Gonzaga

Not a good year for the West Coast. I'm now stuck rooting for Gonzaga, a team from Eastern Washington, which is more or less Idaho. Snowy, sparsely populated... and the few people who do live there vote Republican. I've been inspired by the groundswell in favor of comments, and have switched my vote from nay to yea. But if we do wind up enabling comments, I hope people don't bury a great post in a comment field.

Age Grouping

I should also be in the [15-30] age grouping. The mistake was an easy one...given the maturity of my picks.

 

I noticed that nobody mistakenly put in a younger age bracket has come forward...

 

Erin Fitzpatrick

Surrogate Smack Talker

Mook,

Thanks for talking some smack on my behalf!

Since Will suggested that we Georgians relax about basketball and just
post pictures of our kid, I'll take him up on that. Chuck, since I
snuck up on you in your age bracket, the picture is of Eston showing
off his hat from his second favorite team that is not in the tournament.

I'm not sure whether picture attachments will show up on the blog from
an email, but I'm giving it a shot.

Lauren

Age Grouping

There was a typo in the age-grouping Chuck - Lauren is also in your 15-30. And she's beating you.

A Matter of Faith

I notice that despite Jeff's lip service to the A-10 with his bracket, he couldn't even bring himself to pick the upset on West VA. Asleep Forest's loss last night really put a dent in my bracket, as did FSU and Northern Iowa's demise. As per usual, I'm sitting in the middle of the field, looking to make a late run. But I seem to have taken a commanding lead on the 15-30 age group (consisting of the two Jenkins).

Not about winning

I would try to reassure Thomas that this pool is not about winning, but when he picked FSU to win it all he showed he already knew that. There's lots to root for: the ACC's demise, for one! Randy, I'm pretty sure Lawrence is a Division III basketball squad, so I'm not sure how excited you should be that GTech has a better team than Lawrence...

Irony or upsets versus solid picks

I made some gutsy choices that won. #11 Dayton, #12 Arizona, #9 Texas A&M, #10 Maryland, #12 Western Kentucky, #10 Michigan, and #9 Sienna. I am tied for second with absolutely no chance of winning and maybe no chance of the top 90%..

Why don’t I have a chance to win? I went with two safe choices, #4 Wake Forrest and #5 Florida State and they both lost. I figured if Florida State could eliminate Georgia Tech from the ACC tournament, they must be the best team in the nation so I picked them to win it all. I notice Randolph did not follow that logic. I certainly overrated the ACC to my everlasting regret.

Lucy and I returned to baseball tonight, taking Mary Croom, Luis, and Franklin to Winthrop’s game against arch rival Coastal Carolina. Winthrop lost 7-2 but we left before Coastal scored the seventh run.

Sorry for the bitter rant but I need to get back to bridge where at least if I lose it is on my own bidding and play rather than some twenty-year-old kid.

Thomas F. McDow

Cheesehead?

Call me a cheesehead!!!!!!

Posting via Email

All

To post to the blog, send an email to: mcdowhoop[dot]mcdowhoops[at]blogger[dot]com. Where [dot] = . and [at] = @.

The subject line is the post title and the email body is the text.  Be sure to sign you email.

Also, I suggest folks add an * to your real bracket.  It's hard to distinquish which brackets rightfully deserve scorn.

Will

Apples to Appleton

Will, I think Tech is avoiding the NITwits and staying home to celebrate signing the nation's #1 recruit, along with four other solid kids (who will all take calculus, I'm told). Can we get the GT intramural winner to face the Lawrence men's varsity?  From what I found online, Lawrence claims to have one of the finest programs in the nation.   However, I'd be the 6th tallest guy on the team according to the current roster. . . .  

Randolph

Don't wait

Randolph - don't wait on the smack, if you've got it.  The opportunity won't last long.

How's Ga Tech doing in the NIT?

Will

Sugar Smacks

Hmmm.....  Tied for first, with most points possible remaining....  Do I start talking smack now or wait a bit?

