LaForte - 101 - Michigan State

       Silas Nichols 2 - 101 - Illinois

22.  Emily Lawson 1 - 100 - Gonzaga

       Javier Rodriguez - 100 - Gonzaga

       Steven Usma 1 - 100 - Gonzaga

25.  Justin Hallack - 98 - Baylor

       Ashley Poer 2 - 98 - Houston

27.  Rich Samuels 1 - 97 - Hosuton

28.  Kingfish Parham - 96 - Gonzaga

       Pepe Sosa - 96 - Gonzaga

30.  Jacey Fowler-Reynolds 2 - 95 - Alabama

       Max Macon 1 - 95 - Gonzaga

32.  Braeden Helland 3 - 94 - Gonzaga

       Measha Williams 4 - 94 - Gonzaga

34.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 93 - Baylor

35.  Kyle Henderson 2 - 92 - Baylor

       Amy Zdrowak - 92 - Gonzaga

37.  Martha Kroesen - 91 - Illinois

       Brittany Sosa - 91 - Illinois

39.  Rachel Bornn - 90 - Illinois

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 90 - Gonzaga

       Jeremy Spuhler - 90 - Gonzaga

       Steven Usma 4 - Baylor

43.  Jacey Fowler-Reynolds 1 - 89 - Gonzaga

       Larry Green - 89  Gonzaga

       Carey Taylor - 89 - Gonzaga

46.  Jenna Finkelstein - 88 - Kansas

       Colleen Hamilton 3 - 88 - Ohio State

       Adan Jorgensen 1 - 88 - Illinois

       Jason Spuhler - 88 - Gonzaga

50.  Adam Jorgensen 3 - 87 - Gonzaga

       Max Macon 4 - 87 - Baylor

       Joshua Ward - 87 - Baylor

53.  Paul Cummings - 86 - Gonzaga

       Justin Yung - 86 - Alabama

55.  Dan Barsky 1 - 85 - Gonzaga

       Ashley Poer 1 - 85 - Gonzaga

       Ashley Poer 3 - 85 - Baylor

       Cheryl Spuhler - 85 - Baylor

59.  Kisha Marzouca 2 - 84 - Baylor

       Colonel Kareem Montague - 84 - Gonzaga

61.  Colleen Hamilton 4 - 83 - Ohio State

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 83 - Baylor

       Katie Zdrowak - 83 - Iowa

64.  Liz Carew - 81 - Gonzaga

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 81 - Gonzaga

66.  Sasha Moon - 80 - Gonzaga

67.  Keith Zdrowak - 79 - Ohio State

68.  Scott Bieterman - 78 - Illinois

       Rich Samuels 3 - 78 - Gonzaga

       George Walks 3 - 78 - Illinois

71.  Stephanie Henderson - 77 - Baylor

       Mac Kroesen - 77 - Gonzaga

       George Walks 4 - 77 - Houston

74.  Dan Laishley - 76 - Baylor

75.  Braeden Helland 1 - 75 - Illinois

       Quinn Jackson - 75 - Illinois

       Jessica Samuels - 75 - Gonzaga

       Ken Ward - 75 - Virginia

79.  Luis Briones - 74 - Ohio State

80.  Brent Bellinger - 73 - Illinois

       Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 73 - Illinois

       Marcus Jackson - 73 - Gonzaga

       Shane Dogmillionaire Jernigan - 73 - Illinois

       Michael McNally - 73 - Illinois

       George Walks 1 - 73 - Gonzaga

86.  Shane Dogmillionaire Jernigan - 72 - Gonzaga

87.  Dan Barsky 2 - 71 - Illinois

       Nancy McInerney - 71 - Alabama

       Steven Usma 2 - 71 - Illinois

90.  Jonathan Wasserman - 70 - Michigan

91.  Joshua Zdrowak - 69 - Baylor

92.  Jane Reynolds - 68 - Alabama

       Rich Samuels 2 - 68 - Baylor

94.  Chris Igtiben 2 - 67 - Michigan

       Chris LaForte - 67 - Michigan

       Wes Wiggins - 67 - Gonzaga

97.  Max Macon 2- 65 - Michigan

98.  Eric Inge - 64 - Illinois

       Max Macon 3 - 64 - FSU

100.  Adam Jorgensen 2 - 63 - Iowa

         Brian McMahon - 63 - Gonzaga

102.  Colleen Hamilton - 60 - FSU

         Greg Lieberman - 60 - Michigan

         Kisha Marzouca 1 - 60 - Illinois

         Hannah Sosa - 60 - Florida

106.  George Walks 3 - 59 - Michigan

107.  Carolyn Fowler - 58 - Illinois

         Brandon Satterwhite - 58 - Alabama

         Amanda Staudt - 58 - Illinois

110.  Arlene Amo Hopps - 56 - Villanova

         Miles Jackson - 56 - Illinois

112.  Karen Katz - 55 - Illinois

         Katie Kollmeyer - 55 - Michigan

114.  Blake Jackson - 52 - Alabama

115.  Day Yi 2 - 51 - Michigan

116.  Dave Marzouca 2 - 45 - Ohio State

         Barkley Sosa - 45 - Florida

118.  Bubba Zdrowak - 43 - Alabama

119.  Braeden Helland 2 - 41 - Iowa

120.  Sean McInerney - 39 - Ohio State

NCAA Tournament Pool - Elite 8/Day 2

 

