Hopski Guest Blog - 2015 Hopski Awards for Entry Creativity

It is great to have (ABK - Anyone But Kentucky) Marc Powell's entry name awards back after a 2 year hiatus.  

These do not replace or name the Annual Best Entry Name Award, the voting for which is STILL OPEN!!  DROP an email NOW (or after reading the below) and vote for your favorite 2015 Entry Name!!!

2015 Hopski Awards

After a several year hiatus, the highly coveted Hopski Awards are back!  Just what are the Hopski Awards?   Well, it’s just one man’s quick review and analysis of the Entry Names, which seemed to become an annual competition for several years, but having reviewed this year’s entries, I gotta admit, you people are pretty lame and losing your creativity these days! 

Where’s the creativity of old?  Where are the brilliant movie references?  Where are the current events and political scandal statements?  Where are the offensive and controversial entry names?  With all that’s going on in the world today, not to mention with Google at your fingertips, how hard can it be to come up with something better than “The Other Matt Powell” as an entry name?   Then again, my “ABK (Anyone but Kentucky)” wasn’t exactly creative, although it was ironically enough identical to Jeff Wagoner!

Here are all the great potential names/themes that we let slip by:

• ·      The Ghost of Dean Smith
• ·      Nothing about Iran’s Nukes and destroying the Middle East? 
• ·      Nothing about Bubba Clinton’s Fantasy Sex Island? 
• ·      Hands Up, Don’t Shoot My Bracket? 
• ·      All Brackets Matter?  
• ·      Miss me yet?  (George W Bush’s bracket)
• ·      CREAN SUCKS! 
• ·      What Difference Does it Make?  
• ·      Valerie Jarrett’s Picks on Behalf of Obama? 
• ·      If You Like Your Picks, You Can Keep Them? 

·      How about those movies name parodies…

o   “Willing to Meet My Creator and Answer for Every Pick I Made” (Chris Kyle – American Sniper… American HERO). 

o   Grand Budapest Bracket? 

o   Selma March Madness? 

o   Oprah’s Bracket was Snubbed? 

o   Equal Payout For Women Wining the Hopski!

* All in good fun people… relax!  If you’re offended, then just remember I’m from Indiana… I’m one of those ‘closest discriminators’ just lurking in the shadows and waiting for this RFRA law to be passed so I could legally discriminate!  Ughhh… don’t get me started! 

Ok, so this doesn’t mean there was zero creativity this year.  As usual, I had to dig out a thesaurus and Google a number of entries just to have a clue what they meant.  And others, I still have no idea the meaning or context (“Teen Girl Squad”, “SBI Giraffes”, “Hize Lubes”, “Niparoo3”)???

But without further delay, here are your categories, nominees and winners.  But first, a quick reminder, this is just an exhibition, this is not a competition, so please, no wagering on the winners!

We’ll get things started slowly… to reflect that I had to dig deep this year with categories:

Best Use of Alliteration in an Entry Name:

1.    Wiltjer's Warriors! (Iantosca, Scott)

2.    Underwood's Underwear (Stevens, Tom) 3.    Living Large in Lexington (Quasha, Grant)

Winner:  Livin Large in Lexinton… Triple L’s… nicely done! 

Best Use of Current Events in an Entry Name:

1.    Live from Ebola-land (Grundberg, Julie)

2.    My picks? Killed them all. of course. (Kwitnieski, Stan)

3.    The Greg Anthony Escort Service (South, Ron)

4.    Another Planes missing? (Curtis, Bob)

5.    Hillary Clinton deleted my good bracket (Beck, Marc)

6.    Hillary's server: please delete this mail (Holding, Kent)

Winner:  Hard to dismiss another good Clinton scandal, but if we gave awards for those, we’d be here all day… winner is “My picks?  Killed them all.  Of course”.  That Durst guy is a dumbass. 

Most “Factual” Entry Name:

These are just entry names I found to be “true” or agree with… nothing special, but factoids!

