Category Archives: HWNCAA Pool 16

Issue # 2.0.2 “Be a Force For Change!”

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Wednesday, March 16, 2016

TWO BLOWOUTS TO START, HOW WILL IT END?
18 hours to go — Deadline is 9 am PDT tomorrow

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- I hope the first two games of the tournament are no indication of what’s to come as #16Ea-FGCU trounced #16Eb-Fairleigh Dickinson by 30 and #11Sb-Wichita St knocked off #11Sa-Vandy by 20.  Hope for some close matches and some good upsets.  It’s amazing there are multiple ways to watch the game but in a car, it’s not on the radio.  Thank goodness for TuneIn radio so was able to hear the blowouts on my long drive home.

So there was apparently a leak of the bracket thirty or so minutes into a 2-hour long debacle of a Selection Show.  It’s one of many things I’ve been oblivious of the past several months (there was a terrorist attack nearby in San Bernardino?   Star Wars TV spots were airing maybe spoiling the film a little bit?) as work and family schedules ramped up.  But this pool is fun and worth all the work that goes into it.

With 69 entries with 18 hours to go (on graph, Hour 66), we are just slightly off 2014’s (72) and 2015’s (73) paces.  If you look at the historical trends since we’ve been doing this entry form since 2002, you can see the majority of the entries come tonight (you can see that last year, from 3 pm to midnight we got 50 entries (from 73 to 123) — that seems like it will be very hard to duplicate).  And remember, Continue reading »

First Four Blowouts

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ff_day1A yawner to begin the tournament as #16Ea-FGCU trounced #16Eb-Fairleigh Dickinson by 30 31 and #11Sb-Wichita St knocked off #11Sa-Vandy by 20.  But the good news is that 21 people entered the HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity meaning that at least $42 will go to Star Wars Force For Change (currently: $46).  BTW, have you checked on the SW:FFC activations, which is the UNICEF Kid Power program where you can buy your kid a fitness device that will help unlock food packets to kids in Africa.  I saw a presentation on this at the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference last year in Seattle and it’s an interesting concept.

Fifteen got both games correct (16 picked FGCU, 18 WSU) but with the blowouts, Mike M leads with a large 34 point differential.  Two went 0-2 with Sam S in the rear with a 58 point differential.  Today, 12 are rooting for Holy Cross and 17 for Michigan.

Issue # 1.0.1 “Catch 22!”

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Monday, March 14, 2016  **HELP Support Star Wars Force for Change **
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Star Wars - Force for Change - Inspiring people to make a positive impact on the world around them

[Scott's Pool Updates]

LOSSES DON’T MATTER; PAC 12 REPRESENTS
Our HWCI Pool is in its 22nd year and keeps on ticking

CERRITOS, CA (smt)- There is no undefeated team like Kentucky last year and in fact, losses are a plenty as the top #1 seed S-Kansas has four losses while MW-Virginia has 7 losses.  With E-North Carolina and W-Oregon with six losses each, the #1 seeds have a combined 23 losses, three more than any previous quartet.  No team in the tourney has less than 4 losses.  Other oddities exist with one particular team, with the 6th-best team odds makers like to win it all, E-Kentucky, getting a 4 seed, Kentucky beating 3W-Texas A&M in SEC final but getting ranked worse, and getting set-up for a possible 2nd round matchup with 5E-Indiana, who they refuse to play in the regular season.  A lot of regular season mid-major champions lost in their tournament leaving some strong contenders such as Monmouth, San Diego St., and St. Mary’s getting skipped over while 11bS-Wichita St and 10S-Temple getting in.  Four conferences (Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC) got 7 teams in while the Big East (5), ACC (4), SEC (3), and MVC (2) also got multiple bids.

Locally, 8E-USC made the tourney for the first time in five years while a little further away, 15W-CSU Bakersfield made the tourney for the first time, and a little more further away but connected by an ocean (granted, a big one), 13S-Hawai’i made the tourney for the first time since 2002.  And what happened to UCLA?  Getting beat three times by rival USC?  There’s always next year, hopefully with a different coach.

Our HWCI NCAA Pool is our 22nd, which means our pool is a Continue reading »

6th HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity (Due: 3:40 pm PDT Tuesday)

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Inspiring people to make a positive impact on the world around them.

Inspiring people to make a positive impact on the world around them.

While you decide who will win the tourney, for the 6th year I’m doing the HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity, where I will donate $2 per entry to a charity, this year to Star Wars: Force for Change, which is inspiring people to make a positive impact on the world around them.  This First Four for Charity is free and you just have to submit (you can comment on this post to enter, email, post to Facebook, tweet @HWCI_Pools) who the four First Four winners will be and by what point margin. For example: Vandy by 3, FGCU by 6, Tulsa by 1, and Holy Cross by 15. The four games are Vanderbilt vs Wichita St, Florida Gulf Coast vs Fair. Dickinson, Michigan vs Tulsa, and Holy Cross vs Southern. Get your entry by 3:40 pm PDT Tuesday.  As a bonus, in the end, if we top 161 entries this year, I’ll donate an additional $25.  Also, invite your friends and people can enter this charity contest but not our main pool.

Web Entry Up! Deadline Thursday 9:15 am PDT

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It’s time!  You are invited to join our 22nd HWCI NCAA Pool.  You can enter online via our Web Entry.  The rules are the same as always, entry fee is still $10 per entry (max 3 entries per person).  We believe we have finally streamlined it so that you only have to fill out the form once (no introductory form).  Let us know of any issues at ncaa<at>hwci.com.  Remember, the deadline is 9:15 am PDT Thursday!

54 year drought ends, not the top story

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YALEThe Yale Bulldogs finally didn’t choke and secured the Ivy League regular season title and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 54 years. But, all the Yale talk has been overcome by the trials of their captain who has been kicked out of school.  One step forward, two steps back.  In our 22 years doing the pool, there has been at least one new team in the tourney and thus far, Yale is the only team.  But they could be joined by teams such as Stony Brook or Oregon St.  While Stony Brook plays in their conference final early Saturday morning (PST, soon to be PDT on Sunday), Oregon St will have to find out Sunday — where CBS will start to announce the bracket a half hour early (2:30 pm PST) but within a now 2-hour show (was one hour).  Who knows when the complete bracket will be done, hopefully in the first hour.  And with our luck with server issues, anti-technology days, and busy schedules, the hope is the web entry bracket will be up before midnight.