Rivalactitude

The weeping thing seems to be working for Karlsruher (296, Pitt) who is currently in first place and thus ahead of that pesky Millan (281, UNC), but if UNC wins it all, Karlsruher may really be crying because in that case he'll be conquered by his rival once again.

Whiteside (276, UConn) clings to a 10 point lead over co-worker McKillip (266, UNC), but (again) if UNC wins we may see a change in the pecking order. As seems to be her annual fate, sister-in-law Booth (237, Okla) is eating Whiteside's "shabbalicious" dust.

Also rooting for the boys in baby blue are Joe Mc (263, UNC), who can sneak ahead of daughter McAtee-Gattone (264, Pitt) for the first time ever if UNC wins, and Coach Doc (277 UNC), who can shove aside daughter S Adams (291, UConn) under the same unfortunate circumstance. Alleged Duke-loving M Peloso (273, UNC) can master her husband B Peloso (277, Pitt) if the Heels win, with the added bonus of losing all her credibility and self-respect.

B Peloso is currently fending off archnemesis Sullivan (266, UConn), but he will fail miserably if UConn takes the title. Sullivan already knows she's better than husband D'Zuro (244, Okla), and can claim bragging rights at her next séance with dead mother-in-law Haklar (244, UConn).

R Wanger (288, UNC) has finally bested daughter K Ripley (253, UNC), but he had to beat up on a 10-month pregnant woman to do it. P Ripley (242, UNC) chose the wiser course and bowed to his wife for the third time in their three year marriage.

Children L Schlegel (259, Pitt) and B Kleiman (236, Memphis) made valiant but ultimately unsuccessful efforts to unseat their fathers, R Schlegel (263, Okla) and M Kleiman (237, Pitt) as head poolpicker of the household. In the Donadio home, however, youngins Jr Donadio (279, UConn) and L Donadio (279, UNC) pwn their parents, J Donadio (262, Okla) and ME Donadio (236, Pitt), as well as sibling N Donadio (259, Louis), who at least was able put his mom in a time out.

M Paston (218, Okla) got hammered by a sibling with an unidentified initial (? Paston, 255, UNC). Commissioner M Josephs (233, UConn) is so far behind his dad, D Josephs (283, UNC) that it doesn't matter whether his champion wins or not. P Leach (240, UConn) can pound patriarch E Leach (246, UNC) if UConn wins, but there's no absolutely no hope for the Leach Kids (185, Pitt).

All Name 2009

First Team, Crazy Long Name Division
Grlenntys Chief Kickingstallionsims, Jr. (Alabama State) (Captain)
Lacedarius Dunn (Baylor)
Chinemelu Elonu (Texas A&M)
Kyievarez Ward (Texas)
Orlando Mendez-Valdez (Western Kentucky)

First Team, Normal Length Name Division
Beloved Rogers (Oral Roberts) (Captain) -- Name of the Year
Grievous Vasquez (Maryland - they call him "General")
Derwin Kitchen (Florida State)
Avery Jukes (Butler)
Idong Ibok (Michigan State)

Third Team
Kwadzo Ahelege (Northern Iowa) (Captain)
Dogus Balbay (Texas)
E'Twaun Moore (Purdue)
Lazar Hayward (Marquette)
Divaldo Mbunga (Montana State)

Third World Team
Zaire Taylor (Missouri) (Captain)

Old Testament Team
Jeremiah Dominguez (Portland State) (Captain)
Isaiah Thomas (Washington)
Solomon Alabi (Florida State)
Marshall Moses (Oklahoma State)
Ishmael Smith (Wake Forest)

Honorable Mention for Religious Connotation
Xavier Gibson (Florida State)
Emanuel Maybin (Binghamton)
Dionte Christmas (Temple) (Holiday Division)
Osiris Eldridge (Illinois State) (Greek Division)
Epiphanny Prince (Rutgers Women) (Women's Division)
Brooklyn Pope (Rutgers Women) (Women's Division -- what's in the drinking water up at Rutgers?)

Spelers of the Yeer
Jrue Holiday (UCLA) (Captain)
Jimmer Fredette (BYU)
Justynn Hammond (Portland State)**
Semaj Inge (Temple) (Backwards Division)
Steffphon Pettigrew (Western Kentucky) (Department of Redundancy Department Division)

**Siblings of the Year: Justynn Hammond apparently has a brother named Christiaan Hammond and another named Uranus Golden. We wonder if Uranus Golden has ever met 2008 Name of the Year winner Yauney Neptune?

Who will win

The contest, that is. Depending on who is the victor in Detroit, our winners will be:

VILLANOVA
1. Karlsruher 296
2. S Adams 291
3. Nowakowski 288 (tie)
3. R Wanger 288 (tie)

CONNECTICUT
1. S Adams 331
2. Jr Donadio 319
2**. Dax Gray 319**
3. O'Brien 317

NORTH CAROLINA
1. Nowakowski 328 (tie)
1. R Wanger 328 (tie)
3**. J Go Owls 327**
3. J PHINO 326 (tie)
3**. J Marshall 326**

MICHIGAN STATE
1. Karlsruher 296
2. S Adams 291
3. Nowakowski 288 (tie)
3. R Wanger 288 (tie)

** Dax Gray, J Marshall, and J Go Owls are non-paying entrants, so their inclusion in this list is sort of honorary. They obviously have a higher love for college basketball and clearly did not want to cheapen their rooting experience by placing a price on their passion, and for this we admire them. Although presumably O'Brien, Butscher, and J PHINO (all three of whom actually have a chance at real money thanks to Gray's, Marshall's, and Go Owls's unwillingness to fork over a measly ten bucks) admire them a lot more than we do.

Final Four is set

Now we know who'll be driving up to the motor city. What perhaps we hadn't expected is there'll be a home team. Well, four of us expected Michigan State to make it (Jr Donadio, J Go Owls, M Peloso, Pogach), though neither they nor anybody else picked the Spartans to win it all. Fifty five individuals took UNC into their Final Four and 27 of them like them as champs. At least one commissioner has no comment except to say he's not bitter.

Of the 70 people who entered this year's contest only one (1) of us accurately selected as many as three of the Final Four, and that was 20-year participant Joe Mc. This stellar achievement may have been the crown of Joe Mc's contest career but it wasn't good enough to put him ahead of 2-year participant McAtee-Gattone, who still leads her father by a point. Although if UNC wins it all, Joe Mc won't have to be scared to take his daughter's phone calls.

Thirty eight people correctly chose two of the Final Four and 28 were right on only one. Three highly skilled contestants (Paston, Reilly, and the irrepressible Leach Kids) managed a grand total of zero (0) accurate Final Four predictions.

Some days it feels like the Pitts

Not today, though. Fifty one people had Pitt in the Final Four, but they were all wrong. Instead Joe Mc, Pangolin Palace, and Rybaltowski rule the day with their astute selection of Villanova. Eleven contestants with Pitt as their champion have had their hopes dashed, while nobody considered the possibility that Villanova could win it all.

UConn made it and 45 people said hurrah. Twelve of those happy individuals have UConn going all the way. Only Haklar and the Leach Kids had the temerity to suggest Missouri could make the Final Four.

Greek-quoting weeper Karlsruher maintains a small lead over S Adams, Nowakowski, and R Wanger, but Karlsruher picked Pitt to pommel its peers (i.e., win the championship), so the door is still open.

Eight is Enough

The favorites all won today, meaning not too many people lost anything. Only 16 people had Kansas in the Final Eight and just 4 (Alberts, Brenner, DeMaso, B Kleiman) took them into the Final Four. Nobody had Arizona or Syracuse going anywhere (although three -- McAtee-Gattone, Rodenstein, G Warner had Arizona as their Wildcard), and just 6 and 2 (R Perry, G Warner) were betting on Gonzaga to reach the Final Eight and Final Four, respectively. None of today's losers are anybody's champion (except maybe their mom's).

For the Final Eight and Final Four, UNC was favored by 69 and 55, Oklahoma by 61 and 39, Louisville by 45 and 23, and Michigan State by 23 and 4 (Jr Donadio, J Go Owls, M Peloso, and Pogach). For champion, it's UNC 27, Oklahoma 10, Louisville 4 (Butscher, N Donadio, Rybaltowski, Wadden), and Michigan State 0.

Die Hard-quoting Karlsruher (256 points) has wept his way to the top spot, followed by S Adams (251), Nowakowski (248), and R Wanger (248). Eighteen other entrants are within one Final Four selection (20 points) of the leader.

With four number one seeds, two number two seeds and two number three seeds in the Final Eight, you might expect our contestants to have nailed it this year. Yeah, right. Only five entrants (Karlsruher, J Go Owls, J Marshall, J Phino, McAtee-Gattone) correctly guessed as many as 7 of the Eight, and two of them were merely non-paying outtakes from the Marshall Plan.

Twenty competitors got 6 of the Eight, 33 got 5, and nine (9) got only four (4) of the Eight (8) right, including both commissioners (M Josephs and D Kedson). Always good to know they're not cheating, right? The Leach Kids, with five accurate Final Eight predictions, look like Little Einsteins compared to R Perry and J Jones (1 & 2), who only managed three (3) proper picks apiece.

Life of Reilly (and others)

Five people lost champions last night, three with Memphis (Reilly, B Kleiman, Pangolin Palace) and two with Duke (R Simon and commissioner D Kedson). Memphis was taken by 48 misguided souls into the Final Eight and 24 into the Final Four. Duke was chosen by 33 for the Eight and 10 for the Four, but at least those entrants' hearts were in the right place. Five people (Booth, Jr Donadio, N Donadio, S Smith, Stanton) took Xavier into the Final Eight, but only Booth had them in her Final Four. Three dice-rollers (Fitch, Haklar, Sadkowski) had Purdue in their Final Eight.

On the good side, 25 people liked Villanova enough to put them in their Final Eight, and three (Joe Mc, Pangolin Palace, Rybaltowski) placed them in their Final Four. Just 13 were wise enough to choose Missouri in their Final Eight, with only two (Haklar, Leach Kids) taking them as far as Detroit.

In probably the most surprising development of the day, UConn (61 in F8, 45 in F4, 12 as champs) and Pitt (68 in F8, 51 in F4, 11 as champs) were both popular and successful.

R Schlegel still clings to the top spot, but five contestants (S Adams, Nowakowski, B Peloso, Butscher, Karlsruher) are within a single Final Eight choice of the leader.

More games tonight.

Tag Team treats

Dogs and cats living together? Mass hysteria? Well, it may not be a disaster of biblical proportions, but it's possible the world has gone topsy-turvy, as lawyers (177.0) currently lead humans (171.44). For the first time in the contest's 20 year history, there are no feline entrants. In fact, proclaiming that "scaly is the new black," the only competitor from the animal kingdom is a scaly anteater, Pangolin Palace (174), who has come down pretty much right in the middle of the lawyers and the people. At least gravity's working in the case of females (173.5) and males (172.32), although clearly children (166.2) have a lot of growing up to do.

