Fitting End

As we noted earlier, none of us beat the 50% mark when it came to choosing conference champions, only one of us (M Josephs) beat 50% when it came to picking Elite Eight teams, and none of us topped the 50% mark in our Final Four predictions. So, it's probably fitting that a grand total of zero (0) of our contestants have their choice for national champion actually playing in the championship game.

If we wanted to be fair, we might point out that this year is the first time in, well, ever, that at least one of the NCAA tournament finalists didn't rate a 3-seed or better (and only the third time that one of the tourney finalists wasn't at least a 2-seed, after 1989 and 2011). But we don't want to be fair. That's never been one of our aspirations, so instead we'll point out that this year's winning score of 257 points is the second lowest in the history of the contest, lower only than the 223 points Huffnagle won with in 2011.

The owner of that paltry 257 points, Baumgarten presumably doesn't care about the above piece of trivia any more than we care about being fair, so kudos to Baumgarten, the 2014 Pre-Tournament NCAA Contest winner.

In second place, with 253 points, is McKillip, and tied for third with 252 are Haklar and M Josephs. After winning at least some cashola her first two years in the contest, this year Steinhardt (251) finished just one point out of the money. Congratulations all, as well as J Donadio, Jr., who won the prize for being in first place at the time the tournament field was chosen.

We like to think we're not easily amazed, but this year's performance by Urban Angels is nothing short of astonishing. Consider, Urban Angels picked only 13 correct conference champions (out of 32), picked 17 (!) at-large teams with under .500 records (plus three other teams with records between .500 and two games over .500), got zero (0) Elite Eight teams correct, zero (0) Final Four teams correct, and had their choice for NCAA champion knocked out in the first round of the tournament... and only put up the second worst score in contest history, with 114 points. (If any of our readers are history buffs, the worst score in contest history was Carson's 102 points in 1998.) The lucky entrant who Urban Angels displaced for the 2nd worst score ever, B Wright (who scored 115 points in 2011) this year showed what it means to try harder, finishing in 102nd place with 136 points.

We'll have a final wrap after the championship game. Enjoy the first 7-seed vs. 8-seed game in Final Four history (and only the second 7 vs. 8 matchup in tournament history, the only other one being 8-seed UNC vs. 7-seed Tulsa in an Elite Eight game in 2000).

Oh yeah, also, it's now official: Booth (245) beat Whiteside (225), by 20 points. Wonders never cease.