Congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes.  They had an early run in the second half and then managed to keep Syracuse always in catch up mode.  Eventually, there was no more time to catch up – and the Buckeyes will be heading to the Final Four!

The Buckeyes’ victory managed to stop the Big East’s bid at having two teams in the Final Four.  Now, the only conference with two teams left is the Big 12 – who will have Baylor and Kansas see if they could do what the Big East and SEC couldn’t do.  I am sure that Kentucky and UNC will have something to say about it.  🙂

At this point, our leaders are Melissa Hartsell and Rick Flynn – who both were able to correctly pick Louisville and Ohio State to the Final Four.  Brady Meigham, TJ Acuto, Jennifer Carter and Stephen Glass are still only 40 points behind.   Christina Lee is still holding her 6 point lead in the Upset Pool on Keith Schleicher.    And Shirli Zelcer and Taylor Early remain perfect in the Second Chance Pool – followed by Stephen Glass and Nick Kindig by just 40 points.  If you are wondering who are amazing Second Chance experts are picking in the other two games, they both have Kentucky and Kansas….

 

 

Our first Final Four participate has punched their ticket.  There is something about teams that have won championships – they just find ways to win games.

In this case, Florida had a 65-54 lead with just over 8 minutes to play.  Then, the Cardinals start to come back – and with 4 minutes left and the game getting really close, Louisville’s PG Siva fouls out of the game.  But that kind of set back didn’t stop them.   And after hitting their FTs at the end of the game and defending 2 last second 3 point shots by the Gators, Louisville had finished off their 18-3 run to become the first team to earn their way to the Final Four.

Hopefully, the Syracuse – Ohio State game can have as much drama as this one did (well unless you are rooting for one of those teams – then hopefully, it will be a boring blow-out victory for your team.  🙂

 

 

At this critical juncture, the only two teams that did not claim either their regular season or conference championship is Baylor and Florida.   Interestingly enough, it is the regular season champs being more represented this year.

Big East – Regular season champ Syracuse and Tournament champ Louisville

SEC – Regular season champ Kentucky

ACC – Regular season champ North Carolina

Big 12 – Regular season champ Kansas

Big 10 – Regular season co-champ Ohio State

Should be interesting to see if Baylor and Florida can continue their run to the Final Four, or if the Final Four will be only conference champions.

 

Based on last evening’s success, I have brought in some experts to handicap tonight’s games.  First, lets get the opinion from our Second Chance Pool leader – Charlie Hodgson

Charlie says:

• Baylor vs Xavier – Baylor are the Bears – I have two wonderful stuffed bears that I love very much.  Xavier are Musketeers – I am not even sure what that is.  Obviously, the Bears will win.
• UNC vs Ohio – Grandpa went to UNC – and obviously, my Grandpa’s school would be one of the best.  And I know the UNC Fight Song.  Doesn’t matter anything about Ohio – the Tar Heels will win.
• Kentucky vs Indiana – Kentucky are the Wildcats – that just sounds cool.  How can you not like a big cat.  Indiana’s logo is red – which is a plus.  But they are the rivals of my daddy’s school, so it is obvious that the Wildcats will win!!!
• Kansas vs North Carolina St – North Carolina St is from the same state that my Nanny and Grandpa live in.  And their logo is red.  And seriously, even I know who would win the battle between a Wolfpack and a Jayhawk.  The Wolfpack will win.

And now, from Katie – the top in the main standings from my household:

No Vegas Lines Less Than 2.  Pick all Favorites.  Go Heels!!!!!!   Ice Cream Pleaze!!!   Tank you!

 

After Ohio State and Florida finished off the nightcaps for Thursday, a few of you took advantage to rise to the top of the standings.
Christina Lee managed to hang on to her lead in both the standard and upset pools, but she is now tied at the top with Melissa Hartfield and Rick Flynn. They are followed closely by just 10 points by Kate Yost, Joseph Allen, David Caldwell, Ella Flora and Debbe Evans.
In the second chance pool, only 4 of us could figure out all 4 winners from last night. Those winners were Alan Miller, Shirli Zelcer, Taylor Early, and Charlie Hodgson. That’s right. While the Lunatic was using logic like MSU under Izzo has won multiple championships this season, and they have a size advantage over Louisville. My 5 year old son uses logic like Louisville has a pretty red bird for its mascot and red is my favorite color. Its obvious whose logic will be correct!!!

