ELITE 8 PREVIEW - THE CREAM IS RISING!!

And certainly that is the case over the past two days as whilst the Sweet 16 was filled with top seeds, the Elite 8 has had some surprises.  The result being the tide is going out and we have some exposed entries in the Hopski as 59 entries have lost their champion pick and most likely, any chance of winning the 25th Hopski Title!

Rising highest at this point, The Mix for Six (Don King - a newer Hopski regular that I have NO INFO on - please drop me an email as you are a CONTENDAH!). 

The King of the Ring picked 5 of the Elite 8 (pool average was 2.9) to move from 5th place to the top of the Hopski Leaderboard!  Don has both Alabama and Duke picked into the Final Four - giving this UConn Champion entry some upside unique potential!!!   

Caitlin's Court (Josh Bailey) has slipped to #2 in the standings with 122 points (pool ave is 87) but will be falling like a rock now that AZ is knocked out.

Rising up with a start to 3rd on the podium is BAYLOR BOILER (Glen Gregory, long-time American in Warsaw and cyclist)

Glen (btw love the "CLASSY" mask - surprised he survived that "gathering" wearing one!) nabbed 5 of the Elite 8 and is the highest placed Purdue champion (Glen is MUCH SMARTER than this in person - not sure what the heck he was thinking).

BTW - click on reports and Who To Root For to see seriously who you should be rooting most for in terms of your entry's best finish!!  Scenario Generator also under reports will hint at what is in store (e.g. do you have a chance to finish in da money??  Or at least the Top 10 - something that has eluded GONE ZAGGING (Matt Powell of Cincinnati, one of my Hoosiers of '89 friends and HUGE Mike Woodson fan and bourbon afficianado) for 22 years now.  Seriously - 22 years of Hopski entries and NOT A SINGLE TOP TEN FINISH (best is 15th).  Keep on trying Matty!!

A special shout out to Moist (from Darren Kenney - such a long-time entrant but I am at a loss - and am short on time - for background info - PROLOGIS MAYBE??!!), this entry was tops in the pool, picking 6 of the Elite 8, thus racing up the standings to #5!

THE TOILET BOWL

THE TOILET BOWL competition has quickly narrowed to just two entries as Hopski?  No - Hop, Skip and a Jump (Mark Horgan) is sitting in pole position at the moment wiht 42 points, however, NHSJ is simply a hanging turd at the moment and Mark can avoid last place with a victory today by UCONN - which would then drop Niparoo10 (Amy Kenney -  now I do recall that she IS a USC grad - but further Kenney info across the board would be appreciated folks), into the hot seat for the remainder as she managed to not pick just 1 of the Elite 8 teams and her Final Four is eliminated!!  FIGHT ON INDEED!!

HISTORICAL STATS AS A POOL

2023 was basically the worst year in Hopski History in terms of scoring and picking accuracy!   2024 so far is lining up to be slightly below average - but the Sweet 16 average of 10/16 was actually the 4th highest in our history!  Average Dawg Points are pretty strong and certainly if UConn wins the title - the % picking champ will be one fo the highest as well!

ALL-TIME HOPSKI RECORDS

None of these look to be touched this year - on the high side or the low side!!

A FRIENDLY PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

YO - DO NOT CHANGE YOUR MAIN POOL ENTRY NAMES!!!  

IT COMPLICATES THE HEAD OFFICE REPORTING PROCESS AND DELAYS THESE AMAZING BUT INFREQUENT UPDATES EVEN MORE!!! 

YOUR FREE ENTRY FOR THE SWEET 16 HOPSKI SECOND CHANCE DANCE POOL - DEADLINE TODAY 7PM ET!

 

THE HOPSKI AINT GILMORE GIRLS!!!!!

THAT'S RIGHT - YOU GET A 2ND CHANCE HERE!!!!

YEAHHHHH INDEEED!!

After a first weekend of falling off the Leaderboard and even worse, off of the first page of the standings, you have a 2nd Chance in the Hopski to show your increased picking skills....... AND IT IS FREE!!!!

FREE - AS IN NO COST!!!!!  ZIP, ZERO, ZILCH!!!

SO...... all you have to do is to go to your RunYourPool account and enter the Hopski 2nd Chance Dance Sweet 16 Pool by 7pm ET today.

