March Madness/Bracketology: And So Finally We Reach The Men's 'Final Four'!

Here is my (very) busted bracket now that we know which teams made it into the "Final Four"!  It contains changes made from the disaster which were my "Elite Eight" picks.  Actually I did so-so with picking most of the teams I believed would continue forward in this big dance once we all recovered with what Mercer did to Duke; I predicted three out of the four regions okay.  I was 100% with at least one out of the four regions, I must add!
EAST:  It was the east region that I never really quite mastered.  I flubbed if you must really know with my east-region picks.  No thanks to Michigan St. and coach Izzo who were not as hungry for winning it all as I once believed.  Much to my chagrin they failed to get past UConn in the east-region!  C'est la vie!  But I must add that prior to Michigan St. stumbling it was the Iowa St. Cyclones (Big XII) that busted my east bracket.  UConn really socked it to the two teams I thought would venture further from the east-region.  So I now find myself having to mark-out the Spartans of Michigan St. (I really thought they would win the 2014 tourney this time around --my bad) and added the UConn Huskies into the "Final Four"! 
SOUTH:  I did also stumble a bit in this region.  I carelessly thought that the Syracuse Orange(men) would get past Dayton in the "Round of 32".  I correctly predicted that the Dayton Flyers would beat the Ohio St. Buckeyes (those 'nuts' -- LOL!) in the "Round of 64", but that was where I thought Dayton would end their bid and lose to Syracuse.  My bad --again!  I picked Florida correctly out of the south-region through the "Elite Eight", but I foolhardily thought that the Spartans would take this region and lead it into the "Final Four" and win the "Big Dance"! 
MIDWEST:  Like I stated before, after everyone's brackets recovered from the loss by the Duke Blue Devils to the Mercer Bears, my Midwest-region/bracket never stumbled again.  I redid my bracket and picked the Tennessee Vols to beat Mercer.  I was never quite convinced that coach K (Krzyzewski) would make it past the "Sweet Sixteen" but I must say I was indeed shocked at how Duke exited the tourney so early on and to the Mercer team.  I was cheering for Mercer, but not confident that this was a real "Cinderella" team of the caliber needed to get past the Vols.
WEST:  I also did great picking the Wisconsin Badgers out-of-the west-region.  This was the lone region with which I did not stumble.  I wish I had bet money on just this region alone.  I still believe that Wisconsin will do battle with Florida in the championship game, but I think that the Gators will take the whole thing now that I had to redo the "Final Four" bracket and remove Sparty's team.  I now believe that Florida will be the 2014 Men's Final Four Champs. 

 

March Madness/Bracketology: And So Finally We Reach The Women's 'Elite Eight'!

I was disheartened and disappointed by the Lady Vols failure to reach the "Elite Eight".  I was hoping they would win one for their former and legendary Tennessee women's coach -- Pat Summitt, but it was not meant to be again this year.  The Lady Vols remain sans a championship since 2008.  The women's NCAA Basketball Championship now having eluded the Lady Vols for 6 consecutive years.  As I stated that the last time they won a championship was 2008 and coach Summitt had not yet announced her medical condition which broke all of our hearts; early onset Alzheimer's disease!  Last year the Lady Vols did reach the "Elite Eight" but lost to Louisville 86-78.

The Louisville region busted my bracket entering the second and third rounds.  Incorrectly I picked Tennessee to beat Maryland.  I also had the audacity (despite my better thinking) to pick WVU over regional-host team Louisville.  My bad! 

So my "Elite Eight" in this women's tourney took a bit of a beating.  However, I have to boast about the fact that I picked three out of four regions correct-a-mundo (Thanks, Fonzie, for the saying); those three regions (Lincoln, Notre Dame & Stanford) so far have not let me down!

So we continue down the road to the women's "Big Dance"!...

March Madness/Bracketology: My Women's Bracket Thus Far Friday, March 28, 2014!