1.    I've Made a Huge Mistake (Paul, Beth)

2.    Never pick with your heart (Kozlak, Joe)

3.    Slipping Below Mediocrity (Gates, Eric)

4.    Adam Morrison Has Two Rings (Keeley, James)

5.    I Hate James Harden (Becker, Kyle)

6.    Kentucky vs. The Field (Rantala, Lance)

Winner:  Never pick with your heart is a given, as is Gates’ slipping below mediocrity… and I hate James Harden… and It’s definitely UK vs the Field… but the winner is “I’ve Made a Huge Mistake”… Picking Villanova and Iowa State for the Final 4 was a mistake… Fortunately, you’re still holding on with Wisconsin!

Entry Names I found to be Personally Funny:

1.    Anyone but Kentucky (Wagoner, Jeff)

2.    Damn It Boy (miller, jeffrey)

3.    Calipari’s Recruiting Budget (Whip, Matt)

4.    John Calipari Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good (Fazio, Ryan)

Winner:  Come on Wags?  Seriously?  I love a good Calipari/UK reference, so the winner is:  “John Calipari Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good”.  Hilarious… and maybe close to being winner of the prior “factoid” category!

Best Hoops Related Entry Name:

Just fun twists on hoops and the game

1.    High Ayatolla of Slamola (wojt, tom)

2.    H to the IZZO (Whip, Benjamin)

Winner:  Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the amazing H to the izz-O, V to the izz-A… the 8^th wonder of the world.  Fo’ shizzle my nizzle used to dribble down in the VA!

The “Huh” Entry Name Award… I still don’t understand what they mean:

1.    All About The Eclipse (Iantosca, David)

2.    Down on the Upside (McGuill, Dylan)

3.    LavinsTurtleNecks (Iudica, David)

4.    Milo MacNutts (Gates, Eric)

5.    Party like a 3L (Kenney, Sky)

6.    Upside Down (McGuill, Dylan)

7.    Working Class Hero Crap (Hopper, Ola)

8.    Can't send a team to the Dance since 1693 (de Weydenthal, Nick)

Winner:  I have no idea what these are about… so I’ll go with the dual entries from Dylan McGuill of “Upside Down” and “Down on the Upside”… nicely done tag team.

Best Use of Indiana Basketball in an Entry Name:

1.    Indiana Is Underseeded (Johnson, Michelle)

2.    Jordan Fuchs You Fuchs Me (McLaughlin, Andrew)

3.    Just Leave Crean, I'M BEGGING YOU! (Heldman, Dave)

4.    1976 Lives On!!! (Johnson, Michelle)

5.    In Memory of the Wigwam (Townsend, Darin)

Winner:  Nice shoutout to the Wigwam King, but I can’t resist a good Crean flogging… winner is “Just Leave Crean, I’M BEGGING YOU!”.  Amen.

Most Creative Entry Name:

1.    On the Bubble Butt (Beck, Mary)

2.    Show Me The Drachma (Iantosca,David)

3.    Fried Calapari (Seib, Joe)

4.    Wildcat anyway you slice it (Libby, Pat)

5.    The Contrarian Crossover (Bowers, Kyle) 6.    Just say No to Kentucky (Schulz, Ted)

Winner: Some strong entries here… former Lifetime Achievement Award winner Mary Beck always brings it… she must be in marketing or something!  Still laugh about “All knocked up and looking to dance”… ha.  Fried Calapari is a nice twist.  Nice move reference with Show me the Drachma.  And I always love a good Reagan throwback to Nancy and “Just say No”, but for some reason the Contrarian Crossover is intriguing and different enough to earn top honors this year in my book. 

Lifetime Achievement Award –

This Year’s Award goes to someone who gave 5 submissions this year and each reflected consistent use of the same theme and sexual innuendo’s.  Congratulations to David Miller… I think?  Not sure who this cat is, but your therapist may want to know about all of this… funny!

