34 Car Pile-Up at Turn 4

We've hit turn 4 and we're coming down the homestrech here. At the beginning of the race, heavyweights Cro, UJ, and BG were leading the pack with everyone chasing. After putting himself in prime position to cut Nico off on the inside, UJ blew a tire and managed to take out almost the entire field in one shot. I had 3 final four teams playing in the elite 8. All three came up short. North Carolina couldn't get past Kentucky, Florida loses to an annoying Butler team, and of course VCU shoots KU out of the gym. Of course they do.

Bill Self cant seem to figure out how to beat a "mid major" in the NCAA tourney. In 2005, Self was eliminated by Bucknell in the first round. He followed that up in 2006 with a first round defeat to Bradley. In 2010, Self was tossed by Northern Iowa in the 2nd round. More the same in 2011. VCU destroys Kansas in the Elite 8 to clinch the CAA's 2nd Final Four in 5 years. If it weren't for close wins over Davidson and Memphis in 2008, I would think the KU athletic director would be taking a hard look at Self this offseason. These results simply aren't acceptable.

After a wild weekend of 3 one seeds falling before the final four, only 5 people were able to avoid the crash at turn 4 and kick it into 5th gear. Congrats to Boy Pierce and Andrew Riexinger for being the only 2 contestants with their National Champ still standing. I would have never imagined that heading into the final 3 games, only 2 people with champs left. I commend you both for your picks.

I would also like to send congrats to Jess Everett for being the only person to have Butler correctly placed in the final four. Well done and welcome to the ABC.

However, they are not the only cars left in this race. While there is a massive wreck at turn 4, 5 drivers managed to get their swerve on and avoid the carnage. Since nobody has Butler or VCU winning anymore games, there are only 4 possible scenarios left to consider. UConn winning the title, Kentucky winning the title, UConn losing in the title game, and Kentucky losing the title game. Below are the results of those scenarios. Remember, $300 to first place, $50 to second, and $20 to third.

UConn wins National Championship

1. Boy Pierce

2. Nico Tennant

3. Shaun Askin

Kentucky wins National Championship

1. Andrew Riexinger

2. Fritz Ablao

3. Chris Fusco

UConn loses in National Championship

1. Nico Tennant

2. Shaun Askin

3. Boy Pierce

Kentucky loses in National Championship

1. Fritz Ablao vs. Andrew Riexinger in tiebreaker

2. Loser of tiebreaker

3. Chris Fusco

This sure proves to be an exciting finish to a very exciting tournament. Many many games have had close endings, and its only fitting that the ABC come down to the wire. I'm obviously pulling for Kentucky to lose to VCU in the title game. I wanna see this thing come down to the points tiebreaker. Makes for high drama.

Here are the current standings just incase you wanted to compare yourself to Cro.

Nico Tennant 85

Jess Everret 85

Andrew Riexinger 78

Fritz Ablao 78

BG 78

Brett Askin 78

Michelle Folkerts 75

Chris Fusco 72

Shaun Askin 72

Boy Pierce 71

Matt Atallian 69

Billy Wells Sr. 68

Papa Askin 66

K-Man Hoffman 66

Billy Wells Jr. 66

Kim Wells 66

Paul Lawruk 64

Kermit Hoffman 62

CRO 61

Jenna Fusco 61

Adam Cutter 61

Tom Moffa 60

Jake Hoffman 60

Rachael Weissman 58

Phil Imbesi 58

Alex "Hater" Wells 56

Dosh Willie Whye 54

Pat Shields 54

Ryan Fontana 53

EEB 53

Chris Woody 53

Kenny Zuroick 52

Dennis "The KC Kid" 52

Jennifer Streff 52

Big Mike 51

Adam Tatz 51

Yashar Toliver 49

Mike Smith 48

Justin Romano 37

Good luck to the Fab 5 who remain. You know now what you need to root for in order to take home the 2011 Anyone But Cro crown.

Keep checking back for more updates.

Vamos VCU

UJ

Standings After Thursday March 25

Wanted to get these up before the Friday games. Cro lost a finalist in San Diego State and a final four team in BYU last night. He appears to out unless everything goes exactly his way from hear on out. Not likely considering he started AC with a 30 point loss and ended last weekend with a Bruce Pearl firing. 0 for 8 is the the outcome we're looking for here.

Good luck tonight.

