Holy Cross, Batman...

Holy Cross beat Southern on Wednesday night, 59 to 55, in a "First Four" game. It has nothing at all to do with our contest but still, to think that a team that plays in the Patriot League and ended the regular season with a 10-19 record will be playing 1-seed Oregon on Friday with at least a non-zero chance to win the national championship? Isn't America great? We now resume our regular programming.

What we really wanted to talk about today was crime. Well, rule-breaking. Or, more accurately, ineligibility.

For example, as always, the contest rules were posted and identified, and in the relevant regard have remained unchanged for 27 years. Those rules are (in our opinion, anyway) quite clear: any team may be selected as a wild card except the top 25 teams as of the start of the contest, clearly linked from the rules page and the entry form. But does everybody listen? Noooooooooo.

This year, two scofflaws attempted to slide an ineligible wild card past us. And as is our habit and custom and tradition, we will gleefully out them: Biebel 2 tried to take Texas A&M (#15 in the relevant AP top 25), and T Joseph attempted to slip Texas (#24 in said top 25) past us. We are pleased to say neither succeeded in their nefarious plots.

A few other wild card selections, while technically speaking within the rules, were just plain unwise. Tharp picked South Carolina, a team currently playing in the NIT, and J Whiteside chose Saint Bonaventure, a team that lost, at home, in the NIT first round. At least Karlsruher's wild card, Vanderbilt, sort of made the NCAA Tournament, losing in a "First Four" game on Tuesday.

The last time Duke was eligible to be a wild card was 1996. Presumably because they've been waiting 20 years for this opportunity, our contestants jumped at the chance. A whopping 31 entrants chose the 4-seeded Blue Devils as their wild card, by far the most of the year.

The next highest total was Indiana, also 4-seeded, with 9: Booth, M Kleiman, Kovolski, L Leach, Marshall, M Paston, B Peloso, K Ripley, Smith; tied with 3-seeded Utah (the best-seeded team of any chosen wild card), also with 9: Biebel 1, Butscher, L Donadio, Fitch, Mahalko, Pogach, R Wanger, Warner, C Whiteside. 4-seeded California got 6 votes: George B, Grossman, M Josephs, Rybaltowski, Sciarabba, B Whiteside. 7-seeded Wisconsin was the choice of three entrants (Su Leach, Serri, Steinhardt), while 6-seeded Notre Dame (Gorenstein, L Schlegel) and 8-seeded St. Joseph's (J Broder, J McAtee) were selected by two each.

But that's not the only ineligibility we want to talk about. Some of you may remember (although others clearly do not) that we posted a little friendly advice before the pool was due. We noted that a lot of teams might not be eligible to participate in the Tournament. We suggested it might behoove potential entrants to consult the list of ineligibles before filling out their entry. We even let slip the possibility of public shaming of whoever failed to heed our "friendly" advice. Despite all that, three guesses on whether our advice was followed?

Nah, you can't have three guesses. Or even two. You all know how this turned out.

A total of thirty (30) selections were wasted on ineligible teams, albeit just on three teams:

SMU (12): J Broder, T Cristinzio, Crotty, M Kleiman, Mahalko, Marshall, J McAtee, M McAtee Miller, Packman, Selig, Tharp.

Louisville (9): George B, T Cristinzio, T Joseph, J McAtee, M McAtee, Selig, Smith, Tharp, M Wanger.

Grand Canyon (9) -- yeah, we said "Grand Canyon" -- T Cristinzio, M Josephs, L Leach, Mahalko, J McAtee, Miller, Packman, Rubinson, Tharp.

Before the contest started, we predicted that some people might be in danger of selecting two ineligible teams. But even we, in our most cynical dreams, didn't imagine that a few might go for three. So if somebody doesn't mind working up a drum roll, here we go. The following three individuals wasted not one, not two, but three (3) of their choices on teams that had a zero (0) percent chance of making the Tournament: T Cristinzio, J McAtee, and Tharp. Including Grand Canyon.

Those three contestants make it almost anti-climactic to identify the five entrants who did as we predicted and chose two ineligible teams. Almost. Well, actually not almost, not close at all. Like there was any chance we'd forebear. Of course we're totally going to name them (and please imagine a sinister chuckle while you read): Mahalko, M McATee, Miller, Packman, Selig. Sort of fun, wasn't it?

The real games start tomorrow. Enjoy.