FINAL FOUR

Hoop stars, Well, the regional finals over the weekend happened to narrow the field of contenders considerably, and today was known bracket wide as massacre Monday. I even received requests for flowers to be sent for the funeral services of a few brackets that crumbled in historic fashion. With Arizona, Michigan, and Michigan State all losing, the majority of dreams were crushed, especially with that Michigan State loss. Brian Wolf was sitting pretty after the round of 16, in first place and his champion intact. Come Monday, he finds himself in 14th position with no points left to be had. With the fall of Wolf, we now find ourselves back in familiar territory with Forgy and Will retaking at tie for first place. Unfortunately for those two, there are no points left to be had. The door is open for those with Florida and Wisconsin advancing. Saturday started off as expected, with overall #1 seed Florida taking care of the overmatched Cinderella squad from Dayton Ohio, 62-52, punching the first ticket to North Texas. The second game, however, was one for the ages. Top seed Arizona took on 2 seed Wisconsin in what would turn out to be a battle for the ages. Each team trading blow for blow deep into the second half. But much of the game, it became apparent that the Cats simply had no answer for the 7’-0” Badger center Frank Kaminsky, who aside from looking like he drools (the profound words of our defending champ Rodell), went absolutely bananas on a shellshocked Arizona squad, scoring 28 points, including 3-5 from beyond the arc. Yes…. Big boy can even hit the triple! Wisconsin won in an overtime thriller, 64-63. Had it not been for Kaminsky, Arizona would have surely advanced, heroic performance. Sunday proved even more exciting as we were treated to two marquee matchups, Michigan State vs. UConn and Michigan vs. Kentucky. Two critical games that would inevitably determine the fate of many pool goers. Michigan State took the floor first as the final four favorite out of the east region, and for most of the game proved worthy of the third slot in texas next weekend. But something odd happened to the Spartans. A historically well coached team that doesn’t often make mistakes, started making them, in epic fashion. Turnovers, lazy play, missed free throws, stagnant defense. For UConn fans, this was a highly unlikely dream that came so gloriously true and set the stage brilliantly for the baby face assassin known only as Shabazz. The kid, once again delivered and sent the much maligned and gravely under rated UConn Huskies to the final four. In the Midwest we were treated to yet another Kentucky moment, as the 8 seeded wildcats, yet again, came from behind to pull a shocker, this time over 2 seed Michigan. The Wolverines dominated most of the game, with Big 10 player of the year Nik Stauskaus raining in 24 points, en route to a 13 point advantage. Kentucky battled back though, quite valiantly, and with the game tied at 72 with just under 10 seconds left, we were staring another regional final OT game square in the face…. Until that supremely ill-advised, masterfully defended, fall away three pointer by freshman guard Aaron Harrison, found the bottom of the net. Game, set, match. Aside from last years championship loss, Michigan fans haven’t felt this much pain since the timeout heard round the world, Chris Webber, 1993 title game. And so we’re down to four, Florida, Wisconsin, UConn and Kentucky. No one was able to pick more than two correct final four teams, but two, somehow, someway were able to keep their championship game unblemished, those two are Jennifer and Josh, both with Florida beating Wisconsin, both with significant chances at scoring some cash. I’ve played out each of the 8 scenarios with the top 3 finishers below. It’s now just a 8 person race with John, Will, Mike, Jennifer, Josh, Erik, Greg T, and Brent battling for three spots. See below for scenarios and final four standings, those in red have locked in their final point totals. Best of luck to those still in the running! 1. John F (87 pts) 2. Will D (87 pts) 3. Mike Z (83 pts) 4. Molly B (82 pts) 5. Jennifer B (80 pts) 6. Brent A (78 pts) 7. Josh W (77 pts) 8. Erik M (77 pts) 9. Greg T (77 pts) 10. Chad B (76 pts) 11. Beth R (76 pts) 12. Barbara A (75 pts) 13. Carrie P (75 pts) 14. Brian W (75 pts) 15. Peter M (73 pts) 16. Scott D (72 pts) 17. Rodell P #2 (72 pts) 18. Andrew B (70 pts) 19. Ashley D (70 pts) 20. Kelly M (68 pts) 21. Preston T (68 pts) 22. Rebecca F (68 pts) 23. Scott T (67 pts) 24. Greg K (64 pts) 25. Chris H (64 pts) 26. Matt T (61 pts) 27. Ryan M (60 pts) 28. Rodell P #1 (60 pts) 29. Katie T (60 pts) 30. Kristal E (60 pts) 31. Ed A (58 pts) 32. Justin T (57 pts) 33. Lindsay M (55 pts) 34. Bob F (53 pts) 35. Abby M (53 pts) 36. David P (48 pts) 37. Deborah M (45 pts) Scenario 1&2 Kentucky over UConn OR UConn over Kentucky 1. John F (tiebreak) 2. Will D (tiebreak) 3. Mike Z Scenario 3 & 4 Florida over Wisconsin OR Wisconsin over Florida 1. Jennifer B 2. Josh W 3. Mike Z Scenario 5 & 6 UConn over Wisconsin OR Wisconsin over UConn 1. Jennifer B 2. Josh W 3. John F / Will D (tiebreak) Scenario 7 Florida over Kentucky 1. Mike Z 2. Jennifer B 3. Josh W / Erik M / Greg T (tiebreak) Scenario 8 Kentucky over Florida 1. Mike Z 2. Jennifer B 3. Brent A Chad (March Madness MC)