Nico Tennant 60
Matt Atallian 59
BG 58
Papa Askin 56
K-Man Hoffman 56
Jess Everett 55
Paul Lawruk 54
Fritz Ablao 53
Brett Askin 53
Andrew Riexinger 53
Billy Wells Sr. 53
Chris Fusco 52
Shaun Askin 52
Kermit Hoffman 52
CRO 51
Jenna Fusco 51
Billy Wells Jr. 51
Kim Wells 51
Michelle Folkerts 50
Tom Moffa 50
Jake Hoffman 50
Dosh Willie Whye 49
Pat Shields 49
Rachael Weissman 48
Phil Imbesi 48
Ryan Fontana 48
EEB 48
Chris Woody 48
Kenny Zuroick 47
Dennis "The KC Kid" 47
Adam Cutter 46
Boy Pierce 46
Big Mike 46
Mike Smith 43
Jennifer Streff 42
Adam Tatz 41
Alex Wells 41
Yashar Toliver 39
Justin Romano 32

Big East Gets Caught in a HAZE

Let me start this off by apologizing for taking forever and a day to get this blog posted. I know that there has been a lock of backlash through Facebook and text messages. Fact of the matter is, grading 40 brackets takes an immense amount of time and drinking for the entire first two rounds really takes its toll a blogger.

ABC participants, we have much to discuss. Let’s a take a quick glance at the standings. 2009 champ Nico Tennant is currently atop the leader board with 50 points. This is totally uncalled for. The left side of his bracket is perfect save Tennessee over Michigan and Missouri over Cincinnati. Neither Michigan nor Cincinnati advanced to the Sweet 16, so only 2 dropped points on an entire side of a bracket is pretty impressive by any standard. Your truly comes in at 2nd but will fade fast I’m afraid.

There is currently a 5 way tie for 3rd place. Fontana proclaimed his bracket to be all chalk and will lose by default. Rachael had Notre Dame as her champion, so she is not a threat whatsoever. The Fritz bracket is still dangerous despite losing a Final Four team in Pitt (more on this later). If Kentucky reaches the title game, I think Fritz guarantees himself money. Nobody else has them going anywhere near that far. EEB while looking clean in his white tee in AC, only has 2 Final Four teams left and is probably toasted. And lastly, BG brings has all of his Final Four teams and has himself in prime position to take his first ABC crown. Although, I’m terribly afraid that BG’s luck has already run its course, also more on this later.

The tourney started off with a bang at Kildare’s Irish Pub in Newark, DE. Fritz was slinging drinks all day and EEB son had joined me for a good portion of the day. Of course it was also St. Patty’s Day, so all sorts of silly business was going down. Ended up taking multiple car bombs to the face, multiple shots were tossed back and it was the perfect start to the weekend.

The next morning, I woke on EEB’s couch in an absolute haze around 5:45. Little did I know what was in store for the day formally known as March 18, 2011. From this day forward, it will be known as “Day of 6”.

The day started as EEB and I pulled up to AC at 10:30am in full gangster lean. We blared classic throwbacks the entire way there. The one that really sticks out is Special Delivery remix. Peep that on YouTube and try your best not to get amped up. We roll up to dirty Taj Mahal and eagerly anticipated the rest of our party’s arrival. Yashar arrived around 11 and we decided it would be best to head to Game On at the Pier to prepare for the second day of drinking and tournament excitement.

Cro, Rachael, and BG eventually showed up and we started crushing drinks. Purple Haze’s for the table, Malibu Bay Breeze’s for Cro, and a solid EEB nap and we were well on our way. I guess it was about 5-530 when we decided to jump ship and change locations. Cro was wasted after trying to chug his Bay Breeze in the manliest way possible. I don’t know if anyone has ever encountered such an event, but you DO NOT want to mess with a dude that just chugged a Bay Breeze. You’ll be in serious trouble. Jaeger or Jack can’t compare to the punch that coconut rum packs.
After retiring to our quarters for a quick intermission, it was finally time to venture west to the Borgata. For some reason, my secret affection for Pat Sajak was out in full force as I demanded we play Wheel of Fortune. As I sat quietly pounding the “spin” button with absolutely zero luck, I was very quickly out of cash and had to hit the ATM. I was gone for maybe 5 minutes. When I came back, I found that the person sitting to my left had won about $800 and the person to my right had won about $2000. Sweet. Surely this couldn’t be a good sign for the rest of the night.

