Day 2 Update: The Leaderboard and Awards

No rants this time.  My unpaid interns writing staff is hung over taking a sick day.  Let's get right to it.

The Leaderboard

26 points
Dylann
TD1

25 points
Devin1
Wilson1

24 points
Ben
Cantaloupe1
Healey
Tony
Wilson2

23 points
Joe R.
Matias
Johnson
TD2

22 points
Cantaloupe2
Devin2
Regan
Ryan
TD3

21 points
Oordt2

20 points
Cantaloupe3
The Champ
Oordt1
Serena
Steve A.

19 points
Holla

Awards

The Missed It By That Much Award goes to your blogger.  15 points on Friday for the TD1 entry.  Only Georgetown's latest first round disappearing act scuttled an otherwise perfect prediction.  Of course, that luck won't last.  Right, Tony?

Speaking of the Hoyas...

The Elephant Memory Award goes to our own Ben Wang for remembering that Gerogetown routinely forgets to show up for their appointed game time in March.  Could it have only been one year ago that the Hoyas (Their nickname is ironic in Spanish.) lost by 14 points to 14 seed Ohio U.?  Well Ben mined that nugget of memory to be the only one of us to go with VCU to "upset" Georgetown.  Not only did VCU win by 18 - and it wasn't that close - they had to beat USC on Wednesday just to get a chance to pummel Georgetown.  Plus, they were the focus of scorn by certain ill informed sports writers for getting an at-large bid out of the Colonial Athletic Association instead of another over-rated, flatulent team from the Big East.  The CAA, with the win by George Mason on Friday, now are 3-0 in this year's Big Dance.

The Hey, Look Over There!  Someone Is Doing Worse Than I Am Award goes to The Champ.  Gordon, much chagrined for picking St. John's (Steve Lavin Hair Club sighting!) to get to the Final Four, can now lord it over Bryan Wilson, or whoever actually filled out the Wilson2 entry in cute, curly, feminine script.  It seems that Wilson2 not only had Michigan St. in the last game, but picked Georgetown to be their Semifinal opponent.  Ouch!

The Airball Award goes to those who picked Villanova over George Mason, including your intrepid blogger's TD3 entry.  The Wildcats threw up at least three (by my count) shots that didn't even come close to hitting the rim down the stretch, leaving 'Nova fans nauseated afterward.  (See what happens when my writing staff takes a day off?  I'm left with  just bad puns and fart jokes.)  According to AAAAAAirballs.org, no underdog team has won a tournament game after hoisting three airballs in the second half of a first round game while playing in a state that borders one of the Great Lakes.  Furthermore, ObscureHoopsStats.edu claims that in games between teams seeded less than four slots apart, and are also decided by five points or less, the winning team has uglier shoes 53.1% of the time.  Also, according to RidiculousTrivialMinutia.net teams that fail to score more points than their opponents are statistically unlikely to win.

Lastly, the Laurel and Hardy Emeritus Professorship in Basketball Analysis at the University of Turner Sports has been filled by Kenny Smith and Sir Charles Barkley.  Just seeing these two in a two shot in high definition on a big, wide-screen TV, is the textbook example of a sight gag.  Photographic evidence:

Smith: "No, Charles.  You can't eat the wormy-looking guy to my right."

Not only are these two comically mismatched in size, but also in:

• Attire - Smith is the ever dapper dandy, and Barkley has visible Buffalo wing sauce stains on his collarless shirt
• Temperament - Barkley is bombastic, childish, stubborn, and Smith is measured, thoughtful, reasoned
• Professionalism - Barkley is such a Georgia homer, I'm surprised his hasn't tried wearing his old UGa jersey during the coverage.  Probably, because he would never fit into it anymore, not because he doesn't want to.

That's all for now.  Good luck in Saturday's games.