Home

Destiny

Destiny is defined as “the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future.”

UConn is attempting to fulfill their destiny and become the 7th men’s team to win back-to-back basketball championships. Purdue is attempting to fulfill their destiny and win their first men’s basketball championship.

The battle of these basketball giants will see the 7′ 5″ National Player of the Year Zach Edey lead Purdue while UConn will counter with 7′ 2″ Donovan Clingan. This will be a tremendous matchup.

In regards to HoopsHysteria, here are the possible outcomes. Good luck to those still in the running. Congrats to Dale Thompson and Linda Harding whom both have a bracket in both outcomes!

We had only one bracket that was disqualified for non-payment. This left 150 brackets and an official pool pot of $750, a $45 increase from last year. The two spots have had their amounts increased. Here’s the payout for this year with any increase noted. 

1 $325(+$25)
2 $170(+$20)
3 $100
4 $75
5 $50
6 $25
7 $10

Thanks to everyone for participating this year. I apologize for the lack of updates this year. I wanted to try a new update schedule and honestly I did not like this approach. I will revert to the old approach next year.

Sweet Sixteen

I’m trying a new recap format this year. I will post recaps at the Sweet 16, Final 4, before the National Championship and after the National Championship. I welcome your feedback on whether you prefer the old format or the new format.

We have 151 brackets entered this year and pending payment confirmation will set a new record topping last year of 141. Thanks for participating and spreading the word.

East Region

East Region BracketThe East Region is relatively chalky in the Sweet 16 stage but first round upsets by Yale over Auburn and Duquesne over BYU provided some early excitement. Defending champion UConn looks the part as the tournament favorite with two impressive wins. The Huskies will face San Diego St. in a rematch of last year’s National Championship game.

The other matchup will be fun one to watch between two very good team in Iowa St and Illinois. Both teams looked impressive in their first two games.

West Region

West Region BracketThe West Region played out a lot like the East Region. Three of the top 4 seeds advanced but only saw one upset in the first round with Grand Canyon knocking off St. Mary’s. Clemson upset Baylor in the second round to make it to the Sweet 16 joining North Carolina, Alabama, and Arizona.

North Carolina faces Alabama in what should be a fun high scoring game while Arizona squares off against Clemson.

 

 

South Region

South Region BracketThe South Region has been the most entertaining region by far. Four first round upsets. An 11/14 seed game in the second round. #1 seed Houston blowing a late lead including a game-tying three by Texas A&M to force overtime then rally and beat the Aggies. The Kentucky Wildcats losing in round one to Oakland and basketball fans getting to know Oakland’s Jack Gohlke. Colorado and Florida combined to score 202 points in their first round epic game. 11-seed NC State making it to the Sweet 16. Thousands of busted brackets. This region is the epitome of March Madness.

 

Midwest Region

Midwest Region BracketThe Midwest Region is the chalk king. Oregon’s upset of South Carolina provided the only upset of note.

Purdue will face Gonzaga while Creighton will take on Tennessee. These should be two very entertaing games.

 

UConn Do It

The Connecticut Huskies in fact did do it. The “it” being winning the National Championship – their fifth in the past 25 years which is the most in men’s basketball during this stretch. UConn controlled the game from the beginning. San Diego State made a late run to close within five but the Huskies stuck their foot on the gas and pulled away to leave no doubt. As the tournament comes to a conclusion, it’s time for the annual tradition – One Shining Moment.

UConn’s win meant a win for Tracey Hall. He finished first in the pool. He along with second-place finisher Alex Wimmers were the only two to correctly predict UConn as champions. Congrats to all that finished in the top 7.

Rank Name Points Champion Winnings
1 Tracey Hall 109 UConn $300
2 Alex Wimmers 93 UConn $150
3 Troy Harding 79 Marquette $100
4 Tommy Fiasco 77 Arizona $75
5 Jeff Thompson 74 Houston $50
6 Bryan Hailey 74 Arizona $25
6 Ryan Bohardt 64 Texas $10

If you paid via PayPal, payment has been sent. If you did not, an email has been sent asking for direction.

