MARCH MADNESS 2017 FINAL UPDATE
April 5th, 2017
“Tar Heel Redemption in Phoenix”
North Carolina wins 6th national championship
Tar Heels 71 Gonzaga 65
The Ambassador of Kwan is our new champion! “Show me the money”
On April 3rd, 1974, an F-5 tornado struck the small town of Xenia, Ohio, causing massive
property loss, killing 33 individuals, and injuring over a thousand others. 1200 homes and multiple other buildings, churches, and businesses were destroyed. Over a two day period, 148 tornados pummeled multiple states, ranking as one of the largest natural disasters in US history. But on this date, 2017, the weather was calm, but tensions high in Phoenix, Arizona for the coveted crown of NCAA mens basketball champions. Pitting the two remaining one seeds, North Carolina faced Gonzaga after both teams escaped on Saturday night against formidable upstart foes (see below).
North Carolina in white, Gonzaga in dark blue opened the show with NC attempting to avenge their last second loss to Villanova in the championship spectacular one year ago. Gonzaga playing in their first title game. Fanfare, John Stockton and noted celebs in the crowd. Fancy moves on both ends, scoring at the rim in the mid stages of the first half. Fast paced early, Zags went up 21-14 with 10 minutes gone. No weaknesses, no advantages later as the game got close. Rim became tight, shots did not drop and the stars had none to few points. Justin Jackson 0 for 6 from the three point line, Big Karnowski scoreless. Josh Perkins for the Zags was the highlight reel of the first half, scoring 13 points in the half, after a scoreless performance the game two days ago. Gonzaga led 35-32 at the half.
But a sleepy, sloppy Gonzaga team came out of the locker room. NC took the lead within 2 minutes, up 38-35. Pot smoking is legal in Washington state and the Zags looked stoned coming out for the final 20 minutes. But fortunes changed and with 14 minutes to go, the Tar Heels looked so bad. Air balls, and foul troubles, 2 of 17 from the three point arc. Shoes were sticky. We were all just waiting for SOMEONE to light it up. Joel Berry came through, hitting 3 of 3 threes, the only Tar Heel to connect. Referees called it tight. Too tight for these two physical, offensive teams. With but 8 minutes to go, it was apparent this was a BAD game for the officials. Stoppages, no rhythm for either team, and major foul trouble for both. 21 fouls alone in but 12 minutes of the second half. Boo!! It seemed the game could NOT go any slower. Zags retake the lead with 2:09 left on the clock. Great ending however, had we not all fallen asleep! NCʼs Isaiah Hicks responds and hits with 0:28 seconds left, giving his team a three point lead. Finally as well, Kennedy Meeks awakens! Stuff at one end, and fast break at the other. North Carolina wins it in a furious last half minute, 71-65. Most Outstanding Player tonight was Joel Berry with 22 points. Awwwh shucks, says Roy Williams. Iʼm no Dean Smith. But collects his third title!!
Recap of semifinal action:
Gonzaga 77 South Carolina 73
With 10 minutes left in the second half, Gonzaga stretched their lead to 14 points. It appeared the Kwon would win. Concession call coming. And then a 14 point run by the Gamecocks tied the score with under 8 minutes to go. Then Nigel Williams-Goss who dominated early for the Zags, went cold. It became a game again. With the twin of the towers, the Polish lad Karnowski seeing double or not at all, 7 footer Zach Collins a freshman from Vegas took over. A 7-0 run put Gonzaga back up by five with 4:41 to go. On the night, Collins had a career game. 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots. Down to the wire. And onto the last possession, Zags up 75-72, with but 3 seconds left, Sindarius Thornwell, SC’s best, stricken with the flu and weak most of the game, hit the first free throw to draw within 2 points. Purposefully missing
the 2nd attempt, Killian Tillie, the French Frosh, grabbed the rebound, and calmly made 2 freebies at the other end of the court, ending South Carolina’s miraculously run and season. Frank Martin, SC intensity and coach, broke down in the interview and brought tears to all. The Zags will face North Carolina in the championship matchup Monday night. The two #1 seeds prevail, much to the dismay of your pool master.
North Carolina 77 Oregon 76
The writing of the Fountainhead began in 1936 and was finally published in 1943.
