Posted by davefilby on 5/23/2013 9:26:00 AM (view original):
A handful of upsets in the 1st round but chalk generally ruled.  #16 Rockhurst took #1 Slippery Rock to double OT.  Check out the end of regulation and the OTs, a VERY game effort unipanther.

Midwest:  Hard to not like Belmont Abbey coming out of here, although there are a number of us in the other half of the bracket that would make for a competitive regional final. 

East:  Pull a name out of a hat, any of the teams could win the region.  #1 West Georgia and #2 Hillsdale are undefeated.  Queens is the only team to beat Belmont Abbey, and they did it twice.  I'll pick uber-athletic Wisconsin-Parkside.

South:  I'm inclined to pick Bellarmine since greenhawks pounds Incarnate Word every year, but I'm going with either Longwood or CSU, Chico from the other side of the bracket.

West:  I'm going with conference mate St Mary's (TX) to add to their reputation as the Buffalo Bills of D-II Iba.  Why?  It's a good bet most years they will win their region, making 6 Final Fours in the last 13 seasons.

(Clears throat)

Pretty impressive, dave!  I didn't even post my picks this year because I never get more than one correct. 

But, in RL, I won two March Madness contests this year.  I had Louisville winning both times but the rest of my teams were different. One of my cards  even had Georgetown (thank you, Florida Gulf Coast) making the finals.    Between the two contests, I won $150, lunch for my staff, and a mini IPad.

As I said at the beginning of the year - it's hard to see anyone stopping Belmont Abbey. While all of the final 4 looks fierce, I stand by my pick. 

Posted by davefilby on 5/23/2013 9:26:00 AM (view original):
A handful of upsets in the 1st round but chalk generally ruled.  #16 Rockhurst took #1 Slippery Rock to double OT.  Check out the end of regulation and the OTs, a VERY game effort unipanther.

Midwest:  Hard to not like Belmont Abbey coming out of here, although there are a number of us in the other half of the bracket that would make for a competitive regional final. 

East:  Pull a name out of a hat, any of the teams could win the region.  #1 West Georgia and #2 Hillsdale are undefeated.  Queens is the only team to beat Belmont Abbey, and they did it twice.  I'll pick uber-athletic Wisconsin-Parkside.

South:  I'm inclined to pick Bellarmine since greenhawks pounds Incarnate Word every year, but I'm going with either Longwood or CSU, Chico from the other side of the bracket.

West:  I'm going with conference mate St Mary's (TX) to add to their reputation as the Buffalo Bills of D-II Iba.  Why?  It's a good bet most years they will win their region, making 6 Final Fours in the last 13 seasons.

Well dave, St Mary's wasn't really the Buffalo Bills of D2 Iba. The Bills lost in the Super Bowl, not the AFC Championship game. Now that I finally made the title game in try number 7 we will see if I can start working on a new streak of ineptitude or if I can finally get over the hump.

Get it done mduncan, get it done.

It would totally suck if mduncanhogs won it all. Kinda like the Cubs winning the World Series. It would kill the whole vibe.

J/K matt. As Dave said, get r done. Nothing against emy , but I think a lot of Iba D2 coaches are pulling for you tonight.

Goodluck tonight fellas. Two very talented coaches and teams!

Congrats emy. Well deserved.

emy changed two starters for the final. 10 different guys started all season. He loses one player, his 3rd leading scorer. Scary.

Congrats to emy on the title.  His team was extremely difficult to gameplan against with all that althelticism and strong defense, and as hacker pointed out, he does a good job mixing up his lineup to keep people guessing against his M2M defense.  I'd say UWP has a pretty good shot at going back-to-back with what he is bringing back too.

As for St. Mary's, it's tough to make 3 straight Final Fours and have no hardware to show for it, but we will get that title some day.

Thanks guys.  I don't know why I change my lineup around so much, I guess I just get bored and am a "tinkerer" at heart.  I've never gone back-to-back in my HD career, and seeing as how I didn't think I'd win this season, I guess it would only be right if I didn't win next year with an even more experienced team.  I'd love to repeat, of course, but deep down, I'm really pulling for MDH to get that gorilla off his back and win his title.  It's more than overdue.

Oh, and very nice predictions by Dave to hit all four Final Four teams earlier.  I'd be lucky to hit one, even if I already knew all the Elite Eight teams ahead of time.