Practing attorneys (177.67) currently claim the top occupation as well, barely ahead of accountants (176.67) and members of the media (176.33). Teachers (175.33) know more than students (172.75), and engineers (174.78) solve their problems better than computer professionals (171.67). Retired persons (166.67) appear to have retired for a reason. Among employers, Conrail (176.0) is beating out Urban Engineering (167.67).

In the true Tag Team tallies, the Adams Family (178.67) is currently leading the South Philly Playground Guys (176.0), the D'Zurans (174.5), the Ripley-Believe-It-Or-Nots (174.33) and the Marshall Plan (174.0). Whiteside and his Detractors (173.0) and the Donadios are tied with 173.0, while the only thing keeping the Paston Brothers (166.5) from complete ignominy is the fact that the Leach Gang (158.25) is still in town.

If you're picking pools, the suburbs of Phildelphia (174.81) are where you want to be this year, certainly better than visiting Western PA (173.4), Central NJ (173.0), or urban Philadelphia (168.5). The further south you go, the worse you'll get, as the Beltway (168.0) and the Deep South (163.34) represent the bottom of regional thinking.

In the name game, it's Rick (184.0) on top and Nick (158.5) on the bottom. David (181.5) leads Ed (181.0), Bret/t (180.0), Kevin (178.5) and Bob (178.0), while John (174.33) is edging out Luke (174.0) and Matt (170.0).

Rivalicious

Last year Karlsruher declared he would never lose to Millan again, and backed it up by getting clobbered by 39 points. This year, Karlsruher quoted Plutarch (or maybe it was Alan Rickman in Die Hard: "When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer"), but he's losing to Millan yet again, 191 to 186, so maybe he doesn't have to weep just yet.

Whiteside (176) continues his mastery over sister-in-law Booth (157), but so far is well behind workplace adversary, McKillip (186). K Ripley (163), who annually bests both her husband and father, trails both P Ripley (172) and R Wanger (188) this year. But the rumor is she was in labor with a baby boy when she made her picks, so perhaps that explains it. Between the Paston brothers, "M" (168) leads an undisclosed initial (165).

B Peloso (177) is hanging by a thread over his archnemesis, Sullivan (176), although as usual he trails his Duke-loving wife, M Peloso (183). M Peloso, however, has forever forfeited her Duke-loving credentials by choosing North Carolina to win it all. Sullivan is still ahead of both her husband, D'Zuro (174), and her deceased mother-in-law, Haklar (174).

Joe Mc (163), one of the few competitors to have played in all twenty contests, is for the second consecutive year trailing daughter McAtee-Gattone, who is one of the many competitors to have played in just two. Coach Doc (187) is having similar problems with daughter S Adams (191), and J Donadio (172) is eating the dust of two of his three descendants -- Jr Donadio and Lucia Donadio both have 179 while poor, deprived N Donadio has only 169. Mother ME Donadio (166) is being spanked by all three kids.

Other entrants are having fewer problems with their progeny. Leader R Schlegel (193) is easily handling son L Schlegel (169), while M Kleiman (177) is barely suppressing son B Kleiman (176). D Josephs (183) is once again trouncing son and commissioner M Josephs (173). Leach Gang patriarch E Leach (176) is beating son P Leach (170) and whupping the backsides of his grandchildren, the Leach Kids (135).

Spartans conquer Trojans

Michigan State edged Southern Cal today in a gripping reenactment of the Peloponnesian War. More pertinent, perhaps, to both the current millennium and our entrants, is that it marked the first time in history that the twelve top seeds in the NCAA tournament all made the Sweet Sixteen.

So most of us should be in pretty good shape. Unless of course you're one of the 12 risk takers to have Marquette in your Final Eight or the 7 cagey contestants to go with Arizona State. Or Rybaltowski, who chose Siena. Or one of the three people whose Final Four includes either Arizona State (George B, Pangolin Palace, B Peloso) or Marquette (Fitch, R Perry, Reilly).

Reilly adds Marquette to his spate of unfortunate decisions, which include Utah and Texas into his Final Eight. Even more impressive is R Perry whose Final Eight has Marquette joining Texas, Washington, Wake Forest, and both Gonzaga and North Carolina (opponents this Friday so only one of which can actually reach the Elite Eight), and whose Final Four consists of Marquette, Wake Forest, Gonzaga, and UNC, meaning the first weekend is barely over and we already know he'll be correct on at most one (1) of the above.

The only Wildcard remaining is Arizona, and thus L McAtee-Gattone, Rodenstein, and Warner stand alone in receiving more than 1 Wildcard point.

No more games until Thursday, which should give me time to finally produce the Rivals and Tag Team numbers. See ya.

Thabeet goes on...

Half the Sweet Sixteen was set today, and it was Waterloo for Wildcards. Washington (chosen by 13), LSU (13), Texas (6), and Maryland (1) all went down today, leaving only Arizona (L McAtee-Gattone, Rodenstein, Warner) and Dayton (Wadden) still alive for Wildcard points.

Final Eight losers included UCLA (picked by 8), Texas (5), Washington (2), and LSU (2). Mahalko and R Perry had the misfortune of picking both Texas and Washington, losing 25% of their Final Eight in one evening. R Perry also had Wake Forest in his Final Eight, so presumably he's not very happy right now. Reilly had Texas today after losing Utah yesterday.

Three people had UCLA in the Final Four (DeVito, D'Zuro, and Haklar), while just J Broder had Texas and Mahalko had Washington.

The standings didn't change today, so I didn't re-post them.

B.A.D. day for the A.C.C.

With a small number of already discussed exceptions, more or less every Final Eight and Final Four team chosen by our group is still alive. Except for ACC stalwarts Clemson and Wake Forest, that is. Twenty-five of us chose Wake into the Final Eight and 16 of us liked Clemson, while the teams had three votes each for the Final Four (Clemson: George B, M Josephs, Wanger; Wake: R Perry, Wanger, and of course, the Leach Kids). Wanger deserves special mention for choosing BOTH Wake Forest and Clemson into his Final Four, pretty much scragging his entry by the end of the first round.

Rybaltowski, who took Siena into his Final Eight, must feel pretty good. At least until Sunday. And now that we think about it, there was one other Final Eight fiasco, as Reilly expected Utah to be one of the last eight standing.

Our most popular Wildcard, West Virginia (with 15 votes) went down hard, as did our fifth most popular Wildcard, Utah (5 votes). This leaves 13 people with LSU and 13 with Washington, 6 people with Texas, 3 with Arizona (L McAtee-Gattone, Rodenstein, G Warner), and 1 each with Dayton (Wadden) and Maryland (R Simon).

First day action

Presumably a lot of people who picked Memphis, Villanova, and UCLA breathed a moderately large sigh of relief yesterday, but we had relatively few actual casualties on the first day of the Big Cha Cha.

It was a bad day for George B, who had California as his Wildcard and Clemson in both his Final Eight and Final Four. Fifteen other entrants joined him in choosing Clemson into the Final Eight, but only Wanger and commissioner M Josephs stood with George B in taking the Tigers into the Final Four. P Leach, who was the sole contestant to think Illinois could make the Final Eight, and DeVito, who had Minnesota as his Wildcard, were the only other entrants to lose anything yesterday (at least with respect to the contest).

Still working on Rivals and Tag Team material -- sorry about that.

Enjoy today's games.

Foursomes

Our favorites for the Final Four include three #1 seeds and a #2, although the #2 is in the same region as one of the #1's, so we won't be right (as if that's a surprise to anybody).

Innovative choices were made by George B (Arizona State and Clemson), M Peloso (Duke and Michigan State), Pangolin Palace (Arizona State and Villanova), and R Wanger (Clemson and Wake Forest). Even more inventive were Haklar (Duke, Missouri, UCLA), R Perry (Gonzaga, Marquette, and Wake Forest), and of course the Leach Kids (Duke, Missouri, and Wake Forest).

Everybody's Final Four selections may be perused here.

All Final Four teams selected are below:

FINAL FOUR
-----------------
North Carolina (55)
Pittsburgh (51)
Connecticut (45)
Oklahoma (39)
Memphis (24)
Louisville (23)
Duke (10)
Kansas (4)
Michigan State (4)
Arizona State (3)
Marquette (3)
UCLA (3)
Villanova (3)
Wake Forest (3)
Clemson (3)
Gonzaga (2)
Missouri (2)
Xavier (1)
Texas (1)
Washington (1)

Final Eight count

Our top seven choices for the Final Eight are all #1 or #2 seeds, which probably bodes well for an upset-filled tournament.

As you'd expect, a few contestants branched out into creative territory. Haklar, for instance, chose Missouri, Purdue, and UCLA into her Final 8, while Reilly chose Marquette, Texas, and Utah, and commissioner M Josephs liked Clemson, Gonzaga, and Kansas. Other creative souls include Mahalko, who picked Clemson, Texas, and Washington, and Wadden, who went with Gonzaga, Kansas, and LSU. Going one further was R Perry, who picked Gonzaga, Marquette, Texas, and Washington to be four of the last eight teams standing.

But this year's winner for most imaginative Final Eight goes to J Jones (as well as his alter-ego, J Jones (2)), who is already two picks behind everyone else after going with Clemson, UCLA, Florida, and Kentucky. Although he's looking pretty good in the NIT pool.

All Final Eight teams chosen are as below. For a complete breakdown of everybody's choices, try this link.

FINAL EIGHT
------------------
North Carolina (69)
Pittsburgh (68)
Connecticut (61)
Oklahoma (61)
Memphis (48)
Louisville (45)
Duke (33)
Wake Forest (25)
Villanova (25)
Michigan State (23)
Kansas (16)
Clemson (16)
Missouri (13)
Marquette (12)
UCLA (8)
Arizona State (7)
Gonzaga (6)
Texas (5)
Xavier (5)
Purdue (3)
LSU (2)
Florida (2)
Washington (2)
Kentucky (2)
Illinois (1)
Utah (1)
Siena (1)

Wildlife

Picking Wildcards is a tricky business, but some make it trickier than others. This year ten (10) entrants have a zero (0) percent chance of grabbing any Wildcard points, and we're happy to name them here.

In addition to Broder, J Jones, and R Perry, who chose illegal Wildcards, seven contestants chose Wildcards so wild they were not invited to play: Packman (St. Mary's); Ripley (South Carolina); Mahalko (Penn State); Booth (Florida); D Gray (Florida); Stanton (Creighton); and 2007 contest winner and noted Duke-lover M Peloso (Davidson).

Conference call

Last year, not counting the Ivy League, there were only 14 conferences out of 30 where more than half of our group of canny contestants correctly claimed the conference king. As those who know us might guess, we only bring that up because this year we're even worse.

