Final Four

Current Standings and your best and worst finishes by entry:  Player Scenarios Report

What a great set of Elite 8 games (well, 3 out of 4 anyway)!  The winners and this year's Final Four are a pretty well pedigreed group (aside from the Badgers to be fair) and certainly let's not overlook the fact that in a supposed "down year" the Big 10 Conference has 2 of the Final Four!  Thus, this is a black and blue Big 10 colored update (anyone know how to get the background color away from white for these updates by chance??).

We may have just a Final Four remaining in the tournament itself, but the Hopski still has 7 entries battling for the title of 2015 Hopski International March Madness Pool Champion, though the leader for the past few updates, Wiltjer's Warriors (Scott Iantosca) has gone the sideline route of the Zags of Gonzaga and can at best finish 2nd now.  Nice run Scott, but really, trusting in Mark Few??!!  If Duke has a glaring achilles year in, year out, it is inside and I only saw the Zags really attack in the post a couple of times with about 10 minutes left in the game (and they were successful with it, but I guess it was boring!).

And down the stretch comes Joey Brackets (Joey Wagoner of Indianapolis and son of my college roommate Jeff) on the strength of a perfect Final Four pick!  Joey was the only entry to pick the entire Final Four correctly and aside from contending for this year's title, it also locked up his 5th win over his Dad (Anyone But Kentucky) out of the 6 Hopskis in which they have both participated.  Geesh Wags, first golf, then basketball and clearly now Hopskis.  Is there ANYTHING left that you can beat him at??!!  Joey needs a Wisconsin victory over Duke to take the Hopski, while ABK (Anyone But Kentucky), Marc Powell of Indianapolis' entry is set to take the title if Wisconsin wins an all-Big 10 final over Michigan State.  Marc has already stipulated in his entry form that IF he wins the pool, he wants his 1st place winnings to go to the Hillary 2016 Presidential Campaign Fund!  What a guy!

Kentucky escaped the Domers on Saturday, much to the relief of the pre-Final Four pool leader, Release the Kraken (Mark Iantosca of NYC and JP Morgan fame).  This has been an outstanding set of picks this year, with just his pick of Iowa State into the final keeping him from running away with the Hopski.  Mark needs a Kentucky vs Michigan State final to take the Hopski title this year, who wins is of no consequence for him.  I guarantee the slowest payout in Hopski history if this happens.  In fact, it will likely take him the cumulative 107 late payment reminder emails that he has racked up in his Hopski, fantasy hoops, fantasy football and any other participation that has required him to make a payment to me in his lifetime in order to collect the Hopski payout!

Also rooting quietly (I hope) for the Wildcats of Kentucky is Pet the Sweaty (Pat Paquette).  Pat is a 11 year Hopski veteran with 5 top 40 finishes in the past 6 years - could this be THE breakthrough year?!

In the Dukies corner is 8th place Hillary's server:  please delete this email (Kent Holding, American expat in Poland and CE&E for quite a few years now).  Kent needs a Duke over Wisconsin final, while Duke over Kentucky will vault 3rd place The Greg Anthony Escort Service from Ron South (Long Islander, Illinois State grad and ex-Madrid/Barcelona expat).

All hail Tom Izzo and his overachieving Spartans of Michigan State.  What a great run this team as had, as back in February, they were seriously on the bubble back in early February and put in some stinker games this year (losing at Nebraska, at home to Illinois and the completely inexplicable home loss to Texas Southern and Mike Davis in December!!).  Sparty are certainly the darkhorses of the Final Four, but a Michigan State championship over Wisconsin will push 4th place My Other Bracket is on My Personal Server and the Big Dog Ron Genty to the Hopski Title.  MORE IMPORTANTLY, we will all get to see the "too risque" for the Hopski wife-censored photo of Ron.

Down the drain so to speak at the other end of the standings, Lubed & Ready and Don Lubreski remains in last place, needing one more Wisconsin win to get out of the Toilet Bowl.  Should Kentucky prevail though, Duke It Out (Taylor Swift fan extraordinaire David Joffe working with a great charity Nourish Now in Washington DC) will slip to the 163rd spot and pick up free entry for the 2016 Hopski.

