Less Wild than usual

Things appear to be looking up for the economy. Last year, we performed an in-depth economic analysis of the worldwide economy and its effect on wild card behavior, and concluded that in poor economic times our contestants were even more clueless than usual when it comes to selecting wild cards. Case in point was last year's pathetic performance in which members of our group chose seven (7) illegal wild cards and 13 wild cards who didn't make the tournament.

This year, however, while we are pleased that the world finally seems to be shaking off the effects of the long recession, we are disappointed to announce we can only make fun of two (2) entrants for picking ineligible wild cards: Burke and D Kornfeld, both of whom chose #8 Notre Dame. A special award for reading comprehension goes to D Kornfeld, who chose an illegal wild card for the second consecutive year.

Our only entrant who went with a wild card who's off playing in the NIT was Templeton, who selected Missouri State. B Wright chose UAB, who made the field but was eliminated in a play-in game, meaning they didn't actually make the bracket, so maybe we can snicker just a little about that.

St. Johns, with 44 votes, was by a factor of four our most popular wild card. The complete breakdown of wild card selections:

St. Johns: 44
Kansas State: 10
UCLA: 8
West Virginia: 6
George Mason: 4
xxxNotre Dame: 2 (Burke, D Kornfeld)
Washington: 2 (Crotts, ACCBBallFan)
UAB: 1 (B Wright)
Old Dominion: 1 (M Wanger)
Missouri State: 1 (Templeton)
Michigan State: 1 (White)
Marquette: 1 (Fitch)
Gonzaga: 1 (M Josephs)