Saturday, March 17, 2001                      http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa
Issue # 5.2.1 "BC can’t add..."

2001 HWCI NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL
==============================

LA MIRADA, CA (smt)- The local teams played just good enough to win. Despite 27 turnovers, #6E-USC managed to squeak by #3E-Boston College thanks to a boneheaded play to end the game. Down by three with 7 seconds left, BC went down the court for a layup instead of the game-tying 3-pointer- time ran out, they actually missed the layup, and the BC coach even defended the play- I’m still puzzled. #12E-Utah St. missed 21 straight shots in the first half but only found themselves down by 11 before #4E-UCLA took control late in the second half. #9W-St. Joseph’s Marvin O’Conner’s 37 points weren’t enough to overcome #1W-Stanford, who picked up their 30th victory and avoided a second-round loss for the third year in a row. #5W-Cincinnati, meanwhile, broke a 4-year losing streak in the 2nd round with an easy win over #13W-Kent St. #10W-Georgetown advanced by beating giant- killer #15W-Hampton. #1E-Duke, #2E-Kentucky, and #3W-Maryland rolled to easy victories.

All in all, only one of 8 games was decided by six points or less and only USC beat a lower-seeded opponent. The Pac-10 went 3-0 for the day (Arizona could make it 4-0 in the second round tomorrow) and a once small possibility- USC vs UCLA is one game away. UCLA would have to get past Duke first, though. BC, which many thought should have been a #2 seed, barely got past #14E-Southern Utah and lost to a USC team that committed 27 turnovers and had two of their top players fouled out.

KIM (1st-Tied, 65 pts) was one of three people to get 7 of 8 correct to go into a tie for first with LIL PQ and NICKNAME. CALROCKS (11th, 61) went 7 of 8 to go from tied for 33rd to tied for 11th. CORNDOG (58th, 46) and DARA (59th, 44) got just 2 of 8 to sink to the bottom of the pack. The race is still wide open and we’ll see on Sunday night who’s still in the running for money spots. Things don’t look good for UTHPOPE (18th-T, 59) and DECEMBER (28th-T, 57) who have two of their Final Four teams out but stranger things have happened.