The 2012 Calcutta is almost complete and the Kansas Jayhawks helped crown the Counselors as the 2012 champions. Second choice on the morning line, they roared from behind during the Sweet Sixteen to overtake the game Catholic Boyz in the stretch.
Leaping out with 7 big points in the opening round, the Catholic Boyz almost pulled it off, but the SI jinx took hold of the Ohio State University Buckeyes, and it looks like the C-Boyz will be bridesmaids this year.
The Tax Men (4-Louisville) were eliminated by the Win-Docs' Wildcats (who look damn good) and the Winsters look like they can pick up the pieces with a late rally from their top seed.
Calcutta 2012 will come down to the front running Catholic Boyz (2-The Ohio State University) versus the Counselors (2-Kansas) in the National Semifinal. Both teams enter the Final Four with their respective teams with 11 wins. Both teams effectively knocked out the Commish & Associates with Elite Eight victories over the weekend.
One Game. For All The Marbles. Good luck men.
In other news, the Commish has been bounced from contention once again. Controlling their own destiny with two #1 seeds in hand, it was a dark weekend for yours truly. Can clinch a tie for third with a win by The Win-Docs (1-Kentucky) and outright if they lose in the Final. A Kentucky national championship would create a tie between the Commish & the Win-Docs.
The Tax Men lay in wait, with 4-Louisville and can clinch a tie for third with a win in the semifinal and take it outright with a National Championship. The all-Kentucky matchup should have that part of the country in a frenzy for the next six days.
They made it through to Sunday, but unfortunately the loss by the 3-Baylor Bears means only one thing...wait for it.....ADIOS AMIGOS.
It looks like a magnificent final four, with any of the four teams capable of bringing home the gold.
The Counselors are making a strong run at the 2012 Calcutta title and with an early morning victory by 2-Kansas over The Commish's 11-NC State. They've pulled even with the front running Catholic Boyz with 10 wins apiece heading into Elite Eight weekend.
The Counselors send two teams into the Elite Eight, hoping for an upset by 7-Florida in the West Region on Saturday.
The Commish had a see-saw night that saw 1-North Carolina barely survive with an elimination win over The Bunch's game 13-Ohio Bobcats in overtime. A NC State victory would have put them in excellent shape, although they still control their own destiny. A 1-Syracuse win today would stagnate the Boyz at 10 and a huge matchup with the Counselors looms on Sunday between esteemed programs Kansas and UNC. A sweep of the weekend puts the Commish in the catbird seat with 11 wins, but easier said than done.
The Boyz, after a torrid start have faded in the stretch going 3-6 since their first round record setting 7-1 performance. Their hopes are squarely pinned on 2-The Ohio State University. They can keep pace with the Counselors with a win over the Cuse tonight and severely hamper the Commish's chances at glory for the first time.
The Tax Men and Tres Amigos stayed alive with wins by 4-Louisville and 3-Baylor, respectively, and still have a shot at running the table and finishing with 9 wins that could catch a piece of the exotics. The Hi-liters run into a tough 1-Kentucky squad that kept the Win-Docs out the basement. The Tax Guys can cause all kinds of trouble for the teams at the top with a win over Florida today and should be favored in doing so in a game that features a coaching matchup between former coach (Pitino) and former player (Donovan) who played in the 1987 Final Four for Providence.
The Win-Docs avoided a last place finish winning an elimination game with the Elders' remaining squad, 4-Indiana. With only 5 wins to date, the best they can finish with is 8 with an outside chance at a tie for third.
Things should start falling in place by Sunday night and some huge Final Four matchups on the right side of the bracket are imminent and should decide the Calcutta.
The Curse of the Biebs took hold on Sunday (h/t Hoya Suxa twitter feed) afternoon in Columbus. What can I say, North Carolina State is a fine University. See ya, Georgetown, thanks for coming.
The Sweet Sixteen is set and the Sunday results have been posted and the Catholic Boyz early lead has slimmed as the Counselors had a tremendous second round winning four of five contests, earning a mention on the 'Record Books' sidebar link, tying for the second best round two ever.
