Well, well, well. What have we here? Rebecca starts the tournament with the second lowest seed total (4) and exits the tournament in the 2nd round (and, by the way, i’m boycotting the new terminology that the 2nd round is now the 3rd round because of the 4 play-in games). We were SHOCKED the #1 seed Wichita State lost, and perhaps that #3 Syracuse tanked so early.
Speaking of tanking…..yes, Duke was puke in the first round, again saddening Rebecca, and delivering a kick in the gut to Dub — his alma mater and one of his two picks. His other pick, Stephen F. Austin, lumberjacked their way to one win, but couldn’t hold on for another.
Who else did we lose in the first round? Beth’s two close-to-home picks of George Washington and VCU (did anyone notice that George Washington Colonials played the Tennessee Volunteers — are those the same thing?). We also lost Claire, Dan Rowan and SaKi, whose low-seeded twosomes were not expected to do much. Nor were Dottie’s two, and they did both lose, but one of them was American, and as some of you may have seen on the comments, she was assigned her team by the Cat Commissioners the same day she got her acceptance letter to same university. Congratulations, Dottie!
Martie was probably the most shocked of the first round when both of her #6 seeds withered. Mike P.’s losses weren’t of too great a surprise. What was a surprise was that I originally assigned him BYU’s seed number and region but with Weber State name. Weber State properly belonged to Dan Rowan, but Mike’s BYU lost anyway.
Since married couples often do things in unison (I need to learn how do they do that), Robert and Susan both suffered upsets of their #5 seeds, Cincinnati and Oklahoma, respectively.
Going into the second round, Caroline, The Donner Party, Dell, EdGwynn, Ellie, Libby, Mike B, Rebecca and Rivers all had both their teams intact.
And then there was carnage.
Many of them are still around, but now only Libby and her nephew Rivers have both of their teams.
In addition to Rebecca, out in this round was Carl (quack), A Lot, Dub, Joe, Karen, Katie, Martie, Mike B. and Susan. Ellie was also eliminated when Kansas lost to Stanford.
And at this point I have to make my Most Ridiculous Statement of the Tournament award. It goes to Stanford coach, and former Duke star Johnny Dawkins, who, in rightfully complimenting the Cardinal’s determined play, called them “a blue collar team.” You can call them hard working, gritty, tenacious, scrappy, whatever, but blue collar? Stanford? A team coached by a Duke alum with an NBA retirement plan? Um…no.
So, who besides Libby and Rivers are left? Caroline, Christine, The Donner Party, Dell, EdGwynn, Elaine, Elizabeth, Gordon, Jim, Megan, Pierce and Rhyne (Rhyne, just how BAD did our Buffs look!?!?! Yikes).
For those keeping count, that’s 6 Rhynes, 5 Pattersons and 3 Blyths.
Thanks for your comments and well wishes — keep ‘em coming! And we’ll be in touch after Round 3! (Or 4. You know how lazy I can be.)
Here are how things looked after Round 1:
| Beth | ||
| Carl | Oregon – 7W | |
| Caroline | Wisconsin – 2W | Creighton – 3W |
| Christine | Tennessee – 11M | |
| Claire | ||
| Dan Rowan | ||
| The Donner Party | Michigan St. – 4E | Pittsburgh – 9S |
| Dell | Harvard – 12E | Iowa St. – 3E |
| A Lot | Memphis – 8E | |
| Dottie | ||
| Dub | Stephen F. Austin – 12S | |
| EdGwynn | Arizona – 1W | Villanova – 2E |
| Elaine | Dayton – 11S | |
| Elizabeth | Stanford – 10S | |
| Ellie | North Dakota State – 12W | Kansas – 2S |
| Gordon | Michigan – 2M | |
| Jim | Baylor – 6W | |
| Joe | Gonzaga – 8W | |
| Karen | St. Louis – 5M | |
| Katy | Texas – 7M | |
| Libby | Virginia – 1E | Louisville – 4M |
| Martie | ||
| Megan | UConn – 7E | |
| Mike B | North Carolina – 6E | Mercer – 14M |
| Mike P | ||
| Pierce | San Diego State – 4W | |
| Rebecca | Wichita State – 1M | Syracuse – 3S |
| Rhyne | Kentucky – 8M | |
| Rivers | UCLA – 4S | Florida – 1S |
| Robert | ||
| SaKi | ||
| Susan |
And here are how things looked after Round 2:
Carl
| Caroline | Wisconsin – 2W | |
| Christine | Tennessee – 11M | |
| The Donner Party | Michigan St. – 4E | |
| Dell | Iowa St. – 3E | |
| A Lot | ||
| Dub | ||
| EdGwynn | Arizona – 1W | |
| Elaine | Dayton – 11S | |
| Elizabeth | Stanford – 10S | |
| Ellie | ||
| Gordon | Michigan – 2M | |
| Jim | Baylor – 6W | |
| Joe | ||
| Karen | ||
| Katie | ||
| Libby | Virginia – 1E | Louisville – 4M |
| Megan | UConn – 7E | |
| Mike B | ||
| Pierce | San Diego State – 4W | |
| Rebecca | ||
| Rhyne | Kentucky – 8M | |
| Rivers | UCLA – 4S | Florida – 1S |
