Get your smack right here

Listen, I have to do this now b/c I am surely going down with Kansas as my top pick, but I'd like to point out that at this very moment, only the President of the United States keeps me from the top of this Southern Fried Bracket competition. Given my low PPR, I'm switching my allegiance to N. Iowa and Cornell. Go Big Red!

How Piers Beat Georgia Tech

Zanzibar Brackets

A quick update from the brackets in our house before any new scores dash hopes.  (Come on Georgia Tech--can you turn your cell phones long enough to get some sound advice?)

First, in the possible points remaining category, no one is setting on a bigger pile of chips than nine-year-old hoopssayer Maggie Lou.  She entered reluctantly, perhaps recalling her misfortune last year when I put the wrongs teams down for her.  She took heart, however, when she recalled that when Franklin was 2 and she was 5, they placed 2nd and 5th respectively.  And now she may be in 14th place, but that's a fine place to be now, drafting off her elders.  She picked Cornell to win this one, and who isn't pulling for the Ivy League?

And while we're pulling for Cornell, let me give special mention to a first time McDowHoops participant Bryna Harr!ngton who has the Big Red winning the whole enchilada.  Bryna is a recent graduate of everyone's favorite four-letter school and is living with us this year in Zanzibar and working as a research assistant for Alison.  She is a proud resident of Maine, and her choices were generally governed by which school was closer to her home state.  Thus a highly unlikely (and now impossible) Final Four of Maryland, Vermont, Louisville, and Cornell.  And in that match up, with the way Cornell is playing, they could win the national championship.

Luckily, I had the foresight of entering Obma's bracket under my name to keep Greg, the Yankee Interloper, from crowing at the top of the list.  Otherwise, both my real-ish bracket and my graduation rate bracket have been Farokmaneshed.  My only hope is West Virginia going all the way because I'm the only one in our group who picked them.  

Go 'Cuse!

Now let's see if the Buckeyes can hold off those pesky Yellowjackets. "OSU's other Turner" -- as Evan is known around here -- is a pretty good player.

Headline contest: Saturday March 20

What should today's (satirical) hoop headlines read? Put your best
takes in the comments...

My contributions:

New Mexico Looks Slim Next to Huskies

Iranian Bomber Injuries Millions' Brackets

Yowzer

Nell's right, but I'm so happy to see my bracket tank if it means Syracuse has a better shot at the title. It always looked daunting, but with Kansas gone, it looks a little less so. Knock wood, fingers crossed, no jinxes. Clarkson, if this was somehow due to the Chicken Curse, call me a believer.

WOW

A lot of folks just got their possible remaining points cut in half. Go Kentucky.

Nell

Obama has 25 of 32 teams remaining and Leads Hoopsmcdow - from Clarkson

See the story below.  President Obama is managing health care and still manages to beat everyone of us.  Let's hope he does as well with Congress.

 

Updated: March 20, 2010, 2:43 AM ET

Obama has 25 of 32 teams remaining

.

NEW YORK -- The presidential bracket is looking pretty good after the first round.

President Barack Obama correctly predicted 13 of 16 winners Friday, the second day of the NCAA tournament. That came after he went 12 for 16 on Thursday.

Obama's only blemishes Friday were 13th-seeded Siena, which lost to fourth-seeded Purdue 72-64; ninth-seeded Florida State, which fell to No. 8 seed Gonzaga 67-60; and No. 9 seed Louisville, which was defeated by eighth-seeded California 77-62.

The Big East has been a big bummer for The First Fan. Four of his seven losses have been by teams from the conference that received a tournament-high eight bids.

Obama took a few chances in his bracket, which he filled out for ESPN for the second straight year. Siena was the second No. 13 seed he picked; he correctly chose Murray State to upset fourth-seeded Vanderbilt on Thursday.

Obama also had 12th-seeded Cornell topping No. 5 seed Temple -- and the Big Red came through with a 78-65 victory Friday.

