Eat Mor Chikin (or at least, Jayhawk)

The smoke has cleared and two more high seeds are gone. Virginia's demise came as a big surprise to our contestants, all but nine of whom (that's 70, to the you-know-what-impaired) chose Virginia into the Elite Eight. UVa was also taken by 37 of us into the Final Four and by Brenner, Templeton, and C Whiteside as champion, while upset winner Michigan State was chosen by 17 of us as a wildcard and by M Peloso as an Elite Eight team. We weren't quite as enamored with Kansas (35 into Elite Eight, 7 (Burch, T Cristinzio, D Kedson, S Leach, K Ripley, Tester, J Whiteside) into Final Four), but it still came as a bit of a Shocker, especially to J Whiteside who took the Jayhawks as his national champ.

Much less of a surprise was Duke's (67 into E8; 49 into F4; 18 as champ) win over San Diego State (M Kleiman and Schiarabba into Elite 8 and 13 entrants' wildcard); Gonzaga's (58; 25; 3 (Booth, M Josephs, K Ripley) victory over Iowa (wildcard of Burch and Marshall); and Wisconsin's (70; 39; 11) success over Oregon (Haklar's wildcard).

The other three games concerned only a few of us, like the eight (Crotts, Hahn, D Josephs, D Kedson, E Pogach, Rybaltowski, Serri, Tester) who took Oklahoma into their Elite Eight and the three (T Joseph, T Joseph 2, Millan) who picked Dayton as their wildcard. West Virginia (chosen into the Elite Eight by Mahalko and Steinhardt) beating Maryland (14 into E8 and Da Dye, L Leach, Selarnick into F4) had a similar non-effect, but no less so than Louisville (7 -- Barone, Booth, J Broder, T Cristinzio, Crotty, Mahalko, Joe Mc -- into E8; Booth into F4) over Northern Iowa (14 into E8; Fitch and D Kornfeld into F4).

Thrown to the wolves

Well, the craziest game of the day was the North Carolina State Wolfpack knocking out the Nova Gang. On the one side, kudos to Fitch, Hahn, E Pogach, Smith, and Warner, for picking NC State as their wildcard. On the other side, bit of a bummer for the 55 entrants who predicted VIllanova into the Elite Eight, the 35 of us who suggested Nova would make the Final Four, and especially for Bill Acchione, Geo B, A Cristinzio, and O'Brien, all of whom prematurely crowned Villanova as national champion.

Other than that, not a lot of action. Georgetown's loss disappointed the 13 of us who had the Hoyas as wildcards, as well as Burch and D Kornfeld, who pegged Georgetown as Elite Eight caliber. Xavier's victory rewarded Geo B and S Leach, who took Xavier as their wildcard, and raised the hopes of Booth, who picked the Musketeers into her Elite Eight. Arkansas' demise might have soured the evenings of Mash Leach and Rybaltowski, both of whom erroneously listed the Razorbacks among their Final Eight teams. And in the last game of the night, Notre Dame's exciting overtime victory disturbed the slumber of nobody except Schiarabba, who chose Butler into his Elite Eight.

Finally, anyone else notice when the announcers in the Kentucky/Cincinnati game exclaimed that the winner of the game would be rewarded with a trip to Cleveland? No offense to any Clevelanders out there, but when the Cincinnati players heard that, you could hardly blame them if they stopped trying.

We'll update the standings (to reflect wildcard points) after the games tomorrow.

Mild, Mild Mess

As exhilarating as Thursday's tournament games were, Friday's games could only be described as gnitaralihxe. As in, the opposite. In fact, the only upset of the entire day happened in the very last game, as 11-seeded Dayton played their second straight tournament game in their home state of Ohio and used that home advantage to climb past Providence in a 13 point yawner that finished after 1 am.

Not surprisingly, almost no upsets meant almost none of our contestants weeping, wailing, or even gnashing their teeth. Nobody lost a Champion or Final Four team today, and only Booth (Belmont) and A Cristinzio (Oklahoma State) lost an Elite Eight team.

There wasn't really even much wildcard action. People who picked Michigan State (17) and San Diego State (13) presumably smiled a little bit. The few who went out on a limb for Iowa (Burch, Marshall) or Oregon (Haklar) probably feel better than the equally few who dipped their toe in the water for Davidson (L Schlegel) or Georgia (L Leach, B Whiteside). Providence supporters (N Donadio, D Kornfeld, Kovolski, Mash Leach, K Sullivan, C Whiteside) probably wish the day was just a teensy bit more boring, although we imagine those who like Dayton (T Joseph, T Joseph 2, MIllan) disagree.

But besides that, blah. Hopefully the weekend will be more like yesterday than today.

Hmmmm

So, not to brag, but one commissioner is sitting in his den, with one game on the TV, a second game on his laptop, and a third game on his iPad. But that's not why ws've decided to post at this time. No, our actual reason is to tell you that the number of times that ALL TRHEE games are in commercial is absolutely staggering.

That is all.

Wild, Wild, Wildness

When the schedulers saw fit to give us 3 vs. 14 matchups in all three of the first three NCAA tournament games, we were disappointed. 14-seeds have only managed to beat 3-seeds 18 times in 120 games since the tourney went to 64 teams, 30 years ago, and only five times in the 21st century. Boring, boring, boring.

Shows what we know.

The first game was surprisingly close. Northeastern, down 2 with the ball and the shot clock off, managed not to get off a shot and Notre Dame survived, 69-65. We could practically hear the sighs of relief from the 17 of our contestants who picked the Irish into the Final Eight, and the heart palpitations of Brenner, Templeton, and M Kleiman, who took Notre Dame into the Final Four.

After that, bedlam. 14-seed UAB snuck by 3-seed Iowa State, 60-59, dashing the hopes of 18 of our entrants who took Iowa State to the Elite Eight and 9 of us (Baumgarten, Da Dye, D'Zuro, Gorenstein, Haklar, P Leach, O'Brien, Rybaltowski, Templeton) who hoped to ride the Cyclones to the Final Four. 14-seed Georgia State, playing without its starting point guard, knocked off 3-seed Baylor, 57-56, similarly minimizing the chances of 9 contestants (Burch, Crotty, Do Dye, M Josephs, L Leach, Marshall, K Ripley, R Schlegel, Warner) who liked Baylor into the Elite Eight, and especially Doug Dye, who picked the Bears to roar into Indianapolis.

Then 11-seed UCLA beat 6-seed SMU (much to the Elite Eight chagrin of Barone, M McAtee, Paston, E Pogach, and Serri), 60-59, on a controversially goaltended three-pointer with UCLA down two and just a few seconds left. Then Cincinnati edged Purdue, 66-65 in OT, then NC State (wild card choice of Fitch, Hahn, E Pogach, Smith, Warner) beat LSU (wild card selection of Gorenstein, Rubinson, Rybaltowski) by the same 66-65 score.

10-seed Ohio State beat 7-seed VCU, 75-72 in OT. 13-seed Harvard came this close to upsetting Booth, Burch (E8 & F4), A Cristinzio (E8 & F4), Crotty (E8 & F4), M Josephs, S Leach, Marshall, Steinhardt, and, oh yeah, 4-seed UNC, missing a three-point shot at the buzzer and losing 67-65. 12-seed Wofford had a similar opportunity but also came up short, 56-53, against Arkansas and Mash Leach (Ark into E8) and Rybaltowski (ditto).

So, counting the not-so-famed First Four, we had 12 games decided by four (4) or fewer points by the first Thursday night of the tournament. The five one-point games set a single-day NCAA tournament record, the six one-point games in the tournament so far (counting Dayton's win over Boise State in the First Four) are just one away from the record for one-point games (7) in an entire tournament. Add in single-digit wins by Utah and Butler, and that tied the single-day tournament record for most games decided by fewer than 10 points.

So, we guess that was a really long way of saying yesterday was a pretty good day. Here's hoping for even more zaniness in the next 12 hours.

Wild, Wild, Wildcats

We've run this contest for 25 years, and in every one of those years, our contestants have chosen a consensus champion. And every single one of those consensus champions have won. What? You find that hard to believe? Would you believe (we said, in our best Maxwell Smart voice), that almost every year our contestants have been right? No? Well, would you believe our contestants have at least been right more often than they're wrong? Still, no, eh? You're a tough customer. How about this, would you believe our entrants are correct often enough to, you know, be on the cusp of being sort of, maybe credible?

Aw, come on.

All right, you win. The actual answer is, a majority of our contestants have accurately predicted the national champion six (6) times in 25 years. Yeah, that does come out to 24%, what of it? well, if you're going to be that way about it...

So, while people who have time to click on internet polls on ESPN may think Kentucky has a better shot of winning than the field, they probably haven't heard that 37 of our 79 entrants (almost 47%) have chosen Kentucky to be their champion. So, yeah, we don't know about you, but we're taking the field.

Overall, eight different teams got votes for champion. And in what may be a contest first, all eight of our choices are either #1 seeds or #2 seeds. And the top four vote-getters are the four #1 seeds. Freaky, right? The full breakdown is as follows:

Kentucky: 37
Duke: 18
Wisconsin: 11
Villanova: 4 (Bi Acchione, Geo B, A Cristinzio, O'Brien)
Virginia: 3 (Brenner, Templeton, C Whiteside)
Gonzaga: 3 (Booth, M Josephs, K Ripley)
Arizona: 2 (N Donadio, S Leach)
Kansas: 1 (J Whiteside)

Also, note that three of the eight teams getting votes for national champions have the nickname "Wildcats." We'll let you figure out which three they are.

Meanwhile, for NCAA tournament games that nobody ever watches, the "First Four" had a lot of excitement this year (if something that nobody watches can be exciting, it's the falling-tree-making-a-sound thing all over again), featuring three games decided by four (4) or fewer points. Advancing to the actual NCAA tournament are Hampton (a team that evened its season record at 17-17 with the only double-digit victory of the four), Mississippi (comeback winner by 4 over BYU), Robert Morris (comeback winner by 4 over North Florida), and Dayton (comeback winner by 1 over Boise State on Dayton's home court in front of 12,000 Dayton fans).

The real games start tomorrow.

Wild, Wild, Wildcards

Every year, at least one person attempts to pull a fast one by us, and this year was no exception. Only thing different is it was just a single scofflaw this year, as only Templeton had the unmitigated gall to pick an illegal wild card, in his case, Butler (#18 in the AP poll accompanying the entry form).

That said, it's almost as bad to pick a wild card that wasn't even invited to play, as eight (8) contestants decided to try:

Murray State (3: J Whiteside, Serri, Steinhardt);
Temple (2: Joe Mc, J Broder);
Iona (M Kleiman);
Pitt (R Simon);
Colorado State (Sciarabba).

