March Madness Day 5 Recap

Thirteen years I have run a March Madness pool, and thirteen times now I have had to write the update after my bracket has officially blown up. Not only did I submit a gutter-ball today, my carefully selected champion fell because they couldn't handle a 2-3 zone defense. Whether I write this email is never really in question (13 years and I still haven't figured out how to rig my own pool, thanks Ivy-league education), the question is when is it coming. It's happened as early as Day 3 (pretty sure this involved Bill Self...and swearing), and as late as Day 7 or 8 (might have involved Bill Self as well).

In fact, I've made it to the Final Four just once with a shot at a (theoretical) money prize. The year was 1999. I was a high-school junior, not yet exposed to many of life's finer things. Things like a steady paycheck, beer, or organizing a March Madness pool. Had Duke beaten UConn in the final that year, I would have ended in the top-3 of the pool I entered at school. They didn't. So I didn't. On the plus side, I did use this experience to nurture a very healthy hatred of Duke basketball. So, while I didn't get to bask in triumph, I at least got to keep my soul.

Game Commentary
Part 1
Part 2

The Leaderboard
1. Cindy F - 58 pts*
2. Craig M - 54 pts
T3. Jen K - 53 pts*
T3. Melissa R - 53 pts
5. Katie A - 52 pts
6. Shanna B - 51 pts*

T-Last: Paula B - 32 pts
T-Last: Rachel G - 32 pts*

* - Selected champion has been eliminated from the tournament

Shoutouts
To Cindy F, and little Miles, who paced the field tonight by picking 3/4 games correctly (no one in the pool had Wichita State winning). Bonus shoutout to Miles, for singlehandedly out-pointing the rest of the Kofrons in the pool.

To Joe M, who has the highest score of anyone who got blanked today (there were 14 of us).

To the Coke Zero ad about why we shouldn't feel bad about filling out brackets at work. Both the "someone has to end Sharon's reign of terror" and the "I picked America" lines are tremendous.

To the Chicago Bulls, for ending the Miami Heat's 27-game win streak last night.

Condemnations
To Enterprise. This is at least the 3rd year you have run the commercial about how you hire the most new college graduates each year, and how many of those new grads were student-athletes. If this is true, why are 60% of the people in the ad the same people who were in the ad last year and the year before? Don't you have enough athletic-looking new hires to inject some fresh faces in your commercials? Did you think no one would notice?

To Tom Crean, for not having his team ready for the Syracuse zone. Also, this can be an indirect one for Tom's brother-in-law, Jim Harbaugh.

To Calgary Flames GM Jay Feaster. He told the Boston Bruins they had a deal for Jarome Iginla last night. One problem, Iginla has a no-movement clause and apparently hadn't okayed the deal yet. 45 minutes later, Iginla was heading to Pittsburgh.

To Iginla, for nixing the Bruins trade and instead going to Pittsburgh to attempt to ride the coattails of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to a title.

Pool Statistics
How many participants picked each winner:
(1) Louisville - 20
(1) Indiana - 19
(1) Kansas - 6
(1) Gonzaga - 3 
(2) Miami - 6
(2) Georgetown - 6
(2) Ohio State - 6
(2) Duke - 4
(3) Florida - 5
(3) Michigan State - 1
(4) Michigan - 1
(4) St. Louis - 1

Tweet of the day

At this rate Zeller will be working at Enterprise next year... #MarchMadness #Indiana
— Eric Stangel (@EricStangel) March 29, 2013

Enjoy Day 6!