We have arrived at the Sweet Sixteen sports fans. It has been an exciting tournament thus far with a certain conference having 25% of the teams represented…. Now Uncle will ask you all to channel the Data Scientist within you. While there are 80 brackets only 15 have a chance to win the whole shabang!! Below are the fortunate ones, showing each person’s probability of winning, and what they need to make their dream come true, the dream we all have, to be the winner of the Uncle Dino’s NCAA Bracketology Pool! If you want even more insight, please go to the PickHoops site and enjoy the wonders of statistics!! While Uncle Dino has commented on many of those listed above, there are some that seem to be lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce with a NC State or Iowa State Final Four appearance. The dreaded N8er8er – a man loved by millions and hated by even more – has followed the Jimmy V path by selecting NC State to win it all. And should Illinois win it all, then the odds would favor Michelle Shotola. But there is one participant who learned from posting five brackets last year to only two this year will still give you a less than 1% chance of winning, but Uncle Dino is saying there is a chance Mr. David Rodman!! However, we all need to acknowledge the power of the Fedeli. That’s both Fedeli 1 and Fedeli 2. With Fedeli 1 currently posting the highest probability of winning at 45.1%, he will be tough to beat. But for the 13 other candidates still in the running, developing a bad case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from pushing the PickHoops refresh button over and over again is a certain possibility….
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Uncle Dino has been a little under the weather and apologizes to Uncle Dino Nation for not getting an “Official Dish” out at the end of Round 1. He knows all of you live for his keen insights and commentary on how you and others are performing or not so performing…as the tournament continues. Well, thanks to the advances of modern medicine Uncle Dino’s brain transplant has been a success and against doctor’s orders he will deliver on what he is known best for, that is, an official Uncle Dino Dish. Before we get to the Top 10 let’s take a look at some of the other more, shall we say weak attempts at bracket entries as well as how the mighty have fallen. First up Mark Jackson, the owner of the bracket A-U-B-U-R-N. While Uncle Dino appreciates the audacity to actually name his bracket after his Alma mater, but Mark, consider what can happen when your Alma mater loses in the first round!! No doubt a rookie mistake and one where Uncle Dino will allow Mark to re-name his bracket to something less embarrassing like Auburn Win the 2024 NCAA Championship!! Next time perhaps consider a better name, something like “ACC Supremacy” or the like. Dear Mark, see the shallow end? Please dog paddle to it!! How the mighty have fallen. Why it was just last year that proud Michigan alum A-A-ron Sygiel was crowned the 2023 Champion of Uncle Dino’s NCAA Bracketology Pool, even before the Final Four started. This year A-A-ron finds himself in 39th place but with a 2.89% upset risk percentage perhaps he will turn things around as the tournament progresses just like Juwan Howard and Michigan turned things arou… Now let’s turn our attention to the Top 10. Leading the pack is none other than Josh Fedeli whose strategy includes picking early upsets with late higher seeds to assure staying power as things progress. Perhaps Uncle Dino will leverage Josh’s political background from the Campaign Management Institute to expand the Uncle Dino Nation for 2025!! In 2nd place, only 2 points behind, is our 2024 Bracket Genuis Hayley Null – perhaps Uncle Dino will need to do some background checks before allowing her to participate in the future brackets given her syndicated show on ESPN. In 3rd place we have the lead singer from the Yale Whiffenpoofs Gary Wiessinger! Of course Gary picked the upset of Yale defeating Auburn, or as Mark Jackson says it, “A-U-B-U-R-N” but Gary says it Aww Burn!! Gary has the Bulldogs making it to the Sweet Sixteen. Uncle Dino thinks Gary will be wiffen’ on that pick (yep Uncle Dino went for 2 bad puns there, but he wants to make sure that Uncle Dino Nation gets what they want…and a lot of it). In 4th is Russell White – nothing like a good “bean counter” being in the midst of it. Rounding out the Top 5 is Christian “I Have a Great Basketball Mind” Kelly who conveyed to Uncle Dino some inside scoop on the McNeese State Cowboys, picking them to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. Christian Uncle Dino thinks you were you referring to the Poop-N-Scoop available on Amazon – it’s all in the wrist!! Yep, bad pun #3 if you are keeping score at home! Rounding out the top 10 from Fargo (for those of you not from the Midwest Fargo is not in Minnesota) Brent Pieterick in 6th place. In 7th place is ACC Supremacy, (Mark Jackson please take note of how you call attention to something and not be embarrassed by it!!). In 8th is the two headed monsterBrettChris Helgeson – Uncle Dino send his condolences on the demise of your beloved Badgers. In 9th is Rich “call Me Richard” Altschuler, whose choice of Baylor over Clemson may come to haunt him, but nothing like the haunting he experiences each football season rooting for the NY Giants (ooohhh, NFL Football burn, Uncle Dino does not respect boundaries). And in 10th is none other than Ben Brown, Ben, Uncle Dino wants to thank you for what your former head coach has done for his beloved Wolfpack – what can I say, Jim Boeheim is the gift that keeps on giving!! Well on the games and see who will make it to the field of the Sweet Sixteen – and Virginia there is no Sweet Sixteen!! 😉
Even before we start the Final Four we can crown our winner of the The 37th Annual 2023 Uncle Dino's NCAA Basketball Tournament Pool for the Benefit of the V Foundation - it is none other than a proud Michigan alum A-A-ron Sygiel! Now the rest of us mere mortals can kick back, relax and watch the remainder of what has been a history making NCAA Tournament.