Gonzaga and UCLA join Baylor and Houston so that we now have a complete Final Four.  Gonzaga absolutely annihilated USC, and UCLA defeated Michigan in a competitive, if sloppy struggle of a game.  Most people in our pool selected Gonzaga, so if you didn't, you dropped in the standings.  Although nobody selected UCLA, a large number of entries had Michigan in the Final Four, and a good amount had them in the finals and even winning.  So the UCLA victory did affect our pool greatly in terms of who has a chance to win going forward.

William Pujals of Charlotte, North Carolina, remains at the top of our pool, as not much changed in terms of the standings.  Again, nobody earned points in the UCLA-Michigan game, but that game's effects will be felt in the Final Four.

Losing Michigan, we now only have 3 remaining champions, Baylor, Gonzaga, and Houston.  Those champions that have been eliminated are:  Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan STate, Ohio State, and Virginia.  

The opposite of champion is last place, and the race to last place is O-V-E-R.  Sean McInerney of Atlantic Beach, Florida earns that dubious distinction, as he is in last place and has no possibility of earning points this weekend.  He receives his money back, because, well, we shouldn't take money from people that do that bad.  Your payment is forthcoming.

And, this reminds me, there are about 12 brackets that have yet to pay.  If I don't receive payment by the next update, YOU WILL BE CALLED OUT PUBLICLY BY NAME.  It's only $5, and you can mail me a check, Venmo me, PayPal me, Zelle me.  Even Cash App.  The information is on the instructions/rules, but contact me if you need the information again.

Stats of the Day

3.  I was thinking I could use this one once Michigan qualified for the Final Four, but alas, I am using it anyway.  Michigan's coach Juwan Howard is the only person to have been a player on a number 1 seed, as well as the coach of a number 1 seed.

2.  UCLA missed 15 shots in a row in the first half, and still went on the defeat Michigan.  In fact, the Bruins led at the half 27-23, despite that atrocious offense.

1.  Gonzaga has won 26 games in a row BY DOUBLE DIGITS!!!

Players of the Day

4.  Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga.  Suggs had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists and Gonzaga coasted past USC.

3.  Drew Timme, Gonzaga.  Timme finished as the leading scorer in the Gonzaga-USC game scoring 23 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, and had 3 steals.

2.  Unknow Witch Doctor, UCLA.  Somebody put a voodoo hex on Michigan's Franz Wagner, who finished the game with 4 points on 1-10 shooting from the field, and 0-4 from three-point range, including a horrible airball three down the stretch.

1.  Johnny Juzang, UCLA.  The Kentucky transfer (stop me if you have heard that before), literally carried the entire offense of the game, scoring 28 points in 38 minutes, on 11-19 shooting, including 2-5 from three.  Juzang has easily been the best player in the tournament so far, with Drew Timme not far behind.

Social Media Posts of the Day

Nothing truly interesting, as both games were relatively boring. Yes, the late game was close, but it was still somewhat boring.

What was not boring was the 2006 Final Four, also in Indianapolis.  UCLA also made that Final Four.  Although the Bruins also made the Final Four in 2008 - the last time they made it that far - 2008 was not memorable for UCLA.  2006 was.  UCLA, the two seed in the west, advanced to the Final Four where they defeated LSU on the Semi-Final Saturday.  This pit them in the championship against the 3 seed Florida Gators.  Your Tournament Host was present at that Final Four along with Silas Nichols of Washington, D.C.  As no games are played on the Sunday of the Final Four, we decided to explore the NCAA Hall of Fame, which is astounding.  They have a basketball court inside where you can put up shots.  The floor has labels on it in the location from where famous Final Four shots were made.  Knowing Silas is from Syracuse, I proceeded to hit a shot from the Keith Smart location.  Knowing I am a Kentucky fan, Silas reciprocated from hitting a shot from the Christian Laettner spot.  God do we hate each other sometimes.

The Hall of Fame also had a computer and screen where you can play every single One Shining Moment from the Tournament, arranged by year.  I say "had", because apparently a fire in the building destroyed it, and they have no recreated it yet.  We were supposed to be there this year to check on whether or not that was rebuilt, but alas, Covid-19.

