Issue # 5.2.2 “The Pac 12, Yes, That Pac 12, Dominates” (3/22)

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THREE TRADITIONAL PAC 12 TEAMS CRUSH OPPONENT
BamaG jumps to 1st but 6 others have better chance to win the pool

EL SEGUNDO,CA (smt) – Traditional Pac 10 teams #7W-Oregon, #11E-UCLA, and #6W-USC ran all over their opponents while added Pac 12 team (along with Utah) #5E-Colorado got beat handily by #4E-Florida St.  The Pac 12 got four of its 5 teams in the Sweet 16 while the mighty Big Ten (9 teams before First Four) is just left with #1E-Michigan, who had to turn a 5-point second half deficit into a comfortable victory.  Oregon (finally playing after winning the first round by forfeit) broke a 46-46 tie by scoring the last 10 points of the half and never let up against #2W-Iowa, UCLA scored 18 straight points and led by as many as 26 in their win over #14-Abilene Christian, and in a game you had to see to believe, USC scored the last 11 points of the first half and then built as much as a 35-point lead over Oral Rob…, oh wait, over Norfolk St, oh wait, it was #3W-Kansas.  Kansas who had never lost a tournament game by more than 18, got routed by 34.  It was such a shock, the timekeeper left and didn’t even run down the last 3.8 seconds, leaving it to the refs to call mercy and end the game.

Easy Two

Well, the 128 of you who picked #7W-Oregon just got an easy two points, as their game against #10W-VCU tonight (the last of the evening) was cancelled (declared a “no contest”) due to multiple positives on the VCU contingent of players, coaches, and staff. The Ducks advance and become the 4th Pac 12 team to reach the 2nd Round (UCLA plays tonight). Apparently, there was too much uncertainty how much of the spread there was to declare five players healthy enough to play. Local health authorities drive the decision.

On the NCAA site it shows as 2-0 win by Oregon while ESPN shows “Uncontested” with no score.

Well, after the early 8 games today, License to ILL, Mr Wizard, and Dagger are tied for first with 40 pts (20-4) while Go Beach! is last with 20 pts (10-16). All 8 favorites have won today.

Issue # 5.2.2 “Chalk + Oregon”

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Sunday, March 24, 2019 

DUKE, TENNESSEE SURVIVE; OREGON JOINS FUN
Buckeye Mike leads by one while Honey Badger goes 16-0 for Round

CERRITOS/GOLETA, CA (smt)- #2S-Tennessee blew a 25-point first half lead (44-19) and needed overtime to defeat #10S-Iowa, 83-77.  Iowa also had to rally from 4 points down with under a minute left to send the game into overtime at 71 all.  #9E-Central Florida nearly made a layup and then tantalizingly watched the follow-on tip by Aubrey Dawkins roll around the rim and then out in falling to #1E-Duke, 77-76.  UCF’s Tacko Fall had foul trouble playing just 25 minutes but UCF did benefit from a generous call late that gave them a late four-point lead (and subsequently blew an alley-oop that would’ve put them up 6).  After watching and seeing it either probably did hit the rim or was inconclusive (resetting the shot clock where UCF scored), CBS later produced two great replays clearly showing the ball missed the rim (one above that showed it banked and missed the rim and a slo-mo second view that showed the ball never changed direction, thus didn’t hit the rim).  But while Duke was robbed there, they probably did get the benefit of some rough play and maybe an offensive foul that wasn’t called after that.  And with the game on the line, Zion missed a game-tying free throw that was put back in by Duke for that final lead with 11.8 seconds left. 

Issue # 12.5.1 “#1 vs #1”

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Saturday, April 1, 2017 

SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA (smt)- #1W-Gonzaga had a 14-point second-half lead only to see #7E-South Carolina score 16 straight points in 3 1/2 minutes to lead by 2 with 7:06 left.  The Zags then responded with a 7-0 run of their own in the next 3 1/2 minutes and then held on to a 77-73 win to advance to their first Final.  Up by 3 with 13 seconds left and playing defense, the Zags did what every person always yells at the TV, FOUL to give two free throws instead of allowing a game-tying three.  Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins did thisperfectly leaving just three seconds left (of course, USC helped by taking their time for the shot).  As expected, South Carolina made the first, missed the second but couldn’t get the rebound and the Zags sealed the game with two free throws.