Speaking of 2016, who wants to takeover the Hopski next year??!!

The 2nd Chance Dance has just one perfect entry so far, that from All Hail the Hopski and Nick Lagattuta, an Illini alum working with the Big Dog Ron and E&Y in Chicago.

Adios -

The Commish

**I am off to the mountains with the kids and Ola for Semana Santa week and thus, the next update maybe on Saturday just before the Final Four.  

Noooooooooooooooo!!

So close, so close, so close but Noooooooooooooootre Dame denied.

Arrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!!!

Great effort but the Wildcats and Calipari move on.

Our new hope:

and secret weapon……

NOOOOOO - not THAT Frank the Tank, THIS ONE!!!

GO BADGERS!!!

Elite 8

Gotta bring this update to you in Sparty Forest Green (or whatever they call it up there in East Lansing).  It is a reasonable surprise that they have arrived at the Elite 8 given how poorly this team shoots FTs, but man can they rebound and bang when they have to have the ball.  Now Sparty can ride Izzo's great history of short turnaround success (20-4) in the NCAA to hopefully another Final Four berth.  That said, Louisville might be the one in the back of the mind of Kentucky fans, as it was Pitino's Cardinals that gave UK one of their best games of the year back in December.

On to the CURRENT STANDINGS

The Brothers Iantosca have maintained their hold on the top 2 places, with each picking 7 of the Elite 8 (no one BTW picked all 8 teams this year).  Here's a shot of all three of the Iantosca brothers:

Scott (Wiltjer's Warriors!) is in the middle with 2nd place Mark (Release the Kraken) on the left (to Scott's right).  David, the black sheep of this year's Hopski, is on the right and languishing with two entries in 99th and 134th.  David at least pays on time though and is the best baller of the bunch!

Moving back into the top 3 is ABK (Anyone But Kentucky) and Marc Powell (anarchist living in Carmel, IN).  Marc is threatening to make a return this year to the Hopski staff with his Entry Name analysis.  Watch this space next week.

The big surge in the Sweet 16 round came from none other than My Other Bracket is on My Personal Server (Ron Genty, whose photo WILL skip past the censors IF he finishes in the top 3 of the pool), jumping 24 spots and into the Top 10 at ninth.  His son, Secret Server's Son (Clayton Genty) also made a huge jump of 36 spots and into the 16th slot.  Quite a run from the family Genty this year!

We have a new toilet bowl leader, as Lubed & Ready (Don Lubreski, ex-Warsaw expat and rebounder extraordinaire now gone Stateside) managed to nab just two of the Elite 8 and fell 16 places into the 163rd spot!  Wisconsin is his last team alive, so a Wisconsin loss tonight vs Arizona will seal the Toilet Bowl for Don!

From the Tournament Summary Report , here are the Elite 8 teams with # of entries picking them into the Final Four:

Kentucky	149
Arizona	76
Duke	72
Wisconsin	71
Villanova	63
Virginia	60
Gonzaga	49
Iowa St	32
Michigan St	13
Louisville	11
Oklahoma	11
Notre Dame	10

There's really not a lot of surprises here, even Michigan State and Louisville were seen as strong contenders for the Final Four by the Hopski Pool given the perceived weakness of the East Region.

If you want to "spoil the surprise" and know who you should be rooting for, all entries best and worst possible finish positions are listed in the PLAYER SCENARIOS REPORT 

TWENTY ENTRIES still have a chance to win the 2015 Hopski (unfortunately, the Commish's best finish is just 2nd - blocked by Bieber Celebrity Roast?  The End MUST Be Near).

The Hopski 2nd Chance Dance has 8 entries that picked a perfect Elite 8.  Click here for 2ND CHANCE DANCE CURRENT STANDINGS

Enjoy the Elite 8 games.  Next update will likely be on Monday.  Adios, The Commish

Goooooooooood Morning!!

Click here to go straight to the CURRENT STANDINGS

Set the mental clock for a 5am wake up call today and boom, a bit anxious as I jumped out of bed at the 4:48 mark on the alarm clock!  The birds were singing the CBS March Madness theme as I went down the tunnel (err, hallway) to take the court (turn on TV, put on the headphones and flip the satellite into go) for the first four of the Sweet 16 games.