---Randolph

Here it is. My time of glory. I don't care what Clarkson says, it's going to last. This bracketosopher is ready for the next round. I can't remember the last time I was in the 97th percentile of anything. For the record, it appears Coach K was taken out of context. But he's still what his detractors say he is. (Also, Todd, I loved that photo of the University of Washington.) **UPDATE 3/20, 9:28 pm** Well that was short-lived... 87th percentile is much less exciting.

Never Fall in Love with an Underdog

As Piers ascends the lofty hieghts of first place he should have some concern about how quickly fortunes change. Last year I won with a disciplined bracket that picked some underdogs but never fell in love with them. This year I read that VCU was under rated so I picked them to go to the sweet sixteen. They lost to UCLA. Then I thought I had to pick Tennessee because Leslie went there to grad school and for Dan and Susie and all of the Rambo's. So I pick Tennessee to beat Oklahoma State. Nothing is wrong with that pick. They only lost by two. Where I went wrong is that I picked them to then beat Pittsburg, the team many think is the best in the country. Well if they can beat Pittsburg, surely they can beat Florida State, so I had them in the Elite Eight before I sobered up. I think they could have been a team of destiny but you have to win the first round first. I think the coaches talk about playing them one at a time. My bracket gets pretty bland from here and maybe I will end up on contention. Meanwhile, I will sit back and watch Captain 'Cuse. Let's hope he doesn't change to Captain Cuss after the Orangemen play. My apologies for not noticing Thomas has entered. He is ahead of me, but on the other hand, who is not ahead of me? I liked Dodie's comparison of bracktologists and and bracktometrists. I think that I am more like a parabracketier. We are looking forward to this weekend and seeing those coming to Rock Hill and reading interesting posts from the others. I have to admit that I am more comfortable with e-mail, but maybe the point was to keep us old timers from getting too comfortable. Anybody want to start another pool to see who can predict how quickly Piers is back in the middle of or at the bottom of the pack? I don't think he will last the night. Clarkson

Enjoy it now, Piers; or the Leader Board, 3/20

With 16 games down, Piers is sitting pretty atop the leader board. He correctly picked 15 outcomes yesterday. On his heels are that group from your favorite joke: a Yankee, a Liberal, a Dermatoloigst, and Rush Limbaugh walk into a bar. The punch line? "...and he answered 'Well I'm not the one who thinks gays in the military should occupy the south, Zittohead.'"

Awake?

You've got to be pulling for VCU and WKU, despite your bracket.  Go underdogs!!  Or go to bed.  

Leslie's telling me to root for the favorites.

First Impressions

When I was looking at colleges (in the fall of 1991), I visited Villanova on a beautiful, wintery Saturday afternoon. I hated it. I've never been able to say why, but I did. I don't have the same passionate dislike now that I did then - but I still picked American to beat Villanova tonight. With a score of 55-55 currently, it is possible that I will be right. And I'll be the only one of the currently top-ranked people who did. In fact, Erin may be the only other person who called it like this. Can't wait to see how this one turns out...

Bracketology vs. Bracketometry

It's the same old story: you have a degree in bracketology, but all the easy money seems to be going to the bracketometrists. And you studied so long. Well, welcome to McDowHoops, where anyone can win. (Let the record show that in 2006, a joke bracket won the whole thing. And a two-year-old picking by mascots came in second.) But who are all these bracketometrists? For your edification, here are all the entrants with their age groups. We do not publish weight classes. Or cholesterol levels. Please note: In order to attract a higher quality clientele, we use discretion in sharing information with third parties. I have taken the liberty of spamicizing the last names in the list so that your future employer will not be able to use Google to link you to this site. (! is i; 0 is o; = is e) Barack 0bama [45+] Brian R!chards [30-45] Chuck Jenk!ns [15-30] Clarkson McD0w [45+] David Le0nhardt [30-45] Dodie McD0w [30-45] Eddie Bl^ck [30-35] Eleanor M0lvig [1-15] Erin F!tzpatrick [30-45] Diego R!ncon [30-45] Felix Le0nhardt [1-15] Greg Rask!n [30-45] Jeff Gumb!nner [30-45] Jim G0ff [45+] Jonah Le0nhardt [1-15] Lauren McD0w [30-45] Leslie McD0w [30-45] Maggie Gumb!nner [30-45] Maggie Lou McD0w [1-15] Mary R!ncon [30-45] Nell Jenk!ns [45+] Nellie Jenk!ns [15-30] Ole Molv!g [30-45] Piers Turn=r [30-45] Randy McD0w [30-45] Ron B!rnbaum [30-45] Rush L!mbaugh [45+] Stefany D=ese [30-45] Thomas McD0w (x2) [45+] Todd Ke!thley [30-45] Will McD0w [30-45]