The lobby also has the flag of every current NCAA champion, from every division, from every sport, overhead.  Pretty awesome.

So, after our tour of the Hall of Fame and museum, we sauntered over to TGI Friday's.  Why on earth would you go to TGI Friday's would you ask?  Well, the Hall of Fame is a bit of a walk from downtown, and TGI Friday's is the closest place to get a drink on the way back into downtown.  And, it was the UCLA host bar.  So we saunter in, and this place is empty.  Of course, it is like 11:00.  We sit at the bar and proceed to order when the UCLA cheerleaders arrive.  So, it is us, the UCLA cheerleaders, the employees, and nobody else.  The cheerleaders come up to the bar, start chatting with us about basketball, Silas undercuts me by telling them I am from Florida, but I tell them that I cannot root for the Gators because Joakin Noah is too ugly.  This conversation lasts for the next couple of hours.

Fast forward to the championship game on Monday, and the University of Florida Gators just annihilate UCLA 73-57.  Jordan Farmar had 18 points for UCLA, Aaron Afflalo had 10, Ryan Hollins had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Luc Richard M'bah a Moute also grabbed 10 rebounds.  And yes, I just wanted to type "Luc Richard M'bah a Moute".  Florida had very balanced scoring with Corey Brewer scoring 11, Al Horford 14, Lee Humphrey 15, and the Final Four Most Outstanding Player - the aforementioned Joakim Noah - scored 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.

But, Noah is remembered more for his winking and blowing kisses and the UCLA cheerleaders at the end of the game.  When asked why he did that in a post-game interview, Noah stated that it was because the cheerleaders were calling him ugly the entire game.  I wonder where they got that idea?

Now, onto the standings.  Please double check my work, and contact me if you have any questions.  Once again I will list the final two picks for each entrant, so you can see what possible combinations of points are available for everyone, if at all.

1.  William Pujals 103 - Gonzaga/Houston

2.  Matt Hopps - 102 - Michigan/Baylor

3.  Edy Pecan - 98 - Baylor/Alabama

4.  Day Yi 1 - 94 - Gonaga/Houston

5.  Jeff Plamondon - 93 - Gonzaga/Houston

     Measha Williams 2 - 93 - Gonzaga/Houston

7.  Silas Nichols 1 - 89 - Gonzaga/Illinois

8.  Chris Igtiben #1 - 87 - Illinois/Gonzaga

9.  Brent Bellinger 1 - 86 - Gonzaga/Baylor

     Justin Yung - 86 - Alabama/Houston

11.  Skip LaForte - 85 - Michigan State/Baylor

       Silas Nichols 2 - 85 - Illinois/Gonzaga

13.  Javier Rodriguez - 84 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Steven Usma 4 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Measha Williams 3 - 84 - Gonzaga/Baylor

16.  Colleen Hamilton 4 - 83 - Ohio State/Texas

        Katie Zdrowak - 83 - Iowa/Houston

18.  Ashley Poer 2 - 82 - Houston/Gonzaga

       Steven Usma 3 - 82 - Baylor/Gonzaga

 

20.  Brian Hinaman - 81 - Baylor/Gonzaga

       Rich Samuels 1 - 81 - Houston/Gonzaga

22.  Kingfish Parham - 80 - Gonzaga/Arkansas

       Pepe Sosa - 80 - Gonzaga/Illinois

24.  Jacey Fowler-Reynolds 2 - 79 - Alabama/Baylor

25.  Braeden Helland 3 - 78 - Gonzaga/Houston

       Ty Leatherman - 78 - Gonzaga/Baylor

       George Walks 2 - 78 - Illinois/Kansas

       Measha WIlliams 4 - 78 - Gonzaga/Illinois

29.  Dave Marzouca 1 - 77 - Baylor/Kansas

       George Walks 4 - 77 - Houston/Alabama

31.   James Garvin - 76 - Gonzaga/Baylor

        Colleen Hamilton 2 - 76 - Gonzaga/Baylor

        Amy Zdrowak - 76 - Gonzaga/Illinois

34.  Martha Kroesen - 75 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Brittany Sosa - 75 - Illinois/Gonzaga

36.  Rachel Bornn - 74 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Braeden Helland 4 - 74 - Gonzaga/Baylor

       Emily Lawson 2 - 74 - Baylor/Gonzaga

       Jeremy Spuhler - 74 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Steven Usma 4 - 74 - Baylor/LSU

41.  Brent Bellinger 2 - 73 - Illinois/Iowa

       Jacey Fowler-Reynolds 1 - 73 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Larry Green - 73 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Carey Taylor - 73 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Measha Williams 1 - 76 - Gonzaga/Baylor