Thanks to everyone for participating this year!

Title Time

Tonight we will see San Diego State face Connecticut for the men’s basketball National Championship. The Aztecs are playing in their first national championship game while the Huskies could win their fifth national championship in the past twenty-five years – the most in the men’s basketball during this stretch.

Our pool is now down to two scenarios.

Again a reminder to the payout. Tie-breaker is closest to the final score. For example if San Diego State wins, Tommy and Tracey would finish tied with 77 points but for payout purposes the person that is the closest to the final score would be paid out for second while the other would be paid out for third. In the case of the seventh place tie, the closest would be the only entry paid out.

1 $300 (+$20)
2 $150
3 $100
4 $75 (+$25)
5 $50 (+$25)
6 $25 (+$25)
7 $10

And For Something Completely New

This year’s Final Four has THREE schools (FAU, Miami and San Diego State ) making their first appearance. Meanwhile UConn is looking to win their potential fifth National Championship in the past 25 years. One of these schools is not like the others.

As a result of these new schools crashing the Final Four, the outcomes for our pool have been significantly reduced. Currently only four brackets can win the pool. You can look at each scenario below.

https://www.pickhoops.com/HoopsHysteria/bestresults

https://www.pickhoops.com/HoopsHysteria/whatifvar

Again payouts were expanded this year. Good luck to those in the running.

1 $300 (+$20)
2 $150
3 $100
4 $75 (+$25)
5 $50 (+$25)
6 $25 (+$25)
7 $10

 

History

For the first time in NCAA tournament history, zero one-seed teams advanced to the Elite Eight. San Diego State and Miami both upset their one-seed opponents Friday night to knock out the two remaining one seeds. This also led to a lot (and I mean a lot) of trashed brackets.

Thursday night saw two of the best played games to this point in the tournament. First Kansas State guard Markquis Nowell had a performance for the ages.

And he’s fun to watch. Really fun.

Oh and this happened right before the play. Baller.

Nowell’s Wildcats survived overtime, this first and only overtime game this year, and a tough Michigan State to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1964.

Gonzaga and UCLA renewed acquittances once again. These two teams battled in a classic at the 2021 Final Four with Jaden Suggs hitting the game winner in overtime.

Thursday night saw UCLA take a double-digit lead into half. Gonzaga rallied to take the lead and pullaway in the second half when UCLA went scoreless for over nine minutes. Amazingly ULCA rallied from down eight with 1:04 to take the lead.

And then Gonzaga’s Julian Strawther buried a three and UCLA’s hopes.

Just another incredible game between these two schools.

So now the Elite Eight field is set.

How could have seen this group schools? Well based on our pool not many. Of the remaining schools, here’s the list of champions selected with the number of brackets.

Texas (14)
Gonzaga (5)
Connecticut (2)
Kansas St. (1)
Miami Fla. (1) **

Note: the Miami entry was disqualified for non-payment.

Speaking of which I did not received payment for only one bracket. This means that the official pool pot is $710 (142 x $5), a $95 increase from last year. This increase led to adding another bracket getting paid and increased amounts to others. Here’s the payout for this year with any increase noted. 

1 $300 (+$20)
2 $150
3 $100
4 $75 (+$25)
5 $50 (+$25)
6 $25 (+$25)
7 $10

You can use the Best Results report on Pick Hoops to see if your bracket is the running.

https://www.pickhoops.com/HoopsHysteria/bestresults

Good luck to all and enjoy the four game this weekend.

Farleigh Incredible

The 16-seed Farleigh Dickinson Knights shocked the world Friday upsetting 1-seed Purdue Boilermakers, 63-58. FDU becomes the second 16-seed to pull an upset in NCAA tournament history joining UMBC. This upset may have been more improbable than UMBC’s upset of Virginia. Consider the following.

True madness.

FDU wasn’t the only upset during the first two-days of the tournament. 15-seed Princeton stunned off 2-seed Arizona, 59-55, on Thursday and followed it up on Saturday by knocking off 8-seed Missouri. It’s the Tigers first Sweet 16 appearance since 1967.