I am faring much better with the women's 2014 NCAA March Madness (Bracketology).
The men's 2014 tourney has once again been plagued with too many 'Cinderella' teams and/or those teams who just did not show up at all.  Shame on them!  Their (men's) tourney has busted way too many brackets and done so way too early. 
Anyway...the women's tourney is the one I should have bet money on for certain.
I know the teams much better and the teams to bet money on are usually perennial favorites.
Seldom any 'Cinderella' teams in the women's tourney.  But we welcome them with open arms whenever they do show up; keeps it interesting -- plus it is rare with the women as previously stated!
Connecticut with coach Geno Auriemma at the helm of their NCAA basketball dynasty is usually a surefire bet every year.    A dynamic-force for the last couple of decades.
But throw in Baylor and their coach Kim Mulkey and everything is up-in-the-air.  The Baylor (women) have won this tourney twice so far: 2005 and 2012.  A good deal for the Big XII!
But wait...don't ever count out Stanford either.  The Cardinal is eager to earn another birth into the 'Final Four' with hopes of winning "the Big Dance"; 1992, I believe, was the last year that the Stanford women won this infamous tourney. 
 But it would be remiss of me to forget (and I never do, never will forget) the Lady Vols of Tennessee!  Their former, all-great, coach-of-all-time -- Pat Summitt made this basketball fan a true fan of the Lady Vol's basketball program.  Pat is the best coach in men's and women's NCAA/NBA/WNBA basketball.  She put Tennessee on the proverbial map!
I welcome another classic women's tournament with UConn and Tenn vying for it all!

So...here is my women's bracket going into the 'Sweet Sixteen':


March Madness/Bracketology: My Bracket Thus Far Friday, March 28, 2014!

With changes, updates and smart-alecky remarks in tow,

here is my (busted) bracket thru the 'Sweet Sixteen':

Now we have the East and Midwest games to go later tonight!

 

East: Virginia vs. Michigan St. (I picked the Spartans of Michigan St.)

East: Iowa St. vs. Connecticut (I picked the Cyclones of Iowa St. "Go Big XII")

Midwest: Kentucky vs. Louisville (I picked the Wildcats of Kentucky - I like the Cardinals due to having temporary resided in Louisville many years ago, but Kentucky is hungry...

and not for KFC either!)

Midwest: Tennessee vs. Michigan (I picked the Vols of Tenn - I usually pick the Wolverines over other schools, but Tennessee -- like the women's team -- is also ballin'! )

March Madness/Bracketology: My Bracket Thus Far Monday, March 24, 2014!

With changes, updates and smart-alecky remarks in tow,

here is my (busted) bracket thru the 'round of 32':

March Madness/Bracketology: And So We Reach The 'Sweet Sixteen' (en fin)!

So we have reached the men's 2014 NCAA basketball tourney's half-way mark, per se!  We are smack into the start of the 'Sweet Sixteen'!  It has all arrived so fast.  Before we know it this year's tournament will be done and gone.  So let's embrace it for now for what it is worth.  The men's tourney picks back up on March 27th and 28th!  For now we break from the men's tourney and venture with close attention in all the entirety that we will surely muster for the women's 2014 NCAA basketball tournament! 

So much excitement, cheering, jeering, elation, heartache and disappointment is what this year's men's 'Final Four Tournament' has brought us.  So many brackets getting busted so early on because of the phenomenal play by the respective under-dogs in the different regions.  All we can do is scratch our foreheads and watch in dismay and much awe as the Cinderella teams socked it to the perennial favorites.  Below is a quick recap of the highs and lows to-date.

