NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Not those four, these four that are fighting for the 2019 Hopski International March Madness Pool Crown:
THE WAY OF KINGS........KYLE BECKER
FOUNDING MEMBER, ERIC GATES FAN CLUB ..........MATT POWELL
DIAKITE RUNNER...........PETER PELL
I LEFT MY HEART IN UMBC.......RYAN FAZIO
THESE are the real Final Four and similar to the Big Dance (only Tom Izzo has Final Four experience btw), only Ryan Fazio has been in this situation in the past, having finished 3rd in the 2018 Hopski Pool!! Various combinations will put each of them into the Hopski Throne, but only Ryan has LOCKED UP some Hopski dough and is guaranteed of at least a 2nd place finish as he has two entries in contention right now. Matt Powell is actually set to break 18 years of Hopski frustration as he has NEVER finished in the Top Ten!!
A big shout out to THREE Hopski entrants that ALL managed to go 8 for 8 on the Elite 8 this year and tie a pool record that had only happened twice in the last 20 years (2007 - Cowboy, Bill Carey & 2009 - Fishin' With the Gators - Mom Hopski - Donna Percy). THIS year, 3 entries did that - The Way of Kings (Kyle Becker of Portland, an Oregon Duck alum that will soon be grinding out an MBA at Wharton), Gopher Broke (Blaine Rowlette, a 2000 Hopski Champion, formerly a long-time Warsaw expat (amongst other stops in Europe) now back home in Minneapolis and enjoying the Final Four this weekend) and Oh, It's Like Salad (Jeff Chamberlin, a 2014 Hopski Champion and BCU alum that had a few formative Hopski years in Warsaw in the 90s - now in DC). Impressive!!!
After a Spring Break delay the website is updated fully now. Apologies but there was just not a workaround this year (TurboTourney has still not gone cloud!!).
A quick stats update for 2019 as an added bonus........
Certainly a BIG spike in the # of Sweet 16 picks this year (11.5 - overshadowed only by 2009's 11.8) but 2019 swung back to a below normal year as we hit the Final Four - with only .8 teams picked correctly on average!! Underdog points though are quite strong this year - 25.8!! That is 3rd highest in Hopski history.
Ironically, in a year of BIG scoring in the Sweet 16, Hey Man, What's the Deal? (Wes Maciejewski, the former expat Mayor of Warsaw in the early '90s and now crazy busy Chicago suburban dad) managed to pick just 3, breaking a long-standing Hopski record of just 4 that had been held by 5 entrants over the years!! I must say - I talked Wes out of picking Seton Hall to win it all this year or it may have been worse!! As it is, Wes has wrapped up the 2019 Hopski Toilet Bowl victory (taking the title from The Commish)!! You da man Wes!!
In terms of other historical feats, Ryan's "I Left My Heart in UMBC" entry has a chance to break the All-Time Hopski Scoring Record of 215, held by This sheet = the audacity of hope (Joe Drozdowski) set in 2009!!
Here is the complete rundown of Hopski Records:
A MORE IMPORTANT record has been set this year as we had 42 of our 141 entrants make a direct donation to Great Lakes Outreach - leaving me to foot their Hopski Entry Fee bill. Those donations totaled $2,507, another $685 came from the $5 for all other donations AND an anonymous entrant matched my $1,050 for Hopski Entry Fee bills - giving us a grand total of $4,242 raised for Burundi and GLO this year!!! THANKS!!!
Enjoy the games - I must run!!
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