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!!!