'Round of 64' (Thursday, 03-20-14 and Friday, 03-21-14):

East: 12) Harvard Crimson beat 5) Cincinnati Bearcats 61-57 (Thursday, 03-20-14)

South: 11) Dayton Flyers beat 6) Ohio St. 60-59 (Thursday, 03-20-14)

West: 12) North Dakota State U Bison beat 5) Oklahoma Sooners 80-75 (Thursday, 03-20-14)

Midwest: 7) Texas Longhorns beat 10) Arizona St. Sun Devils 87-85 (Thursday, 03-20-14)

Midwest: 14) Mercer Bears beat 3) Duke Blue Devils 78-71 (Friday, 03-21-14)

 

'Round of 32'(Saturday, 03-22-14 and Sunday, 03-23-14):

South: 11) Dayton Flyers beat 3) Syracuse Orange 55-53 (Saturday, 03-22-14)

South: 10) Stanford Cardinal  beat 2) Kansas Jayhawks 60-57 (Sunday, 03-23-14)

                    (NOTE: The name Cardinal is in relation to the color 'cardinal' and is not a  
                                    mascot.  Stanford sports no official mascot!)                

East: 3) Iowa St. Cyclones beat 6) U North Carolina Tar Heels 85-83 (Sunday, 03-23-14)

                    This game is not much of a surprise to anyone who has been following men's NCAA basketball this season and has come to know the Cyclones tenacity and ability to close-out a game.  Iowa St. being vested, tenured and able to implement the pick and roll fairly well about as well as they set-up screens.  Whatever their knack for ballin', the Cyclones play with a lot of heart.  The slight disdain with this game lies in the manner in which Iowa St. won which was in itself extremely controversial.  The clock just plain ole ran out on the Tar Heels.  With coach Roy Williams jumping and gesticulating for a timeout, the Tar Heels inbounded the ball to Nate Britt who dribbled past midcourt as time expired in Iowa State's 85-83 victory.  Then with 1.6 seconds to play the Heels just failed to call a crucial time-out.  Coach Williams was well aware of their game-costing-mistake and added that no one should blame the officials.  The cyclones did not play up-to-par during the entire game which gave way for UNC to keep it as close as they did.  Heart-break for sure was this game for the UNC players and for Tar Heel Nation.  C'est la vie I suppose is apropos in this occasion.  Maybe it is a bit too harsh for me to state, but really...it is what it is!  Don't give room for yourselves to be left in these situations (last-second scrambles) that end in such dire, loathing situations.  You must blame the 'man in the mirror', people!

 

 

March Madness/Bracketology: Oh, Mercer {sic} Me: Just IN...Mercer Beats Duke!

OMG.  I am officially #BracketBusted. 78-71 was the final score of this game which started off not-so-well for the Duke Blue Devils who were ranked #3 in this region (Midwest); the Mercer Bears were the #14 seed.  Now we know just how badly it ended for Duke!  So #bracketology and bragging rights ends for those of us who undauntedly picked coach Krzyzewski's team to beat Mercer in this 'round of 64'.  As has always occurred in prior years with this NCAA basketball-journey (which has long been dubbed March Madness), a lower seed always, always beats a higher seed, but no one saw this outcome at all.  Surely many of us basketball fanatics thought that Duke would be a shoe-in for the 'round of 32' and maybe even the 'sweet sixteen'; getting past Mercer would merely be a hick-up at best.  Oh, but were we ever-so wrong!

I stopped picking Duke in my personal bracket, though, before the 'elite eight'.  I did not believe that Duke was good enough this season to make it into that 'elite' group much less the 'final four'.  I must say; however, that I was left in shock as I saw (via CBS) Mercer take the victory right out of the hands of the stunned and disappointed Duke team. 

The nation along with Blue Devil Nation stood in silence...wondering: 'did that really just happen?!!'  However, when many of us stopped being shocked, and we remembered to close our jaws which this game made drop open, we were simply down-right elated for Mercer; maybe not Duke or Duke supporters, but those of us who love this game and really had nothing to lose with this outcome.  Many of us were okay with busted brackets and just elated over this 'Cinderella team' which made its presence known really early, really quick, really fast, and in stunning fashion!

Mercer Bears, for now...continue doing the 'Nae, Nae!'

March Madness/Bracketology: Day One...My Bracket Survives.

As Frankenstein's monster lives so does my bracket live, but how?  Fearless predictions for one.  Or stupidity.  LOL!  Well, it is all quite simple actually if you know me and how I feel towards certain universities , politics and such. 