Trying to get the rebound off a missed free throw, however, was no problem for #1S-North Carolina.  The Tar Heels were comfortable with a six-point lead with under a minute left only to see #3MW-Oregon cut it to one.  UNC missed two free throws but they got the offensive rebound so Oregon fouled again.  Incredibly, UNC missed both free throws again, and more incredibly, UNC got the offensive rebound again running out the final four seconds for a 77-76 victory to return to the final for the second consecutive year and 11th overall (5-5).

Dboyz17 was one of 11 to get both teams correct to take a five-point lead with 136 points.  If UNC wins he will be our 21st different champion of our pool.  But if Gonzaga wins, Read the rest of this entry »

Issue # 11.4.3 “Carolinas vs Pacific Northwest”

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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
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 

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.

We are now on Twitter (@HWCI_Pools).  Please follow!  I will post using #hwcincaa mini-updates during the day so you can follow without being on Twitter (and if you are, please use #hwcincaa).  Please join our Facebook HWCI NCAA Pool Groupor post comments on our blog. 

   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 Read the rest of this entry »

Issue # 9.4.1 “The Other #1 and the Other Pac 12 Team”

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Saturday, March 25, 2017 

CERRITOS APT (smt)- #1W-Gonzaga hit 7 three-pointers in the first half and never looked back in beating #11W-Xavier, 83-59.  It was the Zags 23rd win by 20 or more points (yes, most in the WCC, of course).  Of the four #1 seeds, the Zags were the least likely to survive with hot #2W-Arizona in the region.  Speaking of Arizona, the Pac 12 had two popular picks to make it far and it would’ve been three if Oregon didn’t suffer the season-ending injury to Chris Boucher.  But Boucher or not, #3MW-Oregon scored the last 8 points in the first half to build an 11-point halftime lead and held off #1MW-Kansas, 74-60 and remains the last Pac 12 team standing.

Dboyz17 was one of eight to get both games correct to move into 1st place (118 pts) with GonzagaGirl and Jbwsaijo tied for 2nd (115).  97 went 0-2.

19 lost Kansas as their champ and 82 more lost them in their Final Four.  No one will get all four Final Four teams while at least 31 will go 0-for-the-Final-Four.

There are still 33 entries that can finish in the top 7 and just 7 can still win the pool.  Danny Taggart has the best chance to win the pool (31.3%) with GonzagaGirl right behind (25.0%). However, it’s GonzagaGirl who has the best chance for money (75.0%) with four others with at least a 50/50 chance.

Despite being 5th (110), Sisyphus86 can’t finish higher Read the rest of this entry »

Issue # 5.2.2 “Finish Strong”

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Sunday, March 19, 2017 

LATE RALLIES AND HEART PROVIDE DRAMA
King Kobra remains in the lead by 4 points as 45 entries are eliminated

CERRITOS APT (smt)- No single play to discuss today (i.e., no dumb foul, no dumb flagrant-1, no dumb technical), just pure basketball drama.  #1S-UNC and #3MW-Oregon went on a doughnut run with the Tar Heels rallying from 5 down with 2:56 left to score the last 12 points and the Ducks rallying from 4 down with 2:01 left to score the last 7 points to knock off hopefuls #8S-Arkansas and #11MW-Rhode Island, respectively.

Other teams turned it on as well with #3S-UCLA down by one finishing the game on a 33-20 run in the last 13:32, #7MW-Michigan down by two finishing the game on a 24-18 run in the last 9:16, #1MW-Kansas up by one finishing the game on a 36-17 run in the last 12:00, #3E-Baylor down two finishing the game on a 17-11 run in the last 4:42 (a sequence that began with Manu Lecomte scoring 8 points in 45 seconds), and #8E-South Carolina down two finishing on a 42-33 run in the last 12:03. #2S-Kentucky narrowly won the ’14 rematch vs. #10S-Wichita St taking a tie game with 12:15 left and holding on to a three-point win thanks to two gutsy blocks on the final two Shocker possessions.  On the last one, it looked like the Wichita St. player could’ve leaned in to draw a foul on the three-point shot but didn’t.

Comeback kids #11E-USC never trailed by their magic number of 10 (just 9) and took the lead with under 5 minutes to go but couldn’t hold on against Baylor.  #11MW-Rhode Island played well but scored just 26 points in the second half allowing Oregon to rally.  Playing in their home state, South Carolina scored 65 points in the second half against #2E-Duke.

King Kobra increased the lead to four points (96) over Hrosen2 and EEChick1400.  Five went 7-1 for the day with only 9ers in’18 (7th-Tied, 88) getting at least five right the previous day.  Ten went 12-4 for the round.  On the flip side, Read the rest of this entry »