2009 HWCI NCAA Pool Update. The first update is always so hard and takes so long as there’s so much info to learn. Hope you enjoy it.
Category Archives: HWNCAA Pool 09
Buckeye Mike Perfect – Not a Good Sign
Buckeye Mike became just the 3rd person to go 16-0 on the first day. The last two to do it, Bloomers123 and Blueberry and in 2003, finished the pool in 27th and 62nd (of 63), respectively. But I’d rather be 16-0 than 10-6 as 4 are right now. Standings have been posted (click on Standings button on menu) and the Scott Update will come very late tonight. Too much to process.
Rallies and Scares
Clemson’s rally fell short (literally) but Gonzaga and Villanova survived tough matchups to advance. Texas also won. After 12 games, six are a perfect 12-0 (Phantom, Batman, Krimsonguard, Baba, Buckeye Mike, AC). There isn’t a great potential for an upset in the last 4 games (only #11 VCU and #12 W.Ky are upset potentials). Only 2 have ever gone 16-0 in the previous 14 years. Four are floundering at 7-5.
For the Record – Everyone’s picks
For the Record. Note that “sdfsf” is not valid.
Halfway Done, Just Like Memphis
I will say I am impressed at the quality of video on March Madness on Demand. I bet if I had FIOS it’d be even smoother. And they didn’t black out the game being played on local TV like they usually do. I am not impressed with Memphis and hopefully this’ll be the wake-up call for them or it’ll be a short tournament for them. Baby Ouija went 0-3 to start but finished the first half of the day 5-0. There were 30 @ 3-0, 21 @ 7-0, and now 19 @ 8-0 (16 pts). There are 4 tied for last at 4-4 (8 pts).
You can now view everyone’s picks, the individual choice listing, and team choice distribution. Note all of this is unofficial. After the weekend, everything is official and we can break down the prize distribution.
And to find out who your competitors are, the Who’s Who page is up.
A new record
We unofficially have 114 entries, topping last year’s 101. So there will be 5 prizes (1st-5th) plus the usual Bonus Prize. Below is the choice distribution for those teams who were picked to win it all. The full list will come tonight.
2009 Choice Distribution Report
(# entries=114) 03/19/09
| Team | # of players who chose team to | Prizes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win it All |
Win 5 Games |
Win 4 Games |
Win 3 Games |
Win 2 Games |
Win 1 Game |
Win 0 Games |
Fin | $$ | |
| N CAROLINA | 36 | 19 | 21 | 27 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | TBA |
| LOUISVILLE | 21 | 23 | 35 | 20 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | TBA |
| PITTSBURGH | 18 | 15 | 36 | 26 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 3 | TBA |
| MEMPHIS | 14 | 16 | 28 | 28 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 4 | TBA |
| U CONN | 7 | 15 | 20 | 59 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 5 | TBA |
| OKLAHOMA | 6 | 1 | 17 | 47 | 31 | 12 | 0 | ||
| DUKE | 3 | 3 | 15 | 46 | 37 | 10 | 0 | ||
| MICHIGAN ST | 3 | 1 | 9 | 47 | 34 | 19 | 1 | ||
| WKE FOREST | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 79 | 20 | 2 | ||
| KANSAS | 1 | 4 | 7 | 26 | 45 | 29 | 2 | ||
| VILLANOVA | 1 | 3 | 9 | 28 | 43 | 30 | 0 | ||
| PURDUE | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 38 | 60 | 9 | ||
| FLA ST | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 40 | 40 | 22 | ||
Full Disclosure
With about 2 hours left, we have 100 unofficial entries! Here are David’s and my picks:
The Mighty Mobelfakta (David)
http://www.hwci.com/ncaa/2009/picks.asp?entries=The+Mighty+Mobelfakta
Ides of Fabone (Scott #1)
http://www.hwci.com/ncaa/2009/picks.asp?entries=Ides+of+Fabone
Pre-Selection Picks (Scott # 2)
http://www.hwci.com/ncaa/2009/picks.asp?entries=Pre-Selection+Picks
96!
As of 2 am this morning, we unofficially have 96 entries, just 5 short of our record! We are trying to match to the person RUBBER BISCUT, PRIDE OF TROY!, and BABY OIUJA (though we have a pretty good idea who these are, just need to confirm). Gareth M even funded putting President Obama’s picks into this pool (PRESIDENTIAL PICKS). Hopefully that bracket will bring him more money than the stimulus plan that was passed. And still no love for UCLA (just one has them in the Elite 8).
How bad was UCLA’s pod in Philly? They’ll travel around 2,720 miles while their opponent VCU will travel around 245 miles. If UCLA wins, their two possible opponents will travel either 19 miles (Villanova) or 141 miles (American U.).
Record Wednesday
I’m still behind, but we have had over 60 entries today (Wednesday), a record (was 58 in 2007). We still may fall short of 100 but we are close to 90 now.
Special characters
It took a while, but two people tried to use an “&” in their bracket nickname. Don’t use ampersand (&) (or other crazy characters) in your nickname on the bracket because & isn’t URL friendly. We can add the “&” later if you like it.
#1’s Still Top Choice
For the 43 entries received thus far, the top three teams picked to win it all are all #1 seeds and the 4th team is Memphis, which should’ve been a #1 seed. UNC leads with 14 followed by fellow 1’s Louisville (8) and Pitt (7). Memphis (5) edges out Oklahoma (4) with the remaining #1 seed UConn being picked by just 2. Three others have a vote each. 11 teams haven’t been picked by anyone to win their first game. Not much love for UCLA or USC (neither being picked past the Sweet 16) and Northridge is still looking for that one person to pick them to beat Memphis. 😉
Something odd… is happening to 07
The entries are coming in at a slower pace than last year but something interesting is happening. At least seven people (Brett M, Mike S, Linh C T, Bing F, Craig S, Steve N, and JD G) who played in 2007 and didn’t participate in our-record breaking year (101 entries) last year have submitted entries. Also, of the 35 entries so far, just four people are new (so keep recruiting!).
Your Picks
If you want to edit your bracket, please re-submit your bracket and just put down as a nickname something like NICKNAME-REVISE, NICKNAME-UPDATE so we know you are updating and not submitting a new entry. If it’s a small or few changes (hey, change my champion to UConn instead of UNC), you can email us the changes.
Now, if you want to review your picks, you can go here. Or reprint it because you forgot to :-).
Remember the deadline is 9 am PDT Thursday! Submit early and then pray. Also, make sure you have let us know how you will get us your $10.
On the right light blue column, you will find the status of everyone’s picks (e.g., all paid up, in process of paying (e.g., eCheck), or we haven’t heard how you’ll pay. Also, it will tell you which brackets we have. So if you think you submitted a bracket (note the time listed, it’s updated every 4-6 hours) and you don’t see your nickname, email us.
Issue # 2.0.2 “NIT in the News”
It’s Over?
I take one trip to the emergency doctor for my son and the Play-In game is already over? 🙂 BTW, my 23-month old son is okay though he may have a scar. I actually thought since I had to leave early from work (as did my wife) that I would be able to catch the game but all that was on was NIT stuff. Did they play this early so those in Newfoundland can watch it at a decent hour? Well, no one else cares.
Well, I’ve gotten the bracket to work with Firefox and IE 7 but others haven’t been so lucky. One of these days we’ll transition to a better java applet but it works for most people.
Also, make your payment arrangements. We’re behind last year’s pace and are projecting around 80 entries so make sure to tell your friends to enter!