NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
Ursula Hennessey ·
Mar 21, 2011 at 5:26am
Sigh. Not again.
Okay, folks, lemme try to put a positive spin on it. First the facts: President Barack Obama is still winning our Ricochet pool after this weekend's games.
However, if you look carefully, the four members behind POTUS -- CitizenoftheRepublic, EJHill, Ultra Vires, and Tripedis Canis -- have their Final Four picks intact. Obama doesn't. That bodes well for the future.
I think.
The sixteen teams who will vie for spots in the Final Four next weekend are: Ohio St., Kentucky, Marquette, North Carolina, Duke, Arizona, UConn, San Diego St., Kansas, Richmond, VCU, Florida St., Butler, Wisconsin, BYU, and Florida.
Thanks to EJHill for the graphic.
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Comments :
Sep '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
Barack probably would have picked better if Libya and Japan and the Federal deficit weren't weighing in on him so heavily.
Our guys don't have those kind of distractions, it's not fair. Give him a break.
Jul '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
Let us keep perspective regarding the ability to pick winners from groups of teams in which, at any given time, any team could beat any other team. As palliative, let me offer the following: last year, my youngest son took both first and third place in a pool that we have participated in for a few years.
He was eleven.
Sure, Mr. President, you may have mad pickin' skilz, but remember, we're dealing with an activity that's strategically one step above Bingo.
May '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
Don't lose heart, Ursula! Keep the lip stiff and upper. Be the happy warrior. For, while the demise of the Pittsburgh Longforms to the Butler Tea Party sank the hopes of many good men and women, it also damaged the President. His future point pick-ups are limited, and the Formidable Cluster is hot on his heels.
In fact, going by potential future points, I break down the leaders thus: Ultra Vires, EJ Hill, Citizen of the Republic, Tripedis Canis, Anthony Kaiser, Bell CPA, Barack Hussein Obama (mmm, mmm, mmm), Pseudodionysius.
Socialism is a dead end with no future. Eventually, he'll run out of other people's points.
And congratulations to our own Editrix-in-Chief Diane Ellis for finally seizing the low ground from Bill McGurn. Audacity is its own reward.
Edited on Mar 21, 2011 at 6:23amOct '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
It's too bad there's not some formula or website (maybe there is...) that ranks each bracket based upon potential future points. For example, someone could've gotten 44 of the 48 games right so far, but if their 4 misses were their Final Four teams losing their 2nd round games, then they have a real tough time winning. They certainly wouldn't be a favorite to win. Yet they'd currently be sitting at the top of the charts with 56 points.
It's like when NASCAR says 2/3 of the way through a race that"...if the race ended now so and so would win..." despite the fact that the race WON'T end now, that there's still a lot of racing left.
Right now Chairman Maobama "leads" with 49 points over CitizenoftheRepublic, EJHill, and Ultra Vires who each have 47 points. Yet BHO only has 112 remaining points available while all three Ricocheters have 124 points available. They, to me, lead the competition by 10 points over Mr. Michelle Obama. (Heck, even Tripedis Canis is behind Franklin Delanobama by 4 points but has 8 more potential points than The One does.)
Edited on Mar 21, 2011 at 12:51pmMay '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
It's on the leader board.
Based on who is left the max pts POTUS can get is 161 while the trio behind him can get 171. That is if I am reading the table correctly.
Oct '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
Son of a gun, I guess I had blinders on. Ok, then I say they should order the players by the Max number. I think that's more representative of who's "ahead" given the fact that there's still 15 games left, games with far more point values than the first 2 rounds. But that's just me.
Thanks, EJ.
Edited on Mar 21, 2011 at 1:00pmMay '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
I vote for Dittoheadadt and Kennedy's way of tallying who's in last place!!
The Other Diane
Edited on Mar 21, 2011 at 5:20pmRe: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
The only thing more stinging and humiliating than my my standing is that Peter -- Peter! -- is tied for 5th.
He's cheating. He's got to be cheating.
May '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
You don't know humiliation until your 11 year old daughter is 49 max points ahead of you.
Sep '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
Rasputin in at #13 "max points" with my final 4 picks intact and unique. Watch out.
Edited on Mar 21, 2011 at 7:44pmOct '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
Does anyone else question the point structure used by tournamentpools.com? I mean, getting the champion right is worth 32 points and getting the two teams in the championship game is worth 16 points each, but getting an opening round game right is only worth 1 point?
The cream usually rises to the top, which means later games ought to be easier to predict. It's the 1st- and 2nd-round games where you see the upsets, the Cinderella stories. Shouldn't correctly predicting those games be worth more than a single, solitary point? Wouldn't that encourage some risk-taking, with commensurate rewards? Or in the alternative, shouldn't the point structure not so disproportionately reward the later picks over the earlier picks? Maybe 1/2/3/4/6/8 or 1/2/4/8/10/12?
Whoever dared pick VCU or Richmond to reach the Sweet 16 should have earned more than 3 measly points, compared to someone picking Duke or Kansas (wow, how bold) to win it all and garnering 32 points for that last win alone.
Oct '10
Re: NCAA Hoops Pool -- Sweet Sixteen Update
I like their upset scoring options, but still, I think their point values themselves are inflated, and maybe inverted, compared to where they should be.