The year 1939 saw the Oregon Webfoots defeat Ohio State to win the inaugural NCAA men’s basketball tournament in Evanston, Illinois (Phi Alpha). The Tall Firs triumphed (average height 6’ 2”), but it would be 78 years for Oregon to return to the big stage. Howard Roark, look it up, had the transcontinental running on full diesel steam but alas, the Tar Heels advanced. North Carolina’s Joel Berry started the game with a 3- pointer and it looked like it would be a high wire act. However after a full 7 minutes, the sloppy, dull game was tied 9-9. North Carolina held tight as the best rebounding
team in college basketball and that was the omen. Awful game in the first half for both sides. Turnovers, missed shots. Oregon’s zone hurt NC, as did their drive and kick, but NC was tall in the paint. However, the Duck offense was reeling on this night, and the loss of star Chris Boucher out for the season late with an ACL injury, finally caught up to Oregon. The game became a two man show. When this night held no
paycheck for no work from Oregon stars Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey, Dylan Ennis scored 18 with 6 rebounds. Kennedy Meeks for NC was dominant, and more so. Ducks on virtue of 12 turnovers found themselves down at the half. In the second session, the blond streak Ellis opened the scoring for the Ducks. But they could not contain Meeks who continued throughout to crash the glass and roll up the points. North Carolina found the answer as Meeks rolled up career highs with 25 points and 14 rebounds (8 offensive). In the end, it was too much, too tall, too many waves, too much size, and the absence of Boucher which doomed the Ducks. In an unreal ending, with NC holding a 77-76 lead, the Tar Heels secured not one, but two offensive rebounds at the free throw line, with the last being Kennedy Meeks steamrolling his man to secure the ball. No call on what some would think was a
foul, preventing Oregon from free throws at the other end. Ducks had no chance for a last second winning shot. North Carolina advanced. Barely. Go Zags.
Congratulations to our 2017 March Madness Champion
**Brian Kwon**
The Ambassador of Kwan “Show me the Money!!”
Brian Kwon becomes our 21st March Madness Champion, and a rookie participant at that! The Ambassador hails from Weston, Massachusetts, and is a body mechanic of sorts, but fixes your spine. He does race his Porsche 911 turbo competitively however. Hailing originally from LA, he spent time in St. Louis at Wash U, then the Cleveland Clinic before settling in to Boston. Die hard Patriots fan, never misses a game, but unfortunately for several of us, tunes in to basketball come tournament time. Self proclaimed “lucky” on his picks, the Kwan prevailed in the end. Youʼll note, his entry name was ESL. English Second Language! Of Korean descent, heʼs a food junkie, and will now trade beloved original wings from Buffalo, for duck wings, thanking North Carolina for taking down Oregon, and securing his mug shot on the March Madness Championsʼ wall of fame. Thanks, Leslie Pookie Gabel for introducing Brian to our pool this year. Not! No soup for you!! Actually, Yes! As Brian has notified us that he is donating half his winnings to our charity! Truly the Kwan!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Runner up is Mike Cleary Long term March Madness participant and generous donor. Good Picks chose 3 of the final 4, including the Ducks. Most picks in the final four and most points. A well deserved top ten finish at last. Mike upholds the miscarriages of justice in Wichita, Kansas. Chiefs fan, Kansas State fan, counselor at law. Congratulations Mike
Third place to Jon Coleman Pianist extraordinaire, golf enthusiast, and someone you have likely seen in concert on a huge stage near you in the past.as well as the present. One of Nashvilleʼs best. Father of our runner up last year, but in 2017, North Carolina came through. This time, the songʼs about me. Every light in the house was on for championship Monday. Was No thinkinʼ thing, just got his game on.
Fourth place goes to Nick Cooper. Little deuce coop. One of 8 top ten finishers to take the Tar Heels to win it all. Excellent start to the bracket in the early games. College deposit for you. Great job on entering the pool the night before the deadline with the parents out of state. Youthful exuberance, and obviously knows a thing or two about basketball. Scoop must be proud!!
