The High Road

I am about one loss away from joining Piers on the high road of principle that always follows people who have a really terrible bracket.

 

Clarkson

 

Saturday's games

Every single one looks very interesting. Sorry to have to miss most of them.

See schedule here.

[or copy and paste:] http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/schedule?date=20130323


--Piers

TOSU*.67

First of all, I'm the dimwit who picked Georgetown. I know nothing about college hoops and figured it'd be more fun at least to pick a local team. Plus: Pope Francis!

Second, has there been any discussion about whether we should discount all points associated with Ohio State victories? It's nothing against Ohio State; it's just probability. Based on The University's recent history, there is something like a 33% chance it will later have to forfeit all 2012-13 basketball games because of some kind of violation -- academic, recruiting, legal, moral. Obviously, these forfeits, and the associated lack of pool points, will come too late to affect final McDowHoop standings. So, in the spirit of fairness and accuracy, why not lop off 33% of said points now? It may be too harsh; it may not be harsh enough.

Third, how badly is Maggie's source's husband doing in our pool so far? Only a little better than me and Todd.

Finally, I'd like to apologize for my daughter's picking Harvard in the first round. She is too young to understand that 10 points in a bracket pool are not worth the stain that comes with associating oneself with Cheaters U.

Yours in March Madness,
A Yankee Living in the North Confederacy

PS The Ohio State thing was Raskin's idea, and he suggested 50%. I found that a bit mean and went for the compromise.

The true meaning of NCAA pools

As I've matured over the last several hours I've come to realize that having the winning the bracket really isn't what it all about. It's about love and friendship and spending quality online time through a blog with the people I care about. It's about appreciating the grit and determination of the scholar-athletes who present such great role models for my children. And it's about hometown pride, supporting a rust-belt city that could use some good news. It's about underdogs showing us that the American Dream is still alive. Anyone can make it here, with a good enough defensive scheme and a high three-point shooting percentage. It's about teamwork and hard work and foot work. It's about those who leave it all out on the floor. And it's about learning about the value of good time management skills, especially in crunch time. It's about the promise of springtime. And oh so many other things.

But the one thing it's really not about is having the winning bracket.

Right?

-Piers

Nicknames

Most of my nick names are well-earned - including the one about being a Lucky Little Girl. I have no nick names about picking hoops teams.

I'm happy to grab a Power Ball tix for anyone who sends money. My few for a winning ticker is just 1/3 of winnings.

Mary M Rincon
Sent from my iPhone

Only 50% of people* who went to Harvard picked Harvard (*who are part of McDowHoops)

In this genial, family competition we have had complicated feelings about pulling for each other's teams. This is mostly because the teams that people care about are all in the ACC. Will has Duke, Randolph and Lauren Georgia Tech, and Piers and Abby pulled for UNC. We had Winthrop in common, and DAvidson has been a regional favorite (strengthened by Leslie). Nellie helped us pull for Richmond even as Piers has worn down our defenses against Syracuse. But now that the Ivy League is showing it strength, what should we do? Some of us have a hard time pulling for Harvard. So, I looked through our roster and realize we have two graduates of Harvard College among us. Surely they can guide us. Matt Miller left Cambridge a couple of years ago, and Sarah Igo is of a more classic vintage. What can we learn from them about rooting for Harvard? Well, only one of them chose Harvard to win, but he overlapped with Jeremy Lin, so perhaps he is better prepared for Crimsanity. (Barack Obama only went to Law School there. He also picked against them.)
-Dodie

Give it up for the Atlantic 10

Temple knocks off NC State.  A-10 now 5-0 in the tournament, with an average margin of victory of over 18 points.

 

And LaSalle is up 18 over Kansas State at halftime.

 

Looks like more bids than the ACC or SEC was well-deserved.

Hey #1 Ranking "RandomPicks" Will You Buy me a PowerBall Ticket?

MC,

You said your bracket was random, but there you are tied with a four-year-old as top dogs in McDowHoops. While you're out running errands today, will you pick me up a ticket for this weekend's $320 million PowerBall drawing?

-Dodie

West, not the best

Oh, West Bracket, why do you hate me this way?  First the smarty pants at Harvard beat my final four pick New Mexico.  Then the Rebels knocked out my elite eight Wisconsin Badgers. On the plus side, Dodie and Piers should be happy that Ohio State is now home free for the Final Four, if Wichita State doesn't beat them on the way there. 

On the plus side, Duke looked reasonably good against Albino.  Hoping the rest of my brackets don't implode like the West. 

-Will

Mis-Named Bracket

I called it Random Picks - it was the last thing on my To Do list between me and sleep last night - but I should have called it something like No Heart. No BC. No Ga Tech. No Syracuse. I ended up picking teams that like Villanova and Notre Dame - arch enemies of us Screamin' Eagles - because it was hard to care. OSU was the saving grace for a school with an emotional connection - so I picked them to go all the way.

On a side note, I picked Butler because I had some foggy memory of an upset last year (or within the last couple of years).

Love all the emails - keep 'em coming!!

