End of Round 2 Sunday Update

Greetings, Hoopsters:

After an extremely entertaining weekend of hoops, we have ourselves a Sweet 16, and sole leader atop the standings of Jabin’s March Madness Charity Pool.

HoopinMags is in the lead with 53 points, followed by Going west at 52, The Reverend at 51, and Dragons at 50. Then it gets crowded. Nine players (Quinn, Roy Kent, Recedinghairliners, Laughing Jay, Miz Elizabeth, Whit’s Picks, Tenacious D, Buddy Ryan, and Chuck) are all tied at 49 points. Eight more players are 5 back at 48.

Head to the site for complete standings heading into the Sweet 16, where winning picks count for 3 points each.

Everything’s bigger in Texas (especially when they play in Memphis)

The Houston-Texas A&M game was epic Sunday night!  The Aggies looked cooked vs. the top-seeded Houston Cougars in regulation, but an absolutely sick, falling down 3-pointer by Anderson Garcia at the buzzer forced overtime. So many players fouled out, but the Cougars made enough free throws in overtime and advanced to the Sweet 16. Way harder than it should have been for a 1 seed, and a gutty effort from the Aggies. Just a great game.

Huskies be for real

I am frightened of UConn, and you should be too. The defending national champs don’t look like they have broken a sweat yet (they made it through two rounds with an average winning margin of 28 points), and they are in the Sweet 16. I’m not making any predictions here, but the way they manhandled a decent Northwestern team was downright scary. 

That’ll be all, Coleman

The Dukes vs. Duke game was kind of a letdown. About the only thing that went wrong for Duke in the “Trading Places” game was when Grant Hill’s headset gave out at halftime and he couldn’t provide commentary for a few minutes. On the floor, nothing much went wrong for the Dookies, and James Madison was really never in this thing (kind of like the first act of “Hamilton.”) In the end, the Dukes were ruined, and they couldn’t turn the machines back on. (I really feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t seen that movie, because they are completely lost by this point). My only regret is I couldn’t find a way to work in my favorite two lines: “I’m a karate man …. I bruise on the inside,” and “May I suggest using the nightstick, officer.” 

Commercials

So what exactly is the takeaway from the Grammarly commercial about using AI to write an Email to get you out of meeting? I guess we should all just give up and surrender to our AI overlords?  Not this guy! I’m not an AI skeptic (quite the contrary), but this just CANNOT be the best way to sell this stuff.

I have many questions about the homes.com ads starring Daniel Levy and SNL’s Heidi Garner. Two very funny people, and I love their work, but what are they supposed to be doing? And what’s with the helicopter? At a football game? Are they scouting for homes on the 50-yard line? That’s probably why I’m not in advertising (but I *did* watch Mad Men, so there’s that).

OK, so we get a little break in the action of the Madness that is March. I’ll talk to you Thursday night after the first night of the Sweet Sixteen.

Yours in hoops,

Jabin