First up, Wichita State and Notre Dame.  Perfect adrenaline rush to start the day as this one should be the best of the night's games (at least from a purists standpoint).  Notre Dame starts off hitting everything they throw up.  Uh oh, so much for WSU's coach getting the Indiana "golden ticket" to go to Bloomington to coach.  Interesting to note that Marshall's courtside mannerisms are actually quite similar to IU's Crean during this game.  WSU hangs in there (by the way, watching the games with no internet/google so as to avoid seeing outcomes, but thinking throughout about what the heck a Shocker is) and at the half I am thinking that they figured out how to defend ND in the last 10 minutes of the 1st half.  Boom, WSU takes the lead early in the 2nd half and it is looking goodbye Irish.  Then, Grant and Jackson turn it up a notch, the speed of the game gets going and it is just all ND!  Key moment I thought was when the Shockers cut it to 6 with 8 minutes to go and then D up.  ND runs the shot clock all the way down and Grant buries a killer three with 1 left on the shot clock.  You could just hear the air get sucked out of WSU.  ND then goes on a massive run and now likely will face Kentucky in the Elite 8.  ND really has outstanding chemistry on this team.  With some Irish luck, maybe they can stop the Calipari march to the title (please - anyone!).

Wisconsin and UNC are getting some screen time, but no scoring updates on my satellite feed.  At the half of ND/WSU, I get the last 8 minutes of the 1st half.  UNC is not turning the ball over and that is usually a killer for them.  Wisconsin seems to take a lot of shots from the perimeter with no crashing of the boards on offense.  I noticed this against Oregon and after watching WSU and ND go flying around the court chasing down rebounds, the Badgers seem to be missing this reckless aggressiveness that I think is necessary in the tourney.  Who knows though, tight game and now I am blogging "live" to my recording feed and UNC leads Wisconsin by 2 with 7 minutes to go.

"live" pause - what a great sunrise here!!!  Had to share it:

Bad signs abound for Wisconsin.  UNC is hitting their FTs AND they are in the bonus with 7 to go.  This just does not happen when teams play the Badgers.  Rare indeed.  Frank the Tank just drains a 3, UNC turnover for a layup and a Dekker 3.  Boom - Badgers by 6 and Roy decides to take a TO and look busy.  This game just went quickly from uh-oh to Badgers I think.  Oh my, great set play for Jackson for the 3.   Roy with a great call and the Tarheels are again breathing.  Wow, Badgers certainly seem to have answered this "call".  More importantly, Jackson is back on the court in crunch time and that is a key weapon they have been missing due to injury for I think 2 months.  That could be big for the rest of the tournament.

Great ad for the NBA with the whole "The Dance Never Ends" thing.  Very well done.  I might even watch a play-off game or two as a result before the conference finals!

Decker misses the dagger 3 to put Wisconsin up 8 with 2 to go.  UNC hits a 3 on the other end and oh my, another adrenaline rush for the Commish and we have a ballgame.  UNC with no one to guard Decker.  Reggie keeps raving about his ability to put the ball on the court, but heck, he was 6'6 a year ago I think.  Nothing like a 3" growth spurt when you are 20.  I am still waiting for mine to happen!  Wisconsin may want to watch for that double screen for Paige.  Reggie gets it - "it's on re-wind for Marcus Paige".  Roy making all kinds of good calls in this one.  Shocker.  Foul on Decker, but Hicks to the line in a pressure situation.  Not a bad foul at all.

Doink!  Hicks hard off the back of the rim and UNC hopes are fading.  Doink again and this one is about over.  Badgers are solid from the line and no TOs for UNC.  Wisconsin up 5 with 20 seconds to go.  This one is over and UNC goes to the line again for 2.  Drains them both and UNC has a chance.  Frank the Tank to the line and closes it out.  Go Big 10!!  Wisconsin does their part to set-up a rematch with the Wildcats in the Elite 8.

Kids are waking up.  So much for the "live" blog.  Go WVU!!!