To begin with I just wanted the smart guys to win so that is why this person picked and predicted that Harvard would beat Cincinnati which they did; 61-57 was the final score.  Besides being an avid supporter/fan/alumnus of Ŧexas Ŧech University, I will never side with the Cinnci' Bearcats after they hired coach (Tele-tubby) Tommy Tubberville.  He is a nemesis to Ŧexas Ŧech Red Raider Nation!  The way he did not care enough for our football program (never seemed to be fully into the whole bit) when he was HC for Ŧech and the cowardly way in which he left our alma mater to head to the east coast just presses on all of my nerves.  Enough said about that idiot/fool!  So, yeah, way-to-go Harvard Crimson.

Then since I am not a fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes, I just decided to throw the dice, per se, and picked Dayton.  So the Dayton Flyers end up beating OSU by a score of 60-59 (buzzer-beater).  In this household, we are supporters of Michigan St and mostly of Michigan (Madonna's alma mater) so if you know the rivalry between schools in the Big 10 conference then you might understand why one must pick one or the other.  Especially  if you know said rivalry between Michigan and Ohio St., then you would understand why lines are drawn and liking Ohio St. pits you against any reputable Michigan Wolverine.  We pick the latter so this is why I picked Dayton.

Now...the NDSU Bison versus the Oklahoma Sooners.  NDSU narrowly beat OU in this match by a score of 80-75.  As a Ŧexas Ŧech person, I usually do not fully support any fellow Big XII universities.  Especially not the Sooners (so freaking tired of 'Boomer Sooner') LOL!  I might have picked OU had it been football, but this is basketball and the Sooners were doomed to be out of the #MarchMadness #BigDance 'sooner' or later so I picked sooner.  No apologies as it simply is what it is!

The later game this evening had another fellow Big XII university right smack in the middle of the 'round of 64'...the Texas Longhorns up against the Sun Devils from Arizona St.  I must say once again that this person would not usually pick another Big XII nemesis over another school unless the 'other school' is more of a pain in my side so-to-speak which anything related to Arizona is for me lately!  Why Arizona?  Because of one Governor Jan Brewer (R).  I never met the woman, but from I have read and researched about her, she has little to no respect for undocumented people (I despise the term 'illegal immigrants' or the WB word).  I hate and always will hate SB1070 which Brewer gladly supported and signed.  Then don't get me started about what Arizona's Republican-dominated Legislature's tried to do to the #LGBT community with another detrimental bill --SB1062. The bill which supposedly was to give all business owners in AZ their 'religious freedom' but in turn it was just a bully-pulpit of sorts to allow businesses in AZ to discriminate against gay people.  All in the name of G-d and religious freedom as I stated.  What a bunch of malarkey and bull-shit.  WTF.  Are we not still in the post 1964/1968 era.  Civil Rights were enacted long, long ago for a reason.  My father was born in AZ and I did used to love that state, but until it gets its act together and stops bullying others around as they have, I boycott any ventures to the state.  No support from me.  Anyway, I picked UT to win this game which they did with a down-right buzzer-beat with milliseconds left on the clock.  The Longhorns beat the Sun Devils by a score of 87-85.

It has gotten much too late now so I cannot wait for the outcome of the San Diego State Aztecs versus the New Mexico St Aggies game.  I hope that SDSU wins or I officially become #bracketbusted.  Go Aztecs.



 

March Madness/Bracketology: Busted Or Not Busted Just Partaking Is Fun Enough!

NCAA Basketball Tournament!

The camaraderie in itself is awesome.  Whether watching the NCAA men's or women's tourney or the NIT (men's and women's)...it is all fun.  I do not get as caught up in trying to make money out of this 3-week-long (actually too short in length-of-time for me) basketball fest! It is simply awesome to just watch.  If you end up with a decent bracket at the end of it all then you certainly have some bragging rights.  If you don't get bracket-busted by the time the "sweet sixteen" begins then you really did all right.  If your bracket lasts through the "elite eight" then you and I have some serious talking to do.  However, if you make it through the bracketology of this and your bracket finds that you picked the correct final four, then this person is taking you to lunch.  J.K.  If you survive until the last two teams are standing --then for certain you and I are taking a trip somewhere and talking nothing but basketball.  J.K. 