Fifth place goes to Jonah Coleman. Funny. I can just modify what I said last year! This young man, at the tender age of now 17, hails from Nashville, TN. Son of a noted musician (see above), Traces of whom we all know, is also talented on the piano, but more importantly, throws a fastball over 90 mph. Still frequently seem in the foothills of Nebraska? He is 6ʼ 5” tall, maybe taller now, but is your sister still the Basketball Jones of the family? Hope you got better behind the wheel, and improved your English grades:) Jonah had the pool won last year had the Tar Heels prevailed. But finished in 6th thanks to dreaded Villanova. Cant wait to meet you in the future. Entry name Hurler. Did you learn that good change up? Sage advise from Roger Clemens. Otherwise play the piano or take up golf. Sand Hills is still fine. Haha, that was easy.
Sixth place to Sherwood Joe Smith. This man has also been a loyal contributor to the March Madness pool and generous as well. Oregon got him here. UNC kept him in the top ten. I believe Joe came in third place two years ago, but perhaps that was one of our other Smiths. Weird in that Smith is not a common name. Congratulations Joe, the man from the forest of Robin Hood.
Seventh place goes to your pool master. I chose the name of Howard Roark because of who he was and what he stood for, and as previously alluded to, The Fountainhead was being written in 1939, the last time Oregon made it so far in the tournament. 0 for 3 in the final 3 games, dropped yours truly from the coveted top spot. After 21 years, at least the record will show, I made it to the top ten.
Eighth place taken by Shannon Gourley, or perhaps and more fittingly, Cool Jake Gourley. This was a tight one, with 7th through 9th place separated by just two points in our cumulative pool. Cool Jake held on to a top ten finish. Additionally, Cool Jake had the highest pick percentage in the pool this year (76.2% of games correct). Congratulations.
Ninth place is awarded to Sam Garau. Always in contention, Sammy G finished in 4th place way back in 2001 when he was a young lad, then the following year in 2002, was named our champion. Investing is his thing, and a pretty good ball player as well.
Tenth place and last on the leader board is Skip Oliver. Heʼs been up there from day one. Name in lights every update. Happy you held on for a share of the prize.
Bridesmaid Dan Flanagan No money
Last place as previously announced is Keith Miller
Goat Award goes to Patrick Morgan. Son whose gonna skull you or something to that effect. Not sure what that meant, and certainly no rhyme or reason to the picks. Kind of half in and half out.
I suppose there was a method to the madness,
136th place (Championship game score 71-65=136 points=136th place).
(Tie) Keith Mercer Chris Jesop Tom Slade Kim Witherspoon Jack Cleary
You all split $100. Hey, at least it paid for one entry!!
Last place: Keith Miller (locked it in early)
Administrative News
The Official Total paid pool entrees is 500. A new record! The largest total ever, Final results and winning totals will be based on this number. Your committee does their best to insure integrity to the prize pool and covers several unpaid, or yet to be paid, entries at this the time of final accounting. Curses to the slackers. It really gets tiring and gums up the accounting. In case any of you wonder, year after year, this remains a charity pool with suggested donations, but not intended for your charity. We are on the honor system. Fortunately for us, the majority of all entrees are paid. 75% of the entry fees goes to the prize pool, in the breakdown as listed in the opening letter at the start of the tournament. See the website for original details. WWW.GARYGURTCHEFF.COM
We pay out the top ten, and last place, and again this year to the GOAT award, and the place of finish of the total score of the championship game.
Charity News
25% of the entry fees goes to our charitable works in addition to extra donations generously contributed by our participants. This year we had a 111 generous participants giving additional money to the charities!! A few late donations may trickle in, but another good year via the percentages. This is a large percentage of the actual participants, considering many participants (and families) submit multiple entries. Thank you so much!! Please do not forget your ability to further contribute to our endowed fund. The website still has the option open, or you could You can go directly to the Warrick County Community Foundation website and contribute to the March Madness Endowment Fund.
111 people have contributed extra dollars to our March Madness Endowment Fund as well as our other named charities this year, YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter and NJB Buddy Ball. Check out the intro letter on the website for more information regarding these charities. See also the website for history of charitable giving. www.garygurtcheff.com
Special thanks to the following individuals who have contributed extra to our charitable organizations. And in many cases, a great deal extra! Apologies if we missed anyone else.