Our top Wildcard was Michigan State, with 17 votes. San Diego State (an 8-seed) and Georgetown (the highest seeded wildcard, with a 4-seed) each got 13 votes. After that, not including the five uninvited teams above, it was a mish-mosh:

Providence (chosen by 6: D Kornfeld, C Whiteside, N Donadio, K Sullivan, Kovalski, Mash Leach);
NC State (5: Hahn, E Pogach, G Warner, S Smith, Fitch);
Dayton (3: T Joseph, T Joseph 2, Millan);
LSU (3: Gorenstein, Rubinson, Rybaltowski);
Xavier (2: S Leach, Geo B);
Iowa (2: Marshall, Burch);
Georgia (2: L Leach, B Whiteside);
Mississippi (T Cristinzio);
Oregon (Haklar);
Harvard (A Cristinzio);
Davidson (L Schlegel);

Overall, six (6) wildcards come from the East Region, four (4) come from the South, four (4) from the West, and none (none) from the Midwest Region.

Finally, though having absolutely nothing to do with wildcards, let's take a quick, last look at our contestants' conference champion prowess. Out of 79 entrants, a whopping 12 got more than half the conference champions correct:

E Leach, Dale Dye: 20
Doug Dye: 19
L Schlegel, Geo B, Haklar: 18
Crotty, D'Zuro, J Donadio, Sr., Blaine, Biebel, O'Brien: 17

The other 67 contestants shot 50% or worse on conference champs. Good thing the "No Child Left Behind" law doesn't apply to us, eh?

...Go!

The field has been selected. The game is on. And Dale Dye has won the prize for being in first place at this moment in time.

Yes, Da Dye re-passed E Leach and won the prize with 208 points. E Leach's second place total is 202 points, and right behind him is L Schlegel (201), Doug Dye (200), and B Peloso (195).

After winning money her first two years and finishing just one point out of the money her third year, hard times have fallen on Steinhardt who currently sits in last place, with 146 points, tied with A Cristinzio (also 146).

We'll be bringing more cutting edge analysis as the week unfolds. Full standings may be found here or by clicking the Standings link on the right hand side of the page.

P.S.: After hearing our complaints yesterday regarding low scoring conference finals, Georgia State and Georgia Southern got together and played a 38-36 barnburner today (with Georgia State pulling it out). Apparently there's nothing to the rumor that they stopped play just after the 12 minute timeout in the first half.

Anteaters Rule

On the strength of his astute selection of the Cal-Irvine Anteaters, E Leach has surged into the contest lead going into the last day of conference tournaments, with 86 points. Da Dye slips into 2nd, with 84 points, followed by L Schlegel (81), T Cristinzio (79), and Do Dye, Mahalko, and Rubinson (each with 76).

Other than E Leach, the only anteater lovers among us were D Kedson and Tester. The other late games last night were won by Arizona (picked by 70 to win the PAC 12) and New Mexico State (favored by 78 to win the WAC).

Full up-to-date standings may be found through the Standings link on the right hand side of the page.

So, the last five conference finals today and then the Selection Special tonight. Big. Very big.

How low can you go?

The following final scores all happened today:

44-43
45-43
47-42
51-50
53-51
56-52
60-49

Did they stop playing at halftime? Was the shot clock broken? Whatever, if it doesn't affect the Pre-NCAA Contest, then it didn't really happen, right?

As of the time this post is being written, three conference finals are still going on:

-- Arizona (picked by 70) vs. Oregon (picked by none);

-- New Mexico State (picked by 78) vs. Seattle (picked by none);

AND a conference final we forgot to list in our earlier post:

-- BIG WEST: Cal-Irvine (selected by 3: D Kedson, E Leach, Tester) vs. Hawaii (chosen by no one).

Twelve conference champions popped a cork so far today:

-- AMERICA EAST: Albany (65);
-- ACC: Notre Dame (3: Geo B, E Pogach, L Schlegel);
-- BIG 12: Iowa State (15);
-- BIG EAST: Villanova (66);
-- BIG SKY: Eastern Washington (53);
-- CUSA: UAB (9: Geo B, Butscher, Da Dye, Do Dye, E Leach, Mad Leach, Mash Leach, Mahalko, Selig);
-- IVY: Harvard (73);
-- MAC: Buffalo (8: Baumgarten, Biebel, Harlan, Harlan 2, D Kedson, Rubinson, L Schlegel, Templeton);
-- MEAC: Hampton (0);
-- MOUNTAIN WEST: Wyoming (2: Booth, T Joseph);
-- SOUTHLAND: Stephen F. Austin (56);
-- SWAC: Texas Southern (47).

Five games are on tap for tomorrow:

-- AAC: SMU (59) vs. UConn (5: M Josephs, Rybaltowski, Selig 2, Steinhardt, Warner);

-- ATLANTIC 10: VCU (51) vs. Dayton (14);

-- BIG 10: Wisconsin (66) vs. Michigan State (4: M Josephs, Mad Leach, Steinhardt, Templeton);

-- SEC: Kentucky (78) vs. Arkansas (Rybaltowski);

-- SUN BELT (battle of the little Georgias): Georgia State (41) vs. Georgia Southern (18).


We have new standings, and a new leader -- Dale Dye sits atop the leaderboard with 74 points. Breathing down Da Dye's neck are E Leach and L Schlegel, each with 71 points, followed by T Cristinzio (69 pts), Mahalko (68), Doug Dye (66), Rubinson (66), and B Peloso (64). Floundering at the bottom is E Pogach (33), just a hair behind Hahn (36).

Full standings may be found at the link above or the Standings link on the right hand side of the page.

...Get Set...

It's the biggest day of championship week. Fourteen conferences decide their champions today or tonight and another five have semifinals. So let's break it down, conference by conference, shall we?

Today's Finals:

AMERICA EAST: Playing in the early game today, Albany (chosen by 65 of us) punched its ticket, beating Stony Brook (taken by 6: Gorenstein, Atkinson, L Leach, M Peloso, Serri, Grossman).

ACC: Top two choices Duke (picked by 42) and Virginia (29) both lost yesterday, meaning the ACC championship is down to Notre Dame (taken by 3: Geo B, E Pogach, L Schlegel) or UNC (selected by 2: Steinhardt, L Leach).

BIG 12: Kansas (chosen by 52) plays Iowa State (15) for the Big 12 championship.

BIG EAST: Villanova (selected by 66) takes on Xavier (selected by absolutely nobody) for the Big East title.

BIG SKY: Eastern Washington (liked by 53) plays a road game against Montana (supported by 8: Burch, Feinblatt, D Kedson, P Leach, Marshall, M McAtee, Tester, Rybaltowski) in Missoula for all the Big Sky marbles.

CUSA: It's UAB (chosen by 9) vs. Middle Tennessee State (chosen by nada) in Conference USA.

IVY: The Big Egghead Showdown happens today, as Harvard (liked by 73) and Yale (favorited by 6: Joe Mc, Templeton, E Pogach, Hahn, Steinhardt, P Ripley) square off to determine the Ivy champ.

MAC: Central Michigan (taken by 29) faces off against Buffalo (8: Baumgarten, Biebel, Harlan, Harlan 2, D Kedson, Rubinson, L Schlegel, Templeton) for top spot in the MAC.

MEAC: After both NCCU (wanted by 67) and Norfolk State (12) went down yesterday, it's Goose Egg City in the MEAC, where Hampton (chosen by none of us) and Delaware State (equally chosen by a big zero) vie for the MEAC's NCAAT berth.

MOUNTAIN WEST: Favorite San Diego State (favorite of 66 of us, anyway) tries to stave off Wyoming (favorite of 2: Booth and T Joseph) for the Mountain West crown.

PAC 12: In a league where mathematics seems much more important than in rival conferences like the Big 10, Big 12, and Atlantic 10, Arizona (taken by 70) hopes to take Oregon (taken by zilch) down for the count.

SOUTHLAND: In an epic batter between really old, dead Texans, Stephen F. Austin (chosen by 56) hopes to vanquish Sam Houston (selected by 22) for the Southland championship.

SWAC: 47 of us stand behind Texas Southern, while only 5 (Atkinson, Butscher, A Cristinzio, T Cristinzio, E Pogach) seem to think Southern has a chance in the Sealed-With-A-?-Conference.

WAC: Way out west in the WAC, all but one of us picked New Mexico State (78), and the one who didn't, didn't pick Seattle (0).


Today's Semifinals:

AAC:
-- SMU (59) vs. Temple (7: Atkinson, Hahn, Joe Mc, L Schlegel, Selarnick, R Simon, Tester);
-- UConn (5: M Josephs, Rybaltowski, Selig 2, Steinhardt, Warner) vs. Tulsa (4: Booth, T Cristinzio, Rubinson, B Whiteside).

ATLANTIC 10:
-- VCU (51) vs. Davidson (9);
-- Dayton (14) vs. Rhode Island (2: Selig 2, Steinhardt).

BIG 10:
-- Wisconsin (66) vs. Purdue (0);
-- Maryland (8: A Cristinzio, J Donadio, Sr., Hahn, D Josephs, Kovolski, S Leach, E Pogach, Selarnick) vs. Michigan State (4: M Josephs, Mad Leach, Steinhardt, Templeton).

SEC:
-- Kentucky (78) vs. Auburn (0);
-- Arkansas (1: Rybaltowski) vs. Georgia (0).

SUN BELT:
-- Georgia State (41) vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (1: L Leach);
-- Georgia Southern (18) vs. Louisiana-Monroe (19).


Note that we haven't updated the standings to reflect Albany's win; we'll take care of that later after the other dominoes fall.

Living At-Large

Far as we can tell, neither yesterday nor today will crown any new conference champions. And yesterday didn't even move any conference significantly closer to doing so. Yeah, in Conference USA, 16 people lost ODU and five (Booth, J Broder, Atkinson, R Simon, T Cristinzio) lost Western Kentucky. A few entrants' misplaced faith on teams like Long Beach State (Templeton, Gorenstein), Utah State (Templeton) and Kent State (N Donadio, M McAtee, P Leach, B Whiteside, Da Dye, Do Dye, Crotts, Atkinson) was dashed. But basically, as far as the contest is concerned, nothing happened yesterday.

Well, not really nothing. What happened was a bunch of bubble teams tried to bolster their tournament resumes. Since we have nothing else to write about, here's a list of teams that at least some of us like for at-large bids that lost yesterday:

BAD LOSSES:
Ole Miss (chosen by 78) lost to South Carolina;
Illinois (chosen by 39) crushed by Michigan;
Iowa (chosen by 67) lost to Penn State;
Texas A&M (chosen by 73) lost to Auburn;

NOT NECESSARILY BAD BUT POSSIBLY CRITICAL LOSSES:
Miami (chosen by 18) lost to Notre Dame;
UMass (chosen by Steinhardt) lost to La Salle;
St. John's (chosen by 63, including Atkinson to win the Big East) lost to Providence;
Texas (chosen by 43) lost to Iowa State;
Stanford (chosen by 49) lost to Utah;

PROBABLY DON'T MATTER BUT WE MIGHT AS WELL LIST THEM ANYWAY:
West Virginia (chosen by 77, including Steinhardt to win the Big 12) lost to Baylor;
Louisville (chosen by 79, including Booth and A Cristinzio to win the ACC) lost to UNC;
NC State (chosen by 62, including Fitch to win the ACC) crushed by Duke;
Oklahoma State (chosen by 72) lost to Oklahoma;
Butler (chosen by 76, including Booth, Baumgarten, Burch, P Leach, Marshall, Templeton, J Donadio, Sr. to win the Big East) lost to Xavier.

