Danger! High voltage!

In 2003, Detroit-based alt rock/punk/electric band Electric Six released a track called Danger! High Voltage. The song was a minor hit in the States but soared to the tops of the charts in a few European countries. The song itself fairly nonsensical that rhymes Taco Bell with Gates of Hell, but by God its catchy. Warning: The music video is a delightfully bizarre train wreck with imagery that is not obscene, but also NSFW due to inuendo. 

It was always going to be too electronic dance music-y for mainstream 2003 American audiences, but maybe it didn’t have to be. There was a secret singer on the track: fellow Detroiter Jack White. A hidden gem amongst the noise that would hold commercial sway at a time when White was blowing up. White’s voice is recognizable if you are told who it is, but instead it was passed off as a random fan singing the offbeat falsetto. 

More Successful Than Indiana Hoops

A Hoosier Finally Wins a Basketball Game

    Congratulations are in store for one Hoosier who actually knows something about basketball. I am going to take this opportunity to blame Hoosiers NIT Qualifiers for the delay in getting this post out. My brain refused to accept that a team with the name Hoosiers in it did something good with a basketball involved. 

    Hoosiers NIT Qualifiers scored 679 points, which is an outstanding 86% of the way to the maximum high. The record of a 90% hit is the only entry winner with a higher percentage. HNITQ was lead by Walter Clayton Jr., who lead all scorers with 134 points, earning him the NPEP MVP this year. That honor usually goes to a lower seed, but lower seeds were a bit of a wash this year. 

    In second place and nearly becoming the first back-to-back champ, was What Dude 2. Cooper Flagg and the Dukies let him down in the end because that's what Duke does. What Dude 2's 661 points was 83% of the total maximum, which was better than he scored last year. 

    Rounding out the top three was Clem1 with 632 points. That 80% hit rate matches Clem's overall victory in 2019. 

    Thanks again for a fun year. I would like to give it a go next year again and I hope I have more time to be more involved. I won't be planning a trip to Ireland this time next year at least. I'll catch you all in 2026!

 

 

 Same As It Ever Was

    While Sunday's games were a bit more exciting, the chaos we expect from March Madness just hasn't been there this season. It's been more of March Yeah That Sounds About Rightness, which is a bummer. Lots of theories out there as to it's March Blandness, though most are blaming the evils of the Transfer Portal. 

LEADERBOARD 

Some quick hits:

• Maryland barely survives due to a last second shot that was most definitely a travel considering the NCAA does not have a gather step.  I hate the gather step. I hate having to explain it to my kids. I hate watching a lack of fundamentals. I now know what it was like to be an adult in the 90's when the crossover became a thing. 20 entries lost CSU players on that call, but 19 of those entries selected Nique Clifford, who ends up with the most points from a 12 seed. 10 entries selected Derik Queen and are happy he traveled. 

• Arkansas is the lowest ranked seed that we have left. 8 entries have Arkansas, but 7 of those entries selected Adou Thiero. Calipari has teased us with Thiero's availability more than Becky Beckerson teased you about asking her out to the prom in 1998. Still can't believe she ended up going with Brett Bretterson. There is only one Highlander and there is only one entry that selected an Arkansas player that isn't Adou Thiero, and that is Randy Brown's Dunk. If you aren't familiar with Randy Brown's game, you aren't living life correctly. Randy Brown's Dunk still have 5 selections left and currently sits in 8th with 443 points. 

•  Michigan's Vladislav Goldin is the only 5 seed selection remaining in the game. Goldin needs just 5 points to be the top 5 seed scorer for the tournament. The Rooski Goldin will have 7 entries dancing as much as Rasputin once did. There's an adage that "mid-cocaine and pre-AIDS was the best time to be alive and that Boney M song is proof that adage is correct.  

    Our Round 2 top scorers were the legendary Lex Hokie and overall leader biake, who both tied with 218 points. This is the first time this has happened but the ruling from Player Pool Central had a 3-0 vote that both entries get their money back. The other two voting participants were my dogs, RonSanto and Jojo Dogmaggio. They were easily bribed with treats to agree with me. Dog picture for your enjoyment:

 

 

    After our first two rounds, former winner biake is our current leader with 472 points. That entry has Duke, Tennessee, and Arizona players left, which might not be enough to hang on. In second with 466 points is Lex Hokie, who still has Florida, Tennessee, Purdue, and Michigan players. Tied with Lex Hokie is poop dreams with only 3 players left from Houston, Tennessee, and Maryland. 

    A couple entries that look like they have a shot to win are:

1.  Hoosiers NIT Qualifiers. They currently have 459 points with 5 players left.
2.  What Dude 2. Former champ What Dude 2 is projected by our unscientific projections to win. They still have 5 players left to add to their current 444 points. 
3. Scott Peterson. Currently in 12th, they still have 5 entries left. 4 of the 5 are SEC schools, so it just means more. They have 429 points and a lot of ground to make up, but it's not impossible. 

Good luck to everyone this weekend! 

 

A Yawner of an Opening Round

 A Yawner of an Opening Round

    Well, it wasn't that exciting of an opening round, but hey, even a boring opening round is better than no opening round. Some quick hits before we get to our opening round champ:

• LEADERBOARD
  
  
• I like imagining that people Googling Robert Morris and Liberty came  away some interesting news about some weird sex stuff. Tough day to be a creepy televangelist. Also tough day for the 4 people that selected Liberty player as Kaden Metheny and Taelon Peter scored less than Jerry Falwell Jr. on a vacation to Miami. 
  
