OTP 2024: The First Round Concludes ... On Soar the Eagles!

Hello Everyone,

In the immortal words of the Notorious B.I.G., “Born sinner, the opposite of a winner

Breakfast of Champions.

Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner.” I’m sure there’s a Georgetown reference in there somewhere, but mostly I was just inspired by my breakfast this morning.

So, the greatest two days of the year have passed us by once again, but not before regaling us with some fantastic college hoops action. But fear not good friends, as the greatest two days of the year are followed by the second two greatest days of the year as the 2^nd round commences in an hour or so. A weekend of two 12 hour hoops sessions awaits.

Before we get to a recap of yesterdays bedazzling treasure trove of hoops rapture, a quick look at our OTP competition. Certainly the fall of Georgetown ranks highest among the Tourney’s upsets thus far and has caused turmoil amongst our collective brackets. "Did any in the OTP pick the FGCU Eagles over the Hoyas you ask?" Yes! In fact two OTP competitors made the bold prediction. Adam Stutts (son of Rae and Gud), and John Reklaitis (son of, well…*blushing*). Adam and John are preschoolers. I’m not sure how young Adam made his pics, but JJ just thought the soaring eagle of the FGCU was more impressive than the simple “G” of the Hoyas.

JJ goes with the Eagles.

Kelsey going with her future Alma Mater.

Oh, but it gets better (or more embarrassing for us adults), Adam and JJ also correctly picked the Harvard Crimson over New Mexico. This time at least, our young prognosticators were joined by third-grader Kelsey Kovich, first grader Emily Reklaitis, and Christie Tronick who, lets just say, has left her grade school days far behind. Congrats to all our upset specialists. Sadly, Adam and our elementary schoolers did not fare as well with the rest of their picks and are sitting near the bottom of the standing at this point. Christie remains within striking distance of the lead, and JJ Reklaitis, well, he’s actually tied for second. I’m both proud and embarrassed, as it would be quite unseemly for the three year-old son of the OTP’s manager to win the whole thing, but all I can do is assure you that he made all his picks without any undue influence by his old man. In fact all my kids did. Is it too crazy to think that two out of the three Reklaitis kids might actually make a few correct picks? Yeah, probably is, but check out who’s our biggest loser right now. In fact “Biggest Loser” is what the rest of the family is calling Luke for the duration of the tournament. Hey, kid's gotta learn sometime right?

Just one last familial comment, this in the category of offspring showing up their parents. In addition to JJ leading all other Reklaiti (plural for Reklaitis), Brendan Dehner is leading his pop George, and Amy Hartzell is 20, count ‘em 20, spots above Papa Larry. Those damn kids!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to give props to our current leader, if only by a slim 3 points, Dan Boulton. Not only did Dan take the lead after the first round, but he did so by nailing 26 out of 32 first round picks, tying the record set by Trudy McPhail two years ago. Dan’s first round performance also ended Trudy’s reign as best first round performer for four years running. Nice job Sparty Dan. If it’s any consolation Trude, your 25-7 record for the first round, was none too shabby. As we currently sit, 6 competitors are tied for second, just three points behind Dan, and 20 competitors are within twenty points. Considering that the points per pick increase as we move deeper into the tourney, this show is far from over.

ND Coach Mike Brey...doing what?

As far as the actual games themselves were concerned, their were a couple of surprises in addition to the FGCU victory. Ole Miss surprised many by manhandling a solid Wisconsin club. Likewise, while a number of you predicted that the Cyclones would take down the Irish, I don’t believe you saw an 18 point beat down happening.

And then there’s the matter of the LaSalle Explorers upset of the K-State Wildcats. Unfortunately, young Emily grew enamored with the K-State logo, as it was purple, and rode her love of purple all the way to the championship. For this reason, and because of a certain affinity I have for Coach Bruce Weber, this was one game where I was not pulling for the upset. Considering the ‘Cats found themselves down 19 to LaSalle in the first half (shooting 58% including 6 three pointers), for K-State to come back they had to pull off a second half “upset.” And it almost came to pass, as the ‘Cats found themselves down only one with 9 seconds to play. Call a time-out to set up a final play Coach Webber? No? Excellent, you must have already drilled your players in this very end-of-game scenario. Here we go, Angel Rodriguez brings the ball up the court ready to kick and dish… and…he dribbles down the right side…into the corner…where he inexplicably ends up shooting a last second jumper … FROM BEHIND THE BACKBOARD!!!!

Just like you drew it up Coach? Here’s Bruce Webber’s “WTF?” face…

A valiant K-State comeback nuked by a horrific bomb of a shot at the buzzer, and a big coaching whiff by Bruce.

Finally, the biggest upset of the day. The Eagles drop the Hoyas. A classic case of a poorly coached Georgetown team looking way past their #15 seeded opponent. Just two things to add to the cacophony that erupted after this game. First the dunk of the tourney so far, courtesy of FGCU’s Chase Fieler, which sent the fans in Philly into a tizzy and caused Twitter to erupt:

Also, loved Sherwood (like the forest) Brown shaking hands with the broadcasters even though there was still five seconds left to play. “Act like you’ve been there Sherwood.” Eh, on second thought, enjoy the moment dude.