This year (again, not counting the Ivy), there were only 12 conferences out of 30 where more than half of us guessed right. That's a whopping 40%. In contrast, in 14 conferences this year, 11 or fewer of us correctly chose the conference champion:

Morehead State: 11
Purdue: 11
Akron: 10
Louisville: 9
Temple: 9
CS Northridge: 9
Duke: 7
Northern Iowa: 6
Missouri: 5
Portland St: 3
Cleveland St: 1
Mississippi St: 1
Chattanooga: 0
USC: 0

But examining this sort of thing from a group perspective can sometimes be misleading. If you take the time to look at it from an individual perspective you'll find we look truly pathetic. Taking Cornell out of the equation, only two (2) entrants got more than half the conference tournament champions right: Schlegel and Millan, both of whom got 16 of 30. That's 53% accuracy, for those of you failing at home.

But the commissioners want to give credit where credit is due. Reilly, for example was on the money with Louisville, Mississippi State, and Northern Iowa, certainly enough cool picks to make us forget he also chose Boise St., Jackson St., New Mexico, Wis-GB, UC Riverside, and The Citadel. M Josephs (Louisville, Temple, and CS Northridge) and P Leach (Missouri, Temple, and Purdue) also had three snazzy selections and at least as many sorry ones. R Simon did them one better, choosing CS Northridge, Duke, ETSU, and Northern Iowa, along with Boston University, George Mason, Holy Cross, and San Diego St. Moving up the ladder, Sakowski picked five surprise winners (Purdue, Binghamton, ETSU, Morehead State, and Cleveland State) along with a lot more than five not-so-surpise losers (BYU, Charleston, Dayton, G Mason, Holy Cross, Liberty, New Mexico St., Niagara, Nicholls St., Oral Roberts, and Columbia (!)).

J Donadio impressed with Akron, CS Northridge, Duke, Louisville, Morehead St., and Binghamton, but only managed to pick 7 other (non-Ivy) conferences correctly. Pogach picked Akron, Duke, Louisville, ETSU, Binghamton, and Portland State, but only pulled three other (non-Ivy) conference champions out of his you-know-where, in large part because of choices like BYU, George Mason, Holy Cross, Illinois, Illinois St., Jackson St., New Mexico St., Niagara, Oral Roberts, UC Riverside, Troy, and Sacred Heart.

But, as always, we need to genuflect in the general direction of the Leach Kids, who picked CS Northridge, Morehead State, Northern Iowa, and two (2) other non-Ivy conferences correctly. If you're keeping score (and we know you are), that's a total of five correct conference tournament champions out of 30, a mind-numbing 16.7% accuracy. But don't worry, they picked two hyphenated schools from Arkansas (Ark-Pine Bluff and Ark-Little Rock, as well as Boise St., Boston U, Long Island, Montana, Northeastern, Rider, South Carolina St., Southern Utah, Tex A&M-Corpus Christi, and Western Michigan), so it's OK.

Look for a Final Four and Final Eight count on Tuesday, and Rivals round and Tag Team tallies on Wednesday.

Edit (3/18/09): Well, maybe not Wednesday for the Rivals and Tag Team stuff, but I'll get them up as soon as I can -- DK

Up on my soapbox

OK, this doesn't really have anything to do with the contest, but indulge me for a moment and consider the following four team resumes, and tell me which one you'd pick for the fourth number one seed (you can only choose one)?

Team A:
RPI: 2
Conference tournament champ? Yes
Conference standings: tie for 2nd
Win-loss: 28-6
Record vs. RPI Top 25: 5-3
Schedule strength: 3
Last 10: 8-2

Team B:
RPI: 7
Conference tournament champ? Yes
Conference standings: 1st
Win-loss: 31-3
Record vs. RPI Top 25: 1-2
Schedule strength: 38
Last 10: 10-0

Team C:
RPI: 8
Conference tournament champ? No (lost in conference quarterfinals)
Conference standings: tie for 2nd
Win-loss: 27-4
Record vs. RPI Top 25: 4-3
Schedule strength: 30
Last 10: 7-3

Team D:
RPI: 5
Conference tournament champ? No (lost in conference semifinals)
Conference standings: 1st
Win-loss: 26-6
Record vs. RPI Top 25: 5-2
Schedule strength: 5
Last 10: 8-2


I know it's not easy, but the only thing for sure is the team you don't pick is team C, right? So what in the world is team C[onnecticut] doing as a number one seed? What possible rationale could the committee have used?

It boggles the imagination.

The brackets are in

Well, the brackets are set and we're off to the races. Our leader after selection of the field (and winner for the prize thereof) is long-time entrant R Schlegel, with 193 points, barely edging out S Adams, who has 191, and Millan, who has 190. Congratulations Mr. Schlegel.

Full standings may be found using the link on the right hand side of this page, or if you're too lazy to go there then you can try here.

We'll have lots more fun, facts, and fabulosity tomorrow, so tune in then.

Millan, dahling

Just four more games and then the fabulous selection special. In the meantime, Memphis (picked by all 70 of us), Binghamton (picked by 23), Temple (9), Missouri (5), Alabama State (59), Utah State (63), Louisville (9), and Cal State Northridge (9) strutted down the championship runway yesterday, leaving Millan as our sole leader, with 86 points. Hot on his heels are S Adams, Brenner, Coach Doc, and McKillip, all with 84 points. Bringing up the rear in fine style are the Leach Kids, with 45.

Buy American

American won its 2nd straight NCAA tournament berth and its 2nd all-time. This impressive history led 61 of us to pick the Eagles, making this one of the few results we've been able to properly predict.

Chalk up the Atlantic 10 as one of the much larger group of conferences about which we've had absolutely no clue, with Xavier (chosen by 47) going down to Temple (chosen by 9) and Dayton (picked by 13) losing to Duquesne (picked by nooooooobody). The count of nine contestants still alive in the A-10 matches the 9 who still have an interest in the Big East (all Louisville) and is actually significantly better than the 5 who still have something to say in the Big 12 (all Missouri).

Just two more days until Selection Sunday, so enjoy the ride.

Life imitates art...

...well, if you can call a commercial for a mediocre wings place "art" then life imitates it. Right down to the refs looking into their magic monitor and waving off the game winning basket at the end of regulation. But Syracuse downing UConn (chosen by 26 entrants) in 6 (!) overtimes wasn't the only disappointment for some of our contestants. Oklahoma (picked by 57), Pitt (32), Sam Houston St. (21), UNLV (18), Miami Ohio (10), Kansas (7), Clemson (6), Arizona (5), NC A&T (4), Kent (4), CS Fullerton (3), Texas Arlington (2), California (1), Rhode Island (1), and Marquette (1) also went down. Hard.

They haven't played the semifinals yet, but only 11 entrants are still alive in the Big East (9 for Louisville, L Schlegel for Villanova, and D Kedson for West Virginia). And only 6 people are still interested in the Big 12 results (5 for Missouri and R Perry for Texas).

More fun tomorrow.

At the buzzer

Two more conference champions determined last night and both of them won by two on shots with mere seconds to play. In the NEC, Robert Morris (selected by 60 entrants) beat Mount St. Mary's (selected by 7). In the Big Sky, Portland State (favored by 3 entrants) beat Montana State (favored by none), much to the delight of Pogach, L Schlegel, and Stanton. Pogach used this unlikely victory to springboard all the way up into a tie for last with the Leach Kids, with 20 points. Stanton used it to keep pace with Brenner and B Peloso at the top, because Stanton also picked Mount St. Mary's. The leaders have 45 points.

The Butler didn't... you know

Three more conference champions, including another one nobody saw coming. Well, Sakowski did, cleverly counting on Cleveland State over Butler (chosen by 68). The other two were more in the mainstream, with North Dakota State (53) winning a squeaker over Oakland (chosen only by Alberts, N Donadio and E Leach), and Western Kentucky (57) controlling South Alabama (0).

The Big Sky winner will be yet another surprise (at least to us), as Weber State (65) got knocked out, leaving Portland State (Pogach, L Schlegel, Stanton) against Montana State (nobody) for the league title.

Four more conferences started their tournaments yesterday, but the only entrants who've lost so far in the MAC, MEAC, WAC, and Big East are the Leach Kids, who chose Western Michigan in the MAC, and L Schlegel who tapped Howard in the MEAC.

We have a three-way tie for first, Brenner, B Peloso, and Stanton, each with 40 points, and a one-way tie for last, Pogach, with 15 points, who has somehow managed to fall behind the Leach Kids, who have 20.

Uh, oh

Check out this video link from the Onion.

Grave implications for the Contest, wouldn't you say? Unless you picked the On-line University of Liverpool, of course.

Pardon me, Roy, is that the cat who chewed the new shoes?

We've finally seen a conference champion that our entrants favored to win; in fact we've now seen three (Gonzaga, chosen by 67; Siena, chosen by 59, and VCU, chosen by 50). But today's big story is Chattanooga winning the Southern Conference after being chosen by zero (0) of our canny contestants.

We now have a six-way tie for first (Luke and John, Brenner, ME Donadio, B Peloso, Stanton, and last year's winner, Whiteside). We have a two-way tie for last, but both of them are J Jones.

Down goes Davidson

Another conference champion today, and another one chosen by hardly any of us. Northern Iowa won the MVC and only six contestants weren't surprised (Mahalko, McKillip, Reilly, R Simon, S Smith, and the Leach Kids). Besides Cornell we've yet to see a conference champ that more than half of us thought would win.

And the streak won't be broken in the Southern Conference championship game tomorrow, as overwhelming favorite Davidson (selected by 63) went down to the College of Charleston (selected by 6) in the league semifinals.

Those crazy Leach Kids are tied for first after choosing Northern Iowa and Morehead State, but they shouldn't start counting their winnings yet considering they also went with Northeastern (picked by 6 others), Rider (picked by 2 others), Montana (1 other), and Long Island (nobody else), all of which have already lost. Twelve other entrants are tied with the Kids, while 15 players have only chosen one winner so far and are tied for last.

In probably the first NCAA Division I men's basketball championship of any kind played in the great state of South Dakota, underdog South Dakota State knocked out Oral Roberts (picked by 13 entrants) yesterday. As you might guess, the home team was picked by absolutely nobody in our contest.

In another odd twist of fate, Troy and Sacred Heart both lost today and were both picked by ME Donadio and Pogach, but by nobody else.

3 more champs

Three more conference champions, and none of them picked by more than half of our contestants. Morehead State (picked by 11) beat Austin Peay (picked by 6) for the OVC crown today. Radford (35) overwhelmed VMI (32) in the Big South, and ETSU (20) slammed Jacksonville (14) in the Atlantic Sun.

Big losers today included Creighton (selected by 88.6% of us, also known as 62 entrants) and Vermont (chosen by 41). We now have a ten-way tie for first place, among John and Luke, Brenner, J Broder, ME Donadio, McAtee-Gattone, P O'Brien, B Peloso, Stanton, Wadden, and 2008 winner Whiteside.