Hopski Sweet 16 Preview II

Spring seems to finally be here in Sitges as the sun is shining and temps will be in the 70s for the next week.  SWEET!  That said, I am typing instead of pedaling :(

CURRENT STANDINGS

I have already covered the top of the standings in the post-Day 2 post, so here we go with the bottom….

LavinsTurtleNecks (Dave Iudica with Yahoo in NYC), unfortunately Dave's position of Strategic Insights and Research Director does not cover the tournament as let's just say with 40 points and ZERO underdog points, this year's entry is less than insightful!  With 3 of his Final Four still alive though, including Kentucky, Dave has hope of getting out of the Toilet Bowl!  Who will replace Dave though…..odds on favorites for me are MyDressAin'tBlue (long-time Hopski entrant & fellow Hoosier alum Susan Eslick of Denver, CO) and This One's for Rollie (2009 Hopski Champion Joe Drozdowski and record holder for highest picks % of all-time - 84.1% that year!  Oh how the mighty have fallen - say it isn't so Joe!).  Both had Villanova to win it all and both are mired at the bottom with very low max point totals.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Round 2's results allowed for some entries to skyrocket up the charts, here are a few of the success stories:

The Greg Anthony Escort Service (Ron South, of NYC and Henry Schein fame and an Illinois State graduate) shot up a whopping 112 places from Round 1 to Round 2!  Ron was light on the upsets, picked the right favorites in Round 2 and now with 7 of his Elite 8 and all of his Final Four remaining, this Service will keep on servicing up the standings!

My Other Bracket Is On My Personal Server (THE Big Dog himself, none other than Ron Genty of Chicago and Ernst & Young fame!) jumped up 75 spots on the success of 12 Round 2 winners!  Ron has an intact Final Four and 7 of his Elite 8, so this dog may have some legs!

When you gotta Big Dog, Ya Need A Big Yard……unfortunately - a wonderful picture of Ron Genty was censored by his wife Linda and had to be removed from this update.  This CAN however be emailed by special request!

Some other big moves were made on Round 2 results (Calipari's Recruiting Budget - Matt Whip and Mighty MVC - Bryan Robson), however, these two picks both unfortunately had Villanova moving into the Final Four and thus, these moves will be short lived.  Congrats none the less!

At the other end of the spectrum, Sweat the Petty (Jeff Luebbert,  not sure but the only JL I can find online is a cardiologist in Pennsylvania.  Jeff, if that is you, get this entry on life suppport!) dropped 84 spots to 116th and this rock is not done falling!  Jeff's maximum point total is 111 and certainly with only 4 picked teams remaining, contention for the Toilet Bowl this year is not far fetched.

Ok, gotta go and hit the pavement.  Too beautiful of a Sweet 16 Day to miss out on a ride!  Enjoy the games.  The next FULL update with any luck will be on Saturday AFTER I enjoy the next 8 games!!

Adios -

The Commish

**Get those 2nd Chance Dance Entries in and either email me or post in the comments sections your nominees / choices for 2015 Best Entry Name!!

Hopski Sweet 16 Preview

Back in time for a Sweet 16 preview………………

First, the delinquents list:

• Mark Iantosca (unfortunately responsible for Logan and Rob Jeffries too)<NOW PAID!
• John Springer (hey Heyseed - get it done!)<NOW PAID!
• Larry Corrigan (Big Lar - really??)
• Matthew Powell (the Other One - at least The One pays on time!)
• Bill Carey (what, no secretary now??!!)

Yep - that is it - the Final Five of "we could give a crap about your time as clearly our time is more valuable".  The 2nd Chance Dance will not accept your entry if no payment received by Thursday 6pm.  The pressure will get turned up from there with a release of your emails to the Pool.

Speaking of the 2nd Chance Dance…..let me repeat.  This is FREE if you are entered in the Hopski Main Pool and more so, you can WIN MONEY!  Click here SECOND CHANCE DANCE to enter your Sweet 16 Picks by 6:30pm EST Thursday.