  
• I know we all enjoy "future accountant goes ham" jokes, but it looks like our best shot this year is Bennett Stirtz of Drake. He's just not doing it for me. At least he dropped 21 points for the 15 people that selected him. 
  
  
• Every year we lose a 5-seed or two early. It hurts, but you can recover from this. However, two of you trusted Clemson's Ian Schieffelin, who scored exactly one more point than I did in this year's tournament. Ouch. 

    This week's opening round champ is a familiar name: poop dreams. My man mocks the integrity of this illustrious pool with a sophomoric name choice. The derisive mockery is so lazy that they didn't even bother capitalizing the name. It's more of a thought cast away like a fart into the wind. I thought about petitioning the government to make mocking NCAA pools a hate crime, but I just can't quit you, poop dreams. 

    Right behind poop dreams (290 points) is Patrick Jones 1 with 289 points. And the most handsome entrant in the land We're Just Normal Men, is in third with 272 points. 

You Really 'Bout To Do It?

 You Really 'Bout To Do It?

Oh no

It's not a gambling basketball, technically it's based on skill

You really 'bout to do it?

Sixty-Eight players, it's bigger than one team 

You really 'bout to do it?

Yeah, they tried to rig the game, and it worked for UNC

Then get on it like that

Ayy, I'm lookin', I'm pickin', I'm clickin' through the links like, "Baow"

Setnor on the picks, bro. 

Whatdude won? I Don't Know, What Dude Won?

 

    The UConn huskies are once again the national champs. As much as I enjoyed watching the physical curiosity that is Zach Edey, UConn was clearly the better team. It's a bummer that the game out of hand so early, but at least Cameron Heide of Purdue gave us this insane dunk. That was so ferocious that Bill Belichick called his old employer to check the kid's NFL draft status. 

    While Edey lead the Boilermakers with 37 in the championship game, UConn's Tristen Newton chipped in 20 point to lead the Huskies. The only reason I mention this is because Newton's brother, Jawaun, was one of my favorite players at Evansville and he played in the game where Evansville beat number one ranked Kentucky and I will bring that up whenever I can. Tough month to be a Cats fan. 

     While the Huskies are the National Champs, our champion is whatdude1. whatdude1 set a record of of 851 points, surpassing Katie Harrison's 2016 record of 808 points. Their 851 points is 81% of what the max of 1,049 points, which is a new record max by nearly 100 points. A 2015 entry holds the record for max percentage at 90%! whatdude1 got it done with 6/16 Elite 8 players and 3/4 Final Four players. 

    In second was former champion biake, who ended with 842 points. biake is probably most mad with Pop Isaacs from Texas Tech scoring a mere 12 points out of the 6 seed. 

    In third was Better Late than Never who ended up with 828 point. DJ Horne and some early success carried their entry into the money, but only having 5 players left in the sweet 16 doomed them. 

     We ended with 51 entries paid for a total pot of 510. With entry fees being sent back to our Round 1 and 2 leaders, that leaves $490 to be split up. Our champ gets $343.00, our runner-up receives $98.00, and our last entry on the podium will have $49 dropped into their account. 

    The All Player Pick Em Team:

1. Zach Edey, Purdue. This highest scorer doesn't always end up as the most value, but his177 points was 90 points more than Tristen Netwon's 87. 21 entries nailed this pick. 
2. Mark Sears, Alabama. Sears has 121 points, the second most in our entries, as a 4 seed The next highest 4 seeds were Aaron Estrada (Bama) with 63 and Jeremy Roach (56) of Duke. 14 entries selected Sears. 
3. Dalton Knecht, Tennessee. Knecht's 104 points as a 2 seed eclipsed Kam Jones of Marquette's 66. 15 entries when with Knecht. 
4. Trey Townsend, Oakland. Towsend's 47 points asa  14 seed where 20 higher than Riley Minix of Morehead St. 8 entries got this one right.
5. Tyson Grant-Foster, Grand Canyon. Grant-Foster's 51 from the 12 seed was 24 more points higher than James Madison's Terrence Edwards. 14 entries hit on Grant-Foster. 

    The Mistakes Were Made Pick Em Team:

1.  Antonio Reeves, Kentucky. Only 27 points out of a 2 seed for 12 entries. 
2. AJ Storr, Wisconsin. When will we learn our lesson on Wisconsin? His 13 points from the 5 seed were brutal for the 10 entries who took him.
3. Jaylin Williams, Auburn. Williams scored only 13 points out of the 4 seed, disappointing the one entry who selected him. 
4.  Pop Isaacs, Texas Tech. He dropped 12 points, 4.5 less than his season average, on his way to ruining 15 entries. 
5. Don McHenry, Western Kentucky. You don't expect a lot from a 15 seed, but you should expect more than 7 points. 17 entries did at least. 

    Thanks again for participating! This is always a fun thing to do and has completely taken over from me filling out an actual bracket. Catch you all next season!

 

Real Geniuses of NCAA Pick Em

I Ned Stark, son of Rickard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, select
players from Houston, Iowa State, Kentucky, and Auburn. 

     Just two weeks ago we were all confidently devising strategies while huddled around our computers or a copy of a bracket printed on the corporate computers. This year was the year we figured it out. Last year we went too much on data from sports nerds. The year before that, we followed our hearts too much. But this year, we had the right balance.