It’s Over!

David put the standings up within minutes of the final whistle as we congratulate the following:

1st Place =       $495.00   Lawrence M (Bizarro Larzby)
2nd Place =    $250.00    Wendy B (Buckeye23)
3rd Place =     $170.00    Adam C (AC)
4th Place =     $115.00     Ford R (Rainman)
5th Place =     $ 70.00      Mike B (Buckeye Mike)
Bonus Prize =$ 40.00     Kevin T (Shake N’ Bake)

A couple of late garbage baskets propelled Kevin T to win the $40 bonus, winning the 10-way battle.  The high scoring first half allowed Adam to rest easier as he easily won the tiebreaker with Ford and the extra $55 to boot.

It was not as fun at Vi’s (Little Miss Sunshine) home as she needed Michigan St. to win to hold onto 2nd place.  But it great to finally see a complete game (even though the Spartans didn’t play one) on TV, albeit in stretched 4:3 form.  I blame Vi’s mom for not getting HD (on the LCD TV) to the Spartan’s loss 🙂

And we have a winner…

Congrats to Lawrence M (Bizarro Larzby) for winning the 2009 HWCI NCAA Pool.  With a 16 point lead, he is guaranteed to finish first after Michigan St. won.  He’s our 42nd person to win money (44 including 2nd/3rd entries that have won).  He’s also just the third person to ever win money on his/her 2nd or 3rd entry (his first entry was Larzby).  Wendy B (Buckye23) will win at least 4th place and will be our 13th multiple-winner (having won the $40 Bonus in ’07).  That leaves 3 spots with 6 people trying to get it.  Bob G (Baba) after not winning anything the first nine years, has a chance for back-t0-back money spots (2nd in ’08).  Vi N (Little Miss Sunchips) has also languished in her first eight years, many spent near the bottom, but will this be the year?  Adam C (AC) will try to be just the 18th person (15th not including our first year) to win money on their first try.  Steve N (The Rat Pack) went 0-for-2 today but can still hold on in his 4th year.  Ford R (Rainman) is hoping his sophmore year in the pool is lucky.  And Mike B (Buckeye Mike), who had the 22-0 start, will try to add to his $40 Bonus win in ’04, but even with the $70 5th place finish (if UNC wins), he’ll have earned just $110 in 14 years ($140).

How do I win?

I’m in San Francisco so I only got to watch the end of the Kansas-Michigan St game, which apparently was the only competitive game out there.  My updates will come late but at least David updates the standings in a timely fashion every game night.

If you are one of the lucky 52 still with a chance to win money, post your request  as a comment to this post to see which of the 128 possible outcomes remaining you win money at.  Post before 10 am, if possible, as we’re leaving the hotel at 11.  For example, for Getlucky2, this is her possible winning outcomes:

2009 NCAA POOL INDIVIDUAL POSSIBILITIES 03/27/09
For: Getlucky2

| Possible Tournament Results |
                         |<--------- Final 8 --------->|
                         |<--Final 4-->|
Entry       Place        1st 2nd
----------- -----        --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Getlucky2   1            Mo  Pit Lou UNC MiS Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   4*           Pit Mo  Lou UNC MiS Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   5            UNC Lou Mo  Pit MiS Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   1            Mo  UNC Lou Pit MiS Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   1            UNC Mo  Lou Pit MiS Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   2            Mo  Pit MiS UNC Lou Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   5*           Pit Mo  MiS UNC Lou Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   4            MiS UNC Mo  Pit Lou Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   2            UNC MiS Mo  Pit Lou Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   1            Mo  UNC MiS Pit Lou Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   1            UNC Mo  MiS Pit Lou Con Vil OU
Getlucky2   1            Mo  Vil Lou UNC MiS Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   2            Vil Mo  Lou UNC MiS Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   1            Mo  UNC Lou Vil MiS Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   1            UNC Mo  Lou Vil MiS Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   3*           Mo  Vil MiS UNC Lou Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   4*           Vil Mo  MiS UNC Lou Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   5            UNC MiS Mo  Vil Lou Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   3            Mo  UNC MiS Vil Lou Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   2            UNC Mo  MiS Vil Lou Con Pit OU
Getlucky2   1*           Mo  Pit Lou OU  MiS Con Vil UNC
Getlucky2   1            Mo  OU  Lou Pit MiS Con Vil UNC
Getlucky2   3            OU  Mo  Lou Pit MiS Con Vil UNC
Getlucky2   3*           Mo  Pit MiS OU  Lou Con Vil UNC
Getlucky2   2            Mo  OU  MiS Pit Lou Con Vil UNC
Getlucky2   4            OU  Mo  MiS Pit Lou Con Vil UNC
Getlucky2   1            Mo  Vil Lou OU  MiS Con Pit UNC
Getlucky2   2            Vil Mo  Lou OU  MiS Con Pit UNC
Getlucky2   2            Mo  OU  Lou Vil MiS Con Pit UNC
Getlucky2   4            OU  Mo  Lou Vil MiS Con Pit UNC
Getlucky2   4*           Mo  Vil MiS OU  Lou Con Pit UNC
Getlucky2   5*           Vil Mo  MiS OU  Lou Con Pit UNC
Getlucky2   5            Mo  OU  MiS Vil Lou Con Pit UNC
* = subject to tie-break

And they fall…

Mizzou’s win eliminated 17 entries and ‘Nova’s win eliminated 13 more, leaving a healthy 72 entries with still a chance to win money.  The Big East goes 3-0 for the day, picking up their 14th win while the Big 12 picked up their 10th.