Here's the # of Entries Picking each Sweet 16 team to Win ( Tournament Summary Report ):

Kentucky	159
Duke	143
Arizona	139
Wisconsin	138
Villanova	doh!    109
Notre Dame	97
Virginia	doh!      96
Gonzaga	92
Iowa St	doh!      61
Michigan St	35
Wichita St	30
N Iowa	doh!      28
Oklahoma	25
N Carolina	24
Kansas	doh!      23
Louisville	23
Baylor	doh!       11
Utah	9
Xavier	5

UCLA	3
NC State	2

West Virginia                   1      < Go Blue & Gold (Linda Genty - whoo hoo!!!)

Certainly some bonus points still out there for the taking in these games!  At this point though the key is keeping your Final Four intact!!  Heading into the Sweet 16, only 16 entries have their entire Final Four alive and well!!

BEST ENTRY NAME:  Please email me with your favorite entry name vote!!!  You cannot vote for your own entry (the Susan Eslick rule) and please do vote for at least 2 or 3 entries when you email me.  Best Entry Name Winner gets free entry into the 2016 Hopski International March Madness Pool!!

CURRENT YEAR STATS:

Lyon's L"R"ocks from Bill Lyon are really falling like a rock, dropping 63 spots to 66th place from Round 1 to Round 2, largely due to a 38% pick percentage!!  Bill though is tied with My 2 Sons (former Champion Jay Baum of SF fame) with 35 underdog points each, though Jay's bonus points have his entry in 5th place!

to be continued tomorrow - it is bedtime here……..

Gotta Luv the Huggy Bear!! On to the Sweet 16!!

“I wish I could sit here and tell you we’re definitely going to win — I can’t do that,” Huggins said. “But I can tell you that we’re not going to be scared.”  Had to add this to yesterday's update - great quote!

Huggy Bear and the West Virginia Mountaineers "Got Next"!!  After a passionate display of Do or Die Basketball in their victory over Maryland yesterday, I have hope that WVU can be the team to take down Kentucky.  This of course is a wish, but certainly WVU showed many aspects that Huggins former school (Cincinnati) showed in Round 2 that at least made their loss to UK interesting.  WVU may not have the height for UK, that could be the limiting factor, but certainly they have the discipline, the depth, the recklessness, the swagger, the ability to hit a big 3 or two, get easy buckets off of turnovers and of course - The Coach to do it.  At least I hope so and certainly so does the Go Blue & Gold from Linda Genty, a WVU alum and friend from the '92 Budapest days now spending her time holding the Big Dog's leash (that Big Dog would be husband Ron - My Other Bracket Is On My Personal Server)

Cincinnati, West Virginia, Oregon, Wichita State, Xavier, Dayton, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Butler, NC State, Louisville - whilst not an exhaustive list, win or lose in the 2nd round, these teams really showed some serious heart and desire in taking the fight to their opponent I felt in watching them this weekend (and no, I did not watch all games!).  Oregon especially had the "edge" in terms of determination and emotion against Wisconsin, unfortunately for the Ducks just not the talent.  What a great weekend of hoops that ended with not much left in terms of Cinderellas (c'mon - that shoe will never fit UCLA!).

As far as the Hopski, certainly the apocalypse is upon us as the Iantosca Brothers (only 2 of the 3 thank goodness) lead the pool as we head into the Sweet 16.  Wiltjer's Warriors (Scott, the more tolerable of the two from memory) leads the Hopski, moving up 25 spots after the 1st round on the strength of a Hopski Pool high 13 out of 16 in round 2!  1 point behind is Release the Kraken ("good" Mark and just  past his 1 year wedding anniversary to a seemingly blind modelesque Argentinian lawyer who must also know something about hoops given this year's entry) and The Contrarian Crossover (two-time Hopski Champion and an all-time leading 5 top ten finishes Kyle Bowers of Warsaw).  

In fact, the  top twenty Leaderboard is rather full of former Hopski Champions as My 2 Sons (Jay Baum 2012 Champion) is in 5th, Broken Gopher (Blaine Rowlette 2000 Champion),  is in 8th, Return of the Mack (Kyle Bowers 2003 and 2010 Champion) is in 10th, Bill Cosby Roofied My Bracket (Scott Hoagland 2001 Champion) is in 14th, UNI - Iowa's Other University, no more (Mark Conlon 2006 Champion) is 17th  and the defending champion Jeff Chamberlain's entry, 4 for Brady, 1 for Chambo, slots in at 19th!  Quite impressive starts!  Not to be overlooked is the fact that Release the Kraken (Mark Iantosca, 2003 runner-up).  Maybe this thing DOES require some skill!