I want to thank everyone for participating and exceeding our goal for this year's event. Until next year, when NC State secures its 3rd NCAA Championship in school history!! ;-) Thank you all for playing and participating. If you have not made your donation to the V Foundation please do by clicking this LINK. Continuing on with the Baskin-Robbins marketing opportunity, Uncle Dino wants to remind you that we are on to to the Sweet 16, and what could be better than to pair up your excitement with a cake from Baskin-Robbins... Let's take a peek a the leader board after 48 games: Some from the the end of Round 1 remain while others have broken through! A-A-ron Sygiel of the Wolverine Clan, has taken over the top spot from Badger Clan member David Bedell. Coming out of nowhere like Ralphie at a CU football game to rise to 3rd place is Trey Chapman. Now don't get ahead of yourself Trey - kind of like Ralphie and his handlers - while you have a perfect record in the West Regional so far - maxing your 1st Round bonus points and with your West Region and Final Four still intact you could get even more bonus points. Johnny Olsen tell Trey what he could win: Well Uncle Dino, Trey has already won 10 bonus points for correctly picking all 1st Round games in the West Region, but that's not all. If Trey can continue his good luck in the West Region he could win another 25 bonus points for correctly picking all games in the West Region. And wiat, that's still not all, There is even more! Since Trey has one of the few brackets that have his Final Four teams intact (and that's intact not Intacct where the definition includes the fact that it is damaged....) he could win another, that's another 25 bonus points for correctly picking all four regional champions. Back to you Uncle Dino! Wow! That would be amazing, thank you Johnny! - Admit it, you just read that in your game show announcer voice... Rising to 4th place is David Rodman #1 - at this time David would like to thank David Rodman #2, David Rodman #3, David Rodman #4, and David Rodman #5, for their sacrifices and allowing David Rodman #1 to make it into the Top 10! That reminds Uncle Dino that it's time for Uncle Dino's Top 1o List: The top 10 reasons David Rodman #1 has made it to the Top 10 of The 37th Annual 2023 Uncle Dino's NCAA Basketball Tournament Pool for the Benefit of the V Foundation: 10. Followed the detailed instructions provided but not the subtleties. 9. Leveraged his experience from winning the Nobel Prize for Literature for being the first guy who first hyphenated "Oat-bran" 8. Debated naming brackets March Badness #1, March Badness #2, March Badness #3, March Badness #4, and March Badness #5. 7. Picked teams based on which mascot would win in a fight. 6. Used Google Maps to determine his proximity to each school and only selected those outside of a 243-mile radius. 5. Selected teams whose coaches’ names are more fun to say. 4. Chose his bracket by strictly picking schools based on which one is rated higher according to U.S. News and World Report's academic rankings. 3. He chose which school would win based the number of syllables in its name. 2. Based his picks on the second-to-last letter of the town that the coaches of the teams were born in. And the #1 reason David made it to the Top 10 is... 1. Darts. Holding steady in 5th place is Z-Man #2, followed by Chad, still hated by millions in 6th, restaurateur Mr. Tom Mills in 7th (Uncle Dino recommends you check out Nickie's if you are in SF), And we have some newcomers to the Top 10. In 8th place, old Iron Byron Kanaley a 2-time Uncle Dino past winner - who Uncle Dino will go out on a limb and suggest that his chances of winning this year are slim to none and slim has left town! Brad En-Deering who is riding the good catholic wave that is the Creighton Blue Jays and last but certainly not least Mr. Dan Phillips in 10th place.