The Eight-Team Pool

Obviously I'm rooting for the University of Washington and, as I did last year with WSU, I now provide you all with some home-state photography (this is the UW campus). So I wound up entering four pools, which is a lot for a guy who won't watch any games at all (our TV gets no reception). The office pool, the courthouse pool, the Audacity of Hoops, and an unusual pool run by med school friends, "the eight-team pool." In the eight-team pool, you pick eight teams and every time one wins, you earn the number of points corresponding to that team's rank. So if you pick UNC, you'll probably receive 4 or 5 points total, 1 point for each win. Whereas if you picked Maryland, you already would have 10 points in the bag... but you'd have run the risk of zero points from that team. One strategy would be to try to pick the likeliest upsets (Maryland, Texas A&M, USC, Tennessee) and hope you're right on all of them and win 80 or 90 points. If you think the winner is sure to be someone who just happens to make amazingly lucky picks, then your only hope of winning is to try to be that amazingly lucky person. In other words, to generate a score high enough to win, you're forced to bet on risky outcomes. My hope is that there are not enough people in the pool for someone to get lucky on every single pick. So I went for a blended approach, with some "sure thing" bets and some stretches, hoping that some better-than-expected performances will net me an average of eight points from each of my eight teams. My picks were: Kansas, Wake Forest, West Virginia, USC, Duke, UCLA, Texas, Clemson. Thoughts? I see now that if Duke and Texas both win, they would play each other the next round, so that was a dumb move.

Blogging Ain't Easy for an Oldtimer

Each year I have to relearn this stuff. My first check of my bracket and my dream of the perfect bracket is deferred until next year. Never bet on Texas A&M because they are part military college and part civilian with the worst aspects of both. Memphis survived though Will tried to scare me. I have them going all the way because Mary Ann is from Memphis and they will be hungry to prove themselves since the Big East committee didn't favor them with a number one seed. If New Jersey ain't yankee, then why don't they serve grits for breakfast? I never got around to a specialty bracket, but had I done one it would have been entitled "The Big Least Bracket." It would have bet on no Big East team past the second round except we would give Syracuse one more win for that great game last Thursday night and also for our deep affection for Piers. They should have named this the Big East Invitational because of the NCAA's long standing prejudice in favor of the Big East which is almost but not quite matched by their love of the ACC and the Big Ten. The Big Ten no longer consists of ten teams which leads one to wonder if they have gotten around to admitting which of them is no longer big. I would also not give much weight to Big 12 schools on the theory that only conferences with a poor self image would feel compelled to include "big" in their name. We seem to have a good group entered this year but I didn't see Thomas's entry. He could have entered a bracket based on the highest average SAT score. Is there anyone out there who doesn't wish Davidson was in this year? They have a great team, a great coach and one of the best and most exciting player in college basketball. If I hear one more commentator talk about the "full body of work," as if that means anything, I may have to puke all over myself. I was trying to think of a more dignified expression but need to get back to work. Good luck and may all of your teams win unless I failed to pick them. For those on the road to Rock Hill I am looking forward to seeing you and your children. Have safe travels. Clarkson

Upset watch - Memphis

#2 seed (and one of my final four teams) is in a nail biter with Cal St Northridge late in the second half. And reports emerging that Jim Calhoun will not coach UConn today due to illness. Back to work. (Kinda.)

