HOPSKI PRE-FINAL FOUR UPDATE - PART 1 OF 2 :)

Basically every day this week has started like this......

And every day has ended with..................

So today I channelled some Ted

and even though pretty much any of you reading this are reading it tomorrow (FRIDAY), we have a HOPSKI UPDATE!

Starting of course with the HOPSKI LEADERBORD:

Groketology:  AI of the Tiger (former Warsaw expat and hooper Stan Kwitnieski of Boulder, CO - and please note the Monkey Boy reference last update related to his comment to my proud girlfriend at the time - and wife now - that she was leading the pool in 2001 and Stan dropped a "any monkey can make picks" or something to that regard...... she promptly had an entry name for 2001 and with that luck she finished on the podium in 3rd!) leads the way after a perfect Elite 8 and 3 for 4 on the final four - with Dawg points keeping him at the top.

Moving up to 2nd place is To The Alamao For a Schwinn & Hopski Win (from Brett Meyers - the Founder of a Washington DC-Baltimore area charity call Nourish Now.  Nourish Now is a great endeavor and I strongly encourage any of you looking for a destination for charitable dollars to check it out here).

 

To The Alamo was one of 4 entries that were perfect last weekend, picking the Elite 8 and the Final Four.  This group also included 5th place #GreenlandStrong (Jack Bell, part of the Budapest AAndersen expat group that I joined in 1992 and THE mustard mock t-shirt and pretzel guy from our annual Oktoberfest gatherings and Drake Bulldog grad and btw also the person that intro'd me to Nourish Now from his time well spent in Washington DC), 7th place Tangled Up in Nofe (2 time Hopski champion Mark Nofe, an attorney that has just recently relocated to New Mexico (I think) where he is a Chief Clerk for a US District Court judge) and 18th place Does Tru TV Exist April through Feb? (ex-Warsaw expat and a Hopski Champion Mark Conlon - now back home in Minneapolis.  

Add Jack's 2 Hopski runner-up finishes and a 3rd as well and you have a real case of.......

TO BE CONTINUED MANANA......   IT IS 10:30PM AND I GOTTA GET OFF THE COMPUTER HERE!!

Some Quick Don'ts...... and some quick comments on the first night of the Sweet 16

 

4 of the Elite 8 are set and the games tonight were both entertaining and WOW - impressive.  I can pretty much confirm the obvious that Indiana would not have stood a chance against ANY of the 4 winners (well - maybe Texas Tech!).  I am very worried already that there will be Saturday overlap between the women's Spokane regional and what should be an AMAZING game between Duke and Alabama with the Final Four on the line.......

Speaking of awesome, 28 entries went 4 for 4 tonight (including the suddenly surging It's Simple.  I WIN.  Google me! of the Commish!).  Groketology:  AI of the Tiger was one of those 28 and has moved into the top spot, while DOGE Slashed My Picks from Joe Sieb has moved into the #2 position whilst also picking all 4 winners!!  

Not to be overlooked and also going 4 for 4 on opening day of the Sweet 16, the Hopski has a female breaking into the top 10 (and Leaderboard) as ChatGPT vs Copilot (Susan Eslick - the Commish's former Chicago neighbor and a Hoosier alum from Elkhart, IN - now living out in Denver) checks in at #10 with a bullet!!!

NOW FOR SOME TECHNICAL ITEMS

Looks like we have a few multiple entrants in the 2nd Chance Dance this year that did not read the rules (yes we have rules!).  

YOU GET ONE ENTRY IN 2ND CHANCE DANCE FOR EACH ENTRY THAT YOU HAVE PAID FOR IN THE MAIN POOL!!!!!

Mom Hopski - THIS MEANS YOU!!

For all main pool entries - DO NOT CHANGE YOUR ENTRY NAMES AFTER THE START OF THE TOURNAMENT!  PLEASE!  It makes the leaderboard preparation by the Hopski Minions uch more difficult as RYP does not export the standings with names and entry names for some reason - so my minions have to sort and match and blah, blah, blah......  

JUST DON'T

LASTLY - IF YOU HAVE YET TO PAY - I WILL FIND YOU NEXT WEEK WHEN TIME ALLOWS!  SO GET YOUR PAYMENTS IN ASAP!!!

ADIOS - THE COMMISH!!!

Sweet 16 Time and man oh man what a terrible injury for JuJu

 

Hopski Headquarters has been a bit down this week after JuJu Watkins' season ending ACL injury Monday night.  What a terrible break for an incredibly mature and gifted 19 year-old athlete.  We were hooked on her after she dropped 51 points on Stanford just over a year ago and my daughter Mia was a ball girl that night (and waited 45 minutes until she came out of the locker room to meet her and get an autograph).  Hopefully she is able to come back and continue fully her ascent to the top of women's basketball next season.  In the meantime - we are off to Spokane Friday to root on USC, albeit sans JuJu :(.  