Thank you all for playing and participating. If you have not made your donation to the V Foundation please do by clicking this LINK. Thank you all for playing and participating. If you have not made your donation to the V Foundation please do by clicking this LINK. The NCAA needs to work on its marketing. When we have 16 teams remaining it's called "The Sweet 16,' with 8 teams remaining it's called "The Elite 8," with 4 teams remaining it's called "The Final Four." Now that we have 32 teams remaining it's called "The Round of 32," talk about dialing it in!! If only Baskin-Robbins had one more flavor, we could call it the round of Baskin-Robbins - imagine the marketing opportunities...get on it flavor creators at Baskin-Robbins...but Uncle Dino digresses - FYI, he does that a lot! Speaking of words with "gresses" In them - how about that Big 10 powerhouse Purdue, or that tournament favorite for choking - over and over again, Virginia. If you have not gotten It yet, add a "re" to the front on "gresses" and presto you have the word that aptly describes the basketball programs of the Boilermakers and Cavaliers!! Now, as a fan of the ACC Uncle Dinio does not choose to comment on a great basketball conference, instead he would like to point out that a conference that is called the Big 10, yet has a total of 14 teams in it, well any additional commentary is too obvious to require elaboration (a nod to Paul Harvey here). A final note on Purdue - they has lost to a 3-seed, a 15-seed and a 16-seed in the last 3 NCAA tournaments!! And for those of you who do not know much about the team that beat Purdue Uncle Dino provides FDU's Wikipedia page for your convenience: Well, let's see who are the leaders are as we head into the Baskin-Robbins +1 Round (did you see what Uncle Dino did there?): Leading the group is the Oracle from Oracle David Bedell, David is a Badger who is rooting his Buckey Badgers on to victory in the NIT this year. Well at least the Badgers have the respect for the game of college basketball - unlike that school from Chapel Hill (never let it be said that Uncle Dino will not work in a gratuitous burn on the Tar Heels any chance he gets!). Following David by only 1 point is none other than Chad Perterson, Chad is a man that is loved by millions and hated be even more - remember Chad, glass half full, glass half full!! in 3rd we have Rachel "Rock Chalk" Weber. Uncle Dino will take this moment to provide his universally cherished learning moments: Today's episode boys and girls is, "What the hell is Rock Chalk??
In 6th place is none other than the owner of the 5-Star Michelin rated Nickie's Pub and Restaurant in San Francisco. If you do click on the link and go to Nickie's website you will see that Mr Tom Mills (owner/proprietor of Nickie's) has no qualms of taking a page out of Uncle Dino's book and is running his own March Madness Pool!! If you are in San Francisco, Uncle Dino recommends you stop by and enjoy some food and a pint. Because who would know better about the quality of a restaurant that a tire company whose products are usually covered in dirt, oil and roadkill!! In 7th place is the mysterious LCK. Uncle Dino has done a little digging on this one only to find that LCK is a Political Theory Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN who spends most of her time when not teaching in Vegas at the Circa Sportsbook. Uncle Dino can only wonder what Foucault, Kierkegaard, Plato and Aristotle would think! Captain Kirk is in 8th place, yes that Captain Kirk!! Thanks Kirk for playing! In 9th we have A-A-ron Sygile who loves him some Blue and Gold (it's really maize but that does not work with the fight song), whose Wolverines are progressing nicely in the NIT just like Mr. Bedell's Badgers. Well A-A-ron, at least your school has some pride and honor unlike the school from Chapel Hill (ohhh, 2nd Uncle Dino burn on the Tar Heels)! And in 10th we have none other than Jason H. G. Wells! Jason is well schooled obtaining a BS, MS and soon to receive his PhD. Jason, take it from Uncle Dino, a BS stands for "Bull _ _ _ _," and MS stands for "More _ _ _ _," and a PhD stands for "Piled Higher and Deeper!!" But Jason, just know that you are not the only PhD in the top 10!! Thank you all for playing and participating. If you have not made your donation to the V Foundation please do by clicking this LINK. Until the next Dish, enjoy the Baskin-Robbins +1 round!! Well, after 60 games there is only 1 bracket that will win the 2022 Uncle Dino's NCAA Pool, and that bracket belongs to Danielle I-Used-Quick-Pick Tarp! Thank you to everyone who participated In this year's pool and for your donations to the V Foundation and its goal to eradicate cancer from the face of the Earth. This Is Uncle Dino signing off, and for once In his life he Is pulling for the Duke Blue Devils to take It all - Win it for Coach K! We Have Arrived at The Elite 8!We now have only 8 teams left in the tournament and only 2 possible winners:
Uncle Dino tips his cap to the mathematical wizards at PickHoops, If you want to see what your chances are for your best possible finish, go to PickHoops and click on Best Results. Now, Uncle Dino cannot end this Dish without sharing with you the transcript from his interview on the Uncle Dino News Channel after the St. Peter's vs. Purdue game where Uncle Dino was able to speak with the two people who picked St. Peter's to upset Purdue - that's right, none other than Mr. Trump and Mike Did-You-Seback-That! Uncle Dino: Mr. Trump and Mike Seback, thank you so much for joining me on Uncle Dino TV.
