Day 3 - Finally some "upsets"

First things first - excellent article on ESPN about how the NCAA and its selection committee need to chuck the RPI and get on to proper analytical analysis as the basis for their seedings.  That Villanova - the #1 overall seed in the tournament - was stuck facing the #32 seeded overall Wisconsin in the 2nd round was not just reward for being the overall #1 seed.  The NCAA has failed this year in its seeding of Wisconsin and Wichita State as well.  There may be other oddities - but certainly these two at #8 and #10 were injustices to Villanova and Kentucky (and normally I am all for injustice to the Wildcats!!).

Only 9 entries tabbed the Badger Cheeseheads and picked up 10 points on the field from that 2nd round game.  Congrats to:

• AMaizeinblue (Brian Gimotty, Ann Arbor based Michigan alum and world renown golfer - atleast at the Gdansk course where he bore most all of it for the owner's wife once);
• Bringing Down the House (that bastard Brandon Snow, back from China to NYC with the NBA);
• Fuqin California Wine Mixer (Eric Gates, IU Read Beck alum and recipient of Most Improved / Best Sandbagger at last year's Hopski Scotland Golf Trip);
• I Won't Acknowledge the Results Unless I Win (Tom Utroske of Chicago, aka the Sloth and along with Gates, part of the dominant Read Beck IU intramural hoops squad);
• Low Seed Count (beats me - all is have for the entrant is Jackson!);
• PapaHoppa (my Dad -  Michael, now of Anderson, IN and proving even the blind squirrels..........);
• Straight Outta Wiscompton (Carol Stephenson, also of Chicago and somehow connected to the Sloth - see above - God help her);
• The Swedish Krzyzewski (Peter Pell, of NYC and a Richmond Spider grad - probably with some good Mark Iantosca stories to share);
• Yugest Hopski Picks Ever, Bigly!!! (Jeff Chamberlin, ex-Warsaw expat now in DC and a member of the Hopski Champions Club - 2014 winner!)

Well done all of you as well as these guys (don't bet against Senior experience in the Madness!):

Aside from the Wisconsin sleeper pick, most of the remaining 1st 8 of the Sweet 16 that qualified on Saturday were not huge surprises - though some Hopski edge points were picked up by those having picked Xavier (31 entries) and Florida (57 entries).

At the top of the Hopski heading into Day 4 is another defending Champion (and just all around good guy) I Hope My Picks Don't Get Hacked (Joe Drozdowski of NYC, Godfather of the I Hate the Yankees Club and the 2009 Hopski Champion).  I Hope My Picks Don't Get Hacked was one of 6 entries that managed to pick 6 of the 8 winners on Saturday, moving this entry up 24 places on the day and into the Pole Position.

Scandy, a creative leap there from Hopski newcomer Chris Scandalios (no info??) checked in a point behind Joe D on the strength of 6 winners selected Saturday, while Udaman (entry from San Francisco based E&Y partner Mike Ching and 2011 Hopski runner-up - also someone who really needs to get on with it and pick a new entry name as this one is as stale as last week's bread) picked 5 and held onto a spot in the top 3 after being our Day 2 leader.

At the back-end of the Hopski at the end of Day 3 is Sheed Baldwin 2020 (Logan Jeffries, a Hopski vet though I have little info on him - other than he was introduced by Mark Iantosca into the Hopski - so probably NYC based and an I-banker ?!).  Logan - really - just 2??  Then again, thanks for keeping Momhopski out of last place (Donna Percy - yep, the Commish's mom and former avid hoops fan out of Peru, Indiana) as Mom has racked up just 1 underdog point!!!  I need to run some numbers on that figure as that could be a record!!!

OK - it is Sunday afternoon and the Commish 1) is losing family points sitting at the computer and 2) cannot stream as the damned fiber optic is still out and I ran out of the back-up 4G capacity this morning after watching the Butler victory and near-Purdue choke job.  How 'bout those Bulldogs!!!  Look out - they could win this thing!!

Next update - Monday sometime after Movistar visits and gets fiber optic going!!

Adios!!

The Commish