Whiteside antagonist Booth leads a list of 19 entrants who only have one correct conference champion, and that's counting Cornell.

We have Standings

Now that Cornell has won the Ivy League and one ticket has been punched, we have standings that aren't all zeros. (If you want to see those standings, use the link on the right hand side of the page that says, surprisingly, "Standings.") And believe it or not, we do NOT have a 70-way tie.

No, the safe pick may have been Cornell, who at the time the pool was due had a virtual stranglehold on first place in a league that doesn't hold a tournament, but the Big Red's ascension was not a mathematical certainty, and that opened the door for five of our entrants to show they had the guts to trod the path less traveled (Sakowski went with Columbia, and J Jones, J Jones (2), Joe Mc, and Paston all selected Princeton). Due to their daring and courage we now have a 65-way tie for first, and a five-way tie for last. Thanks, guys.

In other news, Morehead State (chosen by 11 entrants) has knocked off Eastern Kentucky (chosen by 5) and UT-Martin (chosen by 42) in the Ohio Valley Conference, and will go up against Austin Peay (chosen by 6 and vanquisher of Murray State, also chosen by 6) for the OVC crown. Radford (35) will battle VMI (32) for the Big South title, leaving only N Donadio, Sakowski, and Rodenstein (who all chose Liberty) in the lurch. In the Atlantic Sun, ETSU (20) faces off against Jacksonville (14), making losers out of the 33 contestants who took Belmont as well as S Adams (Lipscomb), Coach Doc (Lipscomb), and Jr Donadio (Mercer).

As far as we can tell, pretty much everybody else is still alive in every other conference, with the exception of O'Brien, who took Loyola Marymount in the WCC, and the Leach Kids, who took Long Island in the NEC.

And the beat goes on.

What counts as Wild these days

Only seven teams have more than one Wild Card vote:

West Virginia -- 15
Washington -- 13
LSU -- 13
Texas -- 6
Utah -- 5
Arizona -- 3
Florida -- 2

While nine other teams have a single voice of support.

More interesting, as always, are the competitors who try to sneak past the Commissioners a Wild Card that appeared in the AP Top 25 that was linked from both the Rules and the Entry Form.

In the public interest we will name these lawbreakers here, but be warned -- these are potentially dangerous individuals. If you happen to see them don't try to apprehend them yourself; notify the authorities immediately and let armed professionals bring these wrongdoers to justice.

That said, be on the lookout for:

J Broder, who chose #25 Florida State as his Wild Card;
J Jones, who chose #8 Memphis; and
R Perry, who chose #5 Louisville.

And then dial 911.

A relatively safe first day

No big upsets on the opening evening of conference tournaments. In fact, only five entrants have lost so much as a single pick, and all of them chose Eastern Kentucky to win the OVC (N Donadio; J Jones; J Jones (2); Kasprzak; Stanton).

Today marks the beginning of the Atlantic Sun, Patriot, and Sun Belt conference tournaments. Enjoy.

Good news for Duke fans

In the 19 years this contest has been running, our contestants have had a favorite for National Champion every single year. And in four of those years, our group of supposedly knowledgeable individuals has actually been correct. That's right, our entrants are on the money in over 21% of their collective championship predictions! Admit it, you're impressed.

We bring this up because this year our contestants have annointed the University of North Carolina as our favorite for National Champion. Which based on our history would make any Duke fan smile.

The breakdown of all our choices for champion are as follows:

UNC -- 27
UConn -- 12
Pitt -- 11
Oklahoma -- 10
Louisville -- 4
Memphis -- 3
Duke -- 2
Clemson -- 1

OK, the contest really begins

It turns out we have 70 entrants, including one sent via e-mail we forgot about at the time of the last post. We're not sure how many are paying entrants, because the deadline for payment is later this week. (NOTE: If your intention has been to be eligible for prizes, please read the previous sentence.)

The OVC, Big South, and Horizon conference tournaments begin tonight, so let's all get out there and root for High Point.

The contest begins...

It looks like 69 entries in this year's contest (and we absolutely refuse to make even a single prurient reference regarding that maligned configuration of digits). We'll run some numbers and post some analyses no later than Monday, so stay tuned.

The first conference tournament games start on Tuesday, so take a deep breath and get ready for the ride.

The time is near

Don't forget, the due date for the contest is TOMORROW, Thursday, February 26, 11:59pm. So get those entries filled out.

If you've forgotten how to find it, the entry form may be found here.

May you be guided by Divine Providence (or Pittsburgh, or Connecticut, or whatever).

2009 Pre Tourney Information

I have sent out the emails to those of you who played last year with all of the pertinent information. Those of you who are facebook people, there is a group on there as well with all of the information. "2009 Pre Tournament Pool" is what I titled it on there. We're upgrading technologically!!

Good luck all

Here we go again!

Believe it or not, it's time for the 2009 edition of the Pre-NCAA Contest. Even more mind-boggling is it's our 20th Anniversary.

Yes, this will be our 20th contest, dating all the way back to the 20th century! (1990, to be precise.)

So, why not enter this historic contest? Or bring a friend. Or an enemy, for that matter. We don't discriminate.

This year's contest due date is THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, at 11:59pm.

The rules may be perused here.

The entry form may be found here.

Have a field day.

Final Standings

The final standings may be found both on the right side of this page, and here.

Congrats again to Whiteside, Harlan, and Brenner. Your checks will soon be in the mail.

That's it for the 2008 PreNCAA Contest. Check back here in February 2009.

Have a great year.

Trivial

Rather than reprise the same old, same old, the commissioners will eschew posting Mascot Trivia questions this year. Instead, we have decided to post the answers only. So here they are:

(1) Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

(2) Cats, then birds, then dogs.

(3) Wildcats, Bulldogs, and Eagles, each tied with 5.

(4) Three.

If you feel slighted in some way, you can try to figure out the questions.

Why newspapers are becoming obsolete

When I left the hotel this morning they left a USA Today at my door so I took it on the plane. Here's a quote from some NCAA commentary by Mike Lopresti:

Here's to Ty Rogers. He's the Western Kentucky player who buried a 26-footer at the buzzer to beat Drake 101-99 in overtime. Barring something extraordinary Monday night, he owns the shot of the tournament.

The thing is, this was printed in Tuesday's paper.

Thanks for joining

What have we learned this year:

1) Duke sucks...haha...just throwing that in for my own sanity and to take a dig at our commish.
2) This tourney needed VCU....relatively boring tournament for the most part sans Davidson and the title game.
3) Never publish your picks as an expert....I did horribly and looked bad in the process...hehe
4) Before you all kick the bucket, you must go to Vegas for the 1st weekend....it's a true experience for any fan of the sport. Just don't go to the Hilton because I don't want you sitting in my seat.
5) The CBI isn't a bad offshoot of CSI...It's a tournament and homefield matters....God, i hope they pass the rumored changes including fan participation and making the title series a best of 9 with two games in a foreign country and one game being on X-Box with the coaches playing as their team.

Wow

Now that was a game. It's what you're hoping for when you buy your plane ticket to the Final Four. The kind of thing you pray for every year. In fact, it was so exciting that a certain commissioner's spouse even tuned in to watch. Although she missed the end of regulation because there was a Top Chef re-run she really wanted to see...

We may have to talk Booth down from the ledge now that Whiteside (pool winner with 361 points) has not only kicked her fanny but everyone else's too. Also in the winning circle are Harlan (360 points) and Brenner (355 points). Final standings will be posted tomorrow night.

Neither of these may compare to Whiteside singing "I'm shabbalicious," but we're not sure which we found more annoying: the Kansas cheerleaders needing cue cards to lead complicated cheers such as "Go Jayhawks," or the Memphis fans displaying their impressive education by spelling T-I-G-E-R-S approximately 17 times per timeout.

Kansas shirt of the day: "Kansas: The birthplace of North Carolina basketball."

We may or may not post Mascot Trivia tomorrow, so tune in if you care.

Goodnight everyone. It's been a fun pool.

All-Name Teams

First Team:

Yauney Neptune (Florida Gulf Coast) -- Name of the Year
Chief Kickingstallionsims (Alabama State)
Bienvenu Songondo (Wyoming)
Silver Laku (Western Michigan)
Ebenezer Noonoo (Illinois-Chicago)

Best Woman's Name: A'Quonesia Franklin (Texas A&M)
Best Local Name: Dionte Christmas (Temple)
Artist of the Year: Picasso Simmons (Murray State)
Egyptian God of the Year: Osiris Eldridge (Illinois State)
Roman God of the Year: Yauney Neptune (Florida Gulf Coast)

What do you think their middle names are?
Akini Akini (Florida A&M)
Longar Longar (Oklahoma)

All-Edible Team:

Jacob Turnipseed (Nicholls State)
Pawel Kielbasa (Chicago State)
Stephon Curry (Davidson)
De'Jon Jackson (San Diego -- condiment division)
Fendi Onobun (Arizona -- sounds like food, though, doesn't it?)

All-Geography Team:

Austin Montgomery (IUPUI)
Dallas Lauderdale (Ohio State)
Arizona Reid (High Point)
Clinton Houston (San Diego)
Jordan Hill (Arizona)

Women's entry: Italee Lucas (UNC)

All-NCAA-Tourney-Team-Name Team

Duke Crews (Tennessee)
Drake Reed (Austin Peay)
De'Sean Butler (West Virginia)
Jordan Davidson (Duke)
Arizona Reid (High Point -- good enough to be on two teams, right?)

All-Avian Team

Jeremy Bird (South Carolina Upstate)
William Byrd (Arkansas-Pine Bluff)
Zack Wing (Fordham)
Isaiah Swann (Florida State)
Zach Peacock (Georgia Tech)
Josten Crow (Sam Houston State)
Brett Ravenberg (Utah Valley State)
Louis Birdsong (George Mason)

All-Compound-Name Team

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (UCLA)
Chris Douglass-Roberts (Memphis)
Charles Jim-George (UC Riverside)
Pierre-Marie Altidor-Cespedes (Marshall)

Referee of the Year: Zelton Steed (ACC)
Future Speller Award: Jrue Holiday (UCLA recruit)

One More Team

A'Darius Peagues (Western Kentucky)
Cem Dinc (Harvard)
Solomon Horsechief (Pacific)
Quade Milum (Akron)
Sundiata Gaines (Georgia)


Special thanks go to Bob Natalini for assembling most of this list

Who will it be?

Whiteside and Millan have both beaten off their detractors, but the question is which of them will win the contest? The answer is:

KANSAS
1st place: Whiteside
2nd place: Harlan
3rd place: Brenner

MEMPHIS
1st place: Millan
2nd place: K Sullivan
3rd place: Smith

We have a lot of repeat money winners on this list: Smith finished 2nd just last year; Whiteside finished third in 2006; Harlan finished 2nd in 2001, and K Sullivan finished second in 1998. In addition, selection-of-field winner D Josephs also finished 2nd in 2006.

