Arizona. Goodbye. Virginia. Godspeed. Michigan State. So long. North Carolina. Adios. Cincinnati. Auf Wiedersehen.  Xavier. Ciao.

(The last two are especially tough. I’m still in shock that both of these teams are out before the second weekend even started. I’m even more stunned how those two games unraveled for both teams. A dream of a Final 4 Crosstown Shootout will be another great “what if” in Cincinnati sports history. Alas the tournament rolls on.)

Six of the nine most selected champions have been sent packing BEFORE the Sweet 16. The carnage is deep.

Game Pick Counts

Look at all the red on that report. It’s like the Red Wedding. Villanova, Kansas and Duke better be aware.

Yet 45 brackets have a chance to win this pool. 45!!

Using the Best Results Report, you see the best possible finish for every bracket under the Best Finish column. Click How to see what scenario would achieve it.

Reminder that the payment deadline is Wednesday.

It happened! It finally happened. A 16 seed knocked off a 1 seed. UMBC shocked the sports world last night and subsequently trashed a lot of brackets in the process. The best thing I learned about UMBC is that their mascot is the Retrievers. Who doesn’t love a retriever? #RetrieverNation

Before I get into the effects of this game to our pool, I want to share the post game interviews with Virginia’s Head Coach Tony Bennett. It’s pure class. My level of respect jumped to a higher level. He gets it.

https://twitter.com/kg_holler/status/974856007485739008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSG8YYOoZlQ

In the wake of this historic upset,  lets breakdown the carnage from Virginia’s early exit.

Virginia Pick Report

• 25 selected as champion
• 43 selected to reach championship
• 53 selected to reach the Final 4
• 70 selected to reach the Elite 8
• 122 selected to reach the Sweet 16
• 125 selected to reach 2nd round
• 0 selected zero wins

Virginia was our most selected champion. Their early departure along with Arizona’s is music to the ears of those that select Cincinnati, Tennessee or Kentucky to advance from the South region.

Now we move onto the Sweet Sixteen over the next two days. Lets see which Cinderella punches it’s ticket.

March Madness is synonymous with upsets and day one did not disappoint. The University of Buffalo “bull rushed” the University of Arizona en route to a 89-68 win. This upset knocked out our ninth highest selected champion.

With the help of PickHoops.com’s Stats, we can get an even bigger picture of the effects from Arizona’s stunning departure.

Arizona Pick Report

• 6 selected as champion
• 10 selected to reach championship
• 12 selected to reach the Final 4
• 12 selected to reach the Elite 8
• 46 selected to reach the Sweet 16
• 38 selected to reach 2nd round
• 1 selected zero wins

Yes. I was the only one to pick Buffalo to beat Arizona. I also picked Davidson on that bracket for full disclosure. However the takeaway is the detailed data PickHoops offers. I suggest you play around with the site when you have some free time.

The only other upset of the day finished in classic tournament fashion.

Loyola Chicago’s Donte Ingram’s buzzer-beater three stunned Miami and sent the 11th seed onto the next round.

As for our pool, we have 125 submitted brackets. I will announce the payout once I have verified payment for each bracket.

Here’s the link for the standings after day one.

Standings

Good news: William Keller’s leads after day one.

Bad news: He selected Arizona as the champion. Ouch.

Lets see what day two brings. Good luck to everyone and enjoy the games.

First let me welcome you back to HoopsHysteria for another fun tournament.

Second I made the decision to move to a new bracket manager this year after having some issues with the CBS Bracket Manager the past couple of years. I like the clean look and ease of use PickHoops.com provides. Additionally they offer a lot of additional reporting options we’ve not previously had which I believe will add to the overall experience.

Last, but not least, the waiting is over and the brackets are out. It’s now time to analyze the matchups and select your champion. Please pass along this invite to HoopsHysteria to your family, friends and co-workers.

Go to pickhoops.com/HoopsHysteria to join. You’ll be asked for your name and email address and to create a new user password for yourself. Then you’ll be asked for the group password. This group’s password is nothingbutnet

Good luck to everyone and enjoy the action this week.