I will cover other aspects of the Pool results to date later this week as for the moment, I have to get some work done today and want to get something out.  I have the blog set via mailchimp to email out any updates on a daily basis (only if there is something new), so do not worry about checking back in unless you really miss me.

ENTRY FEE DELINQUENTS LIST - 5 TO GO!

• CORRIGAN
• HASLUN
• IANTOSCA ("GOOD" MARK - PAYING FOR JEFFRIES
• THE OTHER MATT POWELL
• SPRINGER

The 2nd CHANCE DANCE SWEET 16 POOL is awaiting your free entry!!!  This is your true 2nd chance at glory after spending the past 4 days thinking "if only I had known that last week, I would have picked ....."  Entry is free provided you have entered the main pool, though if you are on the delinquents list for the main pool, your entry will not be accepted into the 2nd Chance Dance (let's call this The Mark Iantosca Rule).  2nd Chance Entry deadline is Thursday at 18:30 EST.

Adios!

Hopski Day 2 - on to the Round of 32

That is indeed as good as it got on Day 2, with Dayton's KO of Providence the ONLY upset of the day.  There were a lot of near misses, including Louisville, Maryland, W. Virginia and Belmont, but in each case the bell tolled early for Cinderella and that was that.  The MOST excited I was all day was when the UC Irvine / Louisville game switched on and I saw THIS GUY:

This picture does not really do justice to just how big UC Irvine's Mamadou Ndiaye really is, though note the "vertical" he required to dunk this is quite similar to my best days' 10" vertical leap!!  Mamadou is HUGE.  Montrezl Harrell is there to his left and he looks like a small forward (and Montrezl is normally the monster on the court!).  Mamadou is 7'6 and weighs 300lbs and that sounds like a lot of weight, he certainly carries it well.  When he is on the court, it is amazing how small every other player around him looks.  Unfortunately, Louisville held on to eliminate UC Irvine and we'll have to wait until next year for Mamadou (presumably as he is a Sophomore and still a "project" for the NBA at this point).

This is a quick update unfortunately as Ola (my wife) is off with Mia skiing today and tomorrow and I have Tasza and Sophie anxious to get out of the house at the moment.  Thus, to the standings…..

ABK (Anyone But Kentucky) from the right winger of Carmel, IN Marc Powell has surged into the top spot.  This was certainly to be expected on a day without upsets that the conservatives take over!  ABK is tied at the top with former Champion Jay Baum's My 2 Sons.  Lyon's Locks slipped 2 spots to 3rd position, with Bill still contending in spite of a 41% pick % - the lowest in the field so far!!

Go Blue & Gold (the homage to West Virginia from WVU grad and ex-Budapest expat Linda Genty) holds the top pick % after the first round with a sizzling 84% (27 out of 32)!  Unfortunately for Linda, 2 of her 5 misses were teams she had in the Final Four (SMU and Baylor) so she will very soon be contending for the Toilet Bowl (again) I fear!!  Speaking of the Toilet Bowl, Lavin's Turtlenecks (David Iudica) is in sole possession currently of last place, picking only 16 of the first round winners correctly AND getting ZERO underdog points in the process.  Kudos David as THAT is not an easy thing to do!!

Looking ahead to today's games, Back to the Salt Mines (Ann Arborite and ex-Poland, ex-UK, ex-Belgium, ex-Burundi expat Brian Gimotty) is the ONLY entry with Cincinnati upsetting UK.  Just 3 entries have Oregon knocking off Wisconsin and just Lyon's Locks (of course) has UAB picked into the Sweet 16!  

Enjoy the games.  Do not be surprised if there is no update tomorrow as it is hard enough watching the games before church, let alone getting an update out.  Most likely I will get something out at the start of Sunday's games!!  

Get those paypal payments in if you have not already done so (as I understand it, Amazon Payments is no longer an option - ooops!!).  The delinquents will be chased and chastised shortly!

Adios, The Commish

Hopski Day 1

Day 1 is in the books and the blog is honoring Georgia State's great comeback with some black and blue colors!

