| 2017 NCAA Final Four @ PHOENIX, AZ | |||
| First Semifinal | Second Semifinal | ||
| #7-East New York, NY  |
#1-West San Jose, CA  |
#3-Midwest Kansas City, MO  |
#1-South Memphis, TN  |
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| University of South Carolina Gamecocks (26-10) |
Gonzaga University Bulldogs (36-1) |
University of Oregon Ducks (33-5) |
University of North Carolina Tar Heels (31-7) |
| Southeastern Conference Columbia, SC First Final Four (est. 1908) def. #10 Marquette 93-73 #2 Duke 88-81 #3 Baylor 70-50 #4 Florida 77-70 |
West Coast Conference Spokane, WA First Final Four (est. 1958) def. #16 South Dakota St. 66-46 #8 Northwestern 79-73 #4 West Virginia 61-58 #11 Xavier 83-59 |
Pac-12 Conference Eugene, OR 2nd Final Four (’39) 1-time champion def. #14 Iona 93-77 #11 Rhode Island 75-72 #7 Michigan 69-68 #1 Kansas 74-60 |
Atlantic Coast Conference Chapel Hill, NC 20th Final Four (’46, ’57, ’67’ 68, ’69, ’72, ’77, ’81, ‘82, ’91, ’93, ’95, ’97, ’98, 00, ’05, ’08, ’09, ’16) 5-time champions def. #16 Texas So. 103-64 #8 Arkansas 72-65 #4 Butler 92-80 #2 Kentucky 75-73 |
Thursday, March 30, 2017
21 battle for 7 spots; More than $85 raised for GHTC
EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- North Carolina is making its record 20th appearance in the NCAA Final Four which is 18 more than the other three schools combined. Both Gonzaga and South Carolina are making their first Final Four appearance and Oregon is making its first since the very first year the NCAA tournament was held, 1939. Each team has had a close call while each team has had a double-digit win in the Regional semifinal or final. South Carolina and Gonzaga have had a pair of 20+ point wins while UNC has broken 90 points twice. South Carolina, a 7 seed is representing the strength of the SEC who have the most wins in the tournament while North Carolina is representing the last vestige of the powerful ACC which had 9 teams to start and are down to one.
Twenty-one entries still have a chance to finish in the top 7 money spots and we won’t know who the pool champion is unless Oregon and South Carolina win. After the semifinals, the Bonus scenarios will be listed for the total points in final tiebreaker.
Craig H (who didn’t participate in the main pool) was the only person to get all four First Four games correct (Mt. St. Mary’s, Kansas St, UC Davis, USC) to win the 7th HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity. With 16 entries I will donate $32 and since we got more than 161 entries (new record 178), I will donate another $25. Generous donations by Charles D, Bob S, and Jeff2 H has brought the total to $85.10 that I will donate to the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference as a Beginner Patron. More money could still trickle in and the donation will be made when registration opens in June. In total, the 7 years has raised $593.98.
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Tids & Bits – South Carolina has set a school record with 26 wins and won their first tourney game since ’73… This is the first time Continue reading
CERRITOS APT/LONG BEACH, CA (smt)- Was just about to write all four teams winning by double-digits and then #4E-Florida decided to change things up. Up by 12 with 4 and a half minutes left, #8E-Wisconsin battled back with some help from the Gators. Florida missed four shots, two free throws, and committed two turnovers, and failed to foul while up by 3 leading to Zak Showalter’s off-balance running three-pointer to tie the game at 72 with 2 seconds left. With our first overtime of the tourney, the momentum continued with the Badgers building a 5-point led with a minute left. But it was the Badgers’ turn to help out, missing two free throws, committing a dumb early foul, Khalil Iverson mis-timing a breakaway dunk that was partially blocked, and inexplicably allowing Florida to run the down the court with four seconds to give Chris Chiozza an open look, albeit a stop-jump floater, buzzer-beating three-pointer to stun Wisconsin, 84-83. Crazy.
Seems like every day there is one big play that is debated. #8W-Northwestern trailed by 20 early and rallied to cut it to three… oh, wait, no goaltending after all. And add a 
Air Fabone 23 kept on winning, eventually getting the first 30 games correct before South Carolina turned up the D and the O turning a close 3-point game into a 20-point blowout in the last ten minutes. The original records were the first 22 games (Buckeye Mike ’09) and 23 games in a row (The Flying Elvi ’15) (Edit to add: The Swami (4th-Tied, 58) also won the first 23 
After 24 games, we have only four upsets, with three of them picked by at least 68 of 178 entries. Given that, there is only one entry left on top, as Air Fabone 23 (Scott T) has set a record by winning the first 24 games. The Swami (Rick M) also set the record before Rhode Island’s win with 23 straight (previous was the first 22 wins by Buckeye Mike (Mike B) in 2009). The 24 straight wins broke The Flying Elvi‘s (Brian S) record of 23 straight during the First Round in 2015. Blind loyalty to his ala mater USC is the only reason he is still perfect. USC’s win also kept intact a First Four winner winning a 1st Round game for the 7th straight year.
The ho-hum day meant that we had a record six entries 