-- Mary

Bracket Explication

From my spot in the rear, bumping against the stern of Franklin's Funkboat, I am looking frontward and wondering about the following brackets:

1.  March is for Baseball:  Bracket name sounds like TF IV, champion pick looks like TF V.  Whose is it?

2. 10's and 9's underdogs:  This strategy has paid off so far!

3. Random Picks:  MC, were your picks really random?

4.  Stamps Schools:  Randolph, I think I know the answer, but could you explain your picking algorithm here?

5. Eva L:  Someone should explain to this almost-five-year-old what a bookie does for a living -- I think she has found her calling!

6. In the Abode of Dode:  Dodie, just curious, which is your "real" bracket?  Is this it? 

7. I like the dueling brackets With My Head / With My Heart.  Who submitted these?  And will you be living the rest of your life according to the body part that wins?

8. Showdown between Nate Silver and President Obama.  Excited about this.  Nate leads by a mere ten points. 

9. Mascot Underdog:  Could someone explain these picks?

10. Bexley = Center of the World:  Choosing the teams closest to Bexley, I assume?



--Todd

Wow!!

Just Wow!

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Solomon's ABC bracket

Probably would have worked better if he went by mascot so he could have picked against the Zips, instead of for Akron.

Unexpected Allegiances

The night wears on and I find myself pulling for UNLV.  This would never ever happen if it weren't for that bracket.  Yeah, the one I filled out two days ago.  I spent 5 seconds choosing between UNLV and Cal.  Because of those few seconds, I spent two hours pulling for a team that the 90's taught me to hate.  And then to top it off, they go and lose!  Madness.

I've only missed three games so far, but I already have two of my sweet sixteen knocked out. Hoping the late games are worth staying up for.

Will

Southern goes Gaga, almost knocks off 'Zaga

I was at a cub scout pack meeting when my phone vibrated. My sister-in-law was texting to let me know that the first one-seed in history might be going down. I snuck a peak at the score, and it was close to the last minute. Now ESPN is saying that the Zags look weak and might get knocked off by Wichita State. This will not help Franklin who picked teams based on how weird he thought their names were. Thus Gonzaga had legs, but now-defeated Valparaiso was supposed to win it all. Solomon, meanwhile, went with the alphabetical matchup, favoring those that came first in the alphabet. Fingers crossed for Akron!

Heartbreaker

          I am doing better than Will so far, but the Davidson loss was a heartbreaker. I deserted the game in favor of Ella and Bea’s gymnastics. Didn’t see the end but saw the score. One more bucket and they would have moved on. This may be the beginning of a long slide. I hope my bracket can stay alive another day or two.

          This is the first year I have seen more than a few minutes of day games. Retirement isn’t bad.

 

Clarkson

 

Oh crap

That last post on St. Mary's was from me, Piers.

St. Mary's

They had a last shot -- I was watching that game thinking "it's over, it's over" and then magic happened twice (bank three and inbounds stop), but not three times in a row. Ah, well.

Very disappointed by Pitt. One thing we learned in that game: if you're going to lay an egg, don't do it when Doug Gottlieb is one of the announcers. He just kept hammering on them, especially the senior whose last game it would be and who played a terrible game. Then they showed a series of clips of all of his bad plays. Poor guy, even if he did play an atrocious game in the last game of his college career!!

Workin' at work

I just asked Nell if she was watching the Davidson-Marquette game, and she responded "No, I'm still at work." As if that's any excuse! Back me up here Todd, Will and Piers.
-Chuck

Workin', or atleast at work.

I have two monitors at work.  Both are currently occupied as shown below.


Todd - you'll enjoy the caption under the coke ad on the right side.  If you can't read it, it says "It's not your fault your watching the tournament at work."  Just tell that to your boss.

-Will

50%

Two games in and I'm 50% with one sweet 16 already gone. Bucknell I thought you were more Butler than Butler.   Here's to hoping my percentage goes up.
 
Will

Heart vs. Head

Two teams that I picked at least in part with my heart are the Wichita Shockers and the Davidson Wildcats. They are both looking good so far.

 

Clarkson

 

Day One Headlines

I feel a bit bad talking trash to my nine-year old cousin, but I didn't want to miss this opportunity:

Franklin's Funkboat Sunk by Izzo's Iceburgs.

Office Productivity

It's Day 1 of my least productive time at the office.  I take comfort in the fact that Piers is far less productive than I am during the March Madness period.

My lunchtime task today was to take the McDow Hoops list, drop it into Excel, and see which teams we're collectively picking as the winners.  Results:

Indiana - 7 votes
Louisville - 6 votes
Ohio State - 6 votes
Duke - 4 votes
Gonzaga - 4 votes
Miami (FL) - 4 votes
Florida - 3 votes
Kansas - 3 votes
Akron - 2 votes
Georgetown - 2 votes
Wisconsin - 2 votes
Oregon - 1 vote
Michigan St. - 1 vote
UNC - 1 vote
Valparaiso - 1 vote

-- Todd

Ready, Set, SMACK

As the first games start, everyone is still in it.  Time to trumpet your picking prowess until the only thing left are your friends and your nose! 

