MARCH MADNESS 2021 UPDATE 2
“West Coast vs The Lone Star State”
Final Four is set
#2 Houston vs #1 Baylor #1 Gonzaga vs #11 UCLA
On Monday night, visions of Phi Slama Jama rang out in Lucas Oil Stadium as the Houston Cougars defeated upstart Oregon State 67-61, and will reach the Final Four for the first time since 1984. Surely there is an ESPN 30 For 30? You all remember Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde the Glide Drexler? What looked like a blow out to be became a tie game late before the Cougars rallied. Sasser and Grimes led Houston. Kelvin Sampson, returned to Indiana after banishment and has a chance to lead the 28-3 Cougars to the title.
In the other semifinal, the Baylor Bears took down the surprising Razorbacks of Arkansas, 81-72. Father and son Brooks, both assistants for the Bears and the Cougars will face off in Saturday’s semifinal. One way or another, a team from Texas will have a chance at the title. This will be the early game will Baylor tabbed as a 5 point favorite.
On Tuesday night, Gonzaga stayed undefeated, chasing history with a solid and disciplined performance, neutralizing the Trojans of USC with ease, and cruising to an 85-66 victory. 30 wins in a row. The last undefeated team ever was Indiana in 1976, That was like half a century ago. Still fresh in the minds of Hoosiers young and old. Fitting the Zagnuts will have a chance to match in the city of Indianapolis. No turnovers and a 19 point lead at half, put the fans to bed early. Gonzaga gets no press. They are impressive to watch. Stay tuned.
Best game of the Elite Eight pitted #1 Michigan against the play in game winner UCLA. Nobody expected this one. Except Bill Walton and Keith Bratton (or was it supposed to be Michigan State in the final four?). Despite three solid chances to tie or win the game in the final minute, fate was not on the side of the Wolverines, who concluded a great season in losing 51-49. Michigan missed their last 8 shots of the night. And what on earth happened to Franz Wagner? Big Ten be damned. North Texas? Oral Roberts? Loyola-Chicago? Illinois and Iowa were routed. 9 teams up, 9 teams down. Only Michigan made it so far and laid an egg at the end. Nevertheless, kudos to Mick Cronin, who led Cincinnati to a 31-5 record in 2018 and 9 straight NCAA appearances. How quickly Steve Alford is forgotten. The ex-Bearcat coach from Cincinnati, takes the UCLA Bruins back to where they once were 11 times or so. John Wooden would be proud! He lived to be 100.
Leaders after Round 4
Results of the Elite Eight tally on Sunday showed Donna Preziotti leading the pack. Long time entrant and prompt from Milan, Michigan. Followed by your webmaster under the name BuhByeArchie!, with likelihood of nothing but falling from the mountaintop. And goodbye Archie is right. Miller time is no more in the hotbed of NCAA basketball. A new era has begun! Bring back the Hoosiers to prominence, Mike Woodson. Indiana bred and Big Ten player of the year in 1980. Home Sweet Home! And throw in Thad Matta too! Third place on Sunday fell to Diana Marquez who hoped for Villanova, but alas, no more. John Rapp and Krampe Kynedi rounded out the top 5 heading into the Monday/Tuesday games. Kudos to Kirsten Wags, 11th on the list.
Final action early this week brought us to the Final Four. And currently, here is how we stand.
#1 on the leaderboard is Keith Bratton. Long time supporter and donor to our charitable event. And it’s a family affair, but this time, Keith himself holds the top spot in Masters. Keith has UCLA in the finals. Multiple points shot him up the leaderboard with this 11 seed. He is the only entrant to choose UCLA to make it to the final four.
Funny though, I’d bet a pretty penny he was thinking Michigan State in the play in game, and rode them to the finals. Haha 2 for 1 and I can’t recall a play-in game winner responsible for a tremendous place of finish in this pool, let alone the win. VCU in 2011 was the only other team to advance to the final dance.