The Moment

It's the Final Four. The teams line up for the opening tap. The ball goes up and tens of thousands of glittering lights dazzle the eyes as the players vie for the first advantage of the game. The lights are flash bulbs, as everyone snaps a picture simultaneously. Words cannot adequately describe how cool this is. It's the seminal moment of the college basketball season and after 19 Final Fours it doesn't get old.

Except this year I missed it because the six Kansas fans in front of me chose that exact moment to stand up and re-arrange their seating.

Another Final Four tradition that still cracks me up after 19 years is the amazing vision of the fans in the "distant view" seats -- yes, by the way, they really call them that; you'd think if the NCAA was going to bilk you for hundreds of dollars for a seat near the New Mexico border, they'd come up with a more palatable name, wouldn't you? Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, it's an optometric marvel the way fans two football fields away can see the court so much better than the refs can. They usually complain (at the top of their lungs, mind you) about block/charge calls, because that's not a call you have to be close up to tell what happened. This year's award goes to several Kansas fans in my vicinity, who when their team was up 40-12 were still screaming at the injustice of Tyler Hansbrough getting every call. Well, come to think of it, maybe they had a point; you could have been sitting in a dark room in Somalia and still known that Tyler Hansbrough was getting every call.

UCLA had the best band and the best cheerleaders, although for some reason that didn't help them on the court. And I have to mention that the Memphis cheerleaders are apparently the defending National champions (bet you didn't know they had a National championship for cheerleaders, did you?), at least according to the woman sitting next to me whose husband was a cheerleader back in 1985, the last time Memphis made the Final Four.

Memphis and Kansas had the most enthusiastic fans, even before the games started. Maybe the UCLA and UNC fans could sense what was coming. Memphis gets the slight edge here, though, thanks to the two Elvises (in full hair and costume) sitting in the row in front of me.

Kansas had the best souvenir shirts -- I saw at least ten different clever quotes on different shirts. The biggest laugh was "Why play with Roy when we can play with our Self."

I'm not sure if it's alphabetically significant, but my highly scientific scouting assessment is that Derrick Rose and Brandon Rush are good. Tywon Lawson and Kevin Love? Not so impressive.

The 30 second timeouts were taking around three and a half minutes by the end of the evening. And I don't even want to talk about the full timeouts.

The primary color for all four teams in this year's Final Four is blue. The highway between Austin and San Antonio has a different speed limit during the daytime (70) than it does at night (65).

Tune in later for more wisdom.

Revenge of the Nova Gang

Coming into the Tournament, if you had to pick a team to beat between #2 seed Duke and #12 seed Villanova, it probably wouldn't have been the Wildcats. Backing up that perception, contestants associating themselves with Duke had a healthy lead over their Philadelphia counterparts. Who would've guessed that once the smoke cleared Villanova would win twice as many games as Duke, and that the Nova Gang (average score 308.33) would have a 20+ lead over the Cameron Crazies (287.75)?

In the Tag Team Tussles, the D'Zurans (321.00) enjoy a narrow lead over the Friends of Natalini (317.33), who might even be doing better if Natalini himself had actually entered the pool. Or maybe they wouldn't. Members of the Marshall Plan (300.75) lead Whiteside and his Enemies (293.67) and the Ripley-Believe-it-or-Nots (292.33), while the Mc's (288.87) have surged ahead of the Donadios (280.4). The Leach Gang (258.5) trails the pack for the 177th straight year.

This year's top name is Brett (320.8), over Ed (313.5), Adam/s (306.0), and David (302.0). John (296.83) and Luke (292.0) are above average, while fellow apostle Matthew (252.5) is about as bad as you get outside of Leachworld. Al (285.5), Bob (280.0), Mary (279.5), Nick (276.0), and Rick (260.0) round out the field.

The years go on, but some facts are immutable. Females (300.27) are better than males (291.41). Cats (309.0) are superior to humans (289.83). Lawyers (278.4) are bottom feeders. The unwashed unpaid (269.22) don't pay for a reason (they now trail paying participants (293.73) by an average of almost 25 points). And children (265.0) should be seen, but not seen gambling.

Teachers (309.5) are our top profession, over Engineers (296.8), IT Consultants (294.5), Accountants (290.5), and of course practicing Attorneys (283.0; we guess they need more practice). But the educators still trail Students (314.2).

Florida (310.0) is the sunniest State from which to pick. Pennsylvania (294.83) is not just for Democratic Primaries. Despite a 20+ point lead, New Jersey (285.17) still has an inferiority complex when it comes to New York (262.67). There may be a Santa Claus, Virginia (257.0), but forget about the March Madness Bunny. Within Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh environs (307.0) have come out on ahead of the Philadelphia suburbs (289.78) and the Philadelphia urbs (282.8).

As a final note, the average pool participant (290.49) may have something to say to the average commissioner (270.0).

See you after the games.

Pool headquarters temporarily moving to Texas

A commissioner is on his way to San Antonio. I'm pretty sure the hotel has wireless internet, so tune in all weekend for updates, including Tag Team tallies, All-Name teams, and Mascot trivia.

See ya.

Rivals III

Everybody loves the little guy, right? It's what makes this tournament great, an improbable run by Davidson or an impossible near-miss by Belmont. We identify with the Sienas and San Diegos of the world; they're kings of the road for a day.

But as Mount Saint Mary's and Texas-Arlington can attest, sometimes they're just roadkill. So in a year where four number one seeds made it to the Final Four, is it any surprise that Booth (256 points, Memphis as champ) will finish 25 points behind her arch-nemesis Whiteside (321, Kansas) even if she gains 40 points for her champion? McKillip (304, UCLA) -- who has also confessed his sole desire is to whack Whiteside -- is likewise far in the rear-view mirror, but at least he has a chance to pass his co-worker if UCLA wins.

Somebody should have told Karlsruher (315, UNC) that "never" is a long time, as he trails Millan (354, Memphis) by 39 points. But eternity can start now if Karlsruher's champion wins, because that'll put him one over on his buddy, 355 to 354. K Sullivan (326, Memphis) has already clinched a victory over her hapless whipping boy, B Peloso (264, Texas), but needs someone other than UCLA to win if she wants bragging rights over D'Zuro (296, UCLA) in her own custom-built home. Perhaps B Peloso can take solace in the fact that he only lost to his Duke-loving wife, M Peloso (298, Duke), by 34 points this year.

Most of the children in our contest seem to have outgrown their parents. L Schlegel (313, UCLA), for example, now sports a sizeable lead over daddy R Schlegel (279, Memphis), although the old man can salvage his respectability if Memphis wins. No such luck for M Kleiman (305, UCLA), who has no hope of showing his son (B Kleiman (328, UCLA)) who's boss. Joe Mc (264, UNC), who has played in every single pool we've ever run, has lost by 47 points to his daugher, McAtee-Gattone (311, UNC), who (including this year) has played in a grand total of one. For that matter, Joe Mc won't be catching his assistant, Dallas (291, UNC), either. K Ripley (306, UCLA) had no problems dispatching her father, R Wanger (288, Texas), for the fourth straight year. Her husband, P Ripley (283, Memphis), however, can reclaim his masculinity if Memphis wins.

A couple of dads still rule the roost. D Josephs (321, UCLA) powered his way past commissioner M Josephs (257, UNC), and J Donadio, Sr. (308, UNC) handled his entire brood (Jr. Donadio (299, Tennessee); L Donadio (283, Texas); N Donadio (244, Memphis)). Although if UCLA wins, his spouse (ME Donadio (268, UCLA)) can claim her half of the community property.

Leach gang patriarch E Leach (323, UCLA) and his son P Leach (323, UNC) are currently tied for the right to say they clobbered their own flesh and blood (S Leach (196, Memphis); M Leach (192, Tennessee)) by 131 points.

And the winner might be...

There are nine non-paying entrants this year, meaning the prizes are as follows: 100 to the leader after the bracket was set (D Josephs); 237 to the first place finisher; 118.50 to the second place finisher; and 39.50 to the third-place finisher.

Depending on who wins the National Championship, here are our prizewinners:

KANSAS
1st place: Whiteside
2nd place: Harlan
3rd place: Brenner

MEMPHIS
1st place: Millan
2nd place: K Sullivan
3rd place: Smith

UCLA
1st place: Haklar
2nd place: B Kleiman
3rd place tie: Brenner and E Leach

UNC
1st place: P Leach
2nd place: Karlsruher
3rd place: Millan


To nobody's surprise, M Leach has clinched last place. Savvy S Leach, however, can climb all the way up to 63rd place if Memphis wins (otherwise she'll be second-to-last).

Four Number Ones

It has never happened before. Four number one seeds all reaching the Final Four in the same season. But what has happened plenty of times is our contestants not taking advantage of things like this. Only seven entrants got all four teams right (Whiteside, Kasprzak, Millan, McAtee-Gattone, Dallas, Packman, Cooper). Packman and Cooper managed to get all four Final Four teams after only getting four Final Eight teams.

Twenty-four entrants got three Final Four teams and 28 got just two. To balance out the seven who got 'em all, seven entrants correctly guessed only one: Weatherell, R Schlegel, Perry, Rybaltowski, N Donadio, and of course the Queens of Comedy, M Leach and S Leach.

Twelve entrants properly picked six of the Elite Eight (Marshall, Kasprzak, P Leach, D Josephs, McKillip, Smith, Haklar, K Ripley, Nowlan, Whiteside, Acchione, B Kleiman). Four of these also had a Wildcard in the Eight (Marshall, P Leach, and S Smith all had Louisville, while B Kleiman had Davidson), in effect giving them 7 of the Final 8. We understand there's no truth to the rumor that the closing minutes of the Kansas/Davidson game put B Kleiman into traction.

In a startling feat of legerdemain, Marshall, P Leach, and Smith all had seven teams in the Final Eight (including their Wildcard) but got only two (2) of the Final Four. There were four number one seeds, a number two, and two number three's in the Final Eight, but 28 contestants came up with just five of the Eight teams, 18 stumbled in with four of the Eight, and six entrants somehow managed to get only three (Perry, N Donadio, Shure, ME Donadio, M Peloso, and commissioner D Kedson). Perry and Shure stand out by also failing to choose a successful Wildcard (the other four all had Louisville).

Sisters-in-shame M Leach and S Leach have once again earned their own paragraph by both picking only two of the Final Eight. M Leach wins the prize by virtue of her choice of first-round loser Gonzaga as her Wildcard (at least S Leach had Louisville).

Halfway there

Everybody's favorite Wildcard, Louisville, went down to defeat to a bunch of Heels, and UCLA beat upstart Xavier. P Leach (323 points) maintained his lead over Marshall (318) and Coach Doc (315).