1.    Big Hands, Small Balls (Miller, David)

2.    Excuse me while I wipe the salt off my balls (Miller, David)

3.    It's all about the balls (Miller, David)

4.    IU, Premature Evacuation (Miller, David)

5.    Don't get the Kitty Wet (Miller, David)

Best Use of Music/Entertainer in Entry Name:

1.    Gunter Glieben Glouten Globen (Powell, Matt)

2.    Haters Gonna Hate. Nofe It Off... Nofe It Off. (Noferi, Mark)

3.    Taylor Swift's Got Base (Rockwell, Holly)

Winner:  Oh, how I miss Mel Hopper’s annual Brittney’s Breasts bracket, but there are clearly some closet Taylor Swift fans in the group… Easy win for “Haters Gonna Hate.  Nofe It Off… Nofe It Off”.  Well played sir.

Best Use of Your Own Name in an Entry Name… aka “The Come on Man Award”:

1.    Herrold's Heroes (Herrold, John)

2.    Loscudo's Losers (Loscudo, Joe)

3.    Lyon's Locks (Lyon, Bill)

4.    Vinsanity2015 (Sollecito, Vincent)

5.    Joey Brackets (Wagoner, Joey)

6.    Joe Droz Sheet of Integrity (Drozdowski, Joe)

Winner:  Not too creative, but the tie breaker goes to the kid who nailed the final 4 teams and is poised to take some money, and to steal some money from me if Wisconsin wins it all!  Well done Joey Brackets! 

Most Original Entry Name:

1.    Scream if you want to go faster (Kenney, Darren)

2.    Tigers Front Tooth (Adam, Nick)

3.    Job at the Y (Dress, Jimmy)

4.    Live from the Emergency Room (Szczerba, Victor)

5.    Ray Rice's Left Hook Em Horns (Lowery, David)

6.    I'm Taking My Talents to the Title (Townsend, Darin)

7.    Seriously Bro? (miller, jeffrey)

8.    Prone to error (Maloney, Mike)

Winner:  I guess these could be creative, but I’ve just never read entries like them, nor do I know what they mean… Emergency Room?  Winner is “Ray Rice’s Left Hook Em Horns”

Best Use of Politics in an Entry Name:

1.    Cuttin Down the Net-anyahu (Obama, Barack)

2.    My other bracket is on my personal server (Genty, Ron)

3.    Putin was just working on Hopski prep (Travers, Brian)

4.    Secret Server's Son (Genty, Clayton)

Winner: Hands down… my other bracket is on my personal server.  Barack Obama’s bracket won’t win anything, although he may win another peace price for striking a ridiculous deal with people who state they want to kill American, arm our enemies to fight against us and are about as untrustworthy as they come.  But I digress (Hop warned you all I’m a “right winger”… Powell2016)

Most Pornographic Entry Name:

These may or may not be pornographic, but they’re sure borderline! 

1.    BlueBallBuster (Hawkins, Deb)

2.    Ashley's Judds (LaFever, William)

3.    Ashley's Juggs (Baum, Jay)

4.    Lubed & Ready (Lubreski, Don)

Winner: This was a hard one… but hands-down the winner I s“Lubed & Ready” (puns intended)

Best Use of a TV Show in an Entry Name:

1.    Better Ball Saul (Hopper, Mark)

2.    Breaking a Bad Bracket (Menzel, David)

3.    Drogon Goes West (Novesky, Keir)

4.    Flaxon Jackson Waxon (Jackson, Aaron)

5.    God Hates Gingers... I Do Too (Springer, john)

Winner: I love a good South Park and Tosh.O call out with Gingers… and Flaxon Jackson Waxon is hilarious… Drogon (Game of Thrones?) is great… Breaking Bad is so “last year”… so the winner is “Better Ball Saul”… which I guess could have gone in the prior category also!  Great show…

Worst Repetitious Overuse of a Name Seemingly Every Year:

1.    Excuse Me While I Whip This Out (Schoenstein, Eric)

2.    Pet The Sweaty (Paquette, Pat)

3.    Release the Kraken (Iantosca, Mark)

4.    Sweat the Petty (Luebbert, Jeff)

Loser:  All of you… come on gang… come up with something new next year!

