2000 PRE-NCAA CONTEST UPDATE - ROUND 2

Standings

Admit it. You had second-seeded St. John’s as your Wild Card, and you were feeling pretty good about yourself. Well, it’s Monday morning, and the time has come to look yourself in the mirror. You blew it; you gagged; you choked. By far our most popular Wild Card, with 49 entrants choosing the Red Storm, St. John’s didn’t get any points for anybody.

But, amazingly, seven of the Final 16 were eligible as Wild Cards. Naturally, we didn’t take advantage of this remarkable fact, as nobody chose Gonzaga, UCLA, Miami-Fla, or Wisconsin as their Wild Card. Forty-three of us did manage to get Wild Card points, however, by choosing either Purdue (24), Seton Hall (13 - O Brooks, Dean, Gorman, Huffnagle, Kane, M Kedson, Kennedy, McGuire, Packer, Pogach, Rourke, Bobbie Shaid, and Simon), or North Carolina (6 - Byrnes, DREG, Gordon, P Joseph, E Leach, and S&R).

And, aside from Wild Cards, the commissioners are pleased to announce that this year has been, collectively, our worst performance ever. The Tournament is not yet a week old and nobody has more than five (5) of their Final 8 still alive. And only ten people have as many as five: Connelly; DREG; J Donadio, Jr.; Fitch; Baumgarten; Clark; Bud Acchione; B D’Zuro; Kleiman; and Lou C. Fifty-six entrants have only four (4) of eight remaining. Forty-three entrants have only three (3) of eight. Fifteen clever contestants have only two (2) of the Final 8 (Gladstein, Manute, Harlan, M Leach, R Karpp, Peloso, B Shaid, Creelman, Wanger, Broder, K Rosen, Silverman, E Kedson, Budwell, and Ubaldini). Two savvy entrants pulled off the mind-boggling feat of having only one (1) of their Final 8 alive after the second round (January Man and Warmbier).

Nobody has all four of their Final 4 alive. Nine entrants have three (3) of their Final Four still standing: B D’Zuro; Bud Acchione; FREG; Corrin; Dodger; Huffnagle; Gorman; Reider; and Alberts. Fifty-eight entrants have two (2) Final Four teams left, and an astonishing fifty-three entrants have only one (1) Final Four team remaining. But perhaps the most amazing achievement of the new millennium is that six entrants have zero (0) Final Four teams that are still playing after only four days of games: Abrams; Broder; Budwell; Hansen; January Man; and N Rosen. Special mention should be made of Broder, who picked six (6) Final Four teams, but has zero (0) left.

Moreover, in a pool record after the second round, 80 of our 126 entrants have already lost their National Champion: Cincinnati (32); Stanford (29); Temple (14); Arizona (4); and Ohio State (1). The 46 who still have a Champion standing chose Duke (29); Michigan St (16 - Geo B, Corrin, Cowboy, J Donadio, Jr., Fitch, Golino, Huffnagle, B Joseph, Kasprzak, G Kedson, JV Kedson, P Leach, Mahalko, McGarrigel, McMoose, and Shaw); or Oklahoma State (just Bud Acchione).

Based on the above, it should come as no surprise that four of our six favorite choices for the Final 8 are already out: Cincinnati (117 votes); Stanford (114); Temple (106); and Arizona (75). Also chosen but gone were Ohio State (47); Kentucky (24); Auburn (19); Maryland (15); Texas (15); UConn (12); Indiana (12); St. John’s (7); Utah (5); Oklahoma (2); Illinois (1); Penn (1); and Siena (1).

