April 10, 2010

Congratulations to Chuck, who will claim his 3rd ABINPC title with the win in the ABINPCXVIII! He built an insurmountable lead on the back of Coack K and Duke. This is Chuck's 3rd ABINPC title and the first since 9ABINPC, when he picked Duke to win it all. Even though his fame will be indelibly logged in the ABINPC Hall of Fame, he will always have to live with this association to Durham.

Place and show this year will be awarded to Connor and Brent, respectively. Connor is a rookie youth picker and finished 2nd out of 28 contestants - nice work! Chuck, Connor, and Brent have been inducted into the ABINPC Hall of Fame for their outstanding accomplishments this year..

Before we adjourn for the year, we would like to send out an ABINPC Attaboy! and AttaGirl! to Stephen and Lisa for correctly identifying this year's national champ, which I can't bear to name another time.

Be sure to join us again in March 2011 for ABINPC XIX, in which the Commish will attempt to figure out how the heck to deal with 96 teams!

April 4, 2010

Congratulations to Chuck, who will claim his 3rd ABINPC title with the win in the ABINPCXVIII! He built an insurmountable lead on the back of Coack K and Duke. Even though his fame will be indelibly logged in the ABINPC Hall of Fame, he will always have to live with this association to Durham.

Place and show are still up in the air pending the outcome of Monday night's final, and the NCAA Women's Goodie. If Butler wins, 95% of America will celebrate along with Connor and Brent, who will nail down the Place and Show categories. There are scenarios that will still place Lisa and Stephen in the money as well.

March 28, 2010

America's team, Duke, is the lone #1 seed to make it to the final four. They didn't have to play a team any higher than a #7 seed in the ACC tournament, but they did manage to squeak by a #3 and a #4 on their way to the final four of the NCAA tournament. They will not need to beat another top seed to claim the championship.

Two-time ABINPC Champ Chuck has built a nearly insurmountable lead over his son Scott and Celebrity Picker Rippie the RPI Clown, primarily due to the fact that nearly everyone's bracket is busted. There are still a lot of variables with the Women's Goodie and CBI Goodie in contention. Unofficially, however, I think that there are only a couple of ways anybody can catch our leader.

The first occurs if (a) West Virginia cuts down the nets, (b) VCU is denied the CBI crown by the Billikens, and (c) somebody stops the Stanford women before the national title game. If all those things happen, Rookie Jon could be the ABINPCXVIII champ.

The second occurs if the Spartans win the Natty, and then Michigan St alumnus Jerri will become our champ.

March 28, 2010

The big boys continue to fall! First Kansas, then Syracuse, and now Kentucky At one point in tonight's game, stats showed that the Wildcats were 11-24 from the stripe and 1-22 from beyond the arc. Everyone's most loved team, Duke, is the lone #1 seed remaining and they could have a big fight on their hands tomorrow.

Two-time ABINPC Champ Chuck has nosed ahead of his son Scott by a single point. Celebrity Picker Rippie the RPI Clown lurks and smirks.

That Kansas St vs. Xavier game was a true classic, but as I write this, it appears that the Bulldogs from Butler are poised to send the Wildkitties back to Kansas. Defense, defense, defense.

Scott has taken the lead after three rounds, and is closely followed by three-time champ Doug and Celebrity Picker Rippie the RPI Clown. The latter has a little bounce in his step and some swagger as he stares at me through copious makeup with that "I Told You So!" look.

Finally, one more quick note on the Goodie front. For first conference out, Travis had selected the Mountain West. Even though I didn't mention this conference in the introductory e-mail or the SelectBracket(TM) ABINPC entry Java app, the rules state that any conference with four or more teams may be selected. Thus, Travis was OK picking that conference and has earned 16 goodie points because none of the four teams from the Mountain West made the Sweet 16. The Commish felt that it was only fair to still award those pickers who correctly picked the Pac-10 from the six power conferences.

March 21, 2010

Well shut my mouth! ABINPC Picker Joe has ridden that rainbow horse out into the lead after two round of the ABINPC XVIII. Right on his hoofs are Scott and Jon. Don't get too cocky fellas. The second weekend is the home of broken hearts. Keep your eyes peeled on the trivia section in the meantime.

March 20, 2010

"The harder they come, the harder they fall" -- Jimmy Cliff

ka BOOM! That's the sound of overall #1 seed Kansas being blown up by a pesky bunch of Panthers from Northern Iowa! Several great games today, and former ABINPC champ Jammie has emerged as our leader, a whisker ahead of the saddest clown you'll ever see, Rippie. A special ABINPC shout out to Jerri, who is the only picker remaining with an intact final four. See y'all tomorrow.

The second day of the tourney was kind of a dud compared to Day #1, at least in my opinion. There was significant movement in the ABINPC standings as Chessmaster Chuck surged into the lead ahead of Jerri and Dave. Don't get too comfortable in the lead, Chessman. Things tend to change in a hurry on the first weekend.

With the completion of the first round comes the first award for Goodies. Eight Pickers had selected Kentucky or Duke, #1 seeds who shamelessly beat up on inferior opponents by 29 points each. Each picker was awarded 18 Goodie points for his selection of one of these behemoth bullies. See the Goodie box for a summary of recent Goodies during each round.

March 18, 2010

What a day! Three overtime games and another handful of 1point and 2point games. We're off to a great start. The website isn't completely set up yet. I have two more pickers (Jerri and Brent) who got their picks in on time, and I need to record all the Goodie info. I hope to accomplish both before the first results are in tomorrow. Hang on to your hats, folks -- it could be another exhausting day!