Backtracking a little bit here. BG and company had gambled prior to their arrival at Borgata. By all estimates, the group was down about $700 or $800. The “bank error in BG’s favor” that had occurred earlier in the day had appeared to morph into the “bank error in Trump’s” favor pretty hastily. However, much to his credit BG was not to be stopped and was determined to get back on the floor. What would ensue is almost not believable.

We’re all out boozing hardcore when it was time to hit the Roulette table, playing with some serious cash. $25 minimums so you could be out $100 faster than Tennessee fired Bruce Pearl after their 30 point loss to MICHIGAN! Anyways, we find a table that is relatively quiet and has a fairly attractive dealer. Can’t remember her name exactly, but she somewhat resembled Beyonce. What is the booze that had this effect? Probably, but just roll with it.

BG was literally the only person playing at one point in time. Mind you, this kid is completely trashed at this point. I know for a fact he had at least 3 Purple Haze’s, multiple Captain and Cokes, a shot of jaeger, a Sake bomb, more Purple Haze’s, a shot of Jack. Not to mention all the drinks I wasn’t present for. He’s dabbling on the outside of the table, losing $25 at a time. Whatever, he’s having fun. He decides to try his luck on the inside of the table by tossing a $5 on 6. Beyonce quickly corrects his mistake and instructs him that you have to play $25 on the inside too. I thought to myself “Oh, he’ll just take it off the table, no big.” BG slaps his nuts on the table, tosses another $20 on top of the 6, and Beyonce gives him a cute smile as to say “This jackass just doesn’t get it.” So as all the bets are now at the proper amounts, Beyonce gives the wheel a spin. As the ball begins to settle on the wheel, I glance at Cro. His eyes go from the “OMG I’m shitcanned and need sleep” look to “OMG IT’S A 6”. He screams at the top of his lungs “HE’S DONE IT!!!!! IT’S A SIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!” BG had just won $875 on a drunken $25 bet on the number 6. You have got to be kidding me. Any natural reaction should be happiness, but I’m sure the look on my face was pure disgust. I’ve been playing Roulette for a while and I have never seen anything like it. I’m still not over it I think. While the dinner and 3 bottles of wine he all bought us at 3am helped, I don’t think I can ever gamble again. I’m extremely jealous, but I’m throwing out your bracket BG, as I can’t let you win this too.

OK, back to a little basketball news. Multiple people lost their national champion this past weekend. Pretty good weekend when 20% of the entries lose their title winner. Sorry about your luck to the following goons, but no sympathy here. You can remove these names from threatening the ABC crown. Barkley said it best; you can put all your chips on a team from the Little Bitty East.

Pittsburgh Panthers
Dennis “The KC Kid”
Jenna Fusco
Billy Wells Jr

Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Rachael Weissman
Papa Askin
Jennifer Streff
Jake Hoffman
Alex Wells

We also need to discuss finances for this bracket challenge. There are 39 entries this year. Almost as much as last year’s record setting 43. But with the 4 play in games, on Tuesday and Wednesday, just about everyone had their brackets in by Tuesday night. Very impressive work by the ABC contestants.

With the pot being $390 this year, I’m suggesting $320 to the winner, $50 to runner up, and $20 to the bronze medalist. If you haven’t paid yet, please do so as soon as possible. I have the following degenerates as not being paid yet.

Nico Tennant
Fritz Ablao
All 3 Hoffmans
Jessica Everett
Michelle Folkerts
Both Fuscos
A.B. Tatz

If any of this is incorrect let me know.

Also, just a quick reminder for the points for the remaining rounds.

Elite 8 Team – 5 points
Final Four Team – 10 points
Finalist – 15 points
National Champ – 25 points

Good luck this weekend. I will have standings posted at the completion of the Thursday and Friday night games. I can’t make any promises about Saturday as I have Union home opener followed by the Lil Wayne tour Saturday night.

Let’s go VCU and down with CRO.

UJ

Standings After 3rd Round

Mega blog still not completed ... Wanted to hit you with standings at least. Blog with full weekend recap and commentary to be posted tomorrow.