Lyon's Locks (Bill Lyon of Arlington Heights, IL) has taken hold of the top spot by picking 7 of the 16 games, but meanwhile racking up 30 underdog points by virtue of having picked the Ga State, UAB & UCLA victories!  Bill benefitted greatly from a day of upsets and his "work back from the Elite 8 with upsets" strategy has garnered some good early points.  Here's Bill (left side of photo) in his hoops heyday when we finished 2nd in the Warsaw Adidas 3 on 3 (anyone remember who the guy on the right is??!!):

Just to show that there are multiple ways to skin a cat in the Hopski, Docent Darlin's Back (Terry Kenney from San Francisco) went the traditional route, picking 14 of the 16 games correctly and stands in 2nd place.  Terry is hurting though from the Baylor loss, having picked them into the Final Four.

I attempted to give a nudge to a few entrants that were less than colorful with their entry names.  Alas, this did not work with most of them and if you cannot find your previous boring entry name, trust me, it has been changed!  The Spirit of the Pool Rule was invoked by the Commish.

Also note that we have finished with 162 entrants (and the Presidential Picks make the pool 163).  Please check that your entry is included as one entry (and I remembered the entry name when it was imported into the pool, but somehow it was knocked out) was not included in the final list yesterday.  This was added overnight and the pool should now be complete!

For those new to the Hopski, please note a plethora of reports exist on the Hopski Pool Website, including:

THE LEADERBOARD:  The Top 25 entries in the standings will always show up on the first page of the website.  After the 1st day and subsequent key break points in the tournament, the Leaderboard and the Current Standings will both show how many positions entries have move up and down the standings since the previous break point.  These breaks are at 16, 32, 40, 48, 52, 56, 58, 60 and 62 games.

Champions Summary report:  Summary of the teams picked to win the tournament and how many times. Kentucky leads the way with 88 entries trusting in Calipari and the Wildcats.  Wisconsin with 26 and Arizona with 18 entries are the next two.  11 teams have been picked to win it all this year, with Iowa State the first to exit the tournament.

Tournament Summary report:  Shows, by team, how many entries picked them to win in each round. I will change this report as the tournament progresses so it sorts by each round (unfortunately, I cannot exclude teams that have been eliminated).

Current Standings report:  Shows the entire pool standings.  This is a 4 pager and whilst you may not win or contend to win the pool, it is certainly a worthwhile objective to finish on the 1st page (and certainly avoid the dreaded last page).  From this report as well you can click on any entry name to see the entire bracket entered by that person.

Projected Standings report:  This is a sorted report by possible point totals, showing the maximum points an entry might get if all the remaining games go as they have picked.  This reports also shows predicted champ. 

Now that all entries are in - please feel free to email me your vote(s) for Best Entry Name.  Each entrant is allowed to vote for up to 3 entry names and the entry name with the most votes takes the title and gets free entry in 2016!

Re-charge those hoops batteries as Day 2 starts in 6 1/2 hours!!

Adios - 

The Commish

BLAST OFF!!!!

161 entries are battling for the title of 2015 Hopski International March Madness Pool Champion.

Well, let me correct that as 2 entries were in it for about all of 2 hours as with Iowa State losing - 2 teams lost their champions.  Another 14 entries had Iowa State in the championship game.  OUCH!!  A big congrats goes out to the 7 entries picking UAB (green update in honor of UAB by the way) and taking the first 11 underdog bonus points of this year's Hopski!

Not 45 minutes later, another 3 seed goes down - Baylor.  This was not as devastating on Hopski entries as only 4 entries had Baylor into the Final Four.  Still - OUCH!  Georgia St was picked by 29 entries.  

I had to get this Ron Hunter video out to everyone.  This is just beautiful to see:  It's Good!

Ron Hunter used to coach at IUPUI and he is also well known for coaching barefoot annually for the benefit of Samaritan's Feet, a charity getting shoes to those that need them most.  From what little I know about him, he is a great person and a good coach.  Fantastic win for him and his family (it was his son that scored 10 points in the last 2 minutes of the game!).  Just AWESOME! 