More at-large hopes will presumably be dashed today/tonight. Stay tuned.

Wild, Wild North

We're sorry we haven't been able to post over the past four days. The writer-commissioner was on the road with spotty internet access. But we're back and have lots to talk about.

For starters, would you believe that out of the 12 automatic bid winners so far, a whopping 33% of them (that's four for the math-impaired) start their school name with "North"? Certainly easier to believe is that all four of these northern teams came as complete surprises to our contestants. Well, if we wanted to be fair we'd note that Northern Iowa winning the MVC was only a surprise to a bit more than half of us, having been chosen by 38 of our 79 entrants. But being fair has never been one of our goals, so we'd much rather dwell on the fact that only 22 contestants selected North Florida to win the Atlantic Sun, just 15 of us favored North Dakota State to win the Summit, and only 12 poolsters were savvy enough to go with Northeastern in the Colonial. To round out the theme, a mere four (4) entrants (Fitch, E Pogach, Mash Leach, T Cristinzio) had the sense to pick Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference.

Of course, this begs the question: how many of the 12 conference champions did more than half of us predict? That answer would be three (3), or 25% to the math-capable. Those three easy-to-guess conference champs were Gonzaga (chosen by 78), Wofford (taken by 68), and Valparaiso (selected by 58). No matter how you slice it, however, that's fewer than the number of conference-winners starting with "North."

It's also fewer than the number of conference champions (four) chosen by fewer than five of us: Robert Morris in the NEC (4, see two paragraphs above); Belmont in the OVC (4: Butscher, Crotts, L Leach, Booth); Manhattan in the MAAC (Madison Leach only); and Lafayette in the Patriot (nobody).

Pretty far away from North, 26 of us cashed in with Coastal Carolina in the Big South.

In the America East conference, Albany (taken by 65 of us) will take on Stony Brook (picked by just 6: Gorenstein, Atkinson, L Leach, M Peloso, Serri, Grossman), this coming Saturday. Other than that conference and the 12 conferences who have already crowned their champions, the only eliminated team chosen by any of our entrants is Bowling Green in the MAC (liked by 7: D Kornfeld, R Wanger, T Cristinzio, Kovolski, E Pogach, Serri, T Joseph).

Practically the last thing we said before our hiatus was that Yale had bulled its way into control of the Ivy League race. Practically the next thing Yale did was flop against Dartmouth, blowing their seemingly insurmountable lead and dropping into a first-place tie with Harvard, which will be decided in a one-game playoff this Saturday at the Palestra. This was sad news for Joe Mc, Templeton, E Pogach, Hahn, Steinhardt, and P Ripley, all of whom picked Yale, but not so sad for Nocilla, who we erroneously reported to have picked Yale but in fact picked Harvard.

Out of the 12 conferences that have been decided, just three (3) of our 79 contestants have gotten more than half right. Not coincidentally, those three are our current leaders: T Cristinzio is atop the leader board with 38 points, followed closely by E Leach and Rubinson, both of whom have 35. All three of these guys can stand proud knowing they've gotten 7 of 12 correct so far, for a percentage (58.3%) that would have gotten them held back in middle school. Even worse than our leaders, although still better than the vast majority of our entrants, are the six playahs who so far have predicted exactly half of the conference champs (that would be 6 for those pesky math-impaired): Dye, with 33 points, and S Leach, Mash Leach, Mahalko, R Simon, and J Whiteside, each of whom has 30. It should be noted that Mad Leach and L Leach are among the six contestants tied for 10th place with 28 points, meaning we have a Leachfest like never before seen in these parts, with five Leaches currently in our top ten.

Full standings may be seen here, or in the Standings link on the right hand side of the page.

Anyway, we're home now, so expect contest updates more regularly from here on out.

Wild, Wild (Big) South

Lots of zaniness in the Big South last night, where ninth-seeded Longwood blasted top-seeded Charleston Southern (chosen by 10 of us), and seventh-seeded Gardner-Webb knocked off #2 High Point (favored by 32 entrants). Third-seeded Coastal Carolina (picked by 26) survived, trouncing UNCA (taken by T Joseph, Hahn, and J Broder). And fifth-seeded Winthrop (selected by Crotts, P Leach, and Brenner) edged #4 Radford (liked by Templeton, O'Brien, E Pogach, Tester, and Steinhardt) by one lousy point.

Everyone in the contest chose either Wichita State or Northern Iowa (both of which won last night) to win the MVC -- everyone except Rybaltowski, that is, who so far is still alive with Illinois State, a team good enough to beat E-ville by four.

The only other game with contest ramifications came in the Ivy League, of all places. Yale (chosen by 6 of us: Joe Mc, Templeton, E Pogach, Hahn, Steinhardt, P Ripley, and Nocilla) handled Harvard (taken by 73) in Cambridge, and suddenly the Yalees are in control of the Ivy race. And since (as we all know) there's no tournament in Ivyland, that's a big deal.

We may only be able to post sporadically over the next few days, but we'll attempt to hit the high spots.

The first big hit

On the third day, Florida Gulf Coast went down. Dashing the hopes of 55 of our entrants and representing the first big hit of the season. Only one of our contestants selected USC Upstate (slayer of FGCU in a thrilling 63-62 contest) and that was Joe Mc.

The only other game with any contest repercussions was American (chosen only by Fitch) laying Lehigh low (chosen by Selig, Rubinson, Hahn, M McAtee, L Leach, and Cristinzio). L Leach has joined Crotts as the only entrants who have already lost two conference champions (EDIT: two champions other than FGCU).

More games today.

Crotts to you

So far we've had two days of early-tournament action, with few games and even fewer unexpected results. In fact, only two teams have lost so far that had any votes at all from our contestants.

Amazingly, one of our entrants chose both those early losers. That would be Crotts, who chose Northern Kentucky to win the Atlantic Sun and Mount St. Mary's to win the NEC. Two other entrants, Templeton and L Leach, joined Crotts in choosing Mount St. Mary's. Everybody else still has all their winners intact. Which of course is a circumstance we expect will end tonight.

Stay tuned.

RIP, Al Alberts

The commissioners are saddened to have learned that Alberts has passed on to that great sports book in the sky.

One of the few people who played in each of the first 25 Pre-NCAA contests, he was also one of our best recruiters, bringing friends and co-workers to the contest in droves. His highest contest achievement was a second place finish in 1996, but he was usually hanging out in the top 20.

We used to play in "Sportie Al's" weekly college basketball pool back when he worked at Urban Engineers, and remember him as a really nice guy who was totally devoted to sports. You can bet that wherever he is now, he's either running some heavenly pool or participating in one.

We'll miss you, Al. The contest won't be the same without you.

On your mark...

Ah, March. A lovely time of year. Unless you live in the northeastern U.S., where there's snow and ice everywhere. But even with the frigid weather, March is a lovely time for college hoops fans, especially if you've entered the Pre-NCAA Contest, now in its 26th season.

This year we have 79 entrants in our contest, down from last season but even that can't dim our smiles. (Not sure yet how many of those 79 are paying entrants.)

More importantly, we got games tomorrow -- conference tournament games, that is. The post-season begins on Tuesday, March 3, in the Atlantic Sun, Horizon, and Patriot leagues. And the commissioners will be paying attention.

So come on back, for news, quips, and pseudo-witty remarks. The Contest has begun.

Here we go again

How time flies. The 26th annual Pre-NCAA Contest is accepting entries through the end of the week.

Deadline is Friday, February 27. Relevant links are below.

Entry Form

Rules

Payment this year will be accepted through venmo.

We hope to be "discussing" your entry soon.

UConn't believe it...

For the second time in four years UConn has won the national championship with a team that couldn't even finish near the top of its conference standings (this year, UConn finished 3rd in the AAC; in 2011, the Huskies finished in a three-way tie for 9th/10th/11th in the Big East).

But Connecticut won when it counted, something we can also say about our prizewinners, Baumgarten (1st), McKillip (2nd), Haklar (tied for 3rd), M Josephs (tied for 3rd), and J Donadio, Jr. (1st when the field was chosen).

We had 88 entries that "counted," meaning the prizes will be 438 "credits" to Baumgarten, 219 to McKillip, 36.50 each to Haklar and M Josephs, and 100 to J Donadio, Jr.

Booth didn't win any moolah, but she does get to bask in eternal glory.

We bid you a fond adieu. See you next year.

Fitting End

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rivalocity

With all due respect to Florida, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Kentucky, this Tournament's "One Shining Moment" has already occurred. After a full decade of debasement, humiliation, and suffering her brother-in-law's taunts after ten consecutive ignominious defeats... after losing to him in last year's contest by, and we quote, "ONE F**CKING POINT!!!"... after getting busy at work and not having much time to devote to this year's entry... after hearing her rival's prediction that once again he (and, again, we quote), "Will crush Nancy and the twins! Shabba!!!! Mista Lova Lova!"... well, we're here to report something we never thought possible: Booth (245 points) has beaten Whiteside (225).

Sure, Whiteside picked Florida as his champion and Booth's champ (Arizona) is long gone, so if the Gators win then technically he can pull victory out of defeat's proverbial jaws, but (a) we've always reported the Rivals results in the days before the Final Four; and (b) we've never allowed a mere technicality to get in the way of a good story. So go ahead, Booth, bask in the glory and pour yourself a nice glass of champagne. You've earned it.

Whiteside's nightmare doesn't stop there, though. For what could be worse for a parent than to badmouth your own flesh-and-blood -- and then watch the little punk whup your butt? Yes, C Whiteside (225) did manage to beat out little girl B Whiteside (212), but the other twin, J Whiteside ("I'm 7 minutes older than [my sister] Brenna and will crush her like a bug" -- but unlike his daddy at least the kid backed it up) spanked his old man, 237 to 225. To add the final ignominy to C Whiteside's year, workplace rival McKillip (253) smacked him around as well, and that's final even if Florida wins.

Though they didn't necessarily talk trash at Whiteside levels, children beating up on their parents was somewhat of a theme this season, with S Adams (229) besting father Coach Doc (223); Brenner, Jr. (232) beating Brenner (230); L Schlegel (220) punishing R Schlegel (203); M Josephs (252) putting the hurt on D Josephs (217); Mad Leach (249) pummeling P Leach (230), who in turn edged his own dad, E Leach (227); both K Ripley (219) and M Wanger (211) topping R Wanger (202); and patriarch J Donadio, Jr. (235) losing to not one, not two, but all three of his progeny, N Donadio (245), J Donadio, Jr. (243), and L Donadio (238). In a notable exception to the rule, even languishing in 76th place didn't prevent J McAtee (202) from finishing ahead of son M McAtee (170).

