Wow, is Yahoo’s scenario generator awesome.
I have three of the four final-four teams: all but Kansas (not that Clemson, my pick out of the Midwest, could have beaten Davidson, let alone KU), and my running record is now at 39 of 60.
My current standing in my two pools is thoroughly mediocre, but the scenario generator gives me hope. In my 4th-of-6 pool, I finish second if the final is UNC-Memphis, no matter which way that game goes; conversely, if UCLA beats Memphis I stay 4th no matter how the other two games go. But in my 7th-of-14 pool, I finish tied for first either way in a UNC-Memphis final, second if Carolina wins over UCLA but all the way down to 9th if UCLA wins, all the way down to twelfth either way in a Kansas-UCLA final, and flipflop 5th or 6th in a Kansas-Memphis final.
1 April 2008
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/ Tags: basketball
The condition of this year’s NCAA tournament is perhaps best described by the standing of my bracket (8 of 16 second round, 32 of 48 overall) in two separate pools. In one, I’m second of six players, behind one guy running away with the lead. In the other, I’m eighth out of 13. Same bracket, similar level and distribution of basketball knowledge (though a different set of biases), wildly different competitive standing.
The upset that surprised me least in the second round is the one that surprised the rest of nation the most: Davidson defeating Georgetown at the RBC Center in Raleigh, emerging from the subregional opposite UNC’s 1-seed. Carolina lost to Georgetown last year in the regional finals, and even that aside, there’s very little love lost for the Hoyas among ACC fans in the Old North State. I told everyone I talked to that if Davidson could keep it close in the second half as latecoming Tar Heel fans finally filed in from their Easter Sunday dinners, the building would close in on Georgetown; that’s precisely what happened. The Post is right to be upset over the home-court advantage to Davidson, but all the writers freely admitted that the Hoyas lost the game on their own merit.
Tech was drawn into a couple tournament stories as well, even as the Hokies awaited their NIT second-round date with UAB (taking place as I write). Most prominent was the fact that the Davidson sharpshooter Stephen Curry, son of Hokie legend Dell Curry, somehow eluded VT’s recruiting grasp — a story simplistically played as a serious failure by Seth Greenberg.
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24 March 2008
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/ Tags: basketball, media, realignment
I was bottom-feeding after Thursday, but made a miraculous comeback for most of the day Friday on the strength of picking Western Kentucky, San Diego, and Siena. At 11 PM, my day looked very good, as Arkansas was coming back against Indiana and Clemson was successfully handling Villanova.
Then Clemson choked. Oh, how they choked. An 18-point lead they choked. Our football team has trouble blowing a lead that big in that amount of time, and I’ve muttered the Old Chokie cheer a time or two in the past eleven years.
Totals: 24 of 32, missing one Sweet 16 elimination and one Final 4 elimination.
22 March 2008
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Not exactly St. James’s Gate (though I did buy the glass there), but we do the best we can.
(In unrelated news: Daryl’s back! Woohoo! (And thanks, Bret, for the tip! (Yeah, nested parentheses!)))
17 March 2008
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/ Tags: photo