46.  Jenna Finkelstein - 72 - Kansas/Baylor

       Colleen Hamilton 3 - 72 - Ohio State/Gonzaga

       Adam Jorgensen 1 - 72 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Jason Spuhler - 72 - Gonzaga/Illinois

50.  Guy Hughes - 71 - Gonzaga/Baylor

       Adam Jorgensen 3 - 71 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Max Macon 4 - 71 - Baylor/Michigan

       Nancy McInerney - 71 - Alabama/Syracuse

       Steven Usma 2 - 71 - Illinois/Michigan

       Joshua Ward - 71 - Baylor/Michigan

56.  Paul Cummings - 70 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Jonathan Wasserman - 70 - Michigan/West Virginia

58.  Dan Barsky 1 - 69 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Ashley Poer 1 - 69 - Gonzaga/Villanova

       Ashley Poer 3 - 69 - Baylor/FSU

       Cheryl Spuhler - 69 - Baylor/Alabama

62.  Emily Lawson 1 - 68 - Gonzaga/Baylor

       Kisha Marzouca 2 - 68  Baylor/Michigan

       Colonel Kareem Montague - 68 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Jane Reynolds - 68 - Alabama/Illinois

66.  Chris Igtiben 2 - 67 - Michigan/Ohio State

       Chris LaForte - 67 - Michigan/Houston

       Biscuit Zdrowak - 67 - Baylor/Iowa

69.  Justin Hallack - 66 - Baylor/Gonzaga

70.  Liz Carew - 65 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Kyle Henderson 1 - 65 - Gonzaga/Oklahoma State

       Max Macon 2 - 65 - Michigan/West Virginia

73.  Eric Inge - 64 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Max Macon 3 - 64 - FSU/Arkansas

       Sasha Moon - 64 - Gonzaga/Illinois

76.  Adam Jorgensen 2 - 63 - Iowa/Illinois

       Max Macon 1 - 63 - Gonzaga/Baylor

       Keith Zdrowak - 63 - Ohio State/Gonzaga

79.  Scott Bieterman - 62 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Rich Samuels 3 - 62 - Gonzaga/Illinois

81.  Stephanie Henderson - 61 - Baylor/Iowa

       Mac Kroesen - 61 - Gonzaga/Illinois

83.  Colleen Hamilton 1 - 60 - FSU/Arkansas

       Kyle Henderson 2 - 60 - Baylor/Gonzaga

       Dan Laishley - 60 - Baylor/FSU

       Greg Lieberman - 60 - Michigan/Ohio State

       Kisha Marzouca 1 - 60 - Illinois/Michigan

       Hannah Sosa - 60 - Florida/Michigan

89.  Braeden Helland 1 - 59 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Quinn Jackson - 59 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Jessica Samuels - 59 - Gonzaga/West Virginia

       George Walks 3 - 59 - Michigan/Illinois

       Ken Ward - 59 - Virginia/Baylor

94.  Luis Briones - 58 - Ohio State/Gonzaga

       Carolyn Fowler - 58 - Illinois/Alabama

       Alvaro Gonzalez - 58 - Gonzaga/Baylor

       Brandon Satterwhite - 58 - Alabama/Ohio State

       Amanda Staudt - 58 - Illinois/Michigan

99.  Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 57 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Marcus Jackson - 57 - Gonzaga/Illinois

       Shane Dogmillionaire Jernigan 1 - 57 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       Michael McNally - 57 - Illinois/Gonzaga

       George Walks 1 - 57 - Gonzaga/Illinois

104.  Arlene Amo Hopps - 56 - Villanova/Kansas

         Miles Jackson - 56 - Illinois/Alabama

         Shane Dogmillionaire Jernigan - 56 - Gonzaga/Illinois

107.  Dan Barsky 2 - 55 - Illinois/Gonzaga

         Karen Katz - 55 - Illinois/Iowa

         Katie Kollmeyer - 55 - Michigan/Illinois

110.  Joshua Zdrowak - 53 - Baylor/Michigan

111.  Blake Jackson - 52 - Alabama/Ohio State

         Rich Samuels 2 - 52 - Baylor/Iowa

113.  Wes Wiggins - 51 - Gonzaga/Ohio State

         Day Yi 2 - 51 - Michigan/Illinois

115.  Brian McMahon - 47 - Gonzaga/Ohio State

116.  Dave Marzouca 2 - 45 - Ohio State/Kansas

         Barkley Sosa - 45 - Florida/Virginia

118.  Bubba Zdrowak - 43 - Alabama/Oklahoma State

119.  Braeden Helland 2 - 41 - Iowa/Ohio State

120. - Sean McInerney - 39 - Ohio State/Iowa