Best Use of a TV/Celebrity in a Lead or Starring Role of an Entry Name:

1.    Bieber Celebrity Roast? The End MUST Be Near (Schoenstein, Eric)

2.    Bill Cosby Roofied My Bracket (Hoaglund, Scott)

3.    The Dirty Cosby (Hoaglund, Scott)

Winner:  Clearly anything related to Bill Cosby is the winner… as this guy is apparently bullet proof.  Unbelievable.  Winner is “Bill Cosby Roofied My Bracket”

Hopski Dance-Off Awards:

Lastly, here’s a new category for each of you to play along at home and decide on your own. Best Dance performance at a basketball game by a fan, player, usher or actor:

Nominee 1: Peyton “Peanut” dancing at Rupp Arena at Sweet 16:

https://youtu.be/ARXp0rocLmU

Nominee 2: Crazy Dancing UNF fan:

https://youtu.be/KqcOypVbmZU

Nominee 3:  NBA Usher vs. Kid Dance Off:  Battle for the Ages

https://youtu.be/JgPrQZ499nI

Nominee 4: Frank the Tank Kaminsky Breaks it Down after Elite 8 Win:

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/581977081699049472/photo/1

Nominee 5:  Jackie Moon – Love Me Sexy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jwjS3Ee_SM

Enjoy… Go Wisconsin!!

Marc

Final Four

Current Standings and your best and worst finishes by entry:  Player Scenarios Report

What a great set of Elite 8 games (well, 3 out of 4 anyway)!  The winners and this year's Final Four are a pretty well pedigreed group (aside from the Badgers to be fair) and certainly let's not overlook the fact that in a supposed "down year" the Big 10 Conference has 2 of the Final Four!  Thus, this is a black and blue Big 10 colored update (anyone know how to get the background color away from white for these updates by chance??).

We may have just a Final Four remaining in the tournament itself, but the Hopski still has 7 entries battling for the title of 2015 Hopski International March Madness Pool Champion, though the leader for the past few updates, Wiltjer's Warriors (Scott Iantosca) has gone the sideline route of the Zags of Gonzaga and can at best finish 2nd now.  Nice run Scott, but really, trusting in Mark Few??!!  If Duke has a glaring achilles year in, year out, it is inside and I only saw the Zags really attack in the post a couple of times with about 10 minutes left in the game (and they were successful with it, but I guess it was boring!).

And down the stretch comes Joey Brackets (Joey Wagoner of Indianapolis and son of my college roommate Jeff) on the strength of a perfect Final Four pick!  Joey was the only entry to pick the entire Final Four correctly and aside from contending for this year's title, it also locked up his 5th win over his Dad (Anyone But Kentucky) out of the 6 Hopskis in which they have both participated.  Geesh Wags, first golf, then basketball and clearly now Hopskis.  Is there ANYTHING left that you can beat him at??!!  Joey needs a Wisconsin victory over Duke to take the Hopski, while ABK (Anyone But Kentucky), Marc Powell of Indianapolis' entry is set to take the title if Wisconsin wins an all-Big 10 final over Michigan State.  Marc has already stipulated in his entry form that IF he wins the pool, he wants his 1st place winnings to go to the Hillary 2016 Presidential Campaign Fund!  What a guy!

Kentucky escaped the Domers on Saturday, much to the relief of the pre-Final Four pool leader, Release the Kraken (Mark Iantosca of NYC and JP Morgan fame).  This has been an outstanding set of picks this year, with just his pick of Iowa State into the final keeping him from running away with the Hopski.  Mark needs a Kentucky vs Michigan State final to take the Hopski title this year, who wins is of no consequence for him.  I guarantee the slowest payout in Hopski history if this happens.  In fact, it will likely take him the cumulative 107 late payment reminder emails that he has racked up in his Hopski, fantasy hoops, fantasy football and any other participation that has required him to make a payment to me in his lifetime in order to collect the Hopski payout!

Also rooting quietly (I hope) for the Wildcats of Kentucky is Pet the Sweaty (Pat Paquette).  Pat is a 11 year Hopski veteran with 5 top 40 finishes in the past 6 years - could this be THE breakthrough year?!

In the Dukies corner is 8th place Hillary's server:  please delete this email (Kent Holding, American expat in Poland and CE&E for quite a few years now).  Kent needs a Duke over Wisconsin final, while Duke over Kentucky will vault 3rd place The Greg Anthony Escort Service from Ron South (Long Islander, Illinois State grad and ex-Madrid/Barcelona expat).