 

I'm guessing I've got about 4 hours before my bracket is blown.  Happy Madness!!

- Will

PS - Thanks Piers for the reminder for everyone to sign their posts.

Picking against our faves....

...I actually picked a Syracuse arch-rival to win it all. Ack!

Meanwhile you're all being nice not mentioning the NCAA investigation of Syracuse hoops... I hope it doesn't amount to much.

Must I root for my bracket

Once again this year I'm in the unfortunate position of picking teams I don't want to win. Do I root for the bracket or with my heart? I may have to go change my picks.

Will

Two Raskin entries this year

You will be glad to know that not only did I submit the fabled Yankee Interloper, but my kids Morris (age 8) and Daphne (age 10) cooperated to pick their very first ever bracket.

They have called their team the New York Big Shots. Chips off the old block, they.

Good luck to all!

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Nate Silver

Nate Silver has weighed in here.

I'm with POTUS

The End Game

I crunched the numbers without Obama (who is clearly out of the running no matter what... sorry Prez).

First, if OSU wins it all, Dodie's "Buckeyes Pay the Bills" bracket will win.

If one of the other three teams wins the championship game, it gets more interesting:

Dodie will be out, since his bracket depends on an Ohio win. I looked at the current four top scores minus Obama: that's Austin, Erin, Randolph and me.

All four of us picked Kentucky to win, which means that relative to each other we will know where we stand after Saturday's games (because our scores will rise and fall by the same amount whether Kentucky wins, loses, or does not play in the championship game).

Here are the winners among the four of us, based on the potential championship line-ups:

Louisville vs. Kansas
Todd wins (880 will be the top score).

Louisville vs. OSU
Randolph wins (1000 going into the final), unless OSU wins it all (then Dodie wins).

Kentucky vs. OSU
Randolph wins (1160 going into the final), unless OSU wins it all (then Dodie wins).

Kentucky vs. Kansas
Todd wins (1040 going into the final).

Bottom line, the potential winners are Dodie, Randolph, and me. If you follow the Vegas odds, the most likely winner is Randolph. And if Kansas upsets OSU on Saturday, then I will be the winner no matter what happens in the other games.

Please check my math!

Cautiously optimistic

Huh. Maybe it's time I stop ignoring the glowing wall fixtures and watch some hoopsketball. Isn't that what it's called? This is very unexpected. I hope this is MY 15 minutes of fame!

 

Erin

Endgame?

Has anybody worked out the endgame yet? I think I stand to be in pretty good shape, but I thought I would ask. Got to thank my GT home boy Joel Sokol for the free advice. His LMRC methodology seems to do a better job than the selection committee or other systematic prognostications.

Still pretty impressed by the Barack-et turned in by POTUS.

Randolph

From "Oh, SU" to "OSU!"

Well, I wish the refs had let the teams play (OSU took 42 foul shots!), but really two of our best players (Waiters and Joseph) just didn't show up, and we got severely outrebounded. So, it was hard to be too upset after the game. Our biggest problem was losing our starting center (Fab Melo) before the tournament and it finally bit us. That I'm disappointed in the loss is a sign of how well the rest of the team had regrouped after losing him.

So, at least the Buckeyes are in it. My students and the Ohio taxpayers will be happy, which counts for something.

While I'm here I'd like to admit that, although I'd like to see Kentucky lose, I think it's remarkable how well all those McDonald's All-Americans play together as a team.

-Piers

Louisville

Amazing Louisville win. We ate dinner at a new bar/restaurant place tonight in Inwood and they had the game on. The last five minutes were incredible. Also: saw this video about Obama making his picks:

Syracuse-OSU

On Saturday, Syracuse plays Ohio State. I will be rooting for Syracuse, of course.

But this game made we wonder whether it's better to have two teams you like play each other in the Elite Eight, thereby guaranteeing that one of your teams will make it to the Final Four... or whether it's better to have them in separate games, in which case both could make it to the Final Four, but also neither of them might make it.

Right now I think I like the security of the first option. It means I'm guaranteed to have a fan's interest in the final weekend of games.

Piers

Bye Bye Bam

Wow, Louisville just destroyed Michigan State, vaulting me (quite temporarily, I'm sure) into the lead over our President.

Ready for more Basketball

Even though my brackets pretty much tanked early on, I find that I am
anxiously awaiting the return of basketball on TV and the checking of the
bracket status for the group. I too am always glad to have a president who
is at the top of the leaderboard--just one more reassurance that he is
smarter than most of us. But I wonder about his choice for champs. I agree
with Piers that Ky is looking like they will be hard to beat.

A late response to the explanation of the second bracket--Too Blue--I tried
to choose the team who wore blue. It was harder than I imagined , but I
thought that between Ky, UNC and Duke, it would be a good bracket.

Let the games resume.

Nell

Obama

It's pretty cool that our Commander in Chief is leading the pool.