Better Call Saul!

Saul Phillips that is, the Coach of the North Dakota State Bison and the 2nd of two #12 seeds to pull of Day 1 upsets in the tourney.  Oklahoma seemed to have this game in hand but a couple of bonehead plays in the final 2 minutes of regulation gave the Bison new life.  Once the game got into OT, a freshman off the bench scored a huge 4 points and it was over for the Sooners!  This game was a favorite upset pick of many of the media and 80 of the Hopski entrants to boot.  17 entries, including the Commish, have the Bison picked to knock off SD State as well.  GO BISON!

The NDSU Post Game Press Conference is worth checking out.  A refreshing team and coach without a doubt.  I love the bar fight reference (Foster?!)!

Close but no cigar kudos go out to the Manhattan Jaspers who did a wonderful impression of Louisville until crunch time arrived.  With 2:30 to go, the Jaspers had the ball and a 3 point lead, then, doh………bad pass turnover and a long-range bomb from Russ Smith tied it up.  Luke Hancock then took over with 2 3s and a pair of free throws.  Game over.  Manhattan should be worth watching next year for those of you on the island….if their coach does not bolt.  A very exciting team and style of ball.

NC State gets the goat award from yesterday as they could have added a 3rd 12 over 5 upset, yet a 14 point lead with 5 minutes to go was not enough to beat St. Louis.  BOTH teams were terrible from the FT line, a combined 32-63 being the worst combined FT percentage in NCAA history (50.8%)!!  Certainly no Elks Hoop Shoot winners from that game.  Watching this game, it was clear that NC State was playing on fumes down the stretch, possibly due to the Tuesday night play-in game.

On to the pool Day 1 standings.  None other than "Somebody Help Me, I Can't Stand the Pain" from Steve Miller of Bloomington, IN (my employer for two years while I was in College at IU) leads the way with the only perfect entry remaining.  Steve barely beat the Hopski entry deadline due to his tax season workload, yet here in his 13th Hopski, he appears poised to contend (for atleast a day or two!).

Four entries are tied for 2nd after going 15 for 16.  These include former champion "Going for Three" Bill Carey (a Florida Gator and zero handicapper living in Warsaw, Poland), Attack of the Clones (ex-Warsaw expat John Springer, nervously waiting for his Cyclones to take the court today), Was the IU Team on Flight 370? (Gopher/Zag Joe Kozlak, living in Wroclaw, Poland) and I Want to Have a Final Fourgasm (Chicago Festivals head Phil Purevich).

Overall an impressive first day for most with just 5 entries not picking any of the days' 4 upsets!  I will be "tape delay" again tonight, but will be updating the blog from time to time.  Enjoy the Madness, as always!