Current runner up is Joe Smith (Joe Smith 3), Sherwood Joe, local product and long time participant. Needs Houston in a big way. Speaking of another Joe Smith, glad to have Smitty, (Joe C) back again, recently transplanting himself from the sunny beaches of California to a free state, Texas. Austin welcomes you! Good run in the pool this year!
3rd place still with Tweety Bird, hanging on. Not much change with 4 through 8 with Gary G, John Rapp, Diana Marquez, and The Kegster, Jill Spaetti in 7th followed by Kynedi K.
9th place to John Lamb, climbing up the leaderboard and Travis Farhar in 10th but about to fall off the leaderboard. He is still giving it a good run for last place. Hoops Queen sound in, and show me the money!!
All tournament updates and what if scenarios are posted.
Tournament Accounting and Demographic Update
Unofficial # of entrees is 419. Some are suspect, suspicious, bold faced intrusions, and may be eliminated. A few others need to cough up the dough. Did we forget? Either way we are pleased and surprised by over 400 entrees with the year off.
18 states in the union are represented, from Washington to Florida, Texas to Connecticut, and the usual home bases of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Kansas. Michigan of course.
Eventual prize pool dollars and charity dollars will be tallied and finalized after the tournament concludes, but so far we are doing very well.
Please note: Checks written and sent to me have NOT been cashed yet!!
Charity News
Special thanks as always to the majority of you who have given additional donations to the charities. If you get time, review previous pool updates, and the charities given to and the amounts over the years as listed on the website. The endowment fund grows again!!!
Thanks to the following individuals who keep this pool going year after year:
Erv Aeschliman Brandon Anslinger Don Apple. Andrew Bender
Tom Berkley. Dan Bishop Billy Blake Brandon Boots
Vickie Buse Jill Carpenter Gayle Coudret Brandon Crane
Andrew DeLoof Christian Fletcher Sam Garau AJ Gauthier
Grant Gilles Brian Goffinet Todd Herrenbruck Brandon Iafrate. Chris Jesop Steve Jones Lynne Massengale Kevin Kalb
Dave Machisko Ken Marshall et al JoLayne Meyer John Miles
Clay Miller Ryan Neal Deb North Michael O’Connor
Bill Papineau Donna Preziotti. John Radtke TJ Schick
Jake Schiff Kevin Shinar Keith Shipman Joe C. Smith
Sam Stratman Brent Vanderheide Haley Vos Lee Wagmeister
Tom Weber Jon Wendt Kevin Wetzler Melissa Wideman
Lebra Winiger. Danny Winn. John Wojkovich
Amber Anslinger Mike Arco David Carlson Brian Cooper
Phil Coudret. Andrew DeVries Dennis Dewey Melanie Emge
Gary Gurtcheff Jim Hall. Paul Kainrath John Lamb
Steven Mank. Chris McConnell Kelly Morgan. Lynne Morgan
Patrick Morgan Ryan Morgan Dharmesh Patel Vince Prop
Mike Pyferroen Tom Rose Brad Smith Tony Stephens
Pat Wempe John Willis
Ron Bonger Keith Bratton Randy Braun Dan Brown
Jack Cleary John Cummins Lois Davidson Patty Dewey
Scott Elliott Travis Farhar Rick Friedman Clint Keown
Leslie Gabel Kwon Julie Leaf. Colleen Martin Judy McDonald
Paul Perry Karen Rush. Joe Smith Fred Stutz
Dale Todd Rob Wathen Shannon Wathen Greg Wilming
Mike Cleary Scott Gowdy Tom Waits
Phil Gilson Mike Head Skip Seamon
Lance Payton Stacy Payton
There may be more coming, and if I left anyone out, my apologies, and please bring it to my attention! That’s about 108 participants who went the extra mile. That’s over half the field and more assuming family members not listed in multiple entrees.
Special thanks to those last listed. Major $$ and much thanks!!
Final Four begins this weekend. Best of luck to you all still in contention!
“Let’s Make It Happen”