And how's this for some presidential prognostication? He also has his Final Four still intact with Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky and Villanova. Obama predicted North Carolina's national championship victory last year, when his bracket ranked 903,125th overall -- just above the 80th percentile in ESPN's online contest.

His biggest miss so far was Georgetown, which he predicted would reach the round of eight. The Hoyas, the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional, were stunned by 14th-seeded Ohio 97-83 on Thursday.

Marquette was his only other pick for the round of 16 that has lost. The sixth-seeded Golden Eagles were edged by No. 11 seed Washington 80-78 on Thursday night.

Obama has only one team eliminated in each of the Midwest (Georgetown) and West (Florida State) Regionals. He's down two teams in the East Regional, and three in the South Regional.

 

 

georgia TECH employees - currently TECH-less

Randolph is working this weekend, reading scholarship applications at a hotel in downtown Atlanta. A hotel that apparently does not have Wi-fi. Randolph (and Lauren and Eston) are feeling very out of the loop on the status of McDowHoops and sorry to be missing out on the smack-talk. Randolph (who has called me several times for updates - apparently he does not have a cell phone number for Will, Piers, or Clarkson) assures me that he will be back in the game tomorrow afternoon.

-Mook

Obama BaROCKS his bracket

I hope the health care vote goes as well as Obama's bracket. He
picked up a super majority in the first round (25 out of 32), and I
can only hope he doesn't get Stupaked in this round.

Chicken Curse Homie Dooms 'Nova

        Though the Chicken Curse bracket had Richmond winning this one, Chuck's post doomed 'Nova.  Guess where Chuck lives?  Right.  He lives in Columbia, the home of the Chicken Curse. Of course, Nellie, our Richmond student lives there too.  Remember Richmond?  They could have been the team beating 'Nova today but for the curse. The theory of the curse dooming Wofford and Clemson is also sound.  The Curse bracket also had both of those teams.  Wofford by the way is the only school in the Big Dance with a higher average SAT than the number of male students.  Thomas doesn't mention it much but he graduated from Wofford as did our Daddy.  They played a great game  and could easily be the team wearing the glass slipper.  I enjoyed watching St. Mary's. Chuck made a good point about the announcers fawning all over themselves over St. Mary's.  Someone should remind them that in the opening minutes while 'Nova was winning they mentioned how ready to play they were today.  Never form an opinion about an announcer until you hear them announcing a game in which your team is being blown out. I have had much practice

        Dodie may have a point about God loving Syracuse. If so, it is the only Big East team God loves this week.  The Big East has had a tough time.  Piers is a great guy and if he loves Syracuse, we ought to all love them.  I am definitely pulling for the Orangeman. Chuck, how about you?  

 

                                                                                                                                        Clarkson

 

Good press for George Mason

With a win by St. Mary's the press will use the phrases "Cinderella"
and "George Mason" in a roughly 2:1 ratio from now until St. Mary's is
eliminated. GMU also beat a Big Least team (UConn), but that was in
moving from the Elite Eight to the Final Four. The boost in
applicants (20%) after that year still has people talking on campus.

Duke Blue Devils say...

"THANK YOU St. Marys!!" Now let's go Old Dominion. Or as I used to say Old Domino. Go ODU.

Surprise Big East Fan

I don't often find myself pulling for a Big East team, and I'm usually for the underdog, but I'm loving the Wildcats right now. Or perhaps more to the point I'm hating on the love-fest that the commentators are putting on for Omar " The Mutant" (Mom's word) Samhan. I really hope 'Nova can pull through against these Aussie goons.

Evidence that God loves Syracuse?

Year's Biggest Sandstorm Turns Beijing Sky Orange

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: March 20, 2010

Filed at 2:23 a.m. ET

BEIJING (AP) -- China's capital woke up to orange-tinted skies Saturday as the strongest sandstorm so far this year hit the country's north, delaying some flights at Beijing's airport and prompting a dust warning for Seoul. more...