Duke (122) and Michigan State (110) somehow managed to advance to the Sweet 16, despite the endorsement of our contestants. Other lucky Final 8 choices were Tennessee (54); Oklahoma St (50); Syracuse (41); Florida (24); Tulsa (14 - Baumgarten, Brady, Clark, Conte, Glowacki, Golino, Grande, P Joseph, D Josephs, M Josephs, Kleiman, M Leach, McMullen, and Rourke); Iowa State (9 - B D’Zuro, DREG, GREF, Kane, JV Kedson, M Leach, Ch Papalia, Reider, and Schlegel); LSU (8 - Alberts, Lou C, Corrin, L D’Zuro, ME Donadio, D Kedson, Ch Papalia, and Walker); Miami-Fla (Pogach); Purdue (Ch Papalia); and North Carolina (S Karpp).

Five of our top seven Final Four favorites failed to find their way to the Final 16: Cincinnati (95); Stanford (88); Temple (56); Arizona (35); and Ohio State (11); as well as Kentucky (6); Auburn (5); Indiana (3); UConn (2); Maryland (2); Texas (2); St. John’s (1); Illinois (1); and Oklahoma (1).

Only two teams (Duke (89) and Michigan St (65)) still remain that got more than eleven Final Four votes. A few non-conformists chose Tennessee (11 - Alberts, Geo B, Byrnes, Connelly, Disbrow, Dodger, DREG, Packer, Seidel, K Sullivan, and Tiger); Syracuse (10 - Bill Acchione, Bud Acchione, Butch Acchione, Henderson, Huffnagle, Pat O’Brien, Pinheiro, Rourke, Salus, and Ubaldini); Oklahoma St (9 - Bud Acchione, Corrin, Einbinder-Schatz, Gladstein, Kleiman, D Leach, Packer, Reider, and Yantosh); Iowa State (5 - B D’Zuro, GREF, Kane, M Leach, and Ch Papalia); Florida (3 - Fitch, FREG, and Gorman); LSU (2 - Lou C and L D’Zuro); and Tulsa (2 - Brady and Glowacki).

The third newsletter (with All-Name Teams and Mascot Trivia) will be out sometime next week. Standings are below.

