A Tale of Two Tag Teams

In the last six years, the illustrious tag team Whiteside and his Enemies has finished 2nd in the tag team competition four times, 1st once, and 3rd once. In the last million-and-six years, it seems The Leach Gang has only avoided finishing last in the competition maybe once or twice. But in this most topsy-turvy of years, in which a former First Lady and a former TV host of The Apprentice are the likely nominees for President of the United States, we guess it only makes sense that Whiteside and his Whitesidekicks have dropped off the map, with an average of 225.40 points, more than 11 points worse than the morally victorious Leaches, in second-to-last place at 236.88.

On the other end, The Donadio Group has won the tag team competition for the second season out of the last three, with an average of 264.67, just edging the present and/or former inhabitants of 12A (263.33). Bunched closely behind the leaders are Friends of DBR (251.33), the Millan-less Millan-sters (250.67), and the Ripley Believe it or Nots (249.0). Lagging behind that bunch but still ahead of the Leach and Whiteside contingents are those associated with Urban Engineers (243.60).

Also wallowing in ignominy is the average Commissioner (216.0), who trails the average pool entrant (241.43) by more than 25 points.

In other ways, however, order remains. Females (254.82), for example, have once again shown their dominance over males (238.80), suggesting that the Y-chromosome is worth approximately negative-16 points. Members of the animal kingdom (255.0) scored significantly better than humans (242.31), who in turn outperformed lawyers (233.0) by a fair margin. Children (249.43) are, on average, sticking their tongues out at their adult counterparts (240.5).

Teachers (267.80) basically took students (251.75) to school. And everyone else as well. The second best pool-picking profession this year was engineering (245.75), followed by the financial disciplines (242.82). If you're an attorney (236.0) or in a technical profession (239.33), you might as well be retired (241.00).

Only four universities were named as a favorite by more than one contestant. Of those Temple (255.50) bested Villanova (248.67), in the contest if not on the court. Running behind those local schools were Duke (246.60) and Penn State (236.56).

From a name standpoint, names that sound like "Kevin" (265.50) outshone names that sound like "Luke" (260.00) or "John" (260.00). Names that end in a "k" sound -- Mike (244.0), Rick (242.50), and Jack/Jake (235.0) -- were at least better than Jeff (232.0), David (231.50), George (226.50), or Matt (220.00).

The best states from which to select this season were New Jersey (264.67) and New York (256.75), a little better than Illinois (248.67) and California (245.00). Pennsylvania (240.33) or Florida (234.50)? Not so much. North of Pennsylvania (256.13) is a better region from which to pick pools than West of Pennsylvania (247.2) or South of Pennsylvania (238.00). Western PA (248.00) beat out Eastern PA (239.6), and Philadelphia suburbs (240.66) stuck up their noses at Philadelphia proper (226.00).

Look out for this year's edition of Rivals, coming soon to a blog near you.

Hypothetical Winners

The Final Four is set. And, total shocker, none of the four teams was chosen by a majority of our contestants. UNC was closest, with 30 votes out of 67, followed by Oklahoma (28), Villanova (20), and Syracuse (0). Looking forward, of the remaining four teams Villanova has the most votes for champion (8: J Broder, Crotty, S Leach, J McAtee, M Peloso, K Ripley, L Schlegel, Selig), while UNC has five big fans (