I'm impressed

....With Todd and Obama

....With Wofford's ability to hang close the whole game

....With the power of the Chicken Curse.  Who knew it would effect all SC teams, including USC's biggest rival?  And was that the reason Wofford couldn't find a buzzer beater shot in the final seconds?

Go Red Rams!

Tonight the Orange play. I bleed Orange, as you know. But what's more, this year, two of their starting 5 also went to Jamesville-DeWitt High School, my alma mater. The JD Red Rams (see pic). I wonder how many top teams have 2/5 starters from local high schools. For those who haven't been following them, this team also plays a very unselfish brand of basketball, leading the country for much of the season in team assists. And tonight, without their starting center, they'll be playing with a mere 6-man rotation. So it should be a fun and interesting game. And if you still aren't sure why you should watch SU play, let me just remind you about this guy (the pic is a little out of date):

Stat of the Day: Possible Points Remaining

SO some of you hot shots picked some good ones.  And others have the chicken curse fever.  But the scores across McDowHoops are only separated by a max of 50 points.  The real number to watch is the Possible Points Remaining to see who has the potential to dance the big dance.  Here are our entries top to bottom on possible points remaining.

ENTRY, OWNER	PPR	TOTAL
BIG BAD BRIAN 53 1, B. Richards	1760	100
Maggie, M. Gumbinner	1740	80
meine.gewinner, L. McDow	1740	90
Rugby Scrum, D. Rincon	1740	110
Tennessean, L. McDow	1740	100
GT takes it all, R. McDow	1720	100
High Seed Wins, W. McDow	1720	90
Luis "El Monstruo" Rincon, D. Rincon	1720	90
Maggie Lou's Quidditch, D. McDow	1720	100
Southbound Train, G. Raskin	1720	110
Yankee Interloper, G. Raskin	1720	110
Devastated in Durham, W. McDow	1700	90
Dreamin in Durham, W. McDow	1700	90
expert testimony, E. Fitzpatrick	1700	110
ToyotaAcceleration, D. McDow	1700	90
crawfordb11, L. Crawford	1680	80
Grad Rate / Seed, D. McDow	1680	100
Most Wins, N. Jenkins	1680	90
Obama's Picks, D. McDow	1680	120
Skyhook Keithley, T. Keithley	1680	120
Abby, A. Norris Turner	1660	100
KelleyR314 1, K. Ragland	1640	90
The Pied Picker, M. Jenkins	1640	110
Beaux Beaux JAS 2, J. Sadler	1620	80
Bea's picks, J. Gumbinner	1600	70
Ella's picks, J. Gumbinner	1600	70
Fran Dunphy's Mustache, R. Jaffe	1600	110
L Mishler Picks, L. McDow	1600	80
Lauren's picks, L. McDow	1600	90
Where's the CBI bracket? , J. Gumbinner	1600	90
Big [B]East, P. Turner	1560	90
Clarkson McDow 1, C. McDow	1560	90
Nellie, N. Jenkins	1560	110
Ithaca or bust, B. Harrington	1520	70
Slim Pickins, N. Jenkins	1500	90
Captain Cuse, P. Turner	1380	90
The Chicken Curse Lives, C. McDow	1260	90
MookMcD 1, m. rincon	1140	100
bryzzard 1, B. Harrington	1120	90
Go Vandy!, S. Igo	1120	100
It's In the Name, m. rincon	920	110

Method to March Madness

After a day of results, I'm hoping that with some of your entries there is a method to your March madness.  Otherwise, you have chosen poorly.  As an attempt to let those who see themselves teetering on the brink of elimination, I would like to ask you to explain the way that you have chosen teams if you have entered a method bracket.  Please respond in the comments here, so we can have all of these excuses explanations together.

