Issue # 14.6.1 “Wahoowa!”

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Monday, April 8, 2019 

VIRGINIA GETS 1ST TITLE IN OVERTIME IN SURPRISING HIGH SCORING GAME
Kds911 wins tiebreaker over The Gambler 2 to win the pool

SANTA BARBARA, CA (smt)- More than five minutes into the game, the score was 3-2.  Seriously.  Five points with #3W-Texas Tech’s three points on free throws.  The Red Raiders didn’t hit their first field goal until 12:38 left in the first half.  7 minutes in it was 7-3 #1S-Virginia and the projected total points was just 57.  It was what expected with 2 of the top 3 defenses this year.  But the last 13 minutes saw 51 points and the second half had a lot of clutch shooting as Virginia blew another second half lead as Texas Tech tied it at 59.  Down by three, Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter hit a three to tie it at 68 with 12.9 seconds left.  That’s 136 points and the over/under for the game was 118.  On to overtime.  Virginia actually had an 11-0 run and hit all 12 free throws to win their first championship, 85-77.  Hunter and Kyle Guy combined for 51 points.  The Cavaliers won the championship a year after becoming the first #1 seed to lose to a #16 with the difference being that Hunter was healthy this tournament. 

Issue # 6.2.3 “We’ll Pay You in Silver” (Bonus Prize & Prize Distribution)

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Tuesday, March 26, 2019 

TOP SIX AND BONUS WILL WIN $1,620 POT
20 of 23 eliminated entries eligible for Bonus in our Silver Anniversary

GOLETA, CA (smt)- With all four #1s, #2s, #3s and two #4s and a #5 and #12 in the Sweet 16, the sum seed total of 49 is the lowest since seeding began.  #1W-Gonzaga and #1MW-UNC have closed out games strongly while #1E-Duke needed some luck and non-whistles and #1S-Virginia trailed #16S-Gardner-Webb by 14 at one point.  Beleaguered conference Pac 12 has its #12S-Oregon in the mix while the ACC (5), SEC (4), and the Big Ten (3) continue to dominate.

With the mostly chalk Sweet 16, one entry (Center Road) around the world actually has a perfect bracket, and he didn’t even know it!  I use this sometimes in my statistics class showing the 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,780,000 odds of picking a perfect bracket or if you do some weighting of seeds, maybe get it down to 1 in 67,582,737,423.  Still virtually impossible.  How has our group done in 25 years?  No one has gone a perfect first round with Air Fabone 23 (Scott T) going 31-1 in 2017.  With Honey Badger (Scott D) going 16-0 this year, he became the first to have a perfect Round 2.  What the future lie?  Van&Sam (Van P) in 2007 was able to 8-0 in the Sweet 16, 4-0 in the Elite 8, and 2-0 for the Final Four.  But she missed the champion (Florida beat Ohio St)!  Unfortunately, Center Road was not eligible for Warren Buffet’s million dollar for life Sweet 16 challenge!

Issue # 15.6.1 “Nova Nation” (4/2)

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2018 NCAA Champions
#1-East Boston, MA Hosted by Boston College (ACC) TD Garden	Villanova University Wildcats (36-4) 3rd Title: ’85, ’16
2018 Winningest Conference
	The Big 12 Conference (12-7) 4th Time: ’03, ’08, ’10

GOODLAND HOTEL IN GOLETA, CA (smt)- Nine minutes into Monday’s game, #3W-Michigan actually had more three-pointers than #1E-Villanova (2 to 1) and built a 21-14 lead but then couldn’t hit a shot.  Villanova found their rhythm, hitting 3 of their next 4 three-point attempts and went on a 23-7 run to close the half en route to another double-digit win, 79-62.  After allowing Michigan to get a quick basket after the break, Villanova scored the next 7 points and never looked back.  The Wolverines tried to get back, cutting the lead to 12 but consecutive threes by Donte DiVencenzo (who had a record 31 points off the bench which was 24 more than Michigan’s whole bench) had the Wildcats back up by 18 with 7:55 left.  In the end, Villanova won their 3rd title and second in three years, hitting 10 more threes to extend their record of 28 threes in the Final Four and 76 in the tournament.

Villanova’s rout moved Billy T (Billiam), Greg J (BamaG 2), and Chuck D (ChasCroix-1) into the 4th, 5th, and 6th money spots.  The garbage time scoring in the end pushed the total points to 141 which gave Greg J 5th place over Chuck D.  Last year, Read the rest of this entry »

Issue # 7.2.3 “Your Comeback for the Ages?”

