march madness [updated August 2000]

MMS   
   10-15
   9-14     15-20
    9-14  18-19    

   Derby

Bruce Monnin, OH

2000 Champion

2nd: Dennis Nicholson, NY

3rd: Derek Landel, NJ

4th: Terry Coleman, CA

5th: John Coussis, IL

6th: Peter Stein, NY
Event History
1991    None      -
1992    Bruce Reiff      14
1993    Terry Coleman      18
1994    Terry Coleman      37
1995    Ken Gutermuth      46
1996    Jon Diminnie      41
1997    Bruce Reiff      47
1998    Bruce Reiff      44
1999    Bruce Reiff     49
2000    Bruce Monnin     44
AREA Ratings
 1    Bruce Reiff      6100
 2    Dennis Nicholson      5523
 3    John Coussis      5489
 4    Harry Flawd III      5409
 5    Stuart Tucker      5400
 6    Chris Bauch      5389
 7    Chris Palermo      5366
 8    Steven Caler      5197
 9    Mark Mitchell      5191
10    Ed Okimoto      5174

March Madness in August ...

This year's tournament began Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM with 21 players competing in the East regional. There were only a few upsets as the new format eliminated many of the lower seeds due to the lack of players. Dennis Nicholson won twice with 14th seed North Carolina 1991, Mike Dwyer won three times with 17th seeded City College of New York (after taking them with the eighth pick) and Jeremy Billones made the regional final with sixth seeded Maryland 1974. In the end, two-time defending champ Terry Coleman advanced with the fourth-seeded Houston 1983 team.

The second heat started at 9:00 on Friday morning and was only attended by 16 players. This heat worked beautifully with seeds 17-32 omitted. The southeast regional included an impressive upset when Zack Metcalf won with the 16th seeded Arkansas 1995. John Coussis made the regional final with the eighth seeded Louisville 1980 team, but lost to Dennis Nicholson's second seeded Arkansas 1990 squad. This is the second year in a row that this team made the final four. It is also the team Bruce Reiff won the championship with last year. As a result, I am increasing the value in the rating of an AA bench by 2. This will soon put this kind of team out of the running.

The third heat started Friday afternoon at 3:00 and was attended by 25 players. This resulted in the best run of an underdog when new player Gordon Aiken (who claimed to not understand basketball) won two games with 26th seed Houston 1984. Also impressive was a win by Keth Hunsinger with 28th seed Marquette 1977. The best run was Chris Palermo who took twelfth seeded Indiana '81 to the regional semi-final. In the end, Bruce Monnin's second seeded Louisville 1986 defeated Carrie Lewis's top seeded Indiana 1992 to advance.

The fourth heat started Saturday morning at 9:00 and was the best attended with 26 players. Several impressive performances with lower seeds highlighted this round but the win of the tournament was rookie Jonathon Lockwood defeating four-time, defending champ Bruce Reiff IN AN UPSET with his 20th seeded UCLA 1964 team. Although he lost in the next round, this was an impressive rookie appearance and we hope he returns to see what he can do with a better team. Harry Flawd won two games with the 23rd seeded Purdue 1980 team and Stuart Tucker won two games with his 21st seeded Stanford 1998 team. The most impressive run was Peter Stein who took the eighth seeded Kentucky 1997 team to the regional final. Derek Landel advanced with his second seeded UNLV 1991 team.

1994 champion Terry Coleman (right) ponders a return to the Final Four.

The final four was a strange one. Three of the teams were second seeds and one was a fourth. This is a good trend as I try to close the gap between the best and worst teams in the tournament. Dennis defeated Terry to advance to his second final in two years where he met Bruce Monnin who had beaten Derek. Bruce won a decisive victory over perennial final four participant Dennis. The best records for the tournament were Terry Coleman 5-1 in one heat, Carrie Lewis 6-2 in two heats, Bruce Monin 9-2 in three heats and Peter Stein 9-4 in four heats. Harry Flawd wins the title of upset king with three upset victories against no upset defeats. Finally, Harry wins the title of best player by virtue of his performance with lesser seeds in a close battle with Bruce Monin.

There are no planned format changes next year and the heats will probably be at the same times. I will make the aforementioned adjustment to the ratings for AA benches and will continue to include Stuart Tucker's new teams to eliminate the highest rated teams. By the way, only Dennis among the Final Four participants drafted first. Terry drafted the lowest at seventh.

 GM 

    John H. Ellmann II [8th Year]

       [Best GM Award 1993]

  321 Marganza So Laurel MD 20724-2405
    J.Ellman@Gte.net    (301) 498-6672

Previous (Old) Yearbook Page
View the Icon Key