***If you are having trouble getting entries into the 2nd Chance Dance Pool (e.g. – IF you have multiple entries in the main pool) – follow these instructions:

1. Log into your RunYourPool account;

2. Click on the top right – your Display Name;

3. In dropdown menu, click on Hopski 2nd Chance Dance;

4. Click on “Your Brackets” (top left after Overview);

5. Click on “Create Another Bracket Entry”;

You are limited to 1 entry for each paid entry in this year's Hopski Main Pool.

A Complete Blur Those First Two Rounds Were for Me

THE HOPSKI TOP 20

The dust has settled on a seemingly upset filled weekend, however, once I came to this morning (see below Madness Senior Moments), I realized that we are left with as Blue Blooded Power 5 Conference Sweet 16 as we have ever had!

Leading the way are The Magical Magyars (Bill Lyon of Budapest) and Caitlin's Court (Josh Bailey of NYC), both long-time Hopski entrants (18 and 16 years respectively) who have cracked the top ten (Bill 9th in 2016 and Josh 5th back in 2009), but have not taken home any money.  Maybe that luck can change this year!

Also deserving of a shout out is 3rd place Alma Matters (David Putts, long-time American in Warsaw, a Duke grad and one of my old Oktoberfest Warsaw group that would send Jack Bell into a frenzy yearly with a crashing of his exquisitely planned Oktoberfest table!).  Dave is looking for his first Hopski Top Ten finish in 13 tries (previously finishing as high as 13th in 2012).  David has picked 79.2% of the games to date - leaving him tied with.......Melissa Rawlings (see below) as most accurate so far!

Not to be overlooked is Shut Up and Drive from my sister Melissa Rawlings!!!  Sis jumped up the standings by picking a pool high 14 out of the Sweet 16.  Melissa is Indy resident but a Maui snowbird where she works on her golf game in the winter.  This is her 14th Hopski, but her first after a 10 year sabatical - welcome back!!

Look out for Udaman (2022 Hopski Champion Mike Ching of Honolulu - lurking there in 5th position along side the previously mentioned 2008 and 2018 Hopski Champion Noferis Irresistible (Mark Noferi of NYC)!

That sums up the leaderboard for now, however, not to be overlooked is the other end of the spectrum - our Toilet Bowl Competitors!!!  

There we find Hopski?!  No, Hop, Skip & a Jump (Mark Horgan - this being his 3rd Hopski - but I have no info on the man - so please serve up something juicy someone!).  Mark has raced out to a pretty significant lead, being one of only 10 entrants to have already lost their Champion Pick (Baylor - really?!) and more, as his best case point total of 61 is not even half of his next closest competitor (Niparoo10 from USC Trojan Amy Kenney).

Madness Senior Moments?:  I watched a few games live, I watched a few recorded (well - actually a LOT more than a few) and then I go to talk with someone about the games and it is all like "that game between Grand Canyon and, uh, that other team, red one, or no - wait - it was the Oregon Game and, uh, well.....  what a great game that was!!".  I become completely incoherent.  This short term memory thing may be a real issue as there was little or no alcohol involved in any of these "moments".

Best Game that I Did Not Watch:  Colorado's 102-100 game over Florida  

Middle of the day Friday game for me, so I was off to a special "pre-semi-finals" end of season girls' basketball practice.  Came home and saw the last minute and was like, darn, that had to have been entertaining as hell!

Best Game that I Watched (Most of Anyway):  Alabama beating Grand Canyon 72-61.  

The refs sat back and used the whistles rarely in this one while the teams took turns bludgeoning each other at the rim!  This was athletic up and down power hoops at its best and fully uninterupted by replay checks of 10 minutes to identify that .2 second clock adjustment (my LEAST FAVORITE in-game thing).  

Biggest Surprise:  Mid Major Talent

So surprising to me that a lot of these "mid major" teams are able to get great players through the portal that somehow were languishing on someone else's bench.  Take Grand Canyon's Tyon Grant-Foster - 6'7 210lbs of lean slashing powerballin' muscle that can also shoot the 3!  He played 15 minutes a game at Depaul last year but went off on Saint Marys and Alabama in 2 tournament games this year and averaged 20 points, 6 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals/blocks per game this year!!  WOW!  How does this guy seemingly slip through the cracks (no offense Grand Canyon) when he is seemingly the protypical G/SF everyone wants/needs?!  He overcame a heart issue I understand - but still - WOW!

Where Is Cinderella??  