That’s right – with Syracuse’s 1 point victory over Wisconsin, it is official.  David Gatewood has successfully defended his title as Loser of the Standard Pool.  Wisconsin (his top 4 seed) joined Wichita State (his top 6 seed) and his other upsets on the sideline – ensuring that he can get no more points.

David becomes the first person in history to win the “Loser” of the Standard Pool prize in back to back years – setting a new standard for losing.  In fact, David becomes only the second person to finish last in the pool multiple times.  The only other person to accomplish this feat was my roommate from college, David Zimmerman.  Of course, while Mr. Gatewood has won in back-to-back years, it was Mr. Zimmerman who still has set the ultimate standard – when he picked all upsets (no one better than a 9 seed).  It is one thing when you win back to back years – but it is a totally different standard to force a new rule to be put in to prevent others from trying that insanity.

I don’t know if there has anything to do with the combination of being named David and Wisconsin (one picked Wisconsin, the other is from Wisconsin) that makes you susceptible to bad picks in the pool.  I am still trying to figure out how to get rid of that stupid Lunatic curse thing – so this is too much for me to try to tackle right now.  Maybe I can get one of my fellow statisticians to do a study into this.

As a side note, David runs this crazy fun pool called the Loser Pool – where you pick Losers instead of Winners.  Unfortunately for David, I think that mentality is starting to wear off on his picks for the Lunatic contest.    Either that, or he is forgetting which pool he is entering and is putting in his expected losers.

It is a tradition – so it is necessary to say, “Sorry, David – But you should not have challenged the Lunatic!”  But considering how horrible my picks are, we really should be saying something like “you shouldn’t have challenged Ella Flora (our current leader)”

And for all of you where your hopes was “Just don’t finish last” – we can all thank David for protecting us from that honored distinction.

As seems to be a honored tradition, almost like clock-work – it starts.  Michigan State becomes the first number 1 seed to go down – and it would only figure since the only team to win both a share of its regular season and conference tournaments (of the 5 major conferences) happens to be the team the Lunatic picked in its sane picks.  Of course, we all know that the Lunatic’s insane picks winner – North Carolina, had their star point guard break his wrist.  I can guarantee you that John Calapari was very displeased to find out that the Lunatic took Kentucky to win in the Second Chance Pool (ok – Calapari probably doesn’t know – but if he did, he would be terribly concerned).

Congratulations to the Big East who kicked off the Sweet 16 with two victories against some of the best of the Big 10, as Syracuse survived against Wisconsin as well as the dominating performance from Louisville.

Just in case (and so I don’t keep spamming people) – in order to enter the second chance pool, all you have to do is login – and then click on the “Enter Bracket” link next to the “Placeholder for Second Chance Entry”

Don’t miss your chance to enter the second chance pool – all entries need to be in before 7:15 pm EST on Thursday (before tip-off of Thursday’s first Sweet 16 game)

Congratulations to Christina Lee – our Second Round leader.  Christina has taken the lead with 490 points (and 235 in the Upset Pool) – giving her a 10 point advantage over Vernon McGeorge III, Nathan Standley, Ella Flora, and Kate Yost (Elizabeth’s Mom!!!).  Apparently, the real basketball expert in the family is Kate.

It can’t be the Lunatic – who is being totally stomped by 203 entries.  But that doesn’t hurt as much as watching the Boilers lose an 11 point lead and a Sweet 16 spot in the now wide-open Midwest Region.

As a reminder, for those of you who are doing as badly as the Lunatic (or those of you who are doing the Stomping as well), the Second Chance bracket is ready to go.  Don’t forget to login and pick your teams for a second chance to win!!!!