The Catholic Boyz went 2-5 over the weekend, with 2-the Ohio State University and 10-Xavier still rowing the boat ashore for Elijah. This after setting a blazing pace with seven first round wins.
The Counselors roared on Sunday winning key tilts with 7-Florida, 6-Cincinnati and 2-Kansas all coming away victorious. The Counselors's fortunes could not have been better with the Gators playing a Norfolk State team that was easily overmatched and still hung over from their epic win over Missouri on Friday night. Kansas and Cincinnati won close games in the late going and now it's mano y mano in the Sweet Sixteen, with the biggest matchup looking like a OSU-Cincinnati state of Ohio championship game and a key matchup with the Boyz.
After a strong first round, the Bunch took it on the chin on Saturday, but fought back with two key wins on Sunday with 1-Michigan State and 13-Ohio to finish the weekend 2-3. They sit alone in third with seven W's, just two games back of the Boyz and one behind the Counselors.
The 'ole Commish is making Sweet Sixteen noise for the first time since anyone can remember behind the upset ramblings of 11-NC State and their two top seeds, 1-Cuse and 1-North Carolina. The Commish & Crew sit in fourth with six wins. But don't pop that champagne bottle too quickly, as soon as the North Carolina game ended it was announced that talented PG Kendall Marshall had suffered a fractured right wrist and could be out for the remainder of the tourney. Go figure.
The Amigos remained alive with two squads and sit tied in fifth with five wins with the Tax Men. The Amigos' fate will be determined in the next round as 3-Baylor has a favorable matchup with 10-Xavier (Boyz), with Kentucky looming; and 4-Wisconsin takes on the top seeded Orange.
The Tax Men are down to their final team, the 4-Louisville Cardinals, who will face top seeded Sparty in the next round. It looks like their Calcutta will be extended for another game, but we could be seeing the last of the Tax Men until next March.
With only four available wins left for the Win-Doctors (1-Kentucky) and the Elders (4-Indiana), we know they have both been mathematically eliminated from earning the Chalise (sic) in 2012. In addition, it appears one of the two will be the first team out as they will face each other in Atlanta on Friday evening, unless Louisville loses on Thursday night, then the Tax Men will take the walk of shame honors.
Good luck and Elite Eight report on Saturday morning.
The Saturday results have been updated and we have a full post slated for tomorrow to review second round results. Yeah, I refuse to call it the third round, that's just nonsense.
I hope everyone had as joyous a St. Patty's Day as those wearing Orange. Survival is the name of the game in the annual Calcutta.
Here are some quick hitters from yesterday's results.
- Seeds held all day on Saturday, no lower-seeded team beat a higher seeded team. It was a good day to wear white, or hi-liter yellow in the case of Baylor.
- The 2012 Calcutta is as tight as you can get with four teams sitting three points behind the Catholic Boyz with the other three teams only one back of that group. Now that's parity.
- Today will be the day when the contenders separate from the pretenders. The Catholic Boyz had a rough day going 1-4, and need a win to advance two teams to the Sweet Sixteen.
- Every team won on Saturday, except for the Bunch who send out their three remaining teams today. The Amigos clawed back into this thing as the only team to garner two wins on Super Saturday.
The Catholic Boyz shot out of the gate like a cannon, tying a 10-year old opening round record set by the Bunch in 2002 with 7 (count 'em) opening round victories! The Boyz blitzkrieged the field with five opening day wins before winning two of three on Friday. Belmont was the only team between the Boyz and opening round perfection, a feat never accomplished in the storied history of the Calcutta. The record books (see right sidebar) have been updated and they now go after their own second round record of 5 wins set in 1999 and 2009.
Spurred by upset wins by 12-VCU and 10-Xavier (in true Catholic Boyz form) the Boyz sprinted out to fast early fractions dominating day one of the competition. Every close matchup the Boyz faced the past two days they came out on top (see 8-Creighton and the aforementioned upsets). But as they say, it's a marathon not a sprint.