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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

CERRITOS/EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- It’s been one of the wildest weekends featuring three buzzer beaters, a couple of double overtime games, one of the biggest upsets, and one of the biggest comebacks (while you take a breather, take a listen to one of the unsigned bands Poolrider helps promote, Hydrogen Child).  Our 22nd year features the 2nd highest total for entries (149) and 2nd most people (110).  For the sixth straight year, we will have six money spots as we have $1,490 to divvy out.  The top prize will be $595. The prize distribution is listed below and as always, all fee money goes into prizes. So we have those top six spots plus the Bonus.  What’s the Bonus?  Read on…

As it has been for the past 12 years, the Conference Wins is the Bonus Prize (as detailed below) (aka, Bonus1). However, if no one wins it, the Bonus2 takes effect and the entry who is closest to the Total Points in Final tiebreaker gets the Bonus Prize. We have used this Bonus to give hope to those who get eliminated early as only those who do not finish in the top 6 will be eligible to win. Rules follow below…

Bonus1 – Winningest Conference

When you completed your online entry and saw your picks (to print out), some of you might have been wondering Read the rest of this entry »

Issue # 14.6.1 “Undefensable”

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2015 NCAA Champions
(34-4) #1-South (Houston, TX)	Duke University Blue Devils (35-4) 5th Title: ’91, ’92, ’01, ’10, ’15
2015 Winningest Conference
	The Atlantic Coast Conference (17-5) 4th Time: ’04, ’05, ’10, ’15

Monday, April 6, 2015

EL SEGUNDO/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Maybe the one-and-done team people should’ve been worried about was #1S-Duke, not #1MW-Kentucky.  The Blue Devils’ freshmen scored 60 of 68 points in their come-from-behind-aided-by-a-few-calls-here-and-there 68-63 win over #1W-Wisconsin.  With the Badgers up by 9 at 48-39 and Duke sitting  out Justise Winslow and Jahil Okafor due to foul trouble, 6′-4″ guard Grayson Allen turned up the heat scoring Duke’s next 8 points and he and fellow frosh Tyus Jones (game high 23) took command with a 27-10 run.  Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker picked the wrong time to have an off-game missing all six of his 3-pointers.  While the Badgers benefited on a shot clock violation no-call that wasn’t reviewable in their win over Kentucky, they were on the wrong end of a stepping out-of-bounds no-call that wasn’t reviewable late in the game.  Add in a tipped ball out-of-bounds that somehow refs never got to see during their review, the disparity in foul calls in the 2nd half, and the fact my 3-year daughter kept chanting “blue, blue, blue” instead of “red, red, red” like I told her to do, the Duke conspiracy theories are all atwitter.  But Duke’s tenacious defense never let Frank Kaminsky feel comfortable in the 2nd half and when Wisconsin needed quick baskets in the last minute, it took 10+ seconds to get a play off as Duke didn’t let them penetrate the key for a quick shot.  As long as I don’t have to hear “The Duke Univeristy” or “Dukkies”, I’ll be content.

As for the pool, Duke was picked by 8 people and 5 of the 8 ended up in the money.  Darryn B (Big Luther) becomes our second 2-time pool champion and Read the rest of this entry »

Issue # 7.2.3 “Second Chance Points” + Watch Ceasefire!

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- The pace of entries never ceased (as an aside, take a listen to one of the unsigned bands Poolrider helps promote, Ceasefire) as we shattered the previous record of 138 entries by 23.  For the fifth straight year, we will have six money spots as we have a record $1,610 to divvy out.  The top prize will be a record $640 which is $85 more than the record in 2014. The prize distribution is listed below and as always, all fee money goes into prizes. So we have those top six spots plus the Bonus.  What’s the Bonus?  Read on…

As it has been for the past 11 years, the Conference Wins is the Bonus Prize (as detailed below) (aka, Bonus1). However, if no one wins it, the Bonus2 takes effect and the entry who is closest to the Total Points in Final tiebreaker gets the Bonus Prize. We have used this Bonus to give hope to those who get eliminated early as only those who do not finish in the top 6 will be eligible to win. Rules follow below…

Bonus1 – Winningest Conference

When you completed your online entry and saw your picks (to print out), some of you might have been wondering Read the rest of this entry »

Issue # 15.6.1 “Freshmen Hazed”

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2014 NCAA Champions
#7-East (New York, NY)	The University of Connecticut Huskies (32-8) 4th Title: ’99, ’04, ’11, ’14
2014 Winningest Conference
	The Southeastern Conference (11-3) 3rd time: ’06, ’07, ’14

CERRITOS, CA (smt)- The veteran starting lineup of #7E-UConn, some who stayed on despite the Huskies being banned from postseason last year, came out hungry against the all-freshmen starting lineup from #8MW-Kentucky jumping to a 30-15 lead and eventually hanging on to a 60-54 victory.  The Huskies never trailed in winning their 4th title (the same number as Duke!), all in the last 16 years and two years removed from retired coach Jim Calhoun and one year removed from a postseason ban due to academics.  While UConn was a perfect 10/10 from the charity stripe, Kentucky bookended 6/7 by missing 7 of their first 13 free throws and their last three (including a front end of a one-and-one).  Senior Shabazz Napier, while taking some ill-advised or quick shots, scored 22 pts and had 6 rebounds as he was one of the few who stayed on through the postseason ban.  This capped a wild tournament partially aided by bad seeding by the selection committee and that sometimes, just the name on the shirt (with a little luck) is enough to propel you to the finals.