Nico Tennant 50
Matt Atallian 49
Ryan Fontana 48
Rachael Weissman 48
Fritz Ablao 48
EEB 48
BG 48
Papa Askin 46
K-Man Hoffman 46
Kim Wells 46
CRO 46
Big Mike 46
Jess Everett 45
Michelle Folkerts 45
Paul Lawruk 44
Pat Shields 44
Dosh Willie Whye 44
Phil Imbesi 43
Chris Woody 43
Brett Askin 43
Billy Wells Sr. 43
Andrew Riexinger 43
Shaun Askin 42
Kermit Hoffman 42
Kenny Zuroick 42
Jennifer Streff 42
Dennis "The KC Kid" 42
Chris Fusco 42
Jenna Fusco 41
Billy Wells Jr. 41
Adam Tatz 41
Adam Cutter 41
Tom Moffa 40
Jake Hoffman 40
Yashar Toliver 39
Mike Smith 38
Boy Pierce 38
Alex Wells 36
Justin Romano 32

You Can't Spell Suck Without USC

Not much too blog about quite yet ... Glad to see VCU proved they belong. Eat your heart out, Jay Bilas.

I hope everyone is ready for the next four days, as it promises to be a very exciting tournament. The blog will start in Newark, DE on Thursday to be with perennial challenger EEB, before making our way to Atlantic City, NJ on Friday. Current leader BG will be present. Nothing excites me more than the promise of BG, bball, and gambling. Blog may reach new heights that night. Keep checking back for updates. Standings after the "truTV Four" are below.

BG 4

Kim Wells 4

K-Man Hoffman 4

Matt Atallian 4

Nico Tennant 4

Boy Pierce 3

Chris Fusco 3

Chris Woody 3

CRO 3

Dennis "The KC Kid" 3

EEB 3

Jennifer Streff 3

Papa Askin 3

Paul Lawruk 3

Rachael Weissman 3

Tom Moffa 3

Adam Tatz 2

Big Mike 2

Billy Wells Sr. 2

Dosh Willie Whye 2

Jake Hoffman 2

Jenna Fusco 2

Uncle Kermit 2

Pat Shields 2

Phil Imbesi 2

Ryan Fontana 2

Andrew Riexinger 1

Billy Wells Jr. 1

Brett Askin 1

Kenny Zuroick 1

Mike Smith 1

Shaun Askin 1

Yashar Toliver 1

Alex Wells 0

Jess Everett 0

Michelle Folkerts 0

8th Annual Anyone But Cro Invitational Arrives

The 2011 edition of the Anyone But Cro Invitational arrived today with much anticipation. The unveiling of the brand new 68-team bracket caused much disturbance in Bristol, CT. There were so many bad teams this year, that the waters were muddied as to who actually deserved to be in . The waters were so murky some how the CAA was a 3 bid league. The outrage was palpable. Jay Bilas was seen blowing a fuse on set, Gottlieb was called in last minute as back up, and Dicky V was so upset that he proclaimed his wife doesn't know "DIDDILLY!!" and knew more about college basketball than the committee. I've never seen such backlash over a bracket in my entire life.

Who would have ever thought that a Colorado or yet another VT snub would offend so many people? The problem with this system is that is supposed to be a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" type of arrangement, and when the little guy gets acknowledged for their "body fo work" its an outrage. VCU beat quality opponents on the road, went to the title game of a Top 10 RPI conference, and deserves to be in. Nothing more needs to be said. Look at Barkley's beed with the Big East. If its such a good conference, how can a team win 5 games in 5 days? Makes you wonder.

Anyways, down to business. This years ABC will work a little differently than years past. With the addition of 3 more "1st Round" games, the committee has forced my hand. The play in game used to be irrelevant. Win and you got blown out by a 1 seed 3 days later. Now, some of these teams may actually win 2 or 3 games on the opening week. Because of this change, brackets are now due at 630 PM TUESDAY NIGHT.

In the event that I do not receive your bracket before this deadline, do not be totally alarmed. I will still accept brackets up until NOON THURSDAY, but you will forfeit all points from the 1st Round games that were played prior to your entry. If you dont think a couple of points matters, than dont worry about it. Just be aware that you could be losing before it starts, and that a team that wins Tuesday or Wednesday could make a deep run and cost you even more.

Point system and buy in remains the same also. Link to bracket and PayPal are to the right.

Blog will also have a new format this weekend, so be on the lookout for some amazing material.

Good luck with the bracket, and Happy Cro Hunting.

Let's make him 0 for 8.

Biggest Cro Hater of All,
Matt "UJ" Atallian