Lingering behind, however, are the co-record holders of opening round glory, The Bunch of Chieftans. Sans an upset win by the game Bonnies, the Bunch was looking at 6 opening round wins. They sit two off the hot pace set by the Boyz, but in striking distance and buoyed by top seed 1-Michigan State. The Bunch also was riding Friday's upset train with high seeded victories from 13-Ohio and 12-South Florida in the evening sessions. Don't count out this Bunch.
Sitting tied for fourth with 4 wins each are the Tax Men and the Counselors. Between these two, the Counselors look like they have more fire power left to launch a late close against the top two. The barristers have a well balanced group of four teams going into the second round between 2-Kansas, 3-Marquette, 6- Cincinnati and 7-Florida.
The Tax Men rode the Cinderella slippers of 15-Norfolk State (say that five times fast) who served a crushing blow to the Amigos' 2-Mizzou anchor squad. They are still mathematically alive and anything can happen in this wacky tournament, they'll be looking to catch a slice of the pie with a few second round victories from 3-Florida State or4-Louisville.
A four-way logjam for the basement with 3 wins each are the remaining teams. A quick synopsis of each team's opening round and weekend outlook follows:
- Tres Amigos. The call isn't too far away as the aforementioned Tiger disaster set the Amigos reeling and looking for answers. An late Friday night upset win by 10-Purdue was the only thing keeping this squad out of the cellar.
- Win-Docs. Recieved a "chirp, chirp, chirp" text around 10pm last night, but 15-Lehigh's big upset win and 1-Kentucky holding serve was about all he had to cheer about. The Docs do have a strong 6-Vandy squad, that has been known to fold come tourney time, maybe they can hang around awhile? As Vandy goes, the Win-Docs go.
- The Commish. Stepped off the ledge around 5pm on Thursday evening and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Thanks to Missouri and 2-Duke to turn the nation's attention off the top seeded 1-Cuse. A big upset win by 11-NC State and dominant performance by 1-North Carolina is keeping the Commish in the hunt. A sweep of the weekend puts them right in the fray.
- Elder Statesmen. Can you say Morning Line Favorite Whammy? Sorry, boys. Looks like 7-Notre Dame was looking forward to that Sunday matchup with Lehigh a little too quickly and that one was a pure stomach punch to the Elders. The good news is all three remaining teams (3-Georgetown, 4-Indiana and 9-St. Louis) are all balling right now, so they just need to shift it into Al Davis mode.
So a particularly ho-hum Thursday turned into Holy Shit Friday and that can only mean that the weekend's games should be even better. Good luck and Happy St. Patty's Day and congrats again to the C-Boyz.
P.S. My sleeper selections went 5/8 with upset wins from 11-Colorado, 11-NC State and 9-St. Louis. *pats self on back*
March Madness is here, the Calcutta draft has now settled in and we're ready to get this bad boy underway.
After a full 24 hours to reflect on what happened last night in Amherst, New York, we'll provide our opening day eve commentary, of course highlighted by the morning lines, average seedings, post-draft analysis and potential sleepers.
We had a record turnout with 18 of the 19 participants attending in flesh and blood and only two controversial moments all evening in gavel dropping. Sorry Art.
The results will be updated daily on the right sidebar (at the top) under the 2012 Results To Date link.
So I'm sure everyone left last night wondering if I'd put the Morning Line curse on them. Prayers to the keeper of the Chalise (sic) hoping they would be left off as the morning line chalk. After much adieu, here we go......and the morning line whammy goes to....