All hail Tom Izzo and his overachieving Spartans of Michigan State.  What a great run this team as had, as back in February, they were seriously on the bubble back in early February and put in some stinker games this year (losing at Nebraska, at home to Illinois and the completely inexplicable home loss to Texas Southern and Mike Davis in December!!).  Sparty are certainly the darkhorses of the Final Four, but a Michigan State championship over Wisconsin will push 4th place My Other Bracket is on My Personal Server and the Big Dog Ron Genty to the Hopski Title.  MORE IMPORTANTLY, we will all get to see the "too risque" for the Hopski wife-censored photo of Ron.

Down the drain so to speak at the other end of the standings, Lubed & Ready and Don Lubreski remains in last place, needing one more Wisconsin win to get out of the Toilet Bowl.  Should Kentucky prevail though, Duke It Out (Taylor Swift fan extraordinaire David Joffe working with a great charity Nourish Now in Washington DC) will slip to the 163rd spot and pick up free entry for the 2016 Hopski.

Speaking of 2016, who wants to takeover the Hopski next year??!!

The 2nd Chance Dance has just one perfect entry so far, that from All Hail the Hopski and Nick Lagattuta, an Illini alum working with the Big Dog Ron and E&Y in Chicago.

Adios -

The Commish

**I am off to the mountains with the kids and Ola for Semana Santa week and thus, the next update maybe on Saturday just before the Final Four.  

Noooooooooooooooo!!

So close, so close, so close but Noooooooooooooootre Dame denied.

Arrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!!!

Great effort but the Wildcats and Calipari move on.

Our new hope:

and secret weapon……

NOOOOOO - not THAT Frank the Tank, THIS ONE!!!

GO BADGERS!!!

Elite 8

Gotta bring this update to you in Sparty Forest Green (or whatever they call it up there in East Lansing).  It is a reasonable surprise that they have arrived at the Elite 8 given how poorly this team shoots FTs, but man can they rebound and bang when they have to have the ball.  Now Sparty can ride Izzo's great history of short turnaround success (20-4) in the NCAA to hopefully another Final Four berth.  That said, Louisville might be the one in the back of the mind of Kentucky fans, as it was Pitino's Cardinals that gave UK one of their best games of the year back in December.

On to the CURRENT STANDINGS

The Brothers Iantosca have maintained their hold on the top 2 places, with each picking 7 of the Elite 8 (no one BTW picked all 8 teams this year).  Here's a shot of all three of the Iantosca brothers:

Scott (Wiltjer's Warriors!) is in the middle with 2nd place Mark (Release the Kraken) on the left (to Scott's right).  David, the black sheep of this year's Hopski, is on the right and languishing with two entries in 99th and 134th.  David at least pays on time though and is the best baller of the bunch!

Moving back into the top 3 is ABK (Anyone But Kentucky) and Marc Powell (anarchist living in Carmel, IN).  Marc is threatening to make a return this year to the Hopski staff with his Entry Name analysis.  Watch this space next week.

The big surge in the Sweet 16 round came from none other than My Other Bracket is on My Personal Server (Ron Genty, whose photo WILL skip past the censors IF he finishes in the top 3 of the pool), jumping 24 spots and into the Top 10 at ninth.  His son, Secret Server's Son (Clayton Genty) also made a huge jump of 36 spots and into the 16th slot.  Quite a run from the family Genty this year!

We have a new toilet bowl leader, as Lubed & Ready (Don Lubreski, ex-Warsaw expat and rebounder extraordinaire now gone Stateside) managed to nab just two of the Elite 8 and fell 16 places into the 163rd spot!  Wisconsin is his last team alive, so a Wisconsin loss tonight vs Arizona will seal the Toilet Bowl for Don!

From the Tournament Summary Report , here are the Elite 8 teams with # of entries picking them into the Final Four:

Kentucky	149
Arizona	76
Duke	72
Wisconsin	71
Villanova	63
Virginia	60
Gonzaga	49
Iowa St	32
Michigan St	13
Louisville	11
Oklahoma	11
Notre Dame	10

There's really not a lot of surprises here, even Michigan State and Louisville were seen as strong contenders for the Final Four by the Hopski Pool given the perceived weakness of the East Region.