This year’s Final Four has a lot of new flavor with a touch of the old guard. Gonzaga and South Carolina both are first timers with one guaranteed to advance to the National Championship game. Meanwhile Oregon had not seen the Final Four since 1939. The Kentucky-North Carolina game had the feel of a National Championship game. Yet it was only to get the fourth ticket to the Final Four and was settled it in truly legendary fashion.

With the Final Four set, our pool is now set too. The final tally of paid entries 111 with eight disqualified for non-payment.

Here’s the official prize breakdown:

Good luck to everyone. It looks to be a weekend of good basketball.

The tournament is winding down but the action is heating up. Last night the SEC put the nation on notice as the conference claimed three spots. First South Carolina continued their impressive run with an impressive win over Baylor. It’s the first Elite 8 appearance for the Gamecocks. Florida later added to the SEC’s claim to the Elite 8 after Chris Chiozza’s buzzer-beater three knocked off Wisconsin in OT.

Lastly Kentucky defeated UCLA avenging an early season defeat by the Bruins at Rupp.

It wouldn’t be March Madness if Cinderella didn’t make an appearance. This year’s Cinderella hails from Cincinnati as the Xavier Musketeers stunned 2 seed Arizona late Thursday night (actually it was early Friday morning.) X takes on Gonzaga today for the first ticket to this year’s Final Four. Regardless of this game’s winner, it will result in the first trip to the Final Four for either program.

Lastly our pool remains wide open. However I have not received word back regarding payment for the below entries. I’m worried that my change in email address has caused some to possibly miss these emails. Thus I will allow anyone listed to still pay thus keeping their brackets alive. However this offer ends Monday. I would hate to remove 12 entries so if you personally know anyone listed  below please give them a heads up.

Please use the PayPal option on the HoopsHysteria site or Pay a Friend option otherwise I get charged a fee and well that’s not cool.

Good luck to everyone.

Before I get to a pool or tourney breakdown, I would like to put my dad hat on for a moment and brag mention that we have a little March Madness in our own household. My oldest son’s basketball team, the Royals named after the old Cincinnati Royals, plays in their league championship game today. Unfortunately my son will not play today. He broke his thumb in their first tourney game. However he will be on the bench today cheering on his teammates as they go for the championship. Go Royals!

This year’s tourney should be called March Mildness. A trio of 6/11 upsets coupled with a few down-to-the-wire games has not lived up to the annual expectations of March Madness. This is not a bad thing though. Better teams remain which should lead to better Round of 32 games. This Mildness has also resulted in more of a chalk bracket thus far. The next two days will provide a lot of fun matchups and good basketball.

As for our pool, we have a total of 119 entries unofficially which is down 11 from last year. A final tally will be announced once all payments are made. Unfortunately I have received feedback from some users that had issues entering brackets on CBS. I even had issues submitting my brackets. Thus I have decided to move the pool to a new TBD site next year.

David Fewell and myself sit atop the standings after the first round while a pack of 9 is one point back. The standings will fluctuate over the next two days as point values per game increase to two. One final note is the breakdown of predicted champions. Again for the second straight year Lisa Burns is the first to have one of her champs knocked out. Screw you Marquette! Right Lisa?

Reminder that all payments are due by Wednesday. Please use the PayPal option on the HoopsHysteria site or Pay a Friend option otherwise I get charged a fee and well that’s not cool.

Tonight it ends. After three fun and exciting weeks of March Madness, a National Champion will be crowned this evening … and a few fortunate folks will walk away with some cash. So here are the scenarios.

North Carolina wins …

Villanova wins …

So we know a few of the winners already. On the strength of correctly predicting both Villanova and North Carolina in the championship game, Bill Waters has clinched first place as surprisingly no one in this pool selected Villanova as their national champion. Additionally Larissa Casebolt has secured second place and Aaron Thompson has secured fifth place albeit with two different brackets. Congrats to those who have won and good luck to those sweating it out tonight.

Winners can email their payment preference: PayPal or money order. Hint: You will get your money faster with PayPal.