It's in the Name (Mary)

"I...made a bracket choosing schools whose names had the most letters in common with mine (Mary McDow Rincon). In the case of a tie, I chose the higher-seeded team.  Note: I did this without using any scratch paper to tally letters, and based on the abbreviated name on the ESPN website. I concede that there are a couple of mistakes, but I'm done with the bracket part and eager to move on the the smack-talking part."  You can get the greater context for these choices here

Grad Rate / Seed (Dodie)

This bracket takes the graduation rate of all of the teams in the tournament and divides it by their seed number to get there grade-rated seed (GSR).  In every matchup, the team with the higher GSR was declared the victor.  I wanted to congratulation those with a high graduation rate, but take the team's ability into account.  (Utah State, seeded 12, and Wofford, seeded 13, both have 100% grad rates, but I could not see them in the final four.)  The numbers on graduation rates for basketball players have a rwide range.  You can see the full report here.  It has also gotten some decent media coverage, including a defense by Maryland Coach Gary Williams of their 8% graduation rate, the lowest in the 65 field team.  The top ten for graduation rate have more than 905 success.  These include BYU, Marquette, Notre Dame, Utah State, Wake Forest, Wofford, Duke, Lehigh, Vermont and Villanova.  The bottom ten are, in descending order, Clemson (37%), Missouri, New Mexico State, Baylor, Kentucky (and I'm sure it will only go down next year), Tennessee, Washington, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, California (20%), and Maryland (8%).

By this method Duke beats Kansas in the final, and as the tie breaker I entered their GSRs: 92 and 73.

High Seed Wins (Will)

Ever a respecter of authority, Will has entered a bracket that thinks the tournament selection committee knew what they were talking about when they seeded the teams.  We'll have to see what the final four looks like.

Obama's Picks (POTUS)

This blog takes some satirical inspiration from the now-president's book title, so it only seemed natural to let him join us.  I imported his bracket from ESPN, and he, among others, had Murray State winning the first round.

President Obama

Has anyone noticed that President Obama has a quite impressive bracket so far?  For those of you who are disparaging  Beaux Beaux's bracket I will remind you that he  is 20 points ahead of Ella. 

Keithley!

Todd - you've jumped out to an impressive lead with your Washington pick. And you're probably the northernmost native!

Hey Piers...

You should change your entry to the Big Least.

 

 

Marquette/GTown/ND FAIL

But... I think Syracuse/West Virginia/Louisville/Pittsburgh will all make it to the round of 32, so the BE should still have 5 of 32 (with Villanova squeaking through). And then 4 of 16, I'd guess. But really what do I know.... don't answer that. Can't say I was sorry to see Richmond die. They once drove Syracuse out of the tournament early. Grudges are meant to be held, right?

Devastated

It's fitting that my Devastated in Durham bracket is beating my Dreamin bracket. After 11 games, I've only picked 5 correctly. Worse yet, I already have lost 3 of the Sweet 16 teams in my bracket. Check out LEHIGH. Up 9-4 on Kansas. Let's go #16.

Go Pac-10

We west coasters get no respect, and perhaps deservedly so. But it's nice to see the Huskies squeak out a win! Also, I have finally pulled ahead of the President. Though he may have bigger problems on his mind.

Big lEast Conference

What's up with the not so Big East?? I thought they were the best conference in the land. They've lost 2 teams already. Their only win was in OT. And now Marquette down 2 with a last second shot opportunity. The PAC 10 may have more teams left after day one than the Big East. Will

Richmond and Georgetown Refuse to Buy Chicken Curse Insurance

        There is still time for fans of Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Duke and Syracuse to cut a deal with the Chicken Curse.  The CC bracket has Tennessee going to the final four and Syracuse going deep.  Any takers?

 

Didn't sign that last post

Should have signed it, "My second favorite team is whoever is playing Georgetown."

 

Go Bobcats!

I don't care about my bracket, I just want Georgetown to lose. 

Ouch!

I don't think I've ever started off this badly. It is something to be tied
with the likes of the Chicken Curse Lives and Devastated in Durham. But, I
guess the good part is that there isn't any way to go but up.
Am I missing something? Did Thomas and Charlie not enter the tourney?

I am blaming Clarkson and the curse.