The most important thing to me with all of this is simple...
Getting together to watch games with family, friends, cohorts, coworkers either at your own home, their home, at a restaurant, at a bar or at a Bar 'n' Grill...it is all good.  You either develop long-lasting relationships out of it or you end up being severely disliked by others and/or you become disgusted with others. 
Whatever the outcome, good or bad...one should just relax and enjoy this fantabulous time of the year!  For sure just disregard the bracketology behind this March Madness hoopla (pardon the pun). 
If anyone wins that Billion Dollar challenge being posed by Buffett and Quicken Loans, well, then that person might just might receive an 'indecent proposal' from me.  LOL! (or not)...



March Madness/Bracketology: My FINAL "Fearless" Predictions Men's 2014 Tourney!

...So here is my final bracket as submitted on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 11:45 PM!

 

March Madness/Bracketology: My FINAL "Fearless" Predictions Women's 2014 Tourney!

...So here is my final women's bracket as submitted on

Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 11:45 PM!

 



March Madness/Bracketology: Crazy, Mad People Trying To Win a Billion Dollars from Warren Buffett; But Not Me!

...I refuse to participate in this 'madness' of late! 

For one there are the odds: 1 in 9.2 quintillion chance of winning.  There are 68 teams and 63 games to take into account before you even start the process of picking your brackets.  Second, you must enter a cell phone number.  Some say you can enter a landline, but when researching and fact-checking, this person found the latter to be a complete falsehood.  They really require a cell number.  They want to be able to bombard you with text messages from Quicken Loans.  Personally speaking --we already have a great finance rate with our respective mortgage company.  We are almost through paying off our home so, NO, I do NOT need getting constant messages from Quicken Loans or any other company to re-fi, modify or whatever.  Plus, this person does NOT believe in handing out her cell phone number for any kind of contests.   I barely hand it out to loved ones or friends.  Bottom line  is that this is a shameless ploy being led by the callous antics of one Warren Buffett.  I guess this billionaire is bored with all those billions of his and needs a way to fill whatever emptiness dwells within himself.  Maybe his philanthropy eludes him these days.  Maybe he just wants to play human chess with us all; he just wants to sock it to the 'little people'!  Kind of a G-d complex if you ask me.  Whatever the cause or reason or if there truly is any so-called 'rhyme or reason'...this escapade is ridiculous. 
I won't reach out to others as I often do for political reasons to try to dissuade anyone from taking part in this scam.  I have a motto of live and let live.  Thus, I leave others alone to decide what is best in reference to this contest.  However, if millions of people wish to partake in this tomfoolery then I say let them.  I also say: 'let them eat cake!'  Because, folks, by the time March Madness/NCAA Basketball Tourney is over, the only true victor(s) of it all will be Quicken loans.  Quicken and Buffett will somehow come out smelling like RO$E$ after this supposed contest.

#Bracketology is my middle name so I will be filling out my brackets but via ESPN.   I have been doing this for many years.  I have gotten bracket-busted as millions of others, but for the last three years, I have at least made it through the "sweet sixteen" or the "elite eight", before my brackets were busted.  But at the end of it all, I have correctly picked the men's and women's NCAA Champs during said last three years!  I fill out a bracket for both the men's and women's tourney.  I do the same for the NIT (m/f)! 
I do it for love of the game.  It fascinates me.  Being a part of something of this magnitude just captivates me.  I love basketball.  I love all sports as I have often stated and as all my family and friends know about me.  March Madness incites a camaraderie of sorts which brings so many together.  Via the Internet via social media or texting or gathering at a local bar and grill to view the games...this time of the year is just so darn exciting.  It comes quickly and ends much too quickly --so for the short duration that all of us sports enthusiasts have to enjoy this affiliation, we will take advantage of all things #MarchMadness!  Carry on, sports world...