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!
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.
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:
Hoosiers NIT Qualifiers. They currently have 459 points with 5 players left.
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.
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.
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:
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.