When idols collide

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/18/coack-k-disses-obamas-basketball-picks/ Where are Will's loyalties in this?

A Couple of Annotated Brackets

Liner notes on Jonah's and Felix's brackets... Wake: Nate's mom went there Duke: We're going to North Carolina for vacation Connecticut: It's close to New Hampshire Siena: We drive one. Also, it sounds like Ruben Sierra Minnesota: The Twins play there Boston College: Red Sox, baby! Maryland: Our state Also, J & F would like to engage in a little younger-generation smalk talk: "Hey, Silas, your dad is even balder than ours." (There is a back story here. It involves me selling Todd down the river.)

Hello all

We Leonhardts are ready to go. Jonah and Felix watched 5 minutes of one game this year, in an auto dealership, while Laura, Eva and I were checking out minivans. That's the sum total of our family's 2008-9 NCAA knowledge. But we're ready to do battle nonetheless, proudly standing with our local American University Eagles (for one round, at least). Depending on how tomorrow morning goes, Jonah and Felix may be contributing their own bracket, too. Thanks for having us.

Method Brackets

Don't forget to enter a "joke" or "method" bracket if you like. I've now entered one, though relatively uninspired: BigEastDream. It picks Big East Teams, or the better Big East Team, to win -- and otherwise picks other big conference teams (from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and Pac-10) to lose. Where two smaller conference teams play each other, it picks the better team to win. Where I had to pick between two evenly-matched, non-Big East but big conference teams, I let my prejudices guide me. -------- And here's a reminder of happier (and more melodramatic) times in Rock Hill:

Gamecocks Cooked with Curry

An early (NIT) tourney split in the Durham McDow household gives the early bragging rights to Wildcat grad Leslie.  While Davidson tried to give the game to USC, the 'cocks where polite hosts and insisted Davidson win.

Clarkson, on the bright side, at least now you won't be distracted from your smack talk by any affections for teams left in the Dance.  Onward to Thursday.

Will

Loyalty

Boston College is at the dance (again) this year which is great for me.  I can talk a whole lot of smack - for at least one round - about my school.  But since I haven't seen a single basketball game since the 2007 tourny (if even then), loyalty will be the only muse I have.

I'm looking forward to seeing most of you this weekend in Rock Hill, and following the SMACKDOWN here-

MC

ESPN Group is Live

Despite Georgia getting no teams in the Tourney and SC only getting the Tigercubs dancing, we will hold the annual McDowHoops smack down.  Those from Georgia can plead sleep deprivation and just post pictures of their kid.

I'll send a link tomorrow, but for those who can't wait, the group name McDowHoops has been created on ESPN Tourney challenge website.

The password is the McDow hometown, all lowercases, no spaces.

Will

Teams?

Can someone remind me what teams are McDowHoops ones? Here's my recollection (tell me what I'm forgetting): IN: Boston College Syracuse Duke Tennessee Pittsburgh OUT: Winthrop South Carolina George Washington George Mason Roanoke Georgia Tech Citadel Davidson Washington State Yale Does MA have a Memphis connection? What else is there? Will the South Carolinians support Clemson? :) Seems like a tough year on the school loyalty front. Personal note: this year I'll also be pulling a little bit for Ohio State (Abby and I are taking up jobs there next fall), Binghamton (central New York connection), and Portland State (they offered me a job).

Impending Madness

I'm ready for y'all. I've been studiously avoiding watching anything but Pitt games so that I will have an excuse for losing again this year. Go Panthers!

Coming soon: McDow Hoops 2009

Stay tuned...

I missed it!