Susanna Burkhead Lance & Stacy Payton Mark Erickson
Mike Cleary
Alan Newman
Rick Wepsic
Brian Kwon Les Bumm David Carlson Steve Gabel Tom Slade
Phil Gilson
Rob Wathen Patty Dewey Sam Garau Greg Willming
Rick Friedman Skip Seaman
Jim Hall
Dave Machisko Fred Stutz
Keith Bratton Dan Brown Scott Elliott Travis Farhar Jim Heinrich S Joe Smith Rick Zeiher
Corey Greening Colleen Martin Eric Miller Jonathan Smith
Kevin Kalb Judy McDonald Mark Vickers
Clint Keown
T om Rose Ross Whitacre
Tima Leonard Karen Rush John Willis
Mike Jack Gary Tom
Head Cleary
Gurtcheff Waits
Ron Bonger Steve Gabel Dale Todd
Erv Aeschllman Donald Barry Dan Bishop Thomas Bryan Ashley Cissna Gary Delk
Ken Graves Todd Lang Steve Mank Fred McCool Keith Miller
Bill Papineau Larry Renschler Susan Sublett Lee Wagmeister John Willis
Amber Anslinger Randy Beckort Nicholas Bradman Dale Cardinal
Bill Cleary
Steve Elliott
Todd Herrenbruck Michelle Laswell Diana Marquez Keith Mercer Payton Mills Donna Rreziotti Jake Schiff
Ron Tucker
T om Weber Danny Winn
Mike Arco
Gary Bellew Patrick Brickley Craig Carter Roger Colman Ryan Fears
Paul Kainrath Julie Leaf
Ken Marshall Greg Meyer
Ann Morgan Vince Prop
Joe C Smith Stephen Turley Pat Wempe Brett Worthington
Jeremy Baker Sharon Berkley Mike Brown
Chris Casaburo Lois Davidson Chris Gilkey
John Lamb Michael Lightner Chris Maynard John Miles
Lynne Morgan Mike Pyferroen
T ony Stephens Bill Vukovich Melissa Wideman
...... $ 2500 was generated from the entry fees to devote to our charitable endeavors. $ 7500 goes to the prize pool, plus another $ 100 for the Goat and $ 100 for the place of
the total score of the championship game. Thanks to your outstanding generosity..Over $ 8,000 has been or will be received in additional donations to date.
For March Madness 2017...... Our GRAND TOTAL of CHARITABLE GIVING is: an estimated $ 11,000 to be donated this year.
$ 7,000 will be granted to the March Madness Endowment Fund administered through the Warrick County Community Foundation, thanks to your generosity.
$ 3,000 will be given to the YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter $ 1,000 will be given to NJB Buddy Ball
Please keep us advised of any email changes. Email your comments and parting remarks...JPMORGANMD@MAC.COM or GARYGURTCHEFF@MAC.COM
Winnersʼ checks will be sent out by mail within six weeks, likely much sooner. Charity proceeds will also be forwarded once final accounting is complete. Again, be advised that your individual charity
directed checks have not yet been cashed to date.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Congratulations to our Winners. THE FINAL TALLY
2017 Top Ten Winnings
1st place Brian Kwon (Weston, MA) $3000
2nd place Mike Cleary (Wichita, KS) $1500
3rd place Jon Coleman (Hendersonville, TN) $750
4th place Nick Cooper (Newburgh, IN) $525
5th place Jonah Coleman (Hendersonville, TN) $375
6th place Joe Smith (Evansville, IN) $300
7th place John Morgan (Newburgh, IN) $225
8h place Shannon Gourley (Harrison, OH) $225
9th place Sam Garau (Evansville, IN) $150
10th place Skip Oliver (Evansville, IN) $150
LAST PLACE Keith Miller (Loveland, OH) $300
Goat Award Patrick Morgan (Bloomington, IN) $100
151st place 5 Way TIe (See above) $20 each
500 Paid Entrees
“Itʼs not just the money...not just the coin. Itʼs the kwan” “It means love, respect, community...and the dollars too.”
--Rod Tidwell, in Jerry Maquire
“Whenever a man denounces the mind, it is because his goal is of a nature the mind would not permit him to confess.”
--John Galt