If you want to "spoil the surprise" and know who you should be rooting for, all entries best and worst possible finish positions are listed in the PLAYER SCENARIOS REPORT 

TWENTY ENTRIES still have a chance to win the 2015 Hopski (unfortunately, the Commish's best finish is just 2nd - blocked by Bieber Celebrity Roast?  The End MUST Be Near).

The Hopski 2nd Chance Dance has 8 entries that picked a perfect Elite 8.  Click here for 2ND CHANCE DANCE CURRENT STANDINGS

Enjoy the Elite 8 games.  Next update will likely be on Monday.  Adios, The Commish

Goooooooooood Morning!!

Click here to go straight to the CURRENT STANDINGS

Set the mental clock for a 5am wake up call today and boom, a bit anxious as I jumped out of bed at the 4:48 mark on the alarm clock!  The birds were singing the CBS March Madness theme as I went down the tunnel (err, hallway) to take the court (turn on TV, put on the headphones and flip the satellite into go) for the first four of the Sweet 16 games.

First up, Wichita State and Notre Dame.  Perfect adrenaline rush to start the day as this one should be the best of the night's games (at least from a purists standpoint).  Notre Dame starts off hitting everything they throw up.  Uh oh, so much for WSU's coach getting the Indiana "golden ticket" to go to Bloomington to coach.  Interesting to note that Marshall's courtside mannerisms are actually quite similar to IU's Crean during this game.  WSU hangs in there (by the way, watching the games with no internet/google so as to avoid seeing outcomes, but thinking throughout about what the heck a Shocker is) and at the half I am thinking that they figured out how to defend ND in the last 10 minutes of the 1st half.  Boom, WSU takes the lead early in the 2nd half and it is looking goodbye Irish.  Then, Grant and Jackson turn it up a notch, the speed of the game gets going and it is just all ND!  Key moment I thought was when the Shockers cut it to 6 with 8 minutes to go and then D up.  ND runs the shot clock all the way down and Grant buries a killer three with 1 left on the shot clock.  You could just hear the air get sucked out of WSU.  ND then goes on a massive run and now likely will face Kentucky in the Elite 8.  ND really has outstanding chemistry on this team.  With some Irish luck, maybe they can stop the Calipari march to the title (please - anyone!).

Wisconsin and UNC are getting some screen time, but no scoring updates on my satellite feed.  At the half of ND/WSU, I get the last 8 minutes of the 1st half.  UNC is not turning the ball over and that is usually a killer for them.  Wisconsin seems to take a lot of shots from the perimeter with no crashing of the boards on offense.  I noticed this against Oregon and after watching WSU and ND go flying around the court chasing down rebounds, the Badgers seem to be missing this reckless aggressiveness that I think is necessary in the tourney.  Who knows though, tight game and now I am blogging "live" to my recording feed and UNC leads Wisconsin by 2 with 7 minutes to go.

"live" pause - what a great sunrise here!!!  Had to share it:

Bad signs abound for Wisconsin.  UNC is hitting their FTs AND they are in the bonus with 7 to go.  This just does not happen when teams play the Badgers.  Rare indeed.  Frank the Tank just drains a 3, UNC turnover for a layup and a Dekker 3.  Boom - Badgers by 6 and Roy decides to take a TO and look busy.  This game just went quickly from uh-oh to Badgers I think.  Oh my, great set play for Jackson for the 3.   Roy with a great call and the Tarheels are again breathing.  Wow, Badgers certainly seem to have answered this "call".  More importantly, Jackson is back on the court in crunch time and that is a key weapon they have been missing due to injury for I think 2 months.  That could be big for the rest of the tournament.

Great ad for the NBA with the whole "The Dance Never Ends" thing.  Very well done.  I might even watch a play-off game or two as a result before the conference finals!

