Zero Heroes

We all got the Ivy champion correct, as Cornell had pretty much clinched by the time the pool was due. So taking that out, there were 30 conferences whose champions we attempted to predict. In 20% of those conferences (that would be 6, to the math-challenged) our entire contestant base combined for a total of zero (0) correct guesses. That's right, not a single one of us was able to foresee the last team standing in any of the SEC, Atlantic 10, MEAC, Southland, WCC, and/or NEC. A new pool record; a monument to incompetence heretofore unseen by the eyes of the world. And believe me, we haven't exactly set high standards in this area in the past.

Another 10% of the league champions (3 to the you-know-what-challenged) were guessed by fewer than 10 entrants: Pitt in the Big East (just Karlsruher and Siegel), Mississippi Valley State (only N Donadio and McAtee-Gattone) and George Mason in the Colonial (Jon B, Brenner I & II, Dallas, P Leach, McAtee-Gattone, M Peloso, Selarnick).

Another seven leagues (Patriot (31), Big 10 (29), MAAC (28), Big West (26), WAC (26), Mountain West (25), and Sun Belt (20)) had their champions chosen by fewer than half of us. Which means the majority of us were correct in just 14 of 30 conferences (46.7%).

The best individual performance was turned in by D Josephs, who correctly selected 20 of 30 conference tournament champions (66.7%), followed by Coach Doc and Karlsruher (each with 19 of 30, 63.3%). Solid D's, all. P Leach and Marshall, each with 18 (60%) were the only other entrants that would have scraped by with a passing grade in my son's first grade class. All together, only 26 out of the 66 contestants (39.4%) accurately selected better than half of the non-Cornell champions.

On the other end of the spectrum (although, granted, one could argue this particular spectrum only has one side), 12 of us correctly stumbled upon the winner in only 40% or fewer of the league tournaments: Sakowski, R Simon, B Peloso, Selarnick, Cooper, Dallas, and 2006 contest winner L Donadio picked 12 of 30. N Donadio ended up with 11 of 30, Packman managed 10 of 30, and George B got 9 of 30.

But in fairness, the above achievements cannot be mentioned in the same breath as the infamous Leach Sisters -- M Leach came out ahead on 6 of 30 (20%)conference tourney winners, and S Leach was correct on only four, yes 4. Or if you'd prefer, 13.3% accuracy. (Although, really, who would prefer that?) Yet perhaps the most amazing thing is S Leach is not the worst ever performance in the pool; her 130 points have already passed the futility record of 102 points by Carson in 1998.