14-seed Furman also joined the party by literally stunning Virginia on Thursday, 68-67. Virginia appeared to have the win wrapped up leading 67-65 with :07 seconds to go and then the Madness was unleashed!

The Madness has created havoc in the pool too. Here are the teams picked to win the championship in this pool.

Several favorites are already out before the weekend is over.

We topped out at 143 brackets this year which would be increase of 20 from last year. That’s awesome!.

However the official count is TBD until all payments are received. The deadline is Wednesday. If you have not paid yet, please do so.

I will send out an update tomorrow wrapping up the Sunday action when we will have the Sweet 16.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk

The Kansas Jayhawks rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to defeat North Carolina, ending the Tarheels magical March run, to win the National Championship. 

And with the tournament coming to an end, it’s time for a yearly tradition – One Shining Moment.

It’s now time to wrap up our pool for this year. Congrats to Ryan on placing first! Also congrats to Chris for placing second while submitting only one bracket! Congrats to Lisa, Bill, Aaron and Joe too! Also thanks to everyone for participating. I hope we continue to grow the pool next season.

Rank Name Points Champion Winnings
1 Ryan Bohardt 127 Kansas $280
2 Chris Chamberlain 124 Kansas $150
3 Lisa Burns 123 Kansas $100
4 Bill Walters 120 Kansas $50
5 Aaron Thompson 113 Kansas $25
6 Joe Flaherty 112 Kansas $10

Blue Blood Battle

Saturday night started with Kansas defeating Villanova. The game was never in doubt as the Jayhawks rolled to a comfortable win. The nightcap featured Duke and North Carolina battling to play for the National Championship. These two arch rivals had never played against in the tournament. Adding to the stakes it served as the possible last game for Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. The game lived up to the hype as both teams battled back and forth. In the end Carolina upset Duke ending the career of Coach K. Interesting nugget is that the Tarheels served as both Coach K’s last regular season loss and tournament loss.

Tonight Kansas and North Carolina will battle for the National Championship. Unfortunately for our pool there is not a lot of drama. Here are the scenarios.

Kansas wins …

North Carolina wins …

Congrats to Ryan Bohardt, Chris Chamberlain, Lisa Burns and Bill Walters. These four are guaranteed a top 4 finish although 3rd and 4th place will depend on the result of the game. 5th and 6th are on the line tonight. If there is a tie for 6th, closest submitted tie-breaker score wins. Good luck to all.

Payout structure

Ranking Amount
1 $280
2 $150
3 $100
4 $50
5 $25
6 $10

I’m a Peacock You Gotta Let Me Fly

Tournament darling 15-seed St. Peter’s continued their magical run Friday night with an upset over 3-seed Purdue. The Peacocks overcame the Boilermakers massive interior size advantage to move onto the Elite 8 and a showdown against North Carolina on Sunday. The 11-seed Tarheels upset the 4-seed UCLA Bruins to advance. The loss ended UCLA’s bid for back-to-back Final 4 visits.

Kansas advanced with a win over Providence on Friday. Kansas will face Miami on Sunday as the Hurricanes defeated Iowa St.. The Jayhawks are the only 1-seed to reach the Elite 8. This is because Thursday night saw the other remaining 1-seeds lose.

Gonzaga fell to Arkansas to start Thursday night. The Razorbacks will play Duke today who survived against a tough Texas Tech team. Meanwhile Arizona was simply outplayed by Houston. The Cougars will square up against Villanova on Saturday. They knocked off Michigan to advance and continue on their annual March Madness run. 

As for the pool, the losses by Gonzaga and Arizona knocked out the top two selected champions. It’s easier at this point to list which selected champions are still available:

Kansas (14), Duke (6), Villanova (6) and Houston (1)

That’s the list.

I had to disqualify two brackets for non-payment. Thus it’s officially 123 brackets. As for the payout structure see below. The next update will be early next week.

Ranking Amount
1 $280
2 $150
3 $100
4 $50
5 $25
6 $10