Mr. Trump: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. I just wanted to congratulate Mike Seback, and mostly myself on a tremendous victory by picking St. Peter’s to upset Purdue. You know what, glad we did it together. Mike Seback: Oh, you don't have to say that Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump: It's great to be here, Auntie Dino, and it's great to be frankly, winning again. Oh, we love to win. And you know what you're gonna see a lot more winning with that game from let me tell you, you're gonna see it a lot. We did this together. Mike. We did it. So good. Okay, I really want you to stay. I really, that's okay. Excuse me, Mike. Excuse me. Excuse me, Mike. Excuse me. When it comes to listening, you know what, like you just saw I think Mike listened. Okay. I mean, when you look at it, he's somebody that takes advice. So Well. Because there's a lot of times when I was giving advice, a lot of times I was giving advice and people were listening and it didn't work out so great for some of those people. Okay, I mean, when you look back with Star Wars I said you need to do it with swords. The lasers are not enough. You got to have real swords George I remember, I said this to George. I said if you're going to do Star Wars, okay, you have to have real swords and look at what they're doing but don't look at what they're doing with Dune. I talked to Denny Villanovia I said look at, you know what, look at the success of Dune, look at Chalamet, have a look at all of it, real swords. Okay, real success. So it's, you know, frankly, with Dune, you've got Momoa and everyone's doing flips and it's very Game of Thrones. And people were very disappointed I think with Game of Thrones, you know how it ended and everything, but with Dune, I think you've got a lot of possibility with you know, I see a lot of possibility, 2, 3, 4, 5 movies, and frankly, I see a lot of possibility with St. Peter’s winning it all. Uncle Dino: Mr. Trump, how do you keep this all in your brain? Mr. Trump: Well, I had my ears sealed long ago, so nothing comes in and nothing goes out. Uncle Dino: Mr. Trump, you never actually made your picks together with Mike Seback? Did you? Mr. Trump: Well, no, I never did, Mike. Mike. Don't you dare. Don't go anywhere. Don't you dare Mike, you need to hear this. You know, I was never there, there with Mike. You know, there, there. I was never there, there. But I told lots of people they should pick St. Peter’s to go all the way. Okay. And you know what, most people don't like Mike. But he's a wonderful guy. Okay. Most people don't like him, but he's a wonderful guy. Okay, he’s rich like my sons. Okay, Mike. You're like a son to me. Mike Seback: Please don't say that Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump: Mike, he's a wonderful guy, but these busy folks. Oh my gosh, the PC police. They don't like him. They don't like him at all. They don't like anything these PC voters. You can't please them at all. They don't even like Chris Pratt as Mario. And you know what? I'm very close with Mario. Very close with Luigi. You know our wives play golf together. They play Mario Golf together and Peaches is a very close friend of mine. Peaches had it hard, but Peaches is so great. And with the Toads by the way, I do great with the Toads. I do great. You know the little mushroom people, the Toad people, a lot of them came out in the last election. And the Toads love Chris Pratt the Toads love Chris Pratt. And as Mario is going to do a lot better than that awful Eternals movie and I tell you that it's a lot better than Eternals. You know what with the Eternals, it was too diverse. It was too diverse. And no one wants to see it, that the movie is rotten, just ask the Tomatoes, just ask the Tomatoes, it's rotten. And you can't even get tomatoes anymore because of this awful shipping nightmare that we've got with Slow Joe Biden, okay. And you know what, this is true. This is true. Mike. Excuse me, Mike, excuse me. This is true. You know, a guy came up to me the other day, big guy bigger than anything, tears in his eyes. And he says, he said to me, sir, my name is Santa Claus. And Christmas has been canceled. Christmas has been canceled sir. And I said we're not going to let that happen Santa. And that's why I asked him to give an Elite 8 berth to St. Peter’s. And we did it together, we did it together because it's a great country. Santa did it because he loves America, he loves St. Peter’s, and he loves Trump. Uncle Dino: Wow, Mr. Trump, you're a genius, a Patriot and one incredible NCAA tournament upset picker – in fact, all your picks were an upset. Thanks to you Mr. Trump and to you Mike for joining me here on Uncle Dino TV. Mike Seback: You’re wel…. Mr. Trump: (interrupting Mike) Thank, you, thank you for having me Auntie Dino. With a wink and nod to Uncle Dino's friends at SNL. It has certainly been a very interesting tournament thus far. Even though some of you were expecting perfection, given the odds of 1 in 1,470,925,948,011 (a special nod of thanks to Dan and Noah Rutman for calculating the odds leveraging their superhuman Excel skills), suffice to say you will need to try again next year! I'm talking to you Christian, Sean, Matthew and Lori Kelly, Uncle Dino’s immediate family, whom he expects nothing but perfection in all that they do, after all Uncle Dino sets the example each and every day…please pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!!
