Saturday, March 24, 2001                http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa
Issue # 11.4.1 "Like a tree, Stanford falls..."

2001 HWCI NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL
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ROSEMEAD, CA (smt)- #3W-Maryland's superior outside shooting knocked out #1W-Stanford (31-3), 87-73, to reach the Final Four for the first time in history. Stanford's stunning loss continues a tournament streak where all 4 #1 seeds have failed to reach the Final Four. #1E-Duke did its part, beating upset-minded #6E-USC, 79-69. The Pac-10 went 0-2 and only has Arizona left. Duke didn't let USC jump out to a big lead as in USC's previous three games. It would have been neat to see Duke beat Pac-10 teams UCLA, USC, Stanford, and Arizona en route to the title. Now we get the ACC battle between Duke and Maryland in the semifinal.

NICKNAME (102 pts) was one of four people to get both games correct and retook the top position. HE HATE ME TOO (100 pts) also did it to move into a tie with KIM for 2nd place. Sixteen entries went 0-2. Stanford's loss knocked eight entries out including both of Scott T.'s (FREE FABONE, THE FABONE 7) picks and the last of two picks of Mike K. and Fernando B. Only Robinson C. has at least one of his multiple entries alive (actually, 2 of 3).

Now as there has never been a time where all four #1 seeds have made the Final Four, there also has never been a single person to get 4 out of 4 teams correct in the pool. Well, BINGO (4th, 108) and PEEPS (20th, 98) are halfway there and are the only entries to have a chance to go 4-for-4. He also now has the best odds (59.4%) of winning money. Three people have a 1 in 6 chance for first place (KIM, NICKNAME, BINGO). If you count two of Robinson C.'s entries (HE HATE ME TOO and TEAM SUMARAI (5th, 106)) he has 7 chances for first place and 28 chances for money with one of the two and several chances to get both entries (he entered 3 times) in the money.