I missed the exciting final, unfortunately, due to time zone issues. Sounded like a great game. I have received several emails from students expressing their state of depression after UNC's collapse. Even worse, Dick Vitale was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. I liked the blog, as you could probably tell. But others should chime in about next year... maybe with an email to me or Will (as Dodie suggests). Thanks for the memories!

Postmortem

Will and Piers, thanks for spearheading this friendly competition. I thought the blog was great, and hope others did too. And by "others," I mean the people who didn't post. Email is more accessible for some folks, but I think the tradeoffs are probably worth it. Will and Piers, you might want to poll the non-posters to get their thoughts. It'd be great to have a few more voices talking smack next year. Some final thoughts: 1. Congratulations to Maggie Lou for beating Abby! 2. I'm feeling charitable this morning, so I'm not going to issue final grades. Sorry, Mook. Or, if you want, consider everyone to have received an "A." Even Ole, Sarah, and the Mysterious Crawford. However, ask yourselves: if you enter a bragging rights pool and never brag, did you really enter? 3. In the bragging-rights pool run by our Goucher friends, the winner is referred to as "Sir" for the rest of the year. "Sir Jay" is handing the title this year to "Sir Natalie." I think that is pretty funny. Much as I shudder at the thought of a "Sir Raskin," we should consider a similar award for coming in first place in McDow Hoops. (But you're too late for "Sir Clarkson" this year... Clarkson.) 4. Lauren's top five: Dode, D. McDow 1129 Will, karma stinks, M. Gumbinner 1103 Hipster Pickster, C. McDow 1102 Jim Goff, W. McDow 1100 Will_McDow, W. McDow 1075 The actual top five: Hipster Pickster, C. McDow 1110 Frank Maguire was right!, J. Gumbinner 1090 Leslie McDow, W. McDow 1070 RPI or RIP?, C. McDow 1060 Dode, D. McDow 990 5. What the heck was Frank Maguire or McGuire right about?

Those Tigers Have No Charity Stripes

The Memphis Tigers might practice their free throws in the off
season. Their poor shooting from the line killed them.

Holy cow!

Amazing shot from Kansas. A three-pointer with 2.1 seconds to go. We're going to OT!!!

Halftime Enchiladas Finished; ready for second half

Having been absent for most of the tourney, I might not have much standing to ask, "Where is everyone?"  Just 20 minutes of smack left.

Who's not rooting for the school where you can beat your feet in the mud?

Hillary scores!

Congrats to the Hipster!

Clarkson shares his top picks with none other than Hillary Clinton, who has Kansas and Memphis in the championship, with Memphis winning it all.

In the last few contests, Clinton managed to outpace Obama, 870 to 780, with 160 PPR (to Obama's zero PPR -- he had UNC beating UCLA in the championship).

It remains to be seen what mileage her campaign will get out of this. Is there a metaphor here? Could she pull off a similar upset with the superdelegates?

And the Winner Is??

The post claiming victory said it was from Will. I got confused when Clarkson didn't sign his name (though I should have recognized his writing style). Congrats to Clarkson! -Mook

From Nell

I agree wholeheartedly with Mary Croom.  We have really funny and witty people in this family and extended family. I am sorry that I did not get more involved with the blogging, but unlike Clarkson, I don’t have a nifty blackberry to stay on top of communication where ever I am.  In fact the state of South Carolina mistakenly thinks that this blogging thing is just a social activity and has blocked the site from our office network.  How am I supposed to stay cutting edge sharp and competitive??  So I know both my bracket scores and blogging grade are not up to McDow standards.  There’s always next year.

And isn’t it Clarkson claiming victory?

Nell

Honorable Mention

I realize that there is still another game to be played before the tournament is over. But Will has already claimed victory, so I thought it time to start in with the Honorable Mentions. We have A LOT of funny people on this blog but by far, I found Stew-Baller's post on March 30th to be the funniest: Of course, I'd probably be inclined to skip class too if my Professor kept pausing his lecture to blog about his losing bracket. So Todd, as you are working on the final grades, I'd like to put in a good word for my funny cousin. -Mook