One more day and the Final Four is set.

Davidson and Goliaths

Congratulations to B Kleiman and J McAtee, who were the only contestants foresighted enough to pick Davidson as their Wildcard. Or, more likely, they were trying to pick their SEC champion on the line right above Davidson and they screwed up... Congratulations are also in order for the many boring frontrunners who displayed the imagination of stale popcorn by choosing nothing but favorites, because besides those pesky Southern Conference champions, all the heavyweights won tonight.

The standings are sort of like bookends, with Leaches on both sides. P Leach (283 points) has opened up a 5 point lead on Marshall (278), and even more over Haklar (276), Coach Doc (275), Karlsruher (275), Millan (274), and S Smith (273). The bottom mortal is Packman (194), who's in third-to-last place but is 18 and 22 points ahead of the unholy duo of S Leach (176) and M Leach (172).

The top scoring participant who took each Final Eight team:

UNC -- P Leach
UCLA -- Marshall
Memphis -- Millan
Texas -- Pangolin Palace
Kansas -- Fitzmyer
Louisville -- P Leach (wildcard)
Davidson -- B Kleiman (wildcard)
Xavier -- nooooooooobody

Tomorrow, the first two Final Four tickets are printed. Stay tuned.

X-men

Well, the first four of the Elite Eight are in, and the only surprise so far is Xavier. Nineteen entrants chose Xavier in the Final Eight, and only three (Jr Donadio, J McAtee, Perry) have the X-men into the Final Four. Nobody picked Xavier as champion.

UCLA was picked by 56 into the Final Eight, 45 into the Final Four, and 17 as champion. UNC was chosen by 62 into the Eight, 53 into the Four, and 18 as champ. Louisville was only picked by 10 into the Elite Eight and five into the Final Four, but 39 contestants had the Cardinals as their Wildcard, making the totals 49, 44, and 39.

The biggest loser (of the evening) was Tennessee, selected by 57 of us into the Final Eight and 28 of us into the Final Four. Only five entrants liked the Volunteers as national champions, including leader Coach Doc (255 points). The other four are Jr Donadio, Butscher, Perry, and of course M Leach. Salivating behind the fallen leader are P Leach (253 points) and Marshall (two entries, 250 and 248 points).

All this is somewhat meaningless, however, until tomorrow's four games are in. See you then.

Sweet

Sweet Sixteen, that is. All set. Some close shaves for UCLA, Memphis, Tennessee, and Texas, but today the only pool scrambler was Georgetown going down to Davidson, sending 32 Final Eights and 8 Final Fours into disarray. Nobody had the Hoyas winning it all, however, so the loss shouldn't be causing anybody to start perusing spring training box scores or anything.

With some more Wildcard points for Louisville, Davidson, Villanova, and West Virginia, we have new leaders. Coach Doc and Karlsruher have surged to the top, each with 205 points, followed by Millan (204), P Leach (203), Butscher (202), D Josephs (201), and Marshall (200).

And the next round's only four days away.

Raise your hand if you picked Duke

Nah, don't bother. We're going to out you right now. Three contestants have lost their champion on the first Saturday, and they would be Crowther, M Peloso, and R Simon. Sixteen people had Duke in their Final Four and 41 erroneously placed them into the Final Eight.

Other Final Four and/or Final Eight choices that were eliminated today were Kansas State (4 in F8 and D Kedson in F4); Pitt (2 in F8 and M Siegel in F4); Marquette (2 in F8 and Rybaltowski in F4); and Notre Dame (4 in F8). Commissioner D Kedson has the ignominious distinction of having lost two of his Final Four (Duke, Kansas State) and four of his Final Eight (Pitt, Duke, UConn, Kansas State) midway through the second round. At least we know he's not cheating.

We'll update the standings after the games tomorrow.

Oh, to be in Tampa

Four upsets in the Tampa pod. So we know for a fact that two in the Sweet Sixteen will be a 12 seed or lower. Did any of us have any of them as our Wildcard? Yes, as a matter of fact. Dallas took Villanova.

Other Wildcards that paid off were West Virginia (Kasprzak), Mississippi State (B Peloso), and Davidson (B Kleiman, J McAtee). Oh, and Louisville, chosen as Wildcard by 39 of us. Including 19 of the top 20 scorers -- all except leader D Josephs -- so the standings just got a teensy bit tighter.

Outside of Tampa there were only two upsets (not counting two 9s over 8s), but they were both in the Midwest Regional, meaning in the Midwest the 4, 5, 6, and 7 seeds all lost. But since every 1, 2, & 3 seed won their first round games, all but three contestants still have their Final Four intact. The lucky three are M Leach (Vanderbilt), R Schlegel (Clemson), and Mahalko (Indiana).

Eight teams picked by someone to make the Final Eight are no longer playing: UConn (11), Indiana (10), Vanderbilt (5 -- Haklar, M Leach, Marshall, Nowlan, L Schlegel), Florida (2 -- J McAtee, Shure), Drake (2 -- M Josephs, Packman), Gonzaga (E Leach), St. Mary's (Booth), and Kent State (Booth).

Booth's efforts to broadside Whiteside took a hit when she lost two of her Final Eight (St. Mary's and Kent St.), but eight other entrants have joined her in having two of their Final Eight eliminated before the first Saturday: M Josephs had Indiana and Drake; J McAtee and Shure both had Florida and UConn; and Perry, Reilly, Selarnick, and Settle all had Indiana and UConn. This year's winner for quickest route to obscurity was Packman, who believed Drake, Indiana, and UConn would be three of the last eight teams standing. No wonder they haven't sold that game since the '70s.

Raise your hand if you picked Belmont

Wow, we almost had one cranky commissioner on our hands...

Nobody of consequence (at least for pool purposes) lost yesterday. Although Booth lost one of her two singular Final Eight picks in Kent State (the other is St. Mary's, who plays today).

We'll update the standings after today's games to reflect wild card points.

Tag Team Tussles

This year's Tag Team competition is shaping up nicely. The D'Zurans (avg score 190) and the Friends of Natalini (188) are leading the pack, followed by the Ripley-Believe-it-or-Nots (181.67) and the Whiteside Group (180.33, although it should be noted that the majority of this group are actually Whiteside detractors). Further down the slippery slope, the Donadios (177.6) are battling members of the Marshall Plan (173.75). As always, the Leach Gang (166.5) is at or near the bottom, but this year they have competition from the Mc's (164.67). We're sad to report that nobody from the famed and fabled Arnie's Army of Bridge Players chose to play in this year's contest.

Next year we think we'll add a "School Affiliation" box to the entry form. This year, affilations were volunteered for only two schools, and at least one commissioner is ecstatic to report that Duke (183.25) leads Villanova (179.67). Only two employer affiliations were reported by more than one entrant, and in this case it's Conrail (180.5) in a romp over Urban Engineering (159.2).

Males (178.5) lead females (173.3). However, Female Team lawyers have petitioned to remove M Leach and S Leach on the basis that they're obviously under the control of their domineering male father. If the women win their appeal, they'll be ahead of the men, 179.18 to 178.5. In the Battle of the Species, it's the same old scene, as Spiny Anteaters (190) lead felines (183.0) who in turn lead humans (177.25). As always, lawyers (176.8) are at the bottom of the evolutionary ladder.

Despite the emergence of St. Mary's and Mount St. Mary's, and the near miss of William and Mary, in our Name Game it's not Mary-land. The name Mary (163.5) is dead last among qualifying names, just behind Al/Alex (167.5) and Matt (170.0). So far, the name to have is David (194.0), or possibly Ed (185.5), John/Jon (185.2), Brett/Bret (182.8), or Bob (181.5). Names that end in the "k" sound are mired in the middle, namely Luke (including Lucia) (176.5), Rick (172.0), and Nick (170.0). If you're willing to accept a mixture of first and last names, the Adams family (185.3) is doing pretty well.

Our regional competition is as close as it's ever been. With just a few superdelegates left to commit, Pennsylvania (178.6) leads New Jersey (178.5) by a mere tenth of a point. Virginia (177.0), Florida (174.0), and New York (172.0) are still in the conversation. We apparently get smarter as we drive west on the Pennsylvania turnpike, however, as Western PA (185.0) leads the Philadelphia Suburbs (177.75) while urban Philadelphia (171.2) trails distantly.

Occupationally, IT professionals (186.5) know how to manipulate the data, at least better than practicing attorneys (179.0), engineers (172.8), and accountants (170.5). And confirming what any kid could tell you, students (183.4) know more than teachers (176.5).

Stay tuned. We'll update the competition report before the Final Four.

Rivals redux

We've never met him, but Whiteside must be quite a guy. What else could motivate not only sister-in-law Booth but also co-worker McKillip to confess their dearest goal in life is to whup Whiteside's backside in this year's contest? Well, so far so good for McKillip who holds a small lead on Whiteside, 184 to 181. Alas for Booth, she trails her nemesis by five, 181 to 176.

Karlsruher has proclaimed that Millan will never beat him again, and so far his words have held up by the slimmest of margins, 199 to 198. K Sullivan has announced that B Peloso is going down hard, and she's backing that up with a margin that "slim" simply can't be used to describe, 190 to 173. B Peloso is also beneath his wife, 2007 champion M Peloso, 182 to 173, while K Sullivan has played her happy husband, D'Zuro, to a tie, 190 to 190.

Last year in our contest, children pretty much spanked their parents. But this year the parents seem to have made judicious use of the timeout. Coach Doc is trouncing S Adams, 199 to 182; R Schlegel is up on L Schlegel, 183 to 177; M Kleiman is ahead of B Kleiman, 189 to 182; D Josephs is unabashedly pummeling commissioner M Josephs, 201 to 177; J Donadio, Sr. (192) has a comfortable lead on all of his offspring (Jr Donadio (183), L Donadio (173), and N Donadio (168)), as well as his spouse (ME Donadio (172)); and they haven't yet invented a word to describe how far P Leach (197) is ahead of daughters M Leach (152) and S Leach (130). (Although it should be noted that P Leach has also put his own old man in his place, as Leach Gang patriarch E Leach (187) trails him by 10.)

As with all trends, there are a couple exceptions. McAtee-Gattone (playing in our contest for the first time) is absolutely crushing her dad, Joe Mc (playing in our contest for the 19th time), 181 to 158. K Ripley has flummoxed her father, R Wanger for three consecutive years, and she seems to be headed there again, leading him 186 to 182. She's also besting her husband, P Ripley, for the second time in their two-year marriage, 186 to 177.

Brenner (187 to 179) and Marshall (194 to 192) are both beating themselves. But we refuse to talk about it.

Ouch

There's not much we can add to this article, except to say if you're interested there may still be time to make an appointment...