Nell

 

Sorry, Editor Piers

This is Nell and how do I post so that my identity is known? 

 

I am not enjoying these CBS announcers for the Richmond-St Mary's game.  They have spent most of  the game chattering about how great St Mary's is.  It would bother me less if the Spiders weren't down by 7.  What the heck is a Gael??

 

Nell

Yes!

I have to talk smack now, because I'm away all weekend. I'm liking my picks so far. Who even knew there was a state called Murray?

Great start

to March Madness. Two of the three games completed go into overtime. Old Dominion knocks out ND and Robert Morris did themselves proud, a 15 seed coming mighty close to knocking out a 2 seed. And now Murray State leads at half. It is a good afternoon to be home from work!!

[Editor's note: Please sign your name to posts if you are not posting in a way that will automatically generate your particular name. Otherwise we won't know whom to smack with our talk. -Piers]

This is what a collapsed Catholic gets...

... for picking Notre Dame to go far. A loss to Old Dominion! They seemed to be on a roll. Best player back from injury, the rest of the team playing well. I've always despised the (Fighting) Irish. This is what I get for not letting my deep-seated animosities guide my picks. Now I can't even be happy that they lost. I'm a mess. What a disaster.

The Chicken Curse Also Plays Basketball

        The lowlight reel on Piers' post is some of the worst moments is Carolina football history. The curse also plays basketball as demonstrated by a beating we took as a # 2 seed by Copin State.  To prove it was no fluke the mighty Gamecocks returned the following year as a #3 seed and lost to # 13 Richmond.  Nell and Nellie, this is a commercial venture and not a family love feast. On my regular bracket I have Richmond winning the opening game. On My Chicken Curse lives bracket I have them going to the final four. I love the Spiders and hope that they win it all, however, for a modest fee I could change allegiances.  Meanwhile my cry is "Go Spiders!"  I really like that Richmond team.

 

        To prove the curse lives there are three games going on. My team is losing all three. I could be out of this thing by nightfall and will get my talk in while I am able.

 

                                                                                Clarkson

 

Richmond!

Glad to see everyones picking up with the smack talk already.  Hopefully I'll be able to do a little myself this year, with Richmond in the tournament!  Chuck will be here in Richmond this weekend so we will definitely be watching lots of basketball.

On another note, the Spiders may not take home the National Championships in basketball, at least noone can beat us in this bracket:

http://www.theawl.com/2010/03/real-america-march-tuition-madness?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAwl+%28The+Awl%29

Nellie

Chicken Curse - Big Dance = Chicken Dance

It may not be enough to get USC into the Tourney this year, but I think the above equation suggests what must be done for next year. Bend your elbows and dance, Clarkson, dance. For more on the chicken curse, visit: http://chickencurse.com/Worst_of_the_Curse.html I believe GT is peaking alright, peaking at the belles of the ball through a hole in the wall, wondering how to get invited in. -Piers PS Glad to hear Barbie has infected someone else's house, too. [UPDATE] PPS it would help my smack talk if I knew how to spell "peek"

Aggie rhymes with Maggie

Ella and Bea both have their picks in.  Each is going with the Aggies to the Final 4 (although different Aggies).  Hard to resist a team that's practically named after your mom.

 

Ella surprised me with the Wildcats winning it all, while Bea went with the Muskateers because she likes the commercial for the Oscar Winning film "Barbie and the Three Muskateers."

 

 

 

Don't forget the Spiders

 McDow's and associates have an addition to Pier's list and a new team to pull for this year. They will be fun to watch--The Richmond Spiders.  Clarkson, don't put them as winners on your Chicken Curse bracket.  I think Nellie is the only current college student in our group and I think she and the Spiders need the support from the rest of us.

 

And Randolph, if you had wanted to meet Andie McDowell, who was known to us as Rose McDowell, you should have hung around the stable more. She was in my riding class.  However, I believe you were about 5 or 6 years old at the time.

 

Let the games, and especially the smacktalk, begin!!

Nell