Standings - After Second Round
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NameScoreConf ChampsWild CardChampion
Marc Reider18918IllinoisDuke
Bobbie Shaid18617Seton HallTemple
Neil Baumgarten18216VirginiaCincinnati
Andy Kennedy18014Seton HallDuke
McMoose17916St. John'sMichigan St
Sarah Adams17715IllinoisStanford
Jeff Clark17414PurdueTemple
Nick Mahalko17414PurdueMichigan St
Manny Pogach17414Seton HallCincinnati
Justin Kestner17313St. John'sCincinnati
Arrowman17214LouisvilleArizona
Laura Harlan17214IllinoisCincinnati
John Joseph17013St. John'sCincinnati
FeVeCeRe16914St. John'sCincinnati
Bill Byrnes16811North CarolinaCincinnati
Brian Corrin16815IllinoisMichigan St
Brian Creelman16815DePaulTemple
Mike Papalia16814PurdueDuke
Todd Pappasergi16815St. John'sDuke
Paul Brady16713MissouriCincinnati
Mom Kedson16712Seton HallStanford
Chris Nowakowski16712PurdueStanford
P2E2R2G216712PurdueStanford
DREG16613North CarolinaCincinnati
FREG16613PurdueDuke
GRED16613PurdueStanford
Matt Josephs16614St. John'sArizona
Donnell Sheppard16614St. John'sTemple
Randy Wanger16512IllinoisDuke
Bill Acchione16413St. John'sDuke
Claude16413St. John'sTemple
Bob D'Zuro16413St. John'sDuke
John Donadio, Jr.16412PurdueMichigan St
Audrey Kohart16413St. John'sStanford
Ed Leach16412North CarolinaCincinnati
Joe Rogers16413St. John'sArizona
Kona Rosen16413St. John'sStanford
Bob Shaw16412PurdueMichigan St
AJOB16313PurdueCincinnati
Geo. B.16311IllinoisMichigan St
Troy Kane16310Seton HallDuke
Rick Simon16310Seton HallDuke
Susan Abrams16211PurdueCincinnati
Brett Connelly16212MissouriStanford
Coach Doc16211PurdueStanford
Ellen Gordon16211North CarolinaCincinnati
Grandpa Kedson16212St. John'sMichigan St
Peter O'Brien16211PurdueDuke
S&R16211North CarolinaStanford
Rick Schlegel16212St. John'sDuke
Mark Tiger16211PurdueStanford
Rich Warmbier16212St. John'sDuke
Al Alberts16112PurdueDuke
GREF16113St. John'sDuke
Phoebe Joseph16112North CarolinaTemple
Marshall Linton16113St. John'sStanford
Matt Mazeffa16113St. John'sCincinnati
Cuz Papalia16110Cincinnati
Mike Scott16113St. John'sCincinnati
Leo L.16013PurdueDuke
January Man16014KentCincinnati
Betsy Joseph15911PurdueMichigan St
Kevin Kasprzak15912St. John'sMichigan St
Jack Vincent Kedson15912St. John'sMichigan St
Ed Leeds15912St. John'sStanford
Manute15912St. John'sStanford
Patrick O'Brien15911PurdueDuke
Kate Sullivan15911PurdueCincinnati
Clinton Walker15911PurdueCincinnati
Oliver W. Brooks1589Seton HallStanford
Bill McGarrigel15813St. John'sMichigan St
Longin D'Zuro15711St. John'sStanford
John Donadio, Sr.15711St. John'sCincinnati
Bill Gorman15710Seton HallCincinnati
Kevin Grande15711St. John'sStanford
Bob Huffnagle15710Seton HallMichigan St
Russell Karpp15711St. John'sStanford
Mark Piccirillo15711Cincinnati
Norm Rosen15711St. John'sTemple
Buddy Acchione15612IllinoisOklahoma St
Lou C.15612IllinoisTemple
Sandy Disbrow15612St. John'sCincinnati
Barry Gladstein1569IllinoisOhio State
Joe Mc15612DaytonDuke
Bob Peloso15612St. John'sStanford
Jon Broder15513St. John'sTemple
Chris Dean1559Seton HallStanford
Tom Golino15513St. John'sMichigan St
Susan Hanson15510St. John'sStanford
David Kedson15510DePaulDuke
Marc Kleiman15510Duke
Domino Leach1559PurdueDuke
Michael Einbinder-Schatz15411St. John'sTemple
Colin Fitch1548IllinoisMichigan St
Eesara Kedson15411St. John'sTemple
Jim Budwell1539St. John'sCincinnati
Bruno Pappasergi15312St. John'sCincinnati
Dodger1529PurdueDuke
Joe Glowacki15210NavyDuke
Jay Yantosh15213DePaulStanford
Michael Baer15111Duke
David Josephs15111IllinoisStanford
Richard McGuire15110Seton HallCincinnati
Butch Acchione1509LouisvilleCincinnati
Mary Ellen Donadio1509St. John'sStanford
Jack Henderson1508PurdueDuke
Richard Salus1509VillanovaStanford
Perry Leach14910St. John'sMichigan St
Arnold Selig14910VirginiaDuke
Brian Pinheiro14811St. John'sCincinnati
Barbara Spitz14811St. John'sDuke
Rob McMullen1479DaytonStanford
Robert C. Natalini1479St. John'sCincinnati
Packer1478Seton HallArizona
Richard Seidel14610St. John'sDuke
Susan Shaid1467St. John'sStanford
Paula Silverman14610Cincinnati
Michael Donnelly1458St. John'sDuke
Frank Conte1448PurdueCincinnati
Michael Ubaldini1449Stanford
Sam Karpp1437HofstraTemple
Cowboy1428MissouriMichigan St
Mash Leach1428IllinoisStanford
Chico Papalia1398DaytonTemple
Ken Gold1377North Carolina StTemple
Bill Rourke13610Seton HallCincinnati