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Oh So Sweet
After a weekend of good games, the field is down to the Sweet Sixteen. St. Peter’s continue their Cinderella run … err flight?
“I AM A PEACOCK, YOU GOTTA LET ME FLY” 🦚@PeacocksMBB is FLYING to the #Sweet16! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ntf2B5TEFG
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 20, 2022
However St. Peter’s isn’t the only surprise of the Sweet 16. North Carolina, never to be confused as a Cinderella, upset the defending National Champion Baylor Bears. Baylor is the first 1 seed eliminated from this year’s tournament. The Bears are the fifth most selected champion for this pool. So far the fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth picked champions have been sent home.
https://www.pickhoops.com/HoopsHysteria/statsgrouppicks
The tournament resumes Thursday so until then remember that if you have not sent your payment it is due before Thursday.
The Madness Returns
Thursday saw the return of the Madness as St. Peters shocked Kentucky (and the world) that sent the 2 seed Wildcats back to Lexington. Kentucky is the fourth most selected champion of this pool. Tough break for those brackets on day one.
St. Peter’s was not the only upset of the day as 12 seeds Richmond and New Mexico State both pulled off stunners too. Richmond held off Iowa while New Mexico State outlasted UConn. Three mid-majors knocking teams from the SEC, Big Ten and Big East. Welcome to the Madness!
Friday saw a return with a couple of upsets with 11 seeds Iowa State and Notre Dame moving on. Illinois survived a major upset as it led for only 25 seconds in their win over Chattanooga. However those were the 25 seconds to lead.
The HoopsHysteria pool has 125 submitted brackets. Once payment is verified, the payout structure will be posted. The 125 is a 10% increase from last year and matches the 2018 totals. Thanks to everyone for participating.
After the first round, the leader is Mike Duckett with 28 points. This weekend’s games are now worth two points each. The next update with come Monday. Until then sit back and enjoy these sixteen games over the next two days.
A Mauling
The Baylor Bears dominated Gonzaga Monday night to claim the school’s first Men’s National Championship. It was an impressive performance by Baylor. The Bears got out to an immediate 10-point lead and never flinched. Their suffocating defense and precise offense made the previously undefeated Bulldogs look out of sync all night.
Congrats to the Bears and head coach Drew Scott. He took the job in 2003 after the previous head coach was fired amid a tragic scandal.
Also as a fan of Fixer Upper, it was nice to see Chip and Joanna Gaines, both Baylor alumni, celebrating their school’s win. Baylor is located in Waco, Texas which is also the home to the Gaines and their Magnolia empire.
National champs!!!!!! @FinalFour @BaylorMBB @BUDREW #sicEm pic.twitter.com/6LcaH3uGZ6
— Chip Gaines (@chipgaines) April 6, 2021
Congrats also goes out to Scott Fiasco on winning the HoopsHysteria 2021 tournament pool. Scott correctly selected Baylor to win it all.
Rank | Name | Points | Champion | Winnings |
1 | Scott Fiasco #2 | 137 | Baylor | $250 |
2 | Allison Corcoran #2 | 133 | Baylor | $125 |
3 | Matt Lapensee #3 | 131 | Baylor | $75 |
4 | Scott Hineline #2 | 128 | Baylor | $50 |
5 | David Fewell #3 | 127 | Baylor | $25 |
6 | Aaron Thompson #4 | 126 | Baylor | $10 |
Classic
“Game for the ages.” “A timeless classic.” “Best Final 4 game ever.”
I’ve read and heard a lot of these types of comments. I couldn’t agree more.
The Saturday night national semifinal between UCLA and Gonzaga was a piece of sports art.
Great pre-game story lines – check. High execution by both teams on both sides of the ball – check. Stars playing like stars – check. Drama – check.
UCLA came into the game as a massive underdog on a Cinderella run. Gonzaga came into the game looking invincible. But that’s why they play the game.
The game could end only one way.
COMPARE THE CALLS: CBS / ESPN / Russia / Westwood One English / Westwood One Spanish pic.twitter.com/3wg5MufE8Z
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 4, 2021
Chills.
Gonzaga will meet Baylor who dismantled Houston in the other semifinal. It’s the matchup most fans wanted.
While the national championship is still to be determined, the winner of our pool is not. Scott Fiasco will finish first. He picked both schools to win it all. So lets take a look at the two remaining scenarios.
If Gonzaga wins
If Baylor wins
Good luck to all tonight and hope we have an excellent game.
Bruins Crash the Party
11-seed UCLA upset 1-seed Michigan late Tuesday night 51-49 to earn the last spot in the Final 4. UCLA’s tournament run is unbelievable. They were one of the last at-large teams selected for the tournament. They had to play Michigan State in the First 4 which saw the Bruins rally in the second half of that game just to get that game to OT. They went on to upset BYU and Alabama to just get to last night. Incredible run by the Bruins.
And then there is Mick Cronin. Congrats to him … and his dad.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. Love you, Dad.”
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2021
Mick Cronin shares the importance of his father being at the NCAA Tournament. pic.twitter.com/NFBhb3WbnD
Earlier Tuesday night 1-seed and championship favorite Gonzaga continued to look the part in their dismantling of USC. The undefeated Bulldogs have only had one game decided by less than 10 points all season. Insane. This team is historically good but it won’t mean anything without a title.
Gonzaga vs teams in their region:
— DixonDisciple (@DixonDisciple) March 31, 2021
#2 Iowa- Won by 11
#3 Kansas- Won by 12
#4 Virginia- Won by 23
#5 Creighton- Won by 18
#6 USC- Won by 19
Didnt face #7 Oregon
#8 Oklahoma- Won by 16
Beat 6 of the top 7 teams in their region by a combined 99 points.
