BOOKSTORE XXX: Field narrowed to 256, 31 seeds advance to second round
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Associate Sports Editor
They started with 580 teams.
Now they're down to 256.
Wednesday night marked the end of the final first round games of the Bookstore Basketball XXX tournament. Second round competition begins Wednesday.
According to several Bookstore Basketball commissioners, the tournament is running pretty smoothly.
"We're very pleased with how things are going," said executive commissioner Dan Reidy. "We've had some real competitive games so far."
Unlike last year, where commissioners had to suspend some players for fighting in the first round, no fighting has been reported this year, something Reidy attributed to the changed rules.
Reidy said the Bookstore committee is pretty happy with the seeding. So far, the only seeded team to lose in the tourney was No. 25 Rucker Park All-Stars, who fell Tuesday night to Good to the Last drop. Every other seeded team blew out their first round opponent.
"To the best of our knowledge, we did the best job seeding possible," he said. "The top eight are really solid, and I think they showed that in the first round."
Aside from the occasional intoxicated team, Reidy said the funniest thing he has seen during the first round was Kelly Siemon's team.
"They had choreographed dances moves and everything," Reidy said.
Although Siemon's team lost, they still have a chance at winning the women's bracket. Tournament play for women's teams — where all five players must be women — begins after Easter break.
With most of the serious teams advancing to the second round, Reidy said the competition should get more and more intense.
"A lot of the mid-tier teams are really competitive," he said. "And most of the teams who moved on are pretty serious."
Most of the ranked teams that were supposed to play today rescheduled their games. Among the teams that were supposed to make their 2001 Bookstore debut included No. 19 If We Only Had Warren, of which former Irish point guard Martin Ingelsby is a member, as well as the team former basketball player Hans Rasmussen plays for, No. 17 Check Your Head.
No. 16 Raw Dog powered past Les Incompetents 21-3. Mike Harper led Raw Dog by scoring nine points and grabbing four rebounds. Chris Golden added six points and five rebounds.
Irish football players led No. 18 Nerd Bashers to a 21-8 win over Team 513. Michael Goolsby led all scorers with six points, while teammate Al Ranando pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
The second round of Bookstore Basketball begins Wednesday after Easter break.
"As we start getting further and further in the tournament, we start getting more and more competitive — and fun," Reidy said.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, April 12, 2001