ONLY 2 entries picked BOTH Georgia State and UAB:  My Two Sons (2012 Champion Jay Baum's entry into this year's Hopski) and Lyon's Locks (Bill Lyon, ex-Warsaw and now living in the Chicago area).

This is likely the last blog update of the night as I will watch a few games and then hit the record button.  I will attempt to get the website to auto upload, but it has not always worked out.  Thus, be patient as after I get through my breakfast of recorded games, I will get it all updated in time for your breakfasts in the US.

Get the last of the entry fee paypal payments in tonight please!  Amazing job to date  NOT referring to the pool, brackets or March Madness.

Adios -

The Commish

Ready, set……………..5 1/2 hours til GO!!!

The 2015 Hopski International March Madness Pool (and of course the real games themselves) are ready to tip-off in about 5 1/2 hours.  The pool stands currently at 109 entries, so I expect that it will end up in the typical 140 to 160 range.

GET THOSE LAST MINUTE ENTRIES IN!!


Had to invoke the Spirit of the Game clause requiring creative and NEW (not Gopher Broke or Boys of Springer for the 15th consecutive year) entry names earlier today.  This included the Godfather, Lube Job and Udaman - all very, very worn re-treads of entry names of years past!!  A few others were just not creative whatsoever to start with:

MiamiChris - didn't we go through this last year??  Come up with something for your 2nd entry at least.

Rookie - great to have you - but seriously - 123456789 and 1234567891??

Down on the Upside - great, but not for BOTH entries.

Dtosca 1 and Dtosca 2 - I can only live with one of these and that is only if I must!!

PapaHoppa - jet lag or no jet lag - get those creative juices flowing!!

Hopefully this group (and any last minute entries as well) will get "up to speed" and email some decent creativity later today.

If you are struggling for entry names, head over to TMZ.com (I need a translator for that site) or keep in mind some of this year's current news and pop culture:  Game of Thrones, , Hillary's email, anything anti-Calipari or Ashley Judd, Ebola, Putin, Ukraine, Chris Christie (e.g. Chris Christie's Breasts), Greece leaving the Euro, etc….  Remember, pop culture with a twist to tie it to the Hopski or March Madness is a winner!

The Commish

2015 Hopski International March Madness Pool

For the 17th consecutive year, the Hopski International March Madness pool is back!

The website and pick entry sheet is alive and well now as I type!

The website is as it is every year:

http://www.mysideline.com/u/2588/collegebbmens/default.htm

Rules, etc… - all as in the past for you experienced Hopskiers, whilst rookies, please make yourself familiar of course with the Underdog Scoring Rules!!  ALL RULES are on the main pool webpage under (YOU GUESSED IT) - RULES!

Entry fees this year are $25 USD and given the weakness of the EURO and the likely pending parity, 25 EURO to book!!  If you are paying in Polish zloty - a nice even 100 PLN note will get you into the Hopski.

ALL ENTRY FEES are DUE by tip-off on Thursday unless you catch me in a lenient mood.  By lenient mood I may allow a grace period for those with good credit.  I can guarantee right now that Brandon Snow is the odds on favorite for "last to pay entry fee" as he is relocating (flying as I type) from Connecticut to Beijing!!  If anyone has a better excuse than that, of course you can pay later!

ALL POOL UPDATES will be via this blog!!  Bookmark it now along with the Hopski Website above!!

More soon, but for now, rest assured that the Hopski International March Madness Pool is back again!

I am strongly considering a 5 point bonus for anyone that DOES NOT pick Kentucky to win it all and join the 1976 Hoosiers as modern era Undefeated Champions!

Adios -

The Commish

**WHILE I DO HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, WHEN MAKING PAYMENTS VIA PAYPAL:

1. Make this a personal payment (SEND MONEY TO FAMILY OR FRIENDS OPTION) and do not reduce the prize pool and give paypal any fees!
2. ALSO - DO NOT in the reference mention anything except your name or your entry name.  SERIOUSLY!!  Last year, Paypal froze my account.  Let me repeat - DO NOT MENTION NCAA, POOL, etc….  HAPPY BIRTHDAY - that is fine.  Love the Hopski and March Madness - NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
3. markhopski@yahoo.com is my account