Kansas V Villanova

 It’s been a bit of a break since we last had basketball (at least NCAA Men’s basketball).  That is all remedied today, as we have two games on the schedule.

The nice thing for me is that because there are only 8 ways things can play out, it doesn’t take much time to calculate who gets eliminated with the outcomes of the games.

The first game up is Villanova v Kansas.

Villnova won the South region, taking down my beloved Houston squad in the process.  It looks like they are going to be without their second leading scorer in this one after tearing his Achilles in the last game.  That should be a pretty big loss for them, since they aren’t that deep of a team.  One thing they will have going for them is that they are going to make this game as boring and unwatchable as possible – unless you like watching people dribble at midcourt waiting for the shot clock to go below ten before starting the offense.  If that’s your jam, then Villanova is the team for you.  Honestly, I don’t see how they win if the game isn’t as slow as possible.  It’s hard to see how they run with Kansas.

Kansas won the Midwest region and were marginally pushed throughout.  I don’t think I’ve watched a team play as good as Kansas did in the second half of the Miami game last week, so if they can keep that up, I’m not sure anyone can beat them.  I also put a side bet in on Remy Martin being player of the tournament.  Back when I was still alive in this thing and Arizona wasn’t figuring out how many of their players should go pro, Remy Martin was the one player I worried about.  Kansas didn’t have that great of a regular season for the most part.  It’s only been in the last month or so that they’ve looked this good and most of that was due to the return of Remy Martin.

From an administrative perspective, I’m kinda hoping Kansas wins, because I think it knocks out the last remaining scenarios in which a tie occurs anywhere.  Interesting fact: If Kansas wins, all 3 remaining women are knocked out of 1^st place contention, but no men.

So, here are the eliminations for the first game:

If Villanova wins:

Result	Pick
Craig G. is eliminated from 2nd & 3rd place contention.	Kansas
Dustin B. is eliminated from 4th place contention.	Kansas
John M. #2 is eliminated from 1st place contention.	Kansas
Kristin G. is eliminated from 3rd place contention.	Kansas
Mike W. is eliminated from 1st & 2nd place contention.	Kansas
Ryan W. is eliminated from 2nd & 4th place contention.	Kansas
Stefon K. is eliminated from 3rd place contention.	Kansas

If Kansas Wins:

Result	Pick
Amber W. is eliminated from 1st, 2nd & 3rd place contention.	Villanova
April K. is eliminated from 3rd & 4th place contention.	Villanova
Becky H. is eliminated from 1st, 2nd & 3rd place contention.	Villanova
Daisy N. #2 is eliminated from 4th place contention.	Villanova
John M. #2 is eliminated from 3rd place contention.	Kansas
Kristina H. is eliminated from 1st place contention.	Villanova
Lindsay R. is eliminated from 3rd & 4th place contention.	Villanova
Matt H. is eliminated from 2nd & 4th place contention.	Villanova

John M. #2 is an interesting case because he is going to lose access to one of the payouts regardless of what happens.  I think his odds of winning something may stay the same, but just what that something is will change.

Good luck!!  I’ll be back between games to give more updates.