Ho hum…

UConn and Pitt continued the top seed winning ways.  101 picked UConn and 95 picked Pitt.  SilverSurfer picked Xavier and now Buckeye Mike is all alone in 1st.  UConn eliminated Aileen Viray, Teddy’s Teams (finally!), and Is It Opening Day Yet (now you can concentrate on that).  Pitt eliminated C$ (again, if you have any comment to these nicknames, post it here).  Also, the Big East picked up their 12th and 13th wins eliminating any hope of the ACC or Bit 10 getting the most wins.  The only other conference in play is the Big 12 which has 9 wins.

Don’t give up yet!

After all the heartache, many of you probably have torn up your brackets.  Well, out of 114 entries, just 8 have been elminated from money (1st-5th place).  Eight.  That means 106 of you will still be stressed come Thursday.  David has posted the standings and you can find out if you are one of the unlucky 8.

All favs so far…

All 5 higher-seeded teams have won thus far, including #12 Arizona.  Silver Surfer took over first when Buckeye Mike (now 3rd) missed Xavier.  Silver Surfer’s 13-game win streak ended with Arizona-Cleveland St. (he picked neither).  Six picked Arizona and 49 picked Xavier.  Bama G 2 is now in 2nd.

At the Galaxy game (where they came back down 2-0 to tie 2-2), so it’s more bball I’m missing.  Then I’m going to SF next weekend (Fri/Sat) and the women’s soccer team LA Sol play Sunday.

Still on a roll…

Buckeye Mike and Silver Surfer were two of 30 to go 6-0 so far today.  Teddy’s Teams started out 0-3 and has gone 2-4 today.  It sucks not having internet til now and it sucks not being able to watch any games.  Thank goodness for ESPN MVP.

Silver Surfer Catches Buckeye Mike

After half the games today, Silver Surfer is now tied with Buckeye Mike for first with 46 points (23-1).  Buckeye Mike got as far as 22-0 before Dayton’s win over WVU.  Jinx still occupies the bottom spot with 30 points (15-9) but he isn’t as bad off as Spencer&Me, 2Crowbugs, and Die with SEC who each lost a Final Four team.  Die with SEC, a Gator and SEC fan, believed the SEC was strong, but Miss. St. and Tenn have lost leaving just LSU.

Favorites so far…

All four higher seeded teams won this morning, with Utah St. and Tenn coming just short of upsets.  Buckeye Mike is still perfect, at 20-0 but six are right behind at 19-1.  Jinx sits all alone in last at 12-8.

I’m at a meeting and just barely getting internet access.  Will blog when I get a chance.

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.

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.

Almost here, Old technology

Just a couple of days until the brackets are released!  Some updates are occurring, here’s a preview:

http://www.hwci.com/ncaa/2009/scott.html

Also, we have created a Facebook page for people to interact, plan gatherings, quick discussions, and post pictures/thoughts.  It took me until two years ago to get a cell phone and just one IEEE meeting to sign up for Facebook late last year.  Sigh.  In addition, you now add as a friend “Hwci Ncaa” (search for this or the email address, ncaa –at-hwci.com).

I was hoping to have a more capable cell phone and a new laptop, but it looks like I’ll have neither.  One more year.

Mid-Week Status

Here’s a sneak peak in what the 40 entries have picked to win thus far (as you can see, no one has picked Cal State Fullerton yet):

2008 Choice Distribution Report
(# entries=40) 03/18/08

Team # of players who chose team to
Win
it
All
Win
5
Games
Win
4
Games
Win
3
Games
Win
2
Games
Win
1
Game
Win
0
Games
UCLA 17 8 8 4 2 1 0    
N CAROLINA 12 11 7 7 3 0 0    
KANSAS 4 5 16 9 6 0 0    
TENNESSEE 3 3 2 19 10 2 1    
MEMPHIS 2 4 11 11 12 0 0
TEXAS 1 2 10 13 11 3 0
TEXAS AM 1 0 0 0 0 27 12

So far we’re ahead of the pace of last year but we shall see how many entries we get Wednesday (we got a record 58 last year).  Also, if we top 100 entries, we will likely add a 5th place prize, the first time we’ve added a top prize since we added a 4th place prize in 1998 (Year 4).  Of course, we take from the rich, so 1st/2nd/3rd/4th places will be a slightly lower % (but still a good payday).

Remember, if you need to make a small correction to your picks, email us (ncaa(at)hwci.com)… if you need to make bigger corrections, re-submit your bracket (call it YourNickname 2 or YourNickname-Update).

I’m off to Austin so hopefully all will be well.