Before Uncle Dino exalts the feats of the leaders, let us peruse the under dwellers and their less than spectacular performance thus far in the pool – Uncle Dino’s favorite part of “The Dish.” First, it goes without saying that Uncle Dino wants to build the self esteem of everyone else in the pool, and it is for this reason you do not see Uncle Dino leading the pool…true story! let’s start our journey at the depths of the standings. Uncle Dino will need to board the Dino Deep Sea Submersible to descend to the depths to find Andrew “Mariana Trench” Pate at the lowest level of the pool, closely followed by Chad “Humpback Anglerfish” Peterson who, like his picks, tends to inhabit the Abyssopelagic Zone. A place known for “marine snow” which is basically a continuous shower of organic detritus consisting of dying plankton, protists, and fecal matter – much like Chad’s picks, with an emphasis on fecal matter!! And in 3rd to last place is Fritz Nelson who obviously forgot to wear his water wings when he waded into the Pool this year! As the Dino Deep Sea Submersible ascends from the abyss we can see a little bit of light starting to shine down, but unfortunately not nearly enough to give Laura I-Was-Not-Maready-for-The-Pool or Joe Biden’s picks of malarky a chance for redemption. Next on the list is Lord Byron Kanaley who entered the Pool twice using some strategerey to ensure that one bracket performed better than other. And it is great to see that Lord Byron did not disappoint with one bracket in 42nd place with 255 points but the other bracket performing much better at 41st place with 256 points. Uncle Dino wants to commend Lord Byron on a job well done! Getting closer to the surface we arrive at Nothin-But-Net-Lenz in 17th place. Uncle Dino suggests a different name for next year’s Pool, something like Bricklane-Lenz? Now the Dino Deep Sea Submersible can see the light as he approaches the Top 10. In 10th place is Tom This-Pool-Gives-Me-The-Mills, the proprietor in Nickies, lower Haight’s neighborhood sports bar. I highly recommend you stop by if you find yourself in San Francisco for some fine food and perhaps conversation and insight that will get you to 10th place!! Michaela Are-You-Related-To-Peyton Manning in 9th, Jim I-Like-My-Internet-Brower in 8th, Noel Vierra in 7th, Janet Bloomin'-Loomis in 6th, Bruce The-Starnes-Will-Not-Align-This Year in 5th, Katelyn Uncle-Merendino in 4th, Christian Machine-Gun-Kelly in 3rd, Danielle I-Used-Quick-Pick Tarp in 2nd and last but not least, King Richard The Altschuler floating to the top! Now Uncle Dino has good news for three of you, but bad news for everyone else. There are only 3 remaining brackets that can finish first in order of probability:
If you want to get an idea of which team you should root for, for your best finish click on this LINK. For those of you who have not Donated please do. Thanks for being a part of this. Now off to the Elite 8. |
AuthorUncle Dino Is An NC State Alumnus Who Graduated From North Carolina State University In 1984 With A Degree In Accounting. Jim Valvano Made His 4 Years At NC State Memorable In Many Ways, Not To Mention The 1983 Wolfpack Victory Against The University Of Houston Or "Phi Slama Jamma" For The 1983 NCAA Championship. Uncle Dino Is Tom Kelly, A Cloud Computing Enthusiast (Twitter @TKcloud) Who Wants To Use The Cloud To Give To A Great Cause. Yes Office Pools Are Fun, But Doing So For The Greater Good Is More Than Fun...It's The Right Thing To Do. Archives
March 2023
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