A little too wild

Every year a few of our contestants get a little too wild when picking their Wild Cards, and 2008 is no exception. So we'd like to honor the four individuals who chose Wild Card teams who will only see first round action on TV: McKillip, who chose Alabama State; Siegel, who selected Syracuse; McAtee-Gattone, who rode Rider; and R Simon, who feared the Turtle (Maryland) maybe a bit too much.

Don't you just love the wild life?

San Antonio bound?

The commissioners are proud to report that someone has revived one of our favorite tricks, the arcane "Wamser Maneuver," where an entrant picks a team in his Final Four that he does not include in his Final Eight. This year R Schlegel decided that Clemson might be Final Four worthy, but they're not good enough for his Elite Eight. R Schlegel, we salute you.

The Final Four breaksdown by team is:

North Carolina -- 53
UCLA -- 45
Memphis -- 38
Tennessee -- 28
Kansas -- 27
Texas -- 23
Duke -- 16
Georgetown -- 8
Stanford -- 7
Louisville -- 5
Xavier -- 3
Wisconsin -- 2
Washington St. -- 2
Indiana -- 1
Kansas St. -- 1
Michigan St. -- 1
Clemson -- 1
Vanderbilt -- 1
Pittsburgh -- 1
Marquette -- 1

For a full breakdown of EVERYBODY's Final Four choices, try this link.

Elitists

In perhaps a pool first, our entrants' picks for the Final Eight agree with the Committee, as our eight most popular choices are all #1 or #2 seeds, and our next three most popular choices are all #3 seeds. We're not sure whether it says something about our contestants or the Committee, but it is rather astonishing.

Of course, a few entrants differed with the powers that be. McAtee and Shure, for example, both expected Florida to advance to the Final Eight while the Committee thought a more appropriate venue would be in the NIT.

A few other contestants branched out on their own, as well. Chief among them, of course, is M Leach, who chose four teams in her Final Eight chosen by five or fewer fellows: Michigan State (chosen by 6 including M Leach), Vanderbilt (5), Notre Dame (4), and Washington State (3). Perry is perhaps even further out on the edge, picking Xavier (19), Connecticut (11), Indiana (10), Notre Dame (4), and Washington State (3). ME Donadio liked Xavier (19), Indiana (10), Notre Dame (4), and Purdue (4), and commissioner D Kedson rolled the dice with Connecticut (11), Kansas State (4), and Pittsburgh (2). Booth's fortunes against Whiteside could very well hinge on her Final Eight picks of Kent State (only), St. Mary's (only), and Wisconsin (12).

For a full breakdown of EVERYBODY's Final Eight choices, try this link.

The Final 8 breakdown by team is as follows:

North Carolina -- 62
Memphis -- 59
Tennessee -- 57
UCLA -- 56
Texas -- 51
Kansas -- 49
Duke -- 41
Georgetown -- 32
Stanford -- 21
Xavier -- 19
Wisconsin -- 12
Connecticut -- 11
Indiana -- 10
Louisville -- 10
Michigan St. -- 6
Vanderbilt -- 5
Notre Dame -- 4
Kansas St. -- 4
Purdue -- 4
Washington St. -- 3
Pittsburgh -- 2
Florida -- 2
Drake -- 2
Marquette -- 2
Butler -- 1
Kent St. -- 1
Gonzaga -- 1
St. Mary's -- 1

Living At-Large

Fifteen teams were unanimous picks this year (Stanford, Indiana, Xavier, UNC, Gonzaga, Duke, Purdue, UConn, Cornell, Tennessee, UCLA, Memphis, Butler, Michigan State, and Wisconsin), and twenty other teams were picked by 60 or more.

Only five of us visualized the Committee's love for Oregon (George B, Brenner, Harlan, Fitzmyer, M Leach), and just 25 and 20 of us realized Kentucky's and Villanova's respective potential. Yet 61 of us foolishly and falsly figured on Florida making the field, and 53 of us mugged for Maryland.

Clever strategists abounded, with several people picking upsets in the conference championships while picking the conference favorites at-large. Like Selarnick who committed at-large spots to Austin Peay, Belmont, Drake, Morgan State, New Mexico, Rider, and Robert Morris at the expense of Kansas, Georgetown, Louisville, Clemson, BYU, and Mississippi State. (Although at least Selarnick struck gold with Villanova and South Alabama.) Cagey contestant Siegel focused so much on pulling a second-tier bubble team out of his hat (Dayton, Houston, NC State, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, Rider) that he had no magic left for Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, or Washington State. Veteran entrant Acchione went with Cal, Houston, Air Force, and San Diego State, while ignoring Drake, UNLV, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. To his credit, Acchione's unorthodox selections of Kentucky, Villanova, and San Diego panned out.

This year's king of non-conformity was Wetherell, who boldly chose as at-large teams Akron, Creighton, Houston, Illinois State, IUPUI, Mississippi, New Mexico, Rhode Island, UNC-Greensboro, Utah State, and Wright State, while eschewing ho-hum favorites like Pitt, Marquette, Clemson, Arizona, Southern Cal, Baylor, UNLV, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and West Virginia.

Tomorrow we'll focus on Final Four and Final Eight picks, and later in the week we'll take a look at the annual Tag Team competition and grudge matches. Study those brackets!

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.

The Bracket is set...

...and the winner of the prize for highest score after selection of the field is D Josephs, with 201 points. Coach Doc and Karlsruher are tied for second, with 199 points, followed by Millan with 198. Again, full standings may be found via the link that says "Standings" on the right side of the page.

We'll have comments and a lot more, either later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Ten minutes 'till

The selection special is in ten minutes, and the conference championships are done. BEFORE selection of the field, D Josephs (108 points) has opened up a four point lead over P Leach (104). Coach Doc and Karlsruher lurk behind with 103. Full standings are, as ever, available from that link over on the right side of the page.

We'll have a full wrapup on our conference champion choosing skills, probably tomorrow. Now on to the brackets.

Three random questions

(1) If you watched the Temple/St. Joe's game yesterday, aren't you already tired of Christmas puns?

(2) The McDonald's new McSkillet breakfast burrito apparently has "authentic salsa roja." Does that mean it really is naturally red?

(3) Will somebody please teach Dick Vitale that the word is not pronounced "ath-uh-letic"?

Rivals

Sure, the St. Joseph's team will be glued to tube tonight watching the selection special, possibly with an ESPN camera crew filming their every groan and cheer. But if you want drama, spend some time with in-laws Booth and Whiteside.

For the past six years, Booth has been trying to beat Whiteside (her brother-in-law) in our contest, without success but with increasing desperation. Here's the situation, in Booth's own words and exclamation points:

Curt "Shabba" Whiteside had to submit his pool early due to a trip out of town. I NEED to use this to my advantage !! If you only get one shot...this is it for me !! THIS is my American Idol !!! He is my sister's husband, but if he beats me again and rubs it in my face by singing "I'm Shabbalicious" (yes he has done that) I don't know what I will do !! This year I'm gonna drink his milkshake !!

Shabba? What's that about? At the moment, Booth leads Whiteside, 79 points to 76. We'll be covering this one through the first weekend in April...

Also, word on the street is high-powered doctor K Sullivan (currently with 81 points in the standings) has been taking time that could have spent winning a Nobel prize and using it to taunt B Peloso (69).

We'll have a full "rivals" post after selection of the field.

Early update

Cal State Fullerton and Boise State won late last night, and the standings are getting tight. Currently D Josephs is on top, with 93 points, followed by P Leach (91), Karlsruher (90), Butscher (89), Coach Doc (88), and McAtee-Gattone (87), who is still tied with the combined scores of M Leach (47) and S Leach (40).

Note to Self....

Don't ever post your picks and tell the radio world what they are. I decided to enlighten the good people of Richmond with my picks and i think i've done the worst i've ever done in the pre-tournament part of this wonderful contest.

Thanks.

Wake up and smell the bubble

Only seven conference championships left to be decided, and two of them will happen tonight (although at least one commissioner hopes to be sleeping at the time) -- the WAC championship just went into triple OT, and the Big West is still in the first half. P Leach is now alone at the top, with 86 points, followed by Karlsruher (85), D Josephs (83), and McAtee-Gattone (82). If you add S Leach and M Leach together, they're tied for fourth with McAtee-Gattone.

Big favorites Memphis (picked by 64), Kent State (60), UMBC (58), and UCLA (50) won today. But Temple and Coppin State have joined San Diego and Mt. St. Mary's as teams chosen by a grand total of zero (0) of us. Pitt (Karlsruher, Siegel) and Mississippi Valley State (N Donadio, McAtee-Gattone) were selected by only two of us. And there's more goose-eggs on the way. As we said before, tomorrow's Southland final pits two teams (Northwestern State and Texas Arlington) that nobody in the pool thought would win, and the SEC matches Arkansas (picked by D Kedson) and Georgia (picked by nobody). Other finals with a zero team are the Big West (Cal-St-Fullerton (26) vs. UC-Irvine (0)), and the Big Ten (Wisconsin (29) vs. Illinois (0)). The ACC pairs North Carolina (45) and Clemson (only M Leach). The two remaining conferences are the WAC (Boise State (26) vs. New Mexico State (24)) and the Big 12 (Kansas (39) vs. Texas (24)).

When we wake up, it'll be Selection Sunday. Enjoy!

Minority opinion

There's a lot going on right now, but I'll wait to post about today's championships until later when we have more news. For now let's catch up on some stuff that happened late last night and a little bit from earlier today.

For the first time possibly ever, the two finalists of one league (the Southland) were picked by a combined total of zero (0) entrants. That's right, although 50 contestants stuck with Stephen F. Austin, and 16 liked Lamar, nobody took a flier on either Northwestern State or Texas Arlington.

That's the headliner of the nine conferences (out of 31) where a majority of us didn't choose either league finalist. The others: Atlantic 10 (Temple 0, St. Joseph's 6); Colonial (Willam & Mary 0, George Mason 8); NEC (Mt. St. Mary's 0, Sacred Heart 9); Big East (Pitt 2, Georgetown 25); Big West (UC-Irvine 0, Cal-St-Fullerton 26); WAC (New Mexico State 24, Boise State 26); MAAC (Rider 23, Siena 28); and Big 10 (Illinois 0, Wisconsin 29).

Update, 8:21pm: With Tennessee (picked by 58) losing to Arkansas (picked by D Kedson), the SEC joins the list, making ten conferences with neither finalist chosen by a majority of our contestants. It doesn't even matter who wins the late semifinal, because only four entrants went with Mississippi State (N Donadio, S Leach, Marshall, M Peloso) and nobody was anywhere near Georgia.

Boy, we're good.

Full swing

Well, all the remaining conference championships are in full swing. Today's big news is American won its first conference title in the history of the World. So, naturally, 31 of our contestants predicted it to happen. In related news, unofficial tallies indicate 27 of our entrants think scientists will this year discover a live unicorn, and 16 believe the President will soon say something intelligent.

