March Madness - Post Mortem

It's been a few days since the final game, and I've manged to pay everyone off.  It was another successful tournament and pool.  I think I had more fun this year than I did last year, when I was seriously considering quitting this forever because of some particularly ghastly participants made my life miserable.  A lot of that was due to the fact that I was able to streamline a lot of the processes that I use.  I think having people send me their brackets was a really time saver for me.  I think next year I'll make the on-line pool sites available, but require that people send me brackets.  That also makes it easier for me to make an accounting of who has paid and who hasn't.

Other than the run for Kentucky, this was the kind of year I really like.  A lot of pretty big upsets (Mercer, Stephen F. Austin, Dayton, Baylor, Stanford, etc.).  I also like that the Final 4 was totally unpredictable.  I've run my bracket randomizer 10,000 times and not once did it come up with that Final 4.

I especially like it because it rewarded the people that took UConn and to a lesser extent Kentucky.  Picking those teams to the Championship game took some real stones, even if it the downside is throwing away $5.  A lot of people didn't take that chance.

I also like that the 4 people that won money had never won anything in any of my pools.  I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or not, but 3 of the 4 people that won money weren't from California.  I'm sending money to Wisconsin, Connecticut and North Carolina this year.  What that means is that all my California friends need to step up their game.  They are getting their lunch eaten by the rest of the country.

I went over who won what last time, but here's a refresher for anyone that didn't read it:

1. Ray W. #3
2. John M. #1
3. Miguel D.
4. Mark N. #1

For those that were curious, John M. #2 clinched last place by one point.  I think I used to give out money for that in the past, but I forgot about it.  If I do it next year, I won't announce it until after the start of the tournament.  I announced it one year before the tournament, and 6 people gunned for the last spot.  That's no fun.

Now a trip down memory lane:

Leader after day 1: Robert H. #2 (16/16) finished T96
Leader after first round: Chad L. #2 (28/32) finished T5
Leader after 2nd round: Ray W. #1 (51/64) finished T160
Leader after Elite 8: Ryan H. (69/96) finished T13 & Brent E.#6 (69/96) finished T66.
Leader after Final 4 decided: Mark N. #1 (83/128) finished 4th.

What I think this can tell you is not to get too overexcited if you are in the lead, or get too down if you are not in the lead.  There's always more games to come.

Here are some other fun stats:

Highest finish for a woman: T17 (Ally H., Marissa W. #2)
Highest finish for someone I've actually met: Chris M. #3 (T8)
Highest finish for someone in my family: Michelle L. #2 (T21)
Highest finish for someone that was eliminated from 1st at the Sweet 16: Ryan G., Terry F. #1, William G. #1 (T32)
Highest finish for someone that was eliminated from all places at the sweet 16: James K. (50)

Number of people that won more points than they lost: 2
Average  number of points won: 62.81
Median number of points won: 64
Mode number of points won: 68 (14 people)

I had the exact same number of entrants this year as I did last year, so here was last years stats:

Number of people that won more points than they lost: 61
Average  number of points won: 72.25
Median number of points won: 65
Mode number of points won: 110 (8 people)

The numbers last year were helped greatly by the overall #1 (Louisville) winning it all.

Anyway, I had a fun time this year.  There were no major issues and there were plenty of fun games to keep things interesting.  I'm already looking forward to next year.

Until then.......

Klei


BTW: I really enjoy getting emails and notes from people.  It's nice to know that people appreciate the work I put into it.