While P Leach (230) handled his dad and also contrived to beat one of his two daughters -- S Leach (183) -- he also managed to get stomped by the family pet (L Leach, 232). In the battle of Leach dogs, Leo Leach (232) also beat Surprise Leach (225).

After a disappointing 2013 when K Ripley (219) lost to pretty much everyone she cares about, she made up for it this year by reestablishing her dominance over not only her father R Wanger (202) but also brother M Wanger (211) and husband P Ripley (217).

We don't know if a tie is like kissing your arch-nemesis, but maybe B Peloso (227) and K Sullivan (227) can tell us. At least B Peloso eked out a win over his Duke-loving wife M Peloso (207), while K Sullivan suffered the shame of failing before her deceased mother-in-law, Haklar (252).

G Wright (225) has meandered around the middle of the standings while still pounding her hubby B Wright (136) by 89 points. A Cristinzio (188) did her one better, hanging out in 86th place while still beating T Cristinzio (155) by 33, though we don't know what relationship the Cristinzios have with each other. Also in the we-don't-have-any-idea-what-their-relationship-is category, Dale Dye (232) defeated Doug Dye (216).

Unlike Whiteside, Millan more or less split with his rivals, coming out ahead of T Joseph (192) and Karlsruher (210) and behind T Joseph 2 (234), Brenner, Jr. (232), and Brenner (230). In the seemingly crowded 12A, Serri (234) emerged as the leader, ahead of Sciarabba (230), Isdaner (226), Gorenstein (204), Selarnick (178), and Moscow (166). Among members of DBR (using DBR handles rather than pool names), Kedsy (247) has emerged victorious over nocilla (225), BlueKevIL (225), ACCBBallFan (223), Ferryfor50 (213), tommy (204), Mike Corey (198), and superdave (184).

We had more Jekyll and Hyde situations than usual this year, and Jekyll won most of them, as Lenok (187) led Lenok 2 (172); Pomerantz (228) pounded Pomerantz 2 (193), and Selig (227) seared Selig 2 (185). The only Hyde hammer was T Joseph 2 (234) topping T Joseph (192).

We hope you enjoyed the contest. Have fun watching the Final Four, and we'll report back next week with a final wrap up.

Tag Team Tussles

After doing this for 25 years, we guess it makes sense that (for the fifth year in a row), the average commissioner (249.5 points) has bragging rights over the average pool entrant (214.1). Also completely logical is the idea that females (226.5) sit comfortably atop males (212.83), and that children (228.38) bettered their betters. Most sensible of all is the universal truth that dogs (228.5) are smarter than humans (214.89) who are smarter than lawyers (206.25). And we guess it really did hurt when angels (183.0) fell from heaven.

This year's top Tag Team was the Donadio Group (240.25), which sported nearly a ten point lead over its nearest competitor. The Rivals of Millan (220.17) have quite a ways to go before they can rival Whiteside and his Enemies (230.67), or even get the better of People who know Natalini (220.4). Last year's Tag Team darlings, the Members of DBR (214.88), this season became mired in mediocrity, barely ahead of the Ripley Believe it or Nots (212.25). And, as we've grown accustomed over a quarter of a century, the Leach Gang (207.33) can't shoot straight, although at least they were more accurate than the Boys from 12A (205.57) and the Urban Engineers (186.78).

Regionally, if you want to pick pools, go West, young man (or young woman -- we don't discriminate here, especially since (as noted above) women scored better than men), as Western entries averaged 225.0, better than New England (218.0), the South (211.25), the Mid-Atlantic region (211.25), and the Midwest (211.0). Even in Pennsylvania, West(ern PA, 222.5) is smarter than the rest of the state (215.3). And if you think going all the way out to China (210.0) will help you, think again.

Neither Philadelphia (208.4) nor New York (203.25) were particularly good places from which to pick pools this season, but halfway in-between in Central Jersey (240.25), it wasn't so bad. The Philadelphia suburbs (216.0) once again kicked the collective butts of the Philadelphia urbs (208.4).

People named Matt (245.0), Ed (240.0), Brett (231.0), and Kevin (229.5) are good people to trust, but whatever you do, don't listen to George (202.0), Harry (196.0), Al (189.5), or Bob (181.5). And you probably shouldn't try to be like Mike (203.56), either. Neither smart nor stupid were Luke/Lucia (229.0), Jack/Jake (223.5), John/Jon (219.88), Nick (215.33), David (211.2), Jeff (208.0), and Rick (205.5).

Our most popular college, with 12 votes, was Penn State, although Nittany Lion groupthink (210.58) was only good for 21st place among participating universities. Among rivalry schools, Princeton (237.0) trounced Penn (180.5), Michigan (226.0) edged Michigan State (222.5), Temple (221.2) clobbered Villanova (165.0), UNC (234.0) piled on against Duke (217.0), and Ursinus (211.5) bested Widener (202.0). Brand new ACC member Syracuse (204.5) showed outgoing Maryland (195.4) the door.

Looking at conference affiliations of favorite schools, the West Coast Conference (245.0) and Conference USA (235.0) were the class of the contest. The SEC can not only boast two teams in the Final Four, but also a tie for 3rd (along with the AAC) in our contest, with a 224.0 average. The ten member Big 12 (221.0) skunked the twelve member Big 10 (212.62). And the new, improved ACC (210.52) couldn't even beat out the Patriot League (219.0) or the Atlantic 10 (217.0). Fans of lower division schools (216.5) have a ways to go before they can move up, while it appears Ivy Leaguers (207.0) aren't as smart as they think. The CAA (205.0), the Southern Conference (179.0), and most of all the new Big East (165.0), probably ought to take up croquet or something.

When it comes to occupations, those in writing (236.5) and entertainment (243.0) seem to know what they're doing. Financial executives (234.5) are just a bit cleverer than people who work with numbers (223.0) or computers (221.33). Students (223.5) can now justify not listening to teachers (209.67). Attorneys (204.2) rank in the middle of Real Estate (205.0) and Insurance (192.0) professionals. Retired people (204.0) have once again shown they're retired for a reason. And clearly health care professionals (190.0) and engineers (185.4) have way too much on their plates to worry about a silly little contest like this.

Next time: Rivals! And we all know you don't want to miss that.

50%

Back in the day, we used to lament that our contestants were rarely able to rise to the success level that would pass a third grade spelling test. At the time we were talking about the 60% that would merit a "D" in an elementary school exam. Of course, times have changed over the 25 years we've run the contest. Grade inflation in the schools has run rampant. These days the kids have to really try to get as low as 60%.

Which makes this year's "achievement" by our entrants that much more impressive, because our group seems to have gone the other way entirely. At every opportunity.

When it came to conference champions, exactly one (1) of us even reached the 50% level, as J Donadio, Jr., alone, managed 16 out of 32. Only seven contestants (including J Donadio, Jr.) got as high as 46.9% (15), the others being Steinhardt, DaLauro Jr, Mad Leach, Marshall, s adams, and T Joseph 2, while ten contestants managed less than 30%: B Brenner (9), S Leach (9), Templeton (9), B Wright (9), Sanders (8), Selarnick (8), Crotts (8), M Pogach (8), M Paston (8), and L Leach (7 -- 21.9%).

We had high hopes that our abysmal conference champ performance was an aberration, that things would improve once we got to the Elite Eight and beyond. Uh, yeah, right. Exactly one (1) playah beat 50% on Elite Eight teams (M Josephs, with 5 of 8). Another 23 of us got exactly 50%, while two contestants (M McAtee and B Wright) guessed just one (1) Elite Eight team correctly (that would be 12.5%), and three (3) contestants (Urban Angels, T Cristinzio, and Lenok 2) got zero (0) Elite Eight teams. Yeah since most of you reading are pretty much the people we're talking about, we feel compelled to point out that last equation works out to 0%.

Nobody beat 50% when it came to predicting Final Four teams, although 12 of us hit the 50% mark exactly. Unfortunately, that "success" mark is dwarfed by the 28 (!) prognosticators who found their way to zero (0) correct Final Four teams. And just in case you've forgotten, that still comes out to 0%.

If you're hoping that we'll make a valiant comeback when it comes to national champion, well, fuggedaboudit. Only 29 of us (28.2%) still have a champion alive. That would include the 28 of us that chose Florida and new leader Baumgarten, who took Wisconsin. None of us were savvy enough to choose Kentucky or Connecticut, meaning that other than those who selected the #1 team in the country on the day the pool was due, only one (1) of us managed to have a champion alive going into the tournament's final weekend. Please don't think us rude if we don't ask you guys for stock tips.

For what it's worth, 69 people took Florida into the Final Four. Nine entrants each took Kentucky (Booth, Brenner, Case, D Kedson, L Leach, M Paston, Pomerantz, R Simon, Steinhardt) and Wisconsin (Baumgarten, Brenner, Jr., N Donadio, J Donadio, Sr., Haklar, T Joseph 2, L Leach, McKillip, L Schlegel). Nobody picked Connecticut.

If Florida wins next Monday, our winners will be McKillip, Steinhardt (who, if she does finish 2nd, will have the distinction of winning some moolah in each of the three years she has entered the contest), and J Donadio, Jr.. If anything else happens, our winners will be Baumgarten, McKillip, and Haklar.

Full standings may once again be found using the link on the right hand side of the page. Tune in during the coming week for the ever-popular Tag Team totals and the 2014 edition of Rivals.

Two down

Two Final Four teams decided tonight -- our top pick Florida (chosen by 69) beat Dayton, and our not-anywhere-close-to-top-pick, Wisconsin (taken by just 9: Baumgarten, Brenner, Jr., N Donadio, J Donadio, Sr., Haklar, T Joseph 2, L Leach, McKillip, L Schlegel), are both in the Final Four and awaiting the other two tomorrow.

J Donadio, Jr. (243 points) still maintains a five point lead over sister L Donadio (238 points), but more importantly trails brother N Donadio (245) and is mired in 7th place. Our new first placeholder is Baumgarten, with 257 points, and is followed by McKillip (253), Haklar (252), M Josephs (252), and Mad Leach (249). Full standings may be found using the link on the right-hand side of the page.

Final Four is a wrap tomorrow. See you then.

...there

Here's a fun little tidbit to think about next time you fill out a pre-NCAA contest entry: in each of the past 7 years, and in 19 out of the last 25 years, at least one team from the previous year's Final Four made it again. For example, last season the surprise of the 2012 Final Four, Louisville, repeated its Final Four appearance and won the national championship for good measure. This year, with Wichita State and Louisville both going down to Kentucky (and with Syracuse losing to Dayton in the 2nd round), the only hope for a repeat Final Four team is Michigan, after the Wolverines beat Tennessee by two.

At least 50 of our entrants were happy with Michigan State's two point victory over Virginia. Kentucky and Michigan were each the darling of 19 contestants, while only Barone and A Cristinzio are toasting 7-seed Connecticut's latest Elite Eight appearance.

J Donadio, Jr. has dropped from the top spot and is currently in 3rd place, stuck on 223 points. M Josephs surged into the lead for the first time since 1998, with 232 points, though Madison Leach (229 points) is hot on his proverbial heels. Urban Angels (114) and B Wright (136) are still queuing up at the end of the line. Full standings may be found using the link on the right-hand side of the page.