In a strange twist, all 8 entries alive to win money were guaranteed to finish at least tied for 6th (before the dreaded tiebreaker), meaning two would lose the tiebreaker and go home empty handed.  But first, Read the rest of this entry »

Issue # 15.6.1 “I’m Luke Hancock, I’m Here to Rescue You”

Congrats to Louisville, a deserving champion (even though I didn’t pick them). Also, congrats to the 7 winners in our pool.

Read today’s update below (or original here):

2013 NCAA Champions
#1-Midwest (Indianapolis, IN)	The University of Louisville Cardinals (35-5)
2013 Winningest Conference
	The Big 10 Conference (14-7)

Monday, April 8, 2013 
Issue # 15.6.1 "I'm Luke Hancock, I'm Here to Rescue You"
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Issue # 7.2.3 “Bonus! Prizes!”

Ahead of tonight’s games (good luck to all!), here is the official prize breakdown.  Also, the details of the Bonus, which most don’t care about until they’ve been eliminated and the Final Four is here, are listed below.  A proper update via email  will come later today (problems FTP’ing at work).

Edited: Forgot to update Bonus1 Analysis below.  Original file can now be viewed here.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 

Issue # 7.2.3 "Bonus! Prizes!"
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126 breaks the tie

Congrats to Jane’s son Quinn D (aka, Quinnsanity) in winning the pool and $540!  Lots of Losers (Bob G) gets 2nd ($280) and Nwspring 1 (Nicholas S) gets 3rd ($190).  With the total points equaling 126, that breaks the tie for 4th (so SlackJaw (Jon J) gets 4th ($135) and Vodka-Its Not Real (Sam N) gets 5th ($90)) and 6th, including our first split-prize ever as Frumunda Mybalz (Andy F) and The Wife’s Picks (Megan J) will split $65 ($32.50), and thus each will get less than our Bonus Prize winner, SpAva (Linh T– my wife!  Let’s here it for the wives!), who won a 10-way tie for the Bonus by getting the correct conference (Big East), conference wins (13), and total points (126) to win $40 knocking her brother (Krimsonguard) out of the money.  Andy F wins for the first time in 15 years, Linh T for the first time in 11 years, and Jon J for the first time in 10 years.

Issue # 7.3.3 “Record Pot of $1340”

2012 HWCI NCAA Pool Update.  1st-6th prizes plus Bonus… what is the Bonus?  Read the update!

Official Prize Breakdown

Bit of a delay, trying to account for 134 entries in our previous updates and such.  Good luck tonight!

PO Box has been checked and no new entries, so we are officially at 134 entries ($1,340). So, here is the official prize breakdown:

1st Place = $540.00
2nd Place = $280.00
3rd Place = $190.00
4th Place = $135.00
5th Place = $ 90.00
6th Place = $ 65.00
Bonus Prize =$ 40.00

Congrats to the Winners!

These people didn’t care it was an ugly game:

1st ($515):  Roy W (Krispy Kremer)
2nd ($260):  David F (The Mighty Mobelfakta)
3rd ($175):  Sam S (TheLakeShow)
4th ($120):  Craig S (Craig)
5th ($ 80):  Ted J (MB Camel Jockies)
6th ($ 60):  Charles D (BINLADEN)
Bonus ($40): Blakeley H (For Narnia)

Sam and Blakeley can thank the awfully low scoring game for winning their tiebreakers.

Issue # 7.3.3 “Pool Expands to Six Money Spots”

Issue # 7.3.3 “Pool Expands to Six Money Spots”

All you wanted to know about the prize distribution and bonus prize.

Prizes Detals Leaked…

The formal newsletter comes out late tonight (or early tomorrow, depending where you live), but here are some nuggets:

• 1st place is a record $515, enough for about 125 gallons of gas in California or 0.026% of what Charlie Sheen used to get paid for a single episode
• A new 6th place prize is introduced, and it will be $60 (I wish this was in place last year when I finished 6th)
• In the race for the Bonus Prize (Winningest Conference), only 21 entries are still alive (since the Big East crapped out) and 36 entries are eliminated from both the Bonus1 and top 6 prize money… but, if no one wins this Bonus1, every non-winning entry is alive again for the total points tiebreaker Bonus2.
• What would you like to see as a Bonus Prize?  Most upset weighted points?  Most Elite 8 teams? Comment and let us know!