 FIGHT ON JUJU, FIGHT ON!!

Agree, on to some Positive Vibes and the Hopski Round 2.....

and Pre-Sweet 16 Update!

THE LEADERBOARD!!!

Hellooooooo Mike Doud and the Artist Formerly Known as Harper & Bailey.  AFKH&B surged into the top spot after the first weekend with a whopping 32 DAWG points and a St. John's champion pick....

DOH! indeed.  So long Mike - your stay as a contendah will be short lived - but you garnered a Hopski shout-out!!

In 2nd place and leading the Potential Points category is the guy my wife still "affectionately" refers to a Monkey Boy...

None other than Stan Kwitnieski and Groketology:  AI of the Tiger (Stan was one of the early expat settlers in Warsaw, Poland back in '91 or so and now resides in Boulder, CO!  We had some great times (and "moments") on the basketball court together as well.).

3rd place is It's Been 38 Years (Eric Gates, IU alum, one of my oldest friends and just such an aspirational AND inspirational guy to all.  I started the Eric Gates Fan club back at IU my freshman year and have never given it up! 

He's a 4.8 pickleball near pro and well, that is about it.  I could say much more but no sense in dredging up the past!!!).

Joining Big E in 3rd place is Josh Bailey2 (from none other than.... you guessed it, Josh Bailey).  This is a real shocker for the Commish this year as Josh is a seasoned Hopski veteran yet mailed it in in terms of an entry name this year - not once but twice!!  UGH!!!!!  

Bad karma Josh - but for now - welcome to the podium!

Yes - 69 is the magical AVERAGE score after 2 rounds of the Hopski this year, with 17 underDAWG points!

This means that about half of the Hopski Pool has already been "eliminated" from the Toilet Bowl Last Place award this year as somehow Aaron Jackson and AarUpThere has reduced his potential point total to 67 in just 2 rounds.  THAT is the point threshhold everyone must cross to avoid the mess that is last place!!

Dreaming of a Three-Peat #2 from Don King is our current toilet bowl resident btw, with just 37 points and a pool low 1 DAWG point!!

In terms of Sweet 16 picking - The Hopski Pool of America from Marc Powell (Marc is Matt's lil' bro - see Gates Fan Club picture for Matt on the left, Marc was an essential member of the Hopski team for about 10 years when he was single and childless.  All that changed about 6 or so years ago when he and his wife had twins and he basically disappeared from the face of the earth (face of Hopski atleast).  He used to provide a fantastic breakdown/analysis of entry names.  I say it is time to come back Marc and MHGA!!!  Oh yeah - he picked 14 of the Sweet 16 and kudos to him for leading the Hopski in that respect!  At the other end of the Hopski spectrum of accuracy is Mazman Bryan Mazlish (Palo Alto entrepreneur and girls basketball Dad and coach).  Bryan managed to get just 4 of the Sweet 16 - but still has a reasonable 117 possible points so as to avoid this year's toilet bowl!!

16 entires have had their Champion eliminated - namely Wisconsin, UConn and St. Johns.  Oh woe is you!!

Gotta go - games starting in about 1 minute.  I am optimistically taking my laptop with me to Spokane, WA for weekend updates in between women's regional games with my daughter Sophie!!

Enjoy the Madness -

The Commish

URGENT!! Get your entries in for this years FREE (as always) HOPSKI 2ND CHANCE DANCE SWEET 16 POOL!!

It has been a minute since you heard from the Commish and indeed a pre-Sweet 16 update will be coming Thursday before tip-off!  

Would you believe........

Ahhhh - not really but IT IS TIME for YOUR 2nd chance at Hopski glory - so get your entries in for the Hopski 2nd Chance Dance Pool by Thursday 7pm EST!!

CLICK HERE to complete your 2025 Hopski 2nd Chance Dance Sweet 16 Brackets or just go login at RYP and click on "2025 Hopski 2nd Chance Dance (Sweet 16 Pool)", then "make your picks"!

Same scoring as the main tournament, with upset points available for brave picks!

Entry is included with your $30 (that you have already paid - right?!  Payment required BEFORE Sweet 16 starts or no 2nd Chance Dance entry BTW) and you can win 5% of the prize pool with a 1st Place Finish!!

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

Pick well!  Good luck! Oh - and......

The Commish

Hopski 1st Round Update

 

Yeah - this indeed is a day late and for that reason it will focus on some shout-outs rather than pure entertainment!!!  Deal with it!!!

Congrats to both Domer (Chris Hevezi, Hoosier residing in New Orleans now and younger brother of high school best friend Lou, famous previously for dropping 5 3s (I think) in final 2 minutes of Kokomo sectional final only to fall short of knocking off fkn Kokomo Wildcats and his McD career flippin’ burgers) and Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive & Dunk (Justin Lockhart, New Yorker that runs a 2 conference fantasy pool that I have yet to win in 5 years – fix is in!) as these two entries were most accurate of the 1st round, picking 29 of 32 winners, landing them in 1st and 9th place, respectively (not that this will matter in a week!).  The Hopski All-Time 1st round record holder for accuracy is Pitino Is A Weiner (David E Miller) back in 2013 with 30 winners picked!