Halfway...

Nobody picked Dayton. Only 29 people picked Wisconsin into the Elite Eight, and those entrants are dominating the top of the leader board in the fairly meaningless "halfway" standings (available from the link on the right-hand side of the page). Florida and Arizona were our 1st and 4th favorite Elite Eight choices, so not a lot of drama there.

Perhaps both meaningful and dramatic is the fact that J Donadio, Jr. (who did not pick Wisconsin) continues to cling to the top spot with 223 points, just 3 points ahead of non-paying ESPN Bracketology (220), and only 5 points ahead of his sister L Donadio (218). Baumgarten (217) is also putting some heat on the leaders.

Only 9 contestants have Wisconsin into the Final Four (Baumgarten, Brenner, Jr., N Donadio, J Donadio, Sr., Haklar, T Joseph 2, L Leach, McKillip, L Schlegel). Florida and Arizona are our 1st and 5th favorite Final Four choices. Again, nobody has Dayton.

In tonight's games, 50 contestants chose 4-seed Michigan State while only 25 took 1-seed Virginia. Ten (10) entrants went with Iowa State while only two (2: Barone, A Cristinzio) took a chance on Connecticut. We had 19 people each who liked Michigan and Kentucky into the Elite Eight, while 43 favored Louisville. Tennessee would join Dayton in the Oops Brigade.

There are no wild cards still standing.

Things will sort out a little more tonight. Enjoy the games.

Who we thought would be Elite and Final

Here's something moderately interesting. In most years our top choices for champion, Final Four, and Elite Eight are the same (or very close to it). Not so much this year:

Top four choices for champion:

Florida: 28
Arizona: 18
Duke: 15
Syracuse: 14

Top four choices for Final Four:

Florida: 69
Kansas: 59
Syracuse: 51
Duke: 46

Top four choices for Elite Eight:

Florida: 92
Kansas: 82
Syracuse: 82
Arizona: 80

So, Duke was 3rd most popular champion, 4th most popular Final Four choice, and 5th most popular Elite Eight selection. Kansas was 2nd most popular Final Four, tied for 2nd most popular Elite Eight, and only 5th most popular champion. Arizona was 2nd most popular champion, 5th most popular Final Four choice, and 4th most popular Elite Eight team. Syracuse went 4th, tied for 2nd, and 3rd. Of course, three of those four teams have lost to double-digit seeds already, so there's also that.

Correlating our choices to the selection committee's seeding, our top four Final Four choices included a 1-seed, a 2-seed, and two 3-seeds. Our next four most popular Final Four choices included two 1s and two 4s. The last 1-seed went to our tied-for-16th choice for Final Four. Nice to be right on top of things, right?

Here's the full list of all teams chosen for the Elite Eight:

Florida (chosen by 92 out of 103 contestants)
Syracuse (82)
Kansas (82)
Arizona (80)
Duke (75)
Wichita State (65)
Michigan State (50)
Louisville (43)
Villanova (36)
Creighton (36)
Wisconsin (29)
Virginia (25)
Michigan (19)
Kentucky (19)
Saint Louis (16)
Cincinnati (14)
Iowa State (10)
San Diego State (9: Butscher, Chumchucker, L Leach, M Paston, M Peloso, Pomerantz, Steitz, Watson, B Wright)
SMU (5: Case, Gorenstein, Lenok 2, M McAtee, Templeton)
North Carolina (4: DeLauro, Jr., Lenok 2, Rybaltowski, Serri)
Ohio State (4: Baumgarten, B Brenner, S Leach, R Simon)
Gonzaga (3: T Cristinzio, J McAtee, B Wright)
Connecticut (2: Barone, A Cristinzio)
Oklahoma State (2: D Kornfeld, Steitz)
St. Joseph's (2: Crotty, J McAtee)
UCLA (2: Chumchucker, Kovolski)
Boston U (2: Kovolski, Urban Angels)
Chattanooga (Urban Angels)
Houston (Urban Angels)
NC Central (Urban Angels)
UNC-Asheville (Urban Angels)
North Dakota State (Urban Angels)
New Mexico State (Urban Angels)
Delaware (A Cristinzio)
Clemson (A Cristinzio)
Baylor (A Cristinzio)
Harvard (Corey)
Memphis (Rybaltowski)
Xavier (Booth)
Pittsburgh (Isdaner)
Southern Mississippi (T Cristinzio)
Texas (Selarnick)
New Mexico (T Joseph 2)

Here's our full Final Four list:

Florida (69)
Kansas (59)
Syracuse (51)
Duke (46)
Arizona (40)
Wichita State (31)
Michigan State (21)
Louisville (19)
Villanova (11)
Creighton (10)
Kentucky (9: Booth, Brenner, Case, D Kedson, L Leach, M Paston, Pomerantz, R Simon, Steinhardt)
Wisconsin (9: Baumgarten, Brenner, Jr., N Donadio, J Donadio, Sr., Haklar, T Joseph 2, L Leach, McKillip, L Schlegel)
Michigan (8: Barone, Booth, Kovolski, L Leach, S Leach, McKillip, R Wanger, G Wright)
Cincinnati (7: Butscher, T Joseph, M Leach, Moscow, M Peloso, Selarnick, B Wright)
San Diego State (5: Butscher, Chumchucker, M Peloso, Steitz, B Wright)
Saint Louis (4: E Albert, D Kornfeld, E Leach, Watson)
Virginia (4: Babenzien, D Josephs, M Leach, Mahalko)
Iowa State (2: Brenner, R Simon)
St. Joseph's (Crotty)
Baylor (A Cristinzio)
Memphis (Rybaltowski)
UCLA (Urban Angels)
Georgetown (Urban Angels)
Texas San Antonio (Urban Angels)
Texas Southern (Urban Angels)

Yeah, we know. It'll be nice when we actually have more real games to write about.

Cool stat

Here's a weird-but-fun stat for people who like weird-but-fun stats: in the past four years before this season, 14 teams seeded 7 or better in the NCAA tournament had been among the 50 slowest-paced teams in the country and also had one of the 150 easiest non-conference schedules (stats from kenpom.com). Among those 14 teams, an amazing 12 of them lost early to a team seeded 3 or more spots below them (e.g., 7 losing to a 10 is 3 spots below):

2010 Notre Dame, 6-seed lost to 11-seed in round of 64
2010 Marquette, 6-seed lost to 11-seed in round of 64
2010 Pittsburgh, 3-seed lost to 6-seed in round of 32
2011 Texas A&M, 7-seed lost to 10-seed in round of 64
2011 Cincinnati, 6-seed lost to 3-seed in round of 32**
2011 Wisconsin, 4-seed lost to 8-seed in round of 16
2011 Pittsburgh, 1-seed lost to 8-seed in round of 32
2012 Notre Dame, 7-seed lost to 10-seed in round of 64
2012 Michigan, 4-seed lost to 13-seed in round of 64
2012 Wisconsin, 4-seed lost to 1-seed in round of 16**
2013 Notre Dame, 7-seed lost to 10-seed in round of 64
2013 Kansas State, 4-seed lost to 13-seed in round of 64
2013 Wisconsin, 5-seed lost to 12-seed in round of 64
2013 Georgetown, 2-seed lost to 15-seed in round of 64

** doesn't meet pattern

So, this season we were looking to see what teams met these criteria and the answer was Cincinnati (5-seed lost to 12-seed in round of 64) and Syracuse (3-seed lost to 11-seed in round of 32). That raises the count to 14 early losers out of 16 teams meeting the criteria.

Does it mean anything? Who knows. But next year when you're looking to fill out your Elite Eight or Final Four, you might want to check it out.

Don't say we never did anything for you.

Not so Sweet 16

Another 32 contestants lost their national champion in the tournament's first weekend, thanks to Syracuse (picked by 14); Kansas (12); Wichita State (5: Fitch, Karlsruher, Lenok 2, Marshall, L Schlegel); and Villanova (George B). This brings the total of championless entrants up to 48, a full 47% of our group.

Kansas and Syracuse also cost 164 entrants one of their Elite Eight (82 each) and 110 entrants one of their Final Four (59 Kansas and 51 Syracuse). The 65 and 31 who picked Wichita State (into the Elite Eight and Final Four, respectively) means that only two (2) of our six most popular Elite Eight choices remain (Florida and Arizona), and only one (1) of our four most popular Final Four choices (just Florida). That's pretty lame, even for us.

Villanova (36 E8, 11 F4), Creighton (36 E8, 10 F4), and St. Louis (16 E8, 4 F4: E Albert, D Kornfeld, E Leach, Watson) didn't do anyone any favors, either. Unorthodox Elite Eight choices that teased by winning a game but no more include: North Carolina (chosen by 4: DeLauro, Jr., Lenok 2, Rybaltowski, Serri); Gonzaga (T Cristinzio, J McAtee, B Wright); Harvard (Corey); Memphis (Rybaltowski, who also took Memphis into his Final Four); North Dakota State (Urban Angels); Pitt (Isdaner); and Texas (Selarnick).

Out there Final Four selections that still have a chance include: San Diego State (5: Butscher, Chumchucker, M Peloso, Steitz, B Wright); Virginia (4: Babenzien, D Josephs, M Leach, Mahalko); Iowa State (B Brenner, R Simon); and Baylor (A Cristinzio).

The demise of Wichita State and North Dakota State means the Urban Angels entry has zero (0) Elite Eight teams remaining after the first weekend of the tournament. Since Urban Angels chose four Final Four teams that did not appear anywhere in his/her/their Elite Eight, he/she/they still has/have UCLA alive as a Final Four team.

A decent 39 of our contestants managed to get one Wild Card point: 33 for UNC; 2 (M Kleiman, J Whiteside) for Gonzaga; and 1 each for Harvard (Urban Angels); Mercer (Sciarabba); Pitt (Crotty); and Stephen F. Austin (George B). Fifteen entrants got 6 Wild Card points (with the possibility of more): the 14 who chose UCLA and M Josephs, who took Baylor.

J Donadio, Jr. still sits atop the leaderboard with 203 points, 13 ahead of non-paying entry ESPN Bracketology (190). Another six entrants are within 5 points of second place (S Adams (189); M Leach (189); L Donadio (188); Baumgarten (187); S Smith (185); and C Whiteside (185). Urban Angels (114), B Wright (126), and Steitz (128) trail the field by at least 18 points. Full standings may be found by clicking the link on the right-hand side of the page.

Have Mercer

Duke's loss to Mercer deprives 15 entrants of their Champion, 46 entrants of one of their Final Four and 75 entrants of one of their Elite Eight. Cincinnati going down robbed T Joseph of his champion, 14 people of one of their Elite Eight, and Butscher, T Joseph, M Leach, Moscow, M Peloso, Selarnick, and B Wright of a Final Four team.

