Yeah, Rah, Bulldogs!!!!

It has been a good start to the tournament for Bulldogs, as Butler took down Texas Tech and Yale has delivered the first meaningful upset of the tournament, taking out Baylor from the surprisingly 1-3 Big 12 (haaaaa Wojt!!!).

 

The rest of the early games have gone down without major upsets nor even a major scare.  Thus, let's get back to some quick stats on the final field of 152 entries in this year's Hopskis.  First, yep, 152 official entries as I mistakenly deleted an entry that was a duplicate entry name - from two entrants!!  Thus, When I Touch Myself, I Think of Bill Self is Michael Hoss's 2nd entry - not to be confused with When I Think of Hopski, I Touch Bill Self from Bill LeFever! 

 

Within this field of 152, special kudos go out to Raising the B.A.R. (Blaine Rowlette of Warsaw - ex-EB colleague), McConnell is Blockin' My Picks Too! (Kyle Bowers of Warsaw, ex-hoops teammate in the BSA scrums and entering this year from Belgrade) and 2000 All Over Again? / Is Ted Cruz a Synonym for DouchNoozle (John Springer, another ex-Warsaw ex-BSA hoops alum now somewhere in the USA) and I Got Big Hands.... (Mark Kalogeras, long-time KPMG Warsaw expat and now father of 3).  WHY you ask??  Aside from the many beers the 5 of us shared over the years, they are participating in their 18th Hopskis this year - thus, members of our select group of 5 to have been in each Hopski!!!  On top of that, Kyle is a 2 time champion (2003, 2010), Blaine a solo shot at the top (2000), Mark finished 2nd in 2005 and Springer shared some dough in 3rd in 2014!  Naz Drowie!!

 

Back to the field and the picks this year.  Here is how our pool broke down their regional champion picks:

 

 

No big surprise here as KU is the top seed, though 3 UConn picks is interesting and Maryland, as the #5 seed gets the 2nd most picks, while Cal, as #4 was shown no love!

 

 Out West it is the most open of the brackets (and certainly in my view the weakest).  #2 seed Oklahoma is the Hopski favorite with a wide open region thereafter.  This region could have a bit impact on the Hopski championship hopes as a separator.

 

 Out East some homers have Indiana picked, but only half of the pool went with the most talented team in the tournament - UNC.  In Roy We Trust indeed!!  Kentucky - really?!  31 of you??  What - the SEC has them prepped for serious competition or something?!  This is the other region that will truly create some separation in the pool.

 

 The Midwest is dominated by Michigan State picks, with 119 of the pool picking them, leaving just 27 for Virginia.  Interestingly - zero confidence in the #3 seed Utes of Utah.

Gotta Go - Game Face time as Hoosiers are tipping off!