Only one person thought enough of the commissioners' reasoning yet also ignored our caveat that we weren't actually suggesting anyone pick Vanderbilt. Not surprisingly, it was M Leach, who also chose quarterfinal loser Ohio in the MAC and failed semifinalist Bucknell in the Patriot League and thus has "undertaken" fellow grade-schooler S Leach for last place. Still, the Little Leaches combined score is 10 points less than co-leader and alleged grown-up P Leach, who shares the lead with Fitzmyer.

The Big East has earned its own paragraph, as 23 of us liked loser Louisville, 7 preferred passed-by pConnecticut (Booth, Dallas, Fitzmyer, P Leach, Marshall, McAtee-Gattone, Selarnick), 5 never nixed ne'er-do-well Notre Dame (N Donadio, M Leach, Perry, Ripley, L Schlegel), and a single supporter selected sacked Syracuse (Packman). Georgetown jelled for just 25 of us, while pesky Pitt was picked by Karlsruher and M Siegel, and three marauders mugged for Marquette (Harlan, D Kedson, Sakowski).

Other early losers were Purdue (selected by Adams, De Maso, ME Donadio, N Donadio, B Kleiman, P Leach, Marshall, Simon, Smith), Xavier (chosen by 60 of our 66 entrants), Pacific (taken by George B, Booth, Nowlan, Cooper, Fitzmyer, Packman, S Leach, J McAtee, McKillip), Western Michigan (selected by Cooper, S Leach, R Simon), New Mexico (picked by Harlan, McAtee-Gattone), and Ohio State (chosen by commissioner D Kedson). The only people still alive in the Atlantic 10 are the six who took St. Joseph's (George B, N Donadio, M Josephs, Nowlan, L Schlegel, Settle).

There are still a lot of games to go tonight, but this commissioner is a little under the weather, so this will be the last update tonight. We hope to cover those games tomorrow, along with the 11 conference titles up for grabs.

(never mind)

Actually we don't have the Patriot League finals or any semifinals today. That would be tomorrow. Today, you'll get nothing and like it.

Mary, Mary, quite...

...the champion. Mount St. Mary's becomes the second conference winner of the year that was picked by nobody in our contest (joining San Diego). And if you consider some of the long shots chosen by our entrants, that's really saying something. In the Big Sky, Portland State (picked by 55) beat back Northern Arizona.

Fitzmyer and P Leach currently share the top spot, with 58 points. Tomorrow we have the Patriot League finals and a whole lot of semifinals, as we count down the minutes to Selection Sunday.

Have a field day.

The Butler did it

Bubble teams everywhere rejoice! The Horizon League finals are finished, and the Butlerian contrarians have been put in their place, as 63 of us predicted they would. Be. In the Summit, Oral Roberts (chosen by 51 of us) prevailed, although, sadly, Morehead State was rejected some time ago. The Sun Belt battle of the directional schools was won by Western Kentucky, picked by 20 of us, who mastered Middle Tennessee.

In the Big Sky semifinals, the five of us who liked Northern Arizona (ME Donadio, N Donadio, S Leach, M Peloso, Rybaltowski) bested the six of us who fancied Weber State (Cooper, J Donadio, M Leach, McAtee-Gattone, Packman, Sakowski). The late game features Portland State (picked by 55) against Idaho State (picked by zero), but we're not staying up to report the results.

Three entrants are tied for first with 53 points: Fitzmyer, McAtee-Gattone, and Perry Leach, who must have some evil science fiction thing going on, because Samantha Leach and Madison Leach are in last and second-to-last place, respectively, by a fairly wide margin.

Tomorrow, the Big Sky and NEC finals. Ee-yah.

No place like home

When we were giving tips on how to pick conference champions, we forgot to mention one little point. The team playing on its home court often has an advantage. Granted, we should have said something about it, but to be entirely honest we thought it was obvious. Alas, no, as exactly nobody picked San Diego, who just won the WCC championship in -- you guessed it -- San Diego.

On the flip side, a whole bunch of us (45, to be exact) picked South Alabama to win the Sun Belt championship on their home court, but they lost in the league semifinals, to Middle Tennessee State, picked only by Selarnick. MTSU will play Western Kentucky (chosen by 20) in the Sun Belt final.

In the Southern Conference, overwhelming favorite Davidson (selected by 64) overwhelmed Elon. In the Colonial and the MAAC, George Mason (picked by 8 -- see previous post for their names) and Siena (picked by 28) came through.

We're down to two co-leaders. Last season's pool champion, M Peloso, and rookie McAtee-Gattone currently share the lead with 40 points. Tomorrow we have championships for the Summit, Sun Belt, and Horizon, and semifinals for the Big Sky. See ya.

How could you not like the Drake?

57 entrants loved the Drake, and they were right. Now there are 29 people tied for first (new standings posted over there on the right side, where it says "Standings").

A bunch of semifinals today. In the Southern Conference, 64 of us picked Davidson and nobody picked Elon (the other league finalist). The only people out of this one are Acchione, who took Chattanooga, and McKillip, who chose Appalachian State. That is, they're the only people who are out of it unless Davidson loses... In the MAAC, 28 people liked Siena and 23 went for Rider. It's the 11 who chose Niagara, the two who tried Loyola-Maryland, and the individualists who checked the box for Marist and Fairfield (one each) who aren't so happy right now. In the America East Conference, 58 of us will be rooting for UMBC while only ME Donadio had the guts to come out for Hartford. The five people who chose Vermont (Dallas, M Leach, Reilly, Siegel, R Simon) and the two who picked Albany (J Donadio, S Leach) presumably used something other than guts. In the Patriot League, we had no clear favorite, although the most votes went to league finalist American (31). Un-American choices included Navy (15), Lafayette (11), Bucknell (6), and Holy Cross (Batman)(3). Nobody, however, smiled for Colgate, the other team who'll be playing for the conference title.

It's an entirely different kettle of picks in the Northeast Conference, where Mt. St. Mary's (chosen by no one) whupped Bob Morris (chosen by 46 of us), and will play Sacred Heart (picked by 9 -- Siegel, Wetherell, ME Donadio, Kasprzak, P Leach, S Leach, Nowlan, Reilly, Selarnick) for the conference championship. Eleven unfortunate music lovers went with Wagner. And in the Colonial Athletic Association, our overwhelming favorite, VCU (picked by 58), went down meekly to William & Mary (picked by a big fat zero). The Tribe moves on to face George Mason, chosen by eight astute entrants (Jon B, Brenner I, Brenner II, Dallas, P Leach, McAtee-Gattone, M Peloso, Selarnick).

San Diego beat St. Mary's in double OT, but it still allows us to mention three teams with "Mary" in their name in the same men's basketball blog entry. Nobody picked the Toreros -- though they were playing on their home floor and thus probably deserved some love -- who will face off against Gonzaga (chosen by 47) in the WCC championship. 19 misguided souls selected St. Mary's.

Four championships (MAAC, Colonial, WCC, Southern) tonight, plus two semifinals (Summit, Sun Belt). Have a great day.

Three more punch their ticket

Favorites Winthrop (chosen by 42 entrants), Belmont (56), and Austin Peay (58) won their conferences, meaning the three clever ones who pinned their hopes on Jacksonville (Dallas, L Donadio, M Leach) weren't so lucky (or so clever, to be brutally honest) after all.

More of the same in today's semifinals in the Horizon (the finals will feature Butler (63) vs. Cleveland State (M Leach only)) and the MVC (Drake (57) vs. Illinois State (Millan, Settle)). Overthinking losers in the MVC included M Josephs, P Leach, Sakowski, R Schlegel, and Salarnick, all of whom selected Southern Illinois, Acchione, who took Creighton, and Kasprzak, who went with Bradley.

Updated standings have been posted. More than half of us (35, to be precise) picked all four winners so far and have 20 points. On the other side of the spectrum, the Leach Sisters, Samantha and Madison (well, they might be cousins instead of sisters, I'm not really sure; but based on their selections I can say with confidence they come from the same gene pool), have only 15 points combined, after one or the other of them chose Tennessee-Martin, Murray State, Jacksonville, Cleveland State, UNC-Ashville, and Gardner-Webb -- and that's just counting the four conferences that have had semifinals so far, plus the Ivy League, who everybody got right. Suffice it to say this isn't the last we've heard of the Little Leaches.

Tomorrow's semifinals include the Southern, Colonial, WCC, MAAC, NEC, Patriot, and America East. The only final tomorrow is the MVC. Enjoy your weekend.

Clever and not

The OVC and Atlantic Sun played their semifinals tonight, and this is what we were talking about. Favorites Austin Peay (picked by 58 of us) and Belmont (56) advanced to their respective conference finals. But that was too easy for some of our contestants, who preferred the challenge of choosing the other team -- the team poised to pull off an upset and make the person who picked them look and feel like a genius. In the OVC, three entrants chose Murray State (Adams, ME Donadio, S Leach), two took Morehead State (N Donadio, Selarnick), two picked Tennessee-Martin (M Leach, Packman), and one went with Eastern Kentucky (Siegel). Yes, very clever, except all these guys lost. Austin Peay will be playing Tennessee State tomorrow, a team who absolutely nobody picked.

In the Atlantic Sun, Belmont will face off against Jacksonville, which was chosen by three entrants (Dallas, L Donadio, M Leach), most likely in a stroke of blind luck. Or not. Depends on who wins tomorrow night, doesn't it? Six would-be Einsteins rolled snake eyes on Eastern Tennessee State (George B, N Donadio, M Josephs, Packman, Perry, Selarnick) and S Leach gambled and lost on Gardner-Webb.

In other news, Wright State was the Wrong Pick for M Peloso and Settle in the Horizon, where 63 of us said the Butler will do it. The only Butlerian contrarian remaining is, of course, M Leach, who chose Cleveland State.

Tomorrow it's the finals of the Big South, OVC, and Atlantic Sun, and the semifinals of the Horizon and MVC. See you then.

Quinnipiac goes down

We are devastated to report that Quinnipiac has met its doom, with the end coming at approximately 8:57 pm (EST) at the hands of Mount St. Mary's in the NEC quarterfinals. Fortunately everyone took the commissioners' advice and refrained from choosing the Mighty Quinns to win their conference.

In other news, it's Winthrop vs. North Carolina-Ashville in the Big South finals. 42 of us selected Winthrop while 24 went with UNCA, so nobody's out of the Big South just yet. Tune in Saturday for the finals...

Yes, it's a 66-way tie for first!

And if you don't believe me, check out the standings (which for future reference may also be found on the right side of this page under the heading "Past Newsletters and Standings").

So, you're in first place. Print it out now!

Good Start...

Man, I hope everyone is 1 for 1 in the tournament pool as Cornell is the winner of the Ivy. Err...i hope no one went with the Quakers or Tigers out of pure name value. Every year the Ivy provides the chance for even the longest of long shots to win this pool and taste first place.