That's pretty bad, but not as bad as the five people (Case, Gorenstein, Lenok 2, M McAtee, Templeton) who took NIT participant SMU into the Elite Eight. Others who took uninvited teams into the Elite Eight include Kovolski (Boston U) and T Cristinzio (Southern Mississippi), plus a couple others (to be discussed later). Others among us who took teams into the Elite Eight who didn't make it to the first weekend include Baumgarten, B Brenner, S Leach, R Simon (all four of whom took Ohio State), Crotty, J McAtee (both of whom took St. Joseph's), D Kornfeld, Steitz (both of whom took Oklahoma State), T Joseph 2 (New Mexico), and Booth (Xavier). Crotty also took St. Joe's into his Final Four.

Special mention goes to A Cristinzio, who selected both first round loser Delaware and uninvited Clemson into his Elite Eight. But that isn't even close to the most dazzling performance of the year (maybe the decade, possibly of all time). For those who were near-blinded by Urban Angels' slate of at-large selections, please shield your eyes from the following:

Urban Angels' Elite Eight: Wichita State, Boston U, Chattanooga, Houston, New Mexico State, NC-Ashville, NC Central, and North Dakota State.

Urban Angels' Final Four: UCLA, Texas Southern, Georgetown, and Texas-San Antonio.

OK, you can open your eyes now.

FWIW

While not strictly related to the contest, one of our commissioners recently authored an article for a Duke web site about a rarely spoken about but key factor that influences which teams make or don't make the Final Four.

Please click the above link if you're interested. We promise it won't lead to an erectile dysfunction ad.

At Larger than Life

NC State won their play-in game tonight and will officially join the 64-team bracket (as will Albany). Which is news to the 97 of us who didn't pick the Wolfpack into the field. Yes, just 6 of us (Babenzien, Hammer, M Pogach, Selig 1, Selig 2, Watson) were wise enough to foresee NC State's inclusion in the field. Similarly, only 7 of our contestants (B Brenner, Chumchucker, Corey, Gorenstein, Sanders, Selig 1, Steitz) envisioned Dayton as an at-large team (as opposed to the location where NC State played tonight), and only 12 had the guts to pick Nebraska.

On the other side, the NIT team with the most votes from our bunch is SMU, in which 97 of our entrants vainly gave their vote of confidence. We also put our misplaced faith in Minnesota (71), St. John's (39), Missouri (39), Florida State (21), and St. Mary's (20). Less loved but no less a waste of a vote were SEC teams Ole Miss (17), Georgia (14), and LSU (11), along with Georgetown (15), Southern Mississippi (11), Toledo (10), UTEP (8), West Virginia (7), and Richmond (7).

Individual recognition goes to Steitz, who selected Ohio U, Princeton, Towson, Bradley, Indiana, Hawaii, and Incarnate Word, all at large, and also spent three of his slots on Horizon League teams (Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Cleveland State).

But in one of the greatest at-large slates ever conceived in this contest, we bow down to Urban Angels, who chose as at-large teams American (got points for that one), Texas Southern (ditto), Auburn, Boston College, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Charleston Southern, Drexel, Jacksonville, James Madison, LaSalle, Loyola Marymount, Notre Dame, Missouri State, Sacramento State, Seattle, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Penn, Indiana State, CS-Fullerton, Houston, Texas State, Texas-San Antonio, and Abilene Christian. Just typing that list sends chills up and down our fingers. Hail, Urban Angels, we are not worthy.

More fun tomorrow.

Wild, Wild South

The award for highest seeded wild card goes to the 14 people who chose UCLA, the 4-seed in the South. The runners-up in the same competition were the six people who chose VCU, the 5-seed in the South.

See the trend here? Three of our top six most popular wild cards came from the South Region, along with two other selected wild cards, meaning that one or more persons chose the #4, #5, #7, #9, and #12 Southern seeds as their wild card. And that's pretty impressive, considering that the #1, #2, #3, and #6 seeds in the South were in the forbidden AP Top 25, so nobody could take those teams...

Whoa there, Cowboy, not so fast. We couldn't help noticing that one nefarious entrant attempted to illegally select the 1-seed in the South, Florida, as his wild card, despite the Gators' position as #3 in the AP Top 25 in question. It is our understanding that this particular individual prefers to remain anonymous, and we respect that. Though of course we don't respect it enough not to shout his name out to anybody who'll listen. Thus it is that we hereby out Watson as the scofflaw in question, the wild card criminal who selected an illegal, immoral, and otherwise no-chance-we're-counting-it wild card.

We're not sure which bothers us more, the idea that Watson thought he could sneak an illegal wild card past us or the fact that he took the 3rd ranked team in the country and was not the contestant who chose the most highly ranked wild card. No, that honor goes to A Cristinzio, who tried to slip Arizona by us, #2 in the AP Top 25 at the time the pool was posted.

Not to be outdone by his kin, T Cristinzio also chose an illegal wild card, going with #15 Michigan. Rounding out the Commissioner's Most Wanted list were Crotts, who took #10 Cincinnati, and Parisi who selected #9 Michigan State.

Within the bounds of the law, if not common sense, were four entrants who chose wild cards who didn't even get invited to the NCAA tournament. And while these four probably also wish to remain anonymous, we all know the odds of that are approximately the same as the odds of any of these folks getting any wild card points, right? So, say hello to M Wanger (Florida Gulf Coast), Steitz (Indiana), L Schlegel (St. John's), and Babenzien (Green Bay). For all the good it did them, they might as well have chosen Florida.

Our most popular wild card was North Carolina, the 6-seed in the East. And, for full disclosure's sake, there were seven people who chose Oklahoma, the 5-seed in the West, and thus tied for 2nd place in the wholly fictional competition referred to in the first paragraph of this post.

The full list of legal wild card choices follows here:

North Carolina (taken by 33), E6
New Mexico (15), S7
UCLA (14), S4
Oklahoma (7: Colleran, Hahn, Isdaner, T Joseph 1, T Joseph 2, Serri, G Wright), W5
Oklahoma State (7: Gorenstein, Hammer, D Kedson, L Leach, Lenok, Millan, Rybaltowski), W9
VCU (6: Blane, Case, Corey, Lenok2, M Pogach, Templeton), S5
Gonzaga (2: M Kleiman, J Whiteside), W8
Massachusetts (2: Baumgarten, Steinhardt), M6
Delaware (B Wright), E13
Baylor (M Josephs), W6
Harvard (Urban Angels), E12
Kansas State (Sanders), M9
Pittsburgh (Crotty), S9
St. Joseph's (McKillip), E10
Stephen F. Austin (George B), S12
Mercer (Sciarabba), M14
Florida Gulf Coast (M Wanger), oops
Indiana (Steitz), oops again
St. John's (L Schlegel, oopsies
Green Bay (Babenzien), oopsarama

More fun tomorrow. See ya.

And they're off...

The bracket's built and the game is on. We'll bring some analysis tomorrow.

For now, congratulations to J Donadio, Jr. for winning the prize for leading at the selection of the field. With 197 points, JDJ holds a 10 point lead over L Donadio and Baumgarten (each having 187 points), and to illustrate just how big that is, there are 19 entrants within 10 points of 2nd.

Our current bottom three are Urban Angels (113), B Wright (126), and Steitz (128). Full standings may be found here or by clicking the Standings link on the right hand side of the page.

Conference Champions are IN

The last five conferences were decided, and the winners were:

Atlantic 10: St. Joseph's (chosen by 4: Booth, Gorenstein, M Josephs, B Whiteside)
ACC: Virginia (chosen by 7: Bracketology, Colleran, Hahn, D Josephs, L Leach, Marshall, Steitz)
Sun Belt: UL-Lafayette (chosen by 6: Baumgarten, B Brenner, Jr., J Donadio, Sr., D Kedson, M Leach, Rybaltowski)
SEC: Florida (chosen by 86)
Big 10: Michigan State (chosen by 64)

J Donadio, Jr. remains in the lead with 98 points, followed by E Albert, L Donadio, and Packman, each with 91. Mired at the bottom is L Leach, with 56, preceded by Sanders, with 58. Full standings may be found here or by using the link on the right hand side of the page.

We'll be back after the field is chosen.

Almost There

Fourteen more conferences awarded their automatic bids:

America East: Albany (chosen by nobody)
Conference USA: Tulsa (chosen by zip)
Big East: Providence (chosen by nada)
Big West: Cal-Poly (selected by zilch), a team with a 10-19 record coming into the Big West tourney
PAC-12: UCLA (liked by 7: S Adams, Corey, J Donadio, Sr., Kovolski, M Leach, Lenok, Lenok 2)
Big 12: Iowa State (picked by 8: Booth, Chumchucker, N Donadio, Gorenstein, M Leach, Quint, Steinhardt, R Wanger)
SWAC: Texas Southern (chosen by 9: Blane, Crotty, J Donadio, Jr., M Josephs, E Leach, P Leach, Serri, Warner, J Whiteside)
MAC: Western Michigan (taken by 20)
Mountain West: New Mexico (selected by 44)
WAC: New Mexico State (favored by 76)
AAC: Louisville (liked by 75)
MEAC: NC Central (chosen by 80)
Big Sky: Weber State (honored by 90)
Southland: Stephen F. Austin (envisioned by 97)

Five more conferences will be decided tomorrow:

Atlantic 10: VCU (17) vs. St. Joseph's (4: Booth, Gorenstein, M Josephs, B Whiteside)
ACC: Duke (46) vs. Virginia (7: Bracketology, Colleran, Hahn, D Josephs, L Leach, Marshall, Steitz)
Big 10: Michigan State (64) vs. Michigan (13)
SEC: Florida (86) vs. Kentucky (17)
Sun Belt: Georgia State (71) vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (6: Baumgarten, B Brenner, Jr., J Donadio, Sr., D Kedson, M Leach, Rybaltowski)

J Donadio, Jr. remains in first place, with 82 points, followed closely by E Albert, L Donadio, and Packman, each with 77, and S Adams, DaLaura, Jr., and Dye, each with 74. At the bottom of the standings stands (or, we suppose, "sits" might be more apropos, or maybe "lies prone with his hands covering his face in shame") L Leach, with 40 points, fewer than half the leader. Glad that the previous sentence wasn't about them are Steitz, Sanders, and B Brenner, Jr., with 44 each, and B Brenner and B Wright, with 47. Full standings may be found by clicking on the "Standings" link on the right hand side of the page.

Just one more day until the bracket is announced. Get a good night's sleep.

You Chose... Poorly

So far, 13 conference champions have been decided. One was Harvard in the Ivy -- a league with no conference tournament -- that had a two game lead with three games to play the day the pool was due (though that didn't stop Fitch, L Leach, S Leach, and M Paston from picking Yale), leaving 12 conferences with a champion we didn't know in advance.

Of those, the Big South didn't have a favorite among our entrants, although the team with the most votes (Coastal Carolina, with 27) did win the conference championship. Still, with only 27 out of 103 entrants picking Coastal, it's hard to say we did well as a group. Here's how our most popular picks fared in the other eleven conferences:

Atlantic Sun: Mercer (65) won the conference
Colonial: Delaware (67) won the conference
Summit: North Dakota State (84) won the conference
WCC: Gonzaga (85) won the conference
MVC: Wichita State (99) won the conference
MAAC: Iona (71) -- oops...
Patriot: Boston U (77) -- oops...
Southern: Davidson (84) -- oops...
OVC: Belmont (85) -- oops...
Northeast: Robert Morris (87) -- oops...
Horizon: Green Bay (89) -- oops...