ELDER STATESMEN (3-1): The Elders stayed out of the can (I like getting it in the can) all night long avoiding potential jokes about social security and whatnot. After abandoning their usual Calcutta strategy last year (Alzheimers?) and still claiming the title, they reverted right back to old times and went with an evenly based team with their lowest seed, Georgetown (3) and their highest seed, Davidson (13). An incredible Average Seed Rating (ASR) of 7.5. They'll look for a big first and second round to carry them for this Calcutta, needing double wins out of Georgetown (3), Indiana (4) and alumni-inspired selection Notre Dame (7) to succeed in some fashion. Temple (5) could be the team that makes or breaks them. The four time Calcutta champion has to be reckoned with. Sleeper: St. Louis (9)
COUNSELORS (7-2): The Barristers firmly had a solid night auctioneering. Occasional moments of dissension were offset by an active night on the wheel by Baki and solid background coaching by the artist formerly known as the Saratoga Resident. Their fate is firmly square on the shoulders of Kansas (2) and Marquette (3), with decent mid-seed teams like 6-seeds UNLV and Cincinnati, Florida (7) and UConn (9) who has shown signs of life in the late goings of the season. They'll go as far as the Rock Chalk takes 'em. ASR: 7.5 and Sleeper: UConn (9).
BUNCH OF CHIEFTANS (4-1): The defending co-champs brought their A game and the sarcasm we've come to love from the Chief. After getting the Bonas (13) out of the way, it was strictly business for the Bunch. Their left bracket is certainly stronger than their right, but you know Stick is a lefty by nature so it makes sense. Anchored by top seed Michigan State and Duke (2), a win or two by mid seeds Gonzaga (7), Iowa State (9) or Virginia (10) could put them in the catbird seat again in 2012. ASR: 8.375 and Sleeper: Iowa State (9) [do you see a pattern with my sleepers yet?]
CATHOLIC BOYZ (5-1): Kept the faith by selecting Xavier (10), even if they are a bunch of thugs. Another solid draft night for Freddie and the Jets. Thinking Little Richie was feeding him hours worth of statistics pre-draft so this was probably the best prepared team at the table. Lowest seed Ohio State (2) looks to benefit from the Fab Melo 1.99 GPA debacle and a suddenly wide open East Region. Two teams that could certainly make noise in the West Region are Stevie Alford's New Mexico Lobos (5) and the Racers of Murray State (6). Needs to win one or both 8-9 games on the calendar in the opening round to have a decent shot. Looks to be a mid-pack finisher. ASR: 8.13 and Sleeper: Kansas State (8).
TAX MEN (8-1): Completely dismissed during last year's morning line commentary, we won't discount this squad again this year. Quietly (and I mean quietly) stuck to their knitting and emerged as a threat to the usual contenders. Went with an Elders-like strategy with lower seeds they are poised to strike as the tourney starts on March 15th. Is that an omen that the Tax Men can regain the magic of old, the tourney kicking off on a tax deadline? ASR: 8.0 and Sleeper: Colorado (11).
WIN-DOCS (10-1): The reigns were passed back to the Artmaster Flash and his teammates didn't seem all too thrilled with the outcome. Got a lot riding on the top-seeded Kentucky Wildcats (1) spending 49% of their allocation on the tourney favorites. Will say that Vanderbilt (6) was a terrific pickup, but it was slim pickings after that. San Diego State (6) could surprise and Alabama (9) is a must-win on day one (and that's always a bad sign). Thinking the only chirping we'll be hearing this year is from the birds returning from the south. ASR: 9.375 and Sleeper: Long Beach State (12).
TRES AMIGOS (15-1): During post-draft cleanup I noticed the Guinness were pretty well shot. That could explain the longshot position the Amigos are sitting in. Banking on the Big 12 with Missouri (2) and Baylor (3) on the left side of the bracket and Big 10 hopeful Wisconsin (4) who will have a difficult second round matchup if seeds hold with Vandy. Not out of the question, but you know how the saying goes...
ASR: 9.375 and Sleeper: Texas (11).
COMMISH & ASSOCIATES (25-1): What? Fab Melo is out? Why didn't anyone tell me? The Commish & Crew (Made Up of One Not So Silent Partner) did walk away with two top seeds (not an easy feat in any Calcutta year). Bolstered by the senior laden ACC Champs North Carolina (1) and the Cuse (1), they'll need one of their other three mid level seeds to win a game or two to make any noise (Memphis-8, Colorado State-11 and NC State-11). ASR: A whopping 9.75 and Sleeper: NC State (11).
Many thanks to my partner, KGB for running the board all night, and keeping me in line (for the most part). Happy March Madness and Good Luck to all (not really).