 

Seemingly an upset filled weekend, but despite a great effort by some double digit seeds, the dust has settled and we are left with a Sweet 16 of largely top seeds and NO MID-MAJORS!  14 of the 16 teams remaining have been picked by a Hopski entrant (or two) to win the Championship! and 15 of the top 16 teams have been picked to the Final Game on at least one entry:

GET THOSE PAYMENTS IN - AS I WILL BE UPDATING THE ACCOUNTS IN A COUPLE OF DAYS (THOUGH I PRESUME ANY OF YOU SO AIMLESS AS TO NOT HAVE ALREADY MADE PAYMENT WOULD NOT HAVE READ THIS FAR!!!

THE COMMISH!

*VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE ENTRY NAME (WINNER GETS FREE ENTRY NEXT YEAR) BY EMAILING ME OR USING THE MESSAGE BOARD.  ONE CANNOT VOTE FOR THEIR OWN ENTRY.

*ALSO GET YOUR PICKS IN FOR THE 2ND CHANCE DANCE!!!

Noferi's Irresistible!!!!

Had to share this and I love entrant content!!  Mark Noferi, the 2018 and 2008 Hopski Champion (only 4 more years to go for the three-peat!!!) has added this bit of elaboration on this year's entry name!!!  So..... straight from NOFE HQ in NYC...........

 

Just a Quickie Day 2 Hopski Update

It is late here and what a weekend of basketball overdose!!!  Not sure where the time went, but clearly it was not spent on Hopski Updates!  

Thus, just a quickie here....... 

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND..........

So - RYP is an ok system - but there are a few things missing - e.g. the Leaderboard.  This is not exactly an artistical presentation, but hey, it gets the job done (would do a much better job if I were anywhere near this btw!!)!!

Also - take note that the Hopski 2nd Chance Dance Sweet 16 Pool is up and running.  You are allowed a free entry for each entry in the regular pool.  You should have received an invite for entry into that pool. If you did not - try clicking on your dashboard on RYP and see if that brings it up for entering your picks.

Congrats on a great 1st round strategy by The Magical Magyars (Bill Lyon, former Warsaw expat turned suburban Chicago teacher turned Budapest expat teacher I think now!!!  Bill and I played together in the Adidas Warsaw 3 on 3 Streetball Tournament wayyyyyyy back in 1993 (or 1994), finishing 2nd or winning the thing!)  Great Times and good to see Bill back on top of the Hopski, though it may be fleeting with the pick all 1s and 2s and upsets strategy.....

A proper update shall follow tomorrow I hope - just wanted to quickly get something out there lest I receive an email box full of hate mail Monday morning.

Adios -

The Commish

HAPPY HOPSKI DAY!!!!

March Madness and the Hopski are off and running - as are the underdog bonus points!

Congrats to Keith Dambrot on postponing his retirement as Coach of Duquesne with the first big upset of the tournament!  Love that he is going out in style, with this being the school's first tournament win since 1969!!!

2 games in the books and 2 underdog point generating games, with the 5 point bonus for picking Duquesne over BYU garnered by 42 of our 141 entries this year!!

The 25th Annual Hopski field is set with 141 entries this year, all seeking to find Hopski Glory like these Hopski Champions:

Or...... NOT...... Like our Toilet Bowl "Winners" of years' past:

A break down of our entries' in terms of Final 4, Championship Game and Champion picks for the 2024 Tournament (this can be found on the pool website along with other interesting data and current standings).

If last year's "Hopski goes live to the Champion during the Championship Game" streak continues, Jeff Wagoner (Phoenix resident and my roommate from Indiana U.) may be a frontrunner for this year's Hopski Title as we'll be attending the Championship Game together in Phoenix - courtesy of my favorite reward credit card - BILT!!!  They made available tickets on the March 1st Rent Day giveaway which the Commish nabbed for the final game.  

Wags though must promise to not order any whip cream with his beer (that is a Guiness in there!).....

OR for any drink for that matter.......

Good luck and get those entry fees in if not already paid up!!

2024 Hopski International March Madness Pool - READY TO ROLL!!

WAKE UP!!!

 

COMB YOUR HAIR!!

AND GET YOUR GROOVE GOING!!

THE 25TH ANNUAL 

HOPSKI INTERNATIONAL MARCH MADNESS POOL 

IS READY TO GO!!!

IF you were in the 2023 Hopski - just go back to runyourpool.com and use your same login info from last year.  If you cannot recall your password - reset with them (don't email me).

IF you have missed a year or more of the Hopski, then use this link to enter

The Pool ID is 226932 and the Hopski is now hosted on runyourpool.com!

Brackets will be announced via this Sundays' 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Selection Show on CBS at 6:00 PM, ET.  Hopski entries may be made immediately thereafter!