That's right, so far our overwhelming favorite has won a grand total of 5 out of 11 conferences (45.4%)(not counting leagues in which we had no favorite or were decided before we cast our votes). The other six? Well, oops.

But there are a bunch more conference champions to be decided, so maybe we'll make a comeback, right? Right?

Not so much.

Another 14 conferences crown champions tomorrow. But even before the final's been played, we've lost:

Conference USA: Southern Mississippi (50) -- oops...
SWAC: Southern (47) -- ineligible -- AND Alabama State (44) -- oops...
Big West: Cal-Santa Barbara (60) -- a really big oops, as Cal-SB lost in its first conference tournament game to 7th seeded Cal-Poly by a score of 69-38...
America East: Vermont (78) -- oops...
Big 12: Kansas (88) -- oops...
Atlantic 10 (final on Sunday): St. Louis (75) -- oops...

The other nine conferences pit our favorite against (in most cases) underdogs so far under they've been classified as a different species:

AAC: Louisville (75) vs. Connecticut (0)
Big East: Creighton (62) vs. Providence (0)
Big Sky: Weber State (90) vs. North Dakota (2: Anania, Hammer)
MAC: Toledo (62) vs. Western Michigan (20)
MEAC: NCCU (80) vs. Morgan State (0)
Mountain West: San Diego State (59) vs. New Mexico (44) or Boise State (0) [late game]
PAC-12: Arizona (91) vs. UCLA (7: S Adams, Corey, J Donadio, Sr., Kovolski, M Leach, Lenok, Lenok 2)
Southland: Stephen F. Austin (97) vs. Sam Houston State (6: J Donadio, Sr., Isdaner, L Leach, Sanders, Steitz, B Wright)
WAC: New Mexico State (76) vs. Idaho (0)

The following face off in the conferences with no remaining favorite:

America East: Stony Brook (25) vs. Albany (0)
Big 12: Iowa State (8: Booth, Chumchucker, N Donadio, Gorenstein, M Leach, Quint, Steinhardt, R Wanger) vs. Baylor (1: Rybaltowski)
Big West: Cal Poly (0) vs. Long Beach State (4: Baumgarten, B Brenner, E Leach, Steinhardt) OR CS-Northridge (0) [late game]
Conference USA: Louisiana Tech (24) vs. Tulsa (0)
SWAC: Texas Southern (9: Blane, Crotty, J Donadio, Jr., M Josephs, E Leach, P Leach, Serri, Warner, J Whiteside) vs. Prairie View A&M (0)

More on who loses, tomorrow...

I Pledge Allegiance...

We are shocked, shocked I tell you, that only 17 true Patriots (or at least Patriot League followers) decided to pledge their allegiance to American, a team that crushed conference favorite Boston U (taken by 77) by a score of 55-36.

That is all.

Mary Packed a Little Punch

After yesterday's bullying and pigtail-pulling, just one "Mary" remained. But this Mary, Mount Saint Mary's, sure packed a wallop, kicking the crap out of Bob Morris (and the 87 entrants who went with Mr. Robert to win the Northeast Conference) by a score of 88 to 71. Somewhere, Templeton is smiling.

In the Horizon, the team that made Milwaukee fam... well, let's just say Milwaukee made Wright State the wrong pick. Not that any of our contestants picked either team. Gonzaga (chosen by 85) took care of business against BYU (selected by 13) in the WCC final. And in the Summit League, the North Dakota State Bison (picked by 84) overcame both IPFW (taken by 12) and IPFW's cooler nickname (the Mastodons).

Thanks to his new girlfriend, Templeton is out of the cellar, which now belongs exclusively to L Leach, with 13 points, 5 points behind B Brenner, B Brenner, Jr., and M McAtee, all with 18. Still in first are J Donadio, Jr. and P Ripley, with 40 points, just ahead of E Albert (38) and the 11 teams tied with 35. Full standings may be found using the link on the right-hand side of the page.

The only bid up for grabs tomorrow is in the Patriot League, where a couple of U's (Boston U. (chosen by 77) and American U. (taken by 17)) look for a W.

See you then.

Mary Had a Little Loss

Three more bids were decided today, and the three title games were decided by a combined seven (7) points. In the Colonial, the Blue Hens of Delaware (chosen by 67 of us) picked on a school with "Mary" in its name (in this case William & Mary, taken by only 3 of us), and won by the thinnest of margins, 75-74. In the MAAC, Manhattan (selected by 19) turned the tables and sank Iona (liked by 71), winning 71-68. And in the SoCon (a.k.a., the Southern Conference), Wofford (picked by E Albert, A Cristinzio, J Donadio, Jr., L Leach, and A Sanders) outlasted Western Carolina (picked by nobody), by the score of 56-53.

Tomorrow night, four more bids will be announced, including: the Summit League champion, which might be North Dakota State (with 84 proponents) or mabye IPFW (12); the WCC champion, which'll either be Gonzaga (85) -- who tonight beat up another school with "Mary" in its name (in this case, St. Mary's, chosen by Steitz, D Kornfeld, and A Sanders) -- or possibly the winner of tonight's late game between BYU (13) and San Francisco (2); the Horizon League champ, which whether it's Milwaukee or Wright State is guaranteed to be a team chosen by nobody we know; and the Northeast Conference champion, which could be Robert Morris (87), or conceivably could be yet another school with "Mary" in it's name, in this case Mount Saint Mary's, chosen by Templeton alone.

Templeton really could use a Mt. St. Mary's win, because right now he's mired in an eight-way tie for 96th to 103rd place (i.e., dead last), along with B Brenner, Fitch, L Leach, S Leach, Selby, M McAtee, and commissioner D Kedson, all with a measly 10 points. J Donadio, Jr. and P Ripley currently share the top spot, with 30 points.

Full standings may be found here, or by clicking the link on the right-hand side of the page.

Down Goes Quinnipiac!

In news that saddens commissioners everywhere, this is the last time this season we can legitimately type the word "Quinnipiac," as the Mighty Quinns failed in their attempt to sink Manhattan in the MAAC. We give heartfelt thanks to Anania, Barone, B Brenner, Jr., E Leach, M Leach, M Peloso, and K Ripley whose choice of the Quinnsters kept the dream alive as long as it was. Manhattan (taken by 19) will attempt to finish the job tomorrow against Iona (favored by 71).

In news that saddens M Pogach, Winthrop's musical performance ended abruptly, as the little freckle-faced kid lost to Coastal Carolina (chosen by 27) in the Big South championship. In news eliciting a yawn from most contest observers, undefeated Wichita State (liked by 99) rolled over undermanned Indiana State (selected by 4) to win the MVC. In other news, Mercer (chosen by 65) earned the right to play in its first NCAA tournament since five years before we ran our first Pre-NCAA Contest, by beating Florida Gulf Coast (relied upon by 36) in the Atlantic Sun.

Delaware (chosen by 67) and William & Mary (relied upon by Urban Angels, Booth, and L Leach) advanced to the Colonial championship game. Albany (guessed by nobody) upset Vermont (foolishly favored by 78) and will face Stony Brook (selected by 25) in the America East final. Similarly, Western Carolina (cunningly connected by no one) knocked off Davidson (mistakenly taken by 84) to earn the spot opposite Wofford (chosen by 5: E Albert; A Cristinzio; J Donadio, Jr.; L Leach; and A Sanders) in the SoCon championship.

With five teams having earned bids, we now have a 17-way tie for first, with 20 points each, while at the bottom with 5 points stand Fitch, L Leach, and S Leach.

Championship Week, the sequel, starts tomorrow. See you then.

First Crimson

The team that won the imaginary prize for first team into the Dance was Harvard. The Crimson were favored by 99 of us, while Fitch, L Leach, S Leach, and M Paston unwisely went with Yale. Hot on Harvard's heels was Eastern Kentucky, chosen only by J Donadio, Jr., after the Colonels whupped heavy favorite Belmont (selected by 85).

Three more conferences will be decided tomorrow. In the fragmented Big South, Winthrop (chosen only by M Pogach) will take a break from the Music Man to battle Coastal Carolina (liked by 27). In the Atlantic Sun, relative heavyweight Mercer (taken by 65) will square off with Florida Gulf Coast (36). And in the MVC, Wichita State (chosen by 99) will put its undefeated season on the line against Indiana State (chosen by Gorenstein, M Josephs, Parisi, and Steitz).

The Horizon League is also down to two finalists, but nobody in our contest thought enough to pick either one of them. Milwaukee (chosen by, as we said, nobody) beat Green Bay (chosen by almost everybody -- 89), and Wright State (also chosen by, you guessed it, nobody) slid by Cleveland State (chosen by 9). The title game will be held on Tuesday, March 11th, same day as the Northeast Conference championship -- between Robert Morris (taken by 87) and Mount Saint Mary's (taken by Templeton only) -- and the Patriot League championship -- between Boston U (selected by 77) and American (selected by 17).

Five more conferences (America East, Colonial, MAAC, Southern, and West Coast Conference) are down to their final four, with the biggest news being that commissioners' perennial favorite Quinnipiac is still alive and was chosen by seven (7) entrants.

In the standings, we have a 98-way tie for second place, with 5 points. On the strength of his pick of Eastern Kentucky, J Donadio, Jr. sits in first with 10 points, and Fitch, L Leach, S Leach, and M Paston inhabit the cellar with a combined total of zero (0) points.

Tune in tomorrow...

First Blood

Eight conferences have started their tournaments, so it's time for our ever popular feature, "Who Already Screwed Up."

Tonight in the Atlantic Sun, everybody's darling from last season -- Florida Gulf Coast (chosen by 36) -- remained alive by outscoring hardly anybody's darling East Tennessee State (chosen by just 2, M Josephs and L Leach). Everyone else (65 in all) likes Mercer in this conference.

Last night, in the Northeast Conference and the Patriot League, three teams chosen by one or more of our contestants lost by a combined three points. That's right all three of these games were decided by a single point. The biggest disappointment for our entrants came in the Northeast, when St. Francis PA (selected by nobody) edged Bryant (selected by 11: Urban Angels, George B, Fitch, Corey, Gorenstein, Moscow, Pomerantz 1, Pomerantz 2, Steitz, Watson, and B Wright), by the score of 55-54. In some ways more interesting was the mano a mano matchup between two teams picked by a sole entrant, in which Templeton's Mt. St. Mary's topped D Kornfeld's St. Francis NY by a score of 72-71. The big favorite in the Northeast is Robert Morris (chosen by 87).

In another 72-71 contest, Army (taken by nobody) beat Bucknell (taken by B Brenner, L Leach, M Paston, K Ripley) in the Patriot League. The big favorite here is Boston University (selected by 77), followed by American (17).