Decker misses the dagger 3 to put Wisconsin up 8 with 2 to go.  UNC hits a 3 on the other end and oh my, another adrenaline rush for the Commish and we have a ballgame.  UNC with no one to guard Decker.  Reggie keeps raving about his ability to put the ball on the court, but heck, he was 6'6 a year ago I think.  Nothing like a 3" growth spurt when you are 20.  I am still waiting for mine to happen!  Wisconsin may want to watch for that double screen for Paige.  Reggie gets it - "it's on re-wind for Marcus Paige".  Roy making all kinds of good calls in this one.  Shocker.  Foul on Decker, but Hicks to the line in a pressure situation.  Not a bad foul at all.

Doink!  Hicks hard off the back of the rim and UNC hopes are fading.  Doink again and this one is about over.  Badgers are solid from the line and no TOs for UNC.  Wisconsin up 5 with 20 seconds to go.  This one is over and UNC goes to the line again for 2.  Drains them both and UNC has a chance.  Frank the Tank to the line and closes it out.  Go Big 10!!  Wisconsin does their part to set-up a rematch with the Wildcats in the Elite 8.

Kids are waking up.  So much for the "live" blog.  Go WVU!!!

Hopski Sweet 16 Preview II

Spring seems to finally be here in Sitges as the sun is shining and temps will be in the 70s for the next week.  SWEET!  That said, I am typing instead of pedaling :(

CURRENT STANDINGS

I have already covered the top of the standings in the post-Day 2 post, so here we go with the bottom….

LavinsTurtleNecks (Dave Iudica with Yahoo in NYC), unfortunately Dave's position of Strategic Insights and Research Director does not cover the tournament as let's just say with 40 points and ZERO underdog points, this year's entry is less than insightful!  With 3 of his Final Four still alive though, including Kentucky, Dave has hope of getting out of the Toilet Bowl!  Who will replace Dave though…..odds on favorites for me are MyDressAin'tBlue (long-time Hopski entrant & fellow Hoosier alum Susan Eslick of Denver, CO) and This One's for Rollie (2009 Hopski Champion Joe Drozdowski and record holder for highest picks % of all-time - 84.1% that year!  Oh how the mighty have fallen - say it isn't so Joe!).  Both had Villanova to win it all and both are mired at the bottom with very low max point totals.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Round 2's results allowed for some entries to skyrocket up the charts, here are a few of the success stories:

The Greg Anthony Escort Service (Ron South, of NYC and Henry Schein fame and an Illinois State graduate) shot up a whopping 112 places from Round 1 to Round 2!  Ron was light on the upsets, picked the right favorites in Round 2 and now with 7 of his Elite 8 and all of his Final Four remaining, this Service will keep on servicing up the standings!

My Other Bracket Is On My Personal Server (THE Big Dog himself, none other than Ron Genty of Chicago and Ernst & Young fame!) jumped up 75 spots on the success of 12 Round 2 winners!  Ron has an intact Final Four and 7 of his Elite 8, so this dog may have some legs!

When you gotta Big Dog, Ya Need A Big Yard……unfortunately - a wonderful picture of Ron Genty was censored by his wife Linda and had to be removed from this update.  This CAN however be emailed by special request!

Some other big moves were made on Round 2 results (Calipari's Recruiting Budget - Matt Whip and Mighty MVC - Bryan Robson), however, these two picks both unfortunately had Villanova moving into the Final Four and thus, these moves will be short lived.  Congrats none the less!

At the other end of the spectrum, Sweat the Petty (Jeff Luebbert,  not sure but the only JL I can find online is a cardiologist in Pennsylvania.  Jeff, if that is you, get this entry on life suppport!) dropped 84 spots to 116th and this rock is not done falling!  Jeff's maximum point total is 111 and certainly with only 4 picked teams remaining, contention for the Toilet Bowl this year is not far fetched.

Ok, gotta go and hit the pavement.  Too beautiful of a Sweet 16 Day to miss out on a ride!  Enjoy the games.  The next FULL update with any luck will be on Saturday AFTER I enjoy the next 8 games!!

Adios -

The Commish

**Get those 2nd Chance Dance Entries in and either email me or post in the comments sections your nominees / choices for 2015 Best Entry Name!!