New Year, New Final Four, Same Contenders

Cro and UJ after being eliminated

Man.  I'll tell you.  No matter the year and no matter the teams, the ABC always seems to come down the same few people.  Cro rarely gets past game day 4 or 5.  EEB hangs around for maybe another day or two.  But at the end of the day, it always seems to come down to some combination of a Fusco or a Cutter.  I'm sure I speak for everyone, but I am about sick of this.  Forget Cro man.  The kid's paid his dues.  ABC needs to stand for anyone but Chris or Cutter at this point.  Look at the past champs to your right.  5 out of 15 titles went to those two clowns.  And 4 of the last 6.  This stupid invitational may as well be a GoFundMe for those guys.  Thankfully, there are still two brackets that can prevent another stain on this blog.

The Elite 8 proved to be an extremely tense affair.  Two overtime games, a 1 point regulation win, and a 6 point regulation win by a team nobody (except 1!) had in their final four.  That left all but 7 brackets capped with points.  No Duke.  No UNC.  No Kentucky.  No Gonzaga.  May as well toss my manila folder in the shredder.  I'm tired of worrying about where it is anyway!

I must point out that Pat Shields was the only bracket that snuck Texas Tech into the Final Four.  Ben Lobitz, despite his lowly ranking, correctly predicted Auburn in his.  An otherwise awful performance from Lobitz, which will continue to see him not invited to annual gatherings.

And let us not forget Darryl, who literally came out of NOWHERE to be the only entry with Virginia as National Champion.  Hard to believe only 1 person picked that particular #1 seed.  That's incredible.  UVA only lost 3 games all year, and 2 of those were to Duke.  It's not like this is a bad team by any measure.  I guess the loss to UMBC last year still resonated with voters.  Fools!!

If you've yet to pay, please try to do so this week so that I can get payments out in a timely manner.  PayPal or Venmo both work.  Looks like I'm still needing payment from 8 entries.  However, if you win and are unpaid, I'll just deduct the cost from your payout.

We'll keep payouts similar to last year since we've got about the same amount of brackets.

1st Place : $220
2nd Place : $40
3rd Place : $10

PayPal - matt.atallian@gmail.com (also that yellow Add to Cart button)
Venmo - @Matt-Atallian

Name	First Round	Second Round	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Total
Chris Fusco	25	30	30	10	95
Shelby	21	28	30	10	89
Pat Shields	20	24	25	20	89
Chris Woody	23	30	25	10	88
David Weissman	24	26	15	20	85
EEB	22	28	25	10	85
UJ	23	26	25	10	84
Cutter	23	26	25	10	84
Carter Fusco	21	28	25	10	84
Cro	22	22	30	10	84
Rebecca	22	26	25	10	83
Vince Cortese	24	22	25	10	81
Rachael	23	22	25	10	80
Deege Larrimore	24	30	25	0	79
Jenna Fusco	22	22	25	10	79
KC Bomber	19	22	25	10	76
Tom Moffa	22	18	25	10	75
Darryl	20	18	25	10	73
Meech	25	22	25	0	72
BG	23	22	25	0	70
D Weeze	20	20	20	10	70
Uncle Kenny	22	28	15	0	65
Boy Pierce	22	20	20	0	62
Lobitz	21	14	15	10	60
Nico	23	26	10	0	59
Claire Brooking	17	20	5	0	42
Cate Brooking	21	10	10	0	41

We've narrowed the Final Four to (6) different scenarios that can each produce a different set of results.  Please be sure that you find a seat before reading any further, as this is sure to ruin the rest of your day.

Texas Tech plays Auburn (winner doesn't matter)
1) Chris Fusco
2) Winner of Shelby / Pat Shields tiebreak
3) Loser of Shelby / Pat Shields tiebreak

Michigan State plays Auburn (winner doesn't matter)
1) Adam Cutter
2) Rebecca Cutter
3) Chris Fusco

Texas Tech beats Virginia
1) Pat Shields
2) Winner of UJ / Carter Fusco tiebreak
3) Loser of UJ / Carter Fusco tiebreak

Michigan State beats Virginia
1) Pat Shields
2) First place of UJ / Adam Cutter / Carter Fusco tiebreak
3) Second place of UJ / Adam Cutter / Carter Fusco tiebreak

Virginia beats Texas Tech
1) Darryl
2) Pat Shields
3) Winner of UJ / Carter Fusco tiebreak

Virginia beats Michigan State
1) Darryl
2) Adam Cutter
3) Rebecca Cutter

Best of luck to the remaining 4 people still in play to have their name lifted into the rafters of the ABC Hall of Fame!!!

Matt