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!!!