Dominance. #Zags #ZagMBB
The other spot were decided on Monday. 1-seed Baylor continued their march with a victory over Arkansas. The Bears continue to look the part of a potential national champion. Meanwhile 2-seed Houston took care of business and ended 12-seed Oregon State’s unexpected run. The all-Texas match up of the Cougars and Bears will be a fun battle.
Our pool is now down to 4 brackets that have a chance to win it all – Scott Fiasco, Scott Fiasco 2, Don Elsass 2 and Matt Lapensee 2. The prize pool breakdown continues with a similar structure as past years. Good luck to everyone with a chance to place.
Ranking | Amount |
1 | $250 |
2 | $125 |
3 | $75 |
4 | $50 |
5 | $25 |
6 | $10 |
And then there were Eight
The weekend saw the cream rise to the top as the higher seeds moved on with the exception of Alabama which lost to 11-seed UCLA. Congrats to Mick Cronin on his first Elite 8. This team was one of the last to make the tournament playing in a play-in game against Michigan State and that game went to overtime. On the edge of missing the tournament then close to losing in the play-in game but now they are 40-minutes (or more) from moving onto the Final 4.
The leader is still Joe Lapensee with 62. The games today and tomorrow are worth eight points each so the standings will change. According to PickHoops’ Best Results report, 16 brackets can win the tournament. The next update will be posted on Wednesday which will have the prize breakdown.
CHAOS
First let me apologize for the lack of updates. I had some chaos of my own last weekend with WordPress. I had issues which caused me to lose to updates to the site on back-to-back days last week. I decided to take a break for a few days due my frustrations. I’m good now and ready to roll.
Last weekend was chaos. Five teams seeded 8 or worse made it to the Sweet 16. Three of the five teams are in the Midwest region (Loyola-Chicago, Oregon State and Syracuse) while UCLA is in the East region and the Cinderella of the tournament Oral Roberts is in the South.
The chaos also saw several teams selected to go to the Final Four, Championship or Champion in our pool get booted in the first weekend. The departures of Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa, Texas and Kansas have led to a lot red in brackets.
The following teams were the only teams selected to make it to at least the Final Four in our pool. The teams in red italics have been eliminated. Yikes. You can see this data from this report: https://www.pickhoops.com/HoopsHysteria/statsgrouppicks
Gonzaga |
Illinois |
Baylor |
Michigan |
OSU |
Alabama |
Houston |
Iowa |
FSU |
Texas |
Kansas |
Arkansas |
Oklahoma State |
West Virginia |
BYU |
Tennessee |
Villanova |
Purdue |
UNC |
Texas Tech |
Virginia |
LSU |
Florida |
As for the current standings, Joe Lapensee (my dad) is the leader with 46 but 3 of his Final Four teams have been eliminated. Tough break. The rest of standings are bunched up and with games this weekend worth 4 and 8 points these standings will look a lot different come at the end of Tuesday night.
Lastly all 113 entries have been paid for so the pool total is $565. I will post the splits this weekend.
The Madness Has Returned
It’s good to be back. After the cancellation of last year’s tournament, I didn’t know what to expect in regards to participation. I’m glad to report that we 113 entries this year which is close 2018 but down from our record high in 2019. The payout totals will be communicated on Thursday once the prize pool has been confirmed. Thank you to everyone for jumping back in.
As for the tournament, it did not take long for Cinderella to make an appearance as 15-seed Oral Roberts upset 2-seed Ohio State sending many brackets into chaos. Only one HoopsHysteria bracket picked Oral Roberts – Joe Flaherty #2. Congrats Joe. However Oral Roberts wasn’t the only upset of the day. 13-seed North Texas, 11-seed Syracuse and 12-seed Oregon State experienced some of that March magic. Four upsets on day one is a lot of bracket chaos.
The leader after day one is Chip Lindon #1. Unfortunately this bracket was not immune to the chaos. It has Ohio State reaching the Final Four. Ouch.
Tip-off for day two begins in a little over an hour. I look forward to another day of fun, exciting games.
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Please read the following link for PickHoops regarding how it is handling COVID affected games/teams.
Redemption
It’s a story as old as time. Overcoming spectacular failure to achieve your ultimate success. I believe I’ve seen a movie about this very notion.
(Anytime I can reference Dumb and Dumber, I will.)
The University of Virginia now has their redemption story. After becoming the first #1 seed to lose to a #16 seed in the biggest upset of tournament history last season, the Cavaliers finished their story by winning an exciting overtime classic over Texas Tech. The final three minutes was a montage of play making by both teams.
Red Raiders head coach Chris Beard displayed class and a lot of emotion in the loss.
I really enjoyed this year’s tournament. While the “Madness” wasn’t quite what was seen in previous years, the quality of the games from the Sweet 16 to the National Championship was very compelling and entertaining to watch.
As for our pool with Virginia’s OT win, here the final payout.
Rank | Name | Points | Champion | Winnings |
1 | Matt Lapensee #3 | 141 | Virginia | $310 |
2 | T.H., Tom Kakaris | 136 | Virginia | $150 |
3 | Aaron Thompson #3 | 133 | Virginia | $100 |
4 | Chip Lindon #1 | 132 | Virginia | $75 |
5 | Scott Fiasco #2 (150) | 131 | Virginia | $50 |
6 | Chris Matthews (133) | 131 | Virginia | $25 |
Scott Fiasco wins the tie-breaker between 5th and 6th place as his 150 total was closer to the game total of 162.
Thanks to everyone for participating and I look forward to next year.