2012-03-17

NCAA Pool Rough

I've been part of a March Madness pool for five years now. Won once, finish second another and third another.

I averaged 25-27 wins (28 happened once) in the first round. It usually puts me in the top percentile I've notice when I look at CBS Sportsline and ESPN, but nothing like some of the freakish records I've seen some people pull off - like, 30-2 for example. Lehigh? Really? I don't know what compels someone to go against the probabilities of taking a 16 seed - even to spite "evil" Duke. I picked Baylor to knock out Duke - Kentucky overall - in the Sweet Sixteen.

For example, this year I'm 24-8. It could have been 26-6 if not for two major upsets where two 15 seeds top a couple of two seeds. Already ONE is a rare occurence in NCAA history, but two? Anyway, according to ESPN, a 24-8 record puts you in the 97 percentile.

Not only that, a 13 and and two 12 seeds survived the first round. Of those, I agonized over VCU-Witchita St. Alas, I went with the seed over experience and lost.

I'm already losing in the East. Syracuse burned me in the past and with a major injury, I figured, meh, might be a chance for others to shine. Yeah. Right. Vanderbilt and Kansas St. did me in while Syracuse has looked very good. Another team that's looking solid is NC State; I picked them in the second round but chose Georgetown to knock them off. Not confident in that one in light of what I'm seeing.

The other risk I took was with St. Louis. I have them beating Michigan State.

I like teams that grind you to death. If I'm going to take a risk, may as well be with hard-nosed teams.

My Elite Eight: Kentucky, Baylor, Louisville, Marquette, Vanderbilt, Ohio St. UNC, Kansas.
Final Four: Kentucky, Marquette, Ohio St, UNC.
Final: Kentucky over UNC (although I strongly considered Kansas). I wasn't crazy about traditional powers UNC and Duke to begin with this year.

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