At the other end of the Leaderboard is Dreaming of a Three-Peat #2 (Don King), our first toilet bowl leader who picked a pool low 18 of 32 winners and worse – just one upset!!  Yippie Ki-Yah MotherDunker (Darin “The King” Townsend, IU roommate from Anderson, IN and devoted fan of about half a dozen teams in every pro league as well as another 5 colleges!) managed to avoid the Day 1 Toilet Bowl, but picked a pool low 17 out of 32 winners – applying the anything for the Dawg Points strategy!  

Also of note is Mercantilism:  Economy of the Future from John Springer (early Warsaw expat and ISU Cyclone grad – now in Minnesota or somewhere cold from memory) who pulled a 1st round Blutarsky – “0.0” Dawg Points!  UGH!

The Hopski has 149 entries this year, with 1st Round Average correct picks was 23, with 15 Dawg Points and 38 total points.  Hopski History:

As the pool moves forward (and for those not familiar with Run Your Pool), take note that RYP does have some reports of interest available on the website or you can download their app, so click on “Reports” and please note the following:

1. Leaderboard: which is actually just full pool standings.  If you click any header, it will sort by the header, unfortunately we are missing the day to day + / - moves in the standings, entrant names and underdawg points….  Drat!

2. Semi-Final Pick Summary:  Shows # of times each team picked for the Final Four, the Finals and as Champion;

3. Team by Team Pick Summary:  Shows by region how many times each team picked to win in each round;

4. Who to Root For:  Cool listing of the teams that your entry REALLY neds to have win to compete relative to the Hopski competition;

5. Scenario Generator:  Predict the future finishes and RYP will generate the Leaderboard;

6. Group Results Summary:  Created a few groups (Hopski family, EURO expats, Indiana alums, met me, never met me, rookies, Bay Area) and you can see internal group standings for each here;

7. Pool History:  See Hopski results since 2022 (when we started using RYP);

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!!!).  

OF SPECIAL PAYMENT NOTE – LORD VOLDEMORT / MARK IANTOSCA (OUR DEFENDING CHAMPION THAT WAS SUSPENDED 48HRS FOR LATE PAYMENT) HAS ACTUALLY PAID ON TIME THIS YEAR!!

THE COMMISH!

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

*ALSO GET YOUR PICKS IN FOR THE 2ND CHANCE DANCE STARTING SUNDAY NIGHT / MONDAY MORNING!!!

With or Without You (Hoosiers) - The 26th Annual Hopski International March Madness Pool

 

1987 - a banner year!!

Unfortunately, U2's Joshua Tree album has aged better than IU basketball!

As it appears the new CBR may be Indiana's only dancing this year!

HOOSIER HOPE springs eternal though!

As does YOUR HOPES for a Hopski Championship!!!!

THE 26TH ANNUAL 

HOPSKI INTERNATIONAL MARCH MADNESS POOL 

IS READY TO GO!!!

IF you were in the 2023 or 2024 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' 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Selection Show on CBS at 6:00 PM, ET and your  Hopski picks may be made immediately thereafter up until next Thursday March 20th at 12:15pm EST!

2024 Hopski Best Entry Name - not to be overlooked!!

 I thought it was a banner year in terms of Hopski entry names...

Really??!!  Nahhhhh - I like to optimistically believe in the ingenuity and creativity of our Hopski Faithful!

On to the awards!!!!

Honorable Mentions

• Aerospace Engineering Barbie (my oldest and soon to be graduating HS daughter - Natalia Hopper);
• Hurley Bird Gets the Worm (Justin Lockhart - who runs a great fantasy football league in NYC that I joined about 4 years ago)
• I'm Just Ken-tucky (Tom Welsh, a near neighbor here in Palo Alto and hoops coach at 4City and Greene Middle School alongside the Commish)
• I Always Pay On Time Iantosca (special shout out to Mark Horgan for this one that he sent in as a "write-in" vote entry)
• Total Eclipse of My Bracket (Phil Purevich - our token Canadien entry)
• Knecht Four (Peter Pell - our 2021 Entry Name champion)

Runner-up:  This Whole Thing is a Bracket (Darin Townsend - IU alum and roommate who is always on top of the latest player names in sports)

Our
2024 Hopski Best Entry Name (free entry for 2025) goes to....

UConnt Touch This (Glen Gregory of Mexico) - Glen hopefully will do a bit of Hammer Time when he reads this and the Entry Name Champ as well should ease the pain of the Purdue loss knocking his bracket off of the podium!

The Hopski Best Entry Name Hall of Fame!