March 21, 2022
Update 1
“Where to now Saint Peter?”
-Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection
Our tournament rolls on in year 27. Four days of basketball bliss are in the books. Highlight of all, The Peacocks took a blue canoe down the Kentucky river, and upset the mighty Wildcats. Did you even know what state Saint Peters is in prior to this classic #15 mesmerizing victory on a #2 blue blood? Gonna take that highway, they call highway 95. Lonesome George on the slide guitar. Straight through to Jersey City and the Run Baby Run Gym! On the other side of the mighty Ohio, the Hoosiers were rout-ousted by St Mary’s. Only the Indiana Cheerleaders came to play. Classic! Okay, so half our fans are disappointed but even #1 Baylor got taken down. Our charity pool moves forward. Action is heating up at March Madness Central and the accounting looks promising. Thanks to your generosity, our March Madness Endowment Fund totals over $140,000! We have named two additional charities this year to directly send some checks, the Tri-State Food Bank, and Borrowed Hearts. More on those later, but check out the home page at the top to see our charitable giving history! Also, we have money to give through our fund each year, outside the tournament, which we have done over the years. Contact me directly if you know a smaller, local organization in need. Our fund is run through the nine county Community Foundation Alliance, and we’d like to thank the good people there, as well as the Warrick County Community Foundation for being a part of it all!
The Sweet Sixteen is now at hand
And what an opening four days it was! 6 overtime games and upsets a plenty.
After Sunday night’s action, we have the following survivors with two games to win to make it to the Final Four. Who will it be?
West Region:
Gonzaga: The number one team in the land again looked a bit sluggish in the first half, similar to their opener against Georgia State. Down 10 points at halftime against Memphis, the Zags rallied, led by Drew Timme’s 21 second half points and totaled 14 rebounds
Arkansas: Dispatching Vermont and New Mexico State did not come easy for the Razorbacks. But aided by 19 turnovers from NM State, Arkansas a #4 seed goes on to face Gonzaga.
Texas Tech: After destroying Montana State in the opener, The Red Raiders had a game of a time against the Fighting Irish. Texas Tech has the #1 defense in college basketball. Notre Dame known for three point barrage went but 9 for 28 and made no field goals in the final three minutes. The Raiders are back on another championship run, having lost in 2019 against Virginia in overtime in the championship game.
Duke: Mike Kryzewski lives to fight another day. Taking out an old time friend, Tom Izzy, and Michigan State 85-76. Good effort by the Spartans came up short at the end.
East Region:
North Carolina: Current NCAA champion and #1 seed Baylor goes down to the Tar Heels in an unbelievable game. Bears down 25 points! Come back to take it to overtime. North Carolina near complete meltdown saved by a sizzling opening and survive to take on UCLA
UCLA: With 11 national titles and a vaunted past, the Bruins under Cronin are back again. Health is an issue but should be a game to win against NC.
Purdue: #3 seed Boilers take down the Longhorns 81-71 and avenge prior losses. Workmanlike win for one of two remaining Big Ten teams
Saint Peters: Peacocks take out Kentucky in historic upset. Come back to take out a strong 31 win Murray State team. Bad week for the Bluegrass State. Saint Peters of Jersey City—Enrollment 3000 students. Please take a number!
South Region:
Arizona: Overtime thriller. #1 Zona pulls away and takes down TCU. Horned Frogs with several chances at the end to take delete another #1 seed from the tournament, but not to be.
Houston: 31-5, hardly a #5 seed. Dispatches Illinois 68-53. Great team, great effort. Home to Texas now to face Arizona in San Antonio.
Michigan: Hardly an 11 seed, early season favorite Wolverines are back and looking to make a solid effort to win it all. Down five at halftime against a big, fast, and strong Tennessee team, the Wolverines won the second half by 13 and came away the winner in a fun game to watch, 76-68. That’s 5 straight appearances in the Sweet Sixteen.
Villanova: Just as the Buckeyes of THE Ohio State University fought there way back with a chance to win, Villanova’s execution saved the day for Wildcats, 71-61. Enough said. Painful.
Goodbye EJ Liddell. See you in the NBA.
Midwest Region
Kansas: Ties Kentucky in all time wins. Diligent and methodical. Another run for a national championship is at hand for the #1 seed.
Providence: The Friars. It’s a saintly sweet sixteen to be. Took out the gangly Spiders of Richmond, 79-51.
Iowa State: In a bit of a shocker, the Cyclones badgered Wisconsin and dealt another blow to the Big Ten elite. Only won two games last year, imagine that!
Miami: Another shocker of sorts as heavily favored Auburn pressured by the Hurricanes throughout fell victim to this #10 seed who will face the #11 seed Iowa State team in the 3rd round. Who will survive when the winds collide? Cyclone or Hurricane?
Pool Information
With the advent of the banking internet, ease for all of you to contribute by PayPal, Venmo, Bank of America, Cash App and all. It has been a bit more hectic to do the accounting. All good however and thank you. Happy to note, many of you have contributed extra, and thank you. The accounting is a work in progress, and to those of you who have not yet paid, please do so immediately. It has never been easier. Venmo seems to be the favorite choice, and they don’t charge us a fee, so go ahead, but I always love opening envelopes with a check in the mail! Too early to get on those of you who have not done so, but always this is the most frustrating part of this “labor of love”. As usual, we will recognize the extra contributors.
Suffice to say, your pool technocrat, Mr. Gary Gurtcheff is on top of things, as he always is, despite his job and travels. Happy in the free state of Texas, without complaint.
All looks good at this point. Final entry figures are still pending and we have had a dilly of a season so far due to slow internet traffic and duplicate entries.
Nevertheless, it would appear our unofficial entry total is about 440 give or take within 3%. More to come. Thank you all. Send $$ if you have not already.
Leaders after Round 2
The board on top is changing as the dust settles on the opening two rounds. 68 teams to start. 16 teams left to battle. But more importantly, current participants who are at the top with names in lights!!
- Greg McComis (Long time coming. Sad about Notre Dame but business is business, and number one on the leaderboard.
- Keith Shipman (Crafty veteran with a golden ticket with the Bruins. All final four teams left)
- Joe Smith (Jumps 45 spots in the standings. West coast is the best coast)
- Vince Prop (Doctor Batz spells comic relief. Not a real doctor says Newman from Seinfeld. Retirement is grand!)
- Michael O’Connor (Falls from #1 with rear axle coming off. Auburn, Illinois, ugh!)
- Christian Fletcher (Who you know in Maryland?)
- Jonah Coleman (Young prognosticator, the Slim Reaper, with another run in 2022)
Sam Santiago (Also with Final four intact with Slim and the Ship. Needs Purdue)
9) Keith Bratton (Mulligan man and defending champion at it again)
10) Chris Cleary (Young Kansas man makes it to the top ten with name in lights! Enjoy the ride but gotta have those Bruins!)
Last) Alex Tullar (Not for long and I bet you didn’t picture it this way)
Final Thoughts
Happy to welcome our new participants. Most are very young! Gary, myself, and our committee, hope you enjoy the show and participate for years to come. You are all part of this endeavor. Something to think about that we have given the amount of money to charitable organizations we have over the past two and a half decades, and also have initiated and sustained an endowment fund worth over 6 figures in such a small amount of time, SOLELY based on your generosity. Work hard, give when you can. Feel good about it. Thank you! In closing, I’d like to recognize our good friends no longer with us, Bengal Dave Massengale, and Steve Gabel, loyal supporters of our tournament, good friends, and Bengal fans to the end. Additional condolences to Todd Schulteis, friend of many who passed away this week. You all are in our tears, our thoughts, and our prayers.