There is no favorite in the Big South, at least not according to our contestants. Top vote-getters in the conference are Coastal Carolina (27), VMI (27), and High Point (26), but in what may be a first, the votes are scattered among eight (8) teams, including UNC-Ashville (10), Charleston Southern (3), Radford (3), and Winthrop (1). Oddly, the only team among the top eight seeds in this tournament that wasn't chosen by anybody (Campbell) was the one seed that lost, meaning even though we chose eight different teams, everyone's Big South champ is still alive at the moment. Even more oddly, the Big South has split itself into two divisions and named them "North" and "South," meaning there's a Big South, North and a Big South, South.

None of our entrants have picked an eliminated team in the Horizon, MVC, OVC, or WCC tournaments. Yet.

Tune in for more fun tomorrow.

Champs or Chumps?

Twenty-four years in a row. Yes, twenty-four times, the commissioners have laboriously sifted through many and various entries to determine the single team our contestants have anointed as the squad most likely to star in the slo-mo version of "One Shining Moment" and come away with the ever-coveted NCAA championship trophy. We view it as an honor, a twenty-four (and counting) times-in-a-lifetime opportunity to glimpse the inner workings of the serious college basketball fan's mind as he (or she) stares into the future and gives his (or her) informed opinion as to which college team is best in the land.

What measure or system do our contestants use? What magic is employed to ferret out the answer that casual and intense fans alike, all over the nation, are striving to find? That secret is buried deep inside our collective psyche, impossible for mere commissioners to tell.

What we can tell is how often our contestants have been right. And that would be six. You heard right. Our entrants' favorite champion has actually won the tournament only six times in 24 seasons. An astonishing success rate of 25%, a batting average that in baseball would get you demoted to Des Moines in fairly short order.

Which is why a lot of people in Gainesville are shaking right now. Because this year, our contestants have placed their faith in the Florida Gators, our most popular champion with 28 votes. We've already started composing our condolence letter.

Here's the full breakdown of our contestants' choices for champion:

Florida: 28
Arizona: 18
Duke: 15
Syracuse: 14
Kansas: 12
Michigan State: 6 (E Albert, Haklar, Hammer, T Joseph 2, M Josephs, M Leach)
Wichita State: 5 (Fitch, Karlsruher, Lenok 2, Marshall, L Schlegel)
Wisconsin: 1 (Baumgarten)
Villanova: 1 (George B)
Michigan: 1 (L Leach)
Cincinnati: 1 (T Joseph 1)
Baylor: 1 (A Cristinzio)

No love for current #5 in the country Virginia but at least bubble team Baylor got on the list.

Have a great day.

Sealed With A...

Mere hours before Pre-NCAA contest entries were due, the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), in conjunction with the NCAA, inexplicably changed conference rules to let four teams that were ineligible to compete in the NCAA tournament nevertheless compete in the SWAC tournament. For whatever reason, SWAC officials declined to contact our contest commissioners to give us a heads up.

Perhaps predictably, the part of this news that surprised many of our contestants was not that these four ineligible teams, including SWAC regular season champion Southern University, would be allowed to compete in the SWAC tournament, but rather that the four teams were ineligible in the first place.

Admittedly, we indulged in a bit of hyperbole when we suggested in a previous post that more than half our entrants foolishly chose an ineligible team to win the SWAC -- that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it? In fact it was only 46% of our contestants (including at least one commissioner) who picked Southern to represent the SWAC in the NCAA tournament. So you see, we're not as dumb as some think we are.

The NCAA, in its collective wisdom, has declared that the SWAC's NCAA tournament representative will be the furthest-reaching eligible team (taking the higher-seeded team in the case of a tie). And if it's good enough for the NCAA, then it's good enough for us. So the SWAC team that participates in the NCAA Tournament will be the team for which we award the 5 points for SWAC champion.

Anyone who disagrees with the above decision is welcome to lodge an official protest with the commissioners. And to show how magnanimous we are, we'll even hold off on denying any such protest until after it is made.

Have a great day.

The Sparkle of Silver

It's the contest's Silver Anniversary, and we're off to a sparkling start.

We have over 100 entries for the first time since 2002, and almost half of those entries include a winner in the SWAC that's actually eligible to make the NCAA tournament! Good times, right?

More details later. It's finally March and the good times will keep on rolling.

25

The Pre-NCAA Contest is a quarter-century old this year.

The commissioners are even older.

So, without further ado, we're opening it up for the Twenty-Fifth Annual Pre-NCAA Contest.

Here are the rules.

Here's the entry form.

Have a great day.

Hoop D'Ville

Three games decided by a total of 15 points. That's what Final Fours should be. Rick Pitino becomes the first head coach ever to win national championships with two different teams -- first with Kentucky and now with Louisville -- but much more importantly, our contest winner is Sanders, with 295 points, followed by Steinhardt (282), who has won a prize for the second straight year, and Dye (280). Full standings may be found by clicking here or on the link on the right hand side of the page.

We had 85 entries that "counted," meaning the prizes will be 414 "credits" for Sanders, 207 for Steinhardt, and 69 for Dye, in addition to the 50 each previously earned by Biebel and Moscow. Congratulations all.

It's been a fun tournament. See you all next year.

You're It

It's always nice when a contest as old as ours gets an infusion of new blood. Competing for only the second time in pool history, the Tag Team entitled Members of DBR (240.8) has come out on top, beating out a brand new group, the Ant Farm (234.75) by more than five points. The decline of Whiteside continues, as Whiteside and his Enemies (225.0) barely edged the Ripley Believe-it-or-Nots (224.5) and the Friends of Natalini (223.0). Of course while embracing the new, we'd hate to give up the old, so we take some small comfort in knowing that the Leach Gang (213.75) has once again floundered in second-to-last place. The D'Zuro Group (215.2) spared themselves the ignominy of finishing below the Leaches, something we can't say about the Urban Engineers (193.11).

They could've chosen any school, but they chose Temple. And apparently a lot of other winners, because fans of Temple (245.0) were the best in this year's contest. Maryland (237.0) was at least better than Duke (221.33) at something. Among non-Temple Pennsylvania schools, Penn State (214.88) beat out both the University of Pennsylvania (210.5) and Villanova (205.33).

Females (223.93) came out on top of males (220.12), where pretty much everyone wants them to be. Children (240.86) thumbed their noses at their elders. Among the various species, Lawyers (221.33) couldn't beat out Humans (222.08), but at least they were better than Dogs (205.0). Angels (177.0) need to wheedle some more inside information out of their boss. Our average pool participant scored 220.79, not nearly as well as our average commissioner (234.5). Non-paying participants (214.43) once again showed they didn't pay for a reason (those who paid averaged 221.84).

Students (235.85) always think they know better than teachers (222.25), but this year they really do. Those in sales (230.0) out-thought those in IT (223.75). The unemployed (223.25) clearly have more time on their hands than those with gainful employment (214.88), but we don't know how to explain retired people (213.0). Number crunchers in the accounting world (215.8) probably aspire to be someone with a fancier financial-related title (219.5). Attorneys (212.25) can take solace in that at least they're smarter than engineers (206.17). Self-styled "provocateurs" (233.0) are just a bit cleverer than those fancying themselves a "genius (on sabbatical)" (229.0).

This year the prime place from which to pick pools was the Deep South (239.63). People in New York City (232.4) tend to have a superiority complex but at least this year they more or less backed it up. The West (232.0) bested the Midwest (226.0). Philadelphia suburbs (222.8) beat out Philadelphia urbs (213.8). Those who live in extended DelMarVa (213.8) and Western PA (209.8) should probably move.

Breaking it down further, this year's top state of mind was Tennessee (237.5). New Yorkers (232.43) got the news three hours earlier than Californians (229.0). Floridians (227.0) warmed up faster than Pennsylvanians (217.63), Virginians (216.50), or Marylanders (213.50). New Jerseyites (208.33) should find a new exit on the turnpike.

In the name game, if you want to choose wisely you should change your name to Jeff (234.0), or maybe Mike (224.5) or David (224.5). We wouldn't recommend John (213.75) or Bob (210.0).

The Final Four starts in just over 24 hours. Enjoy the games.

Rivalridiculous

"I can hear them... giggling ...as they are plotting against me!" Yes, these were the words from the troubled mind of Booth, as she prepared to do battle in the annual Whiteside Booth-bash.

Is it really paranoia if they are in fact out to get you? Whitesidekick J Butscher came into the contest talking a little trash: "Will Nancy Booth finish last? Probably."

Perhaps J Butscher might want to look up the one about kharma being a bitch, because while Booth did end up in an eight-way tie for 56th with a mediocre 218 points, among those who managed the exact same paltry total was the Butscher himself (218), as well as fellow Whitesider McKillip (also 218). Maybe J Butscher ought to stick to taunting K Butscher (208) instead.

But what of C Whiteside? Sure, coming into this year's contest he'd hammered his sister-in-law Booth ten times in the past ten years, by a whopping average of 41 points. But in 2012 his aura of invincibility took a hit. His own progeny entered the contest and both J Whiteside and B Whiteside kicked their old man's behind. Rumor had it the muttered words "beginner's luck" could be heard after the kids went to bed, but the twins simply smirked. This season, when C Whiteside attempted to dissuade ten-year-old J Whiteside from his choice of Syracuse as national champion, the young lad flat out refused his counsel.

Ever hear the one about laughing last? Apparently young B Whiteside (262) and J Whiteside (261) haven't. Both children whupped daddy for the second straight year. Even scarier for "Shabba," he only beat his annual bean bag Booth by a mere point, 219 to 218. We have not been able to verify reports that C Whiteside checked in to a cardiac ward after he saw the scoring totals.

In other grudge matches, K Sullivan once again said she didn't want to make B Peloso cry, but that didn't keep her from mercilessly trouncing her rival, 229 to 220, and forcing B Peloso to take solace in the beating of his Duke-loving wife, M Peloso (198). Sullivan also bested her husband, D'Zuro (210), and deceased mother-in-law, Haklar (219). K Ripley (213) sadly missed her modest goal of topping father R Wanger (226), brother M Wanger (241), and/or husband P Ripley (218).

In Leach World, poor P Leach (183) collapsed piteously beneath the heels of his father E Leach (236), his two daughter's, M Leach (266) and Sa Leach (226), and even the family dog, Su Leach (226).

Smaller family squabbles were settled when R Kornfeld (219) whipped D Kornfeld (182), J McAtee (196) edged M McAtee (188), R Schlegel (225) slipped by L Schlegel (219), T Cristinzio (237) clobbered A Cristinzio (165), L Donadio (256) stomped on J Donadio (185), Adams (246) pounded Coach Doc (228), D Josephs (240) flew past commissioner M Josephs (218), and G Wright (218) put B Wright (193) in his proper place. After scoring both 254 and 211, M Paston may need treatment for a bipolar condition.

Among members of DBR, Nocilla (264) won bragging rights, over ACCBballFan (256), Kedsy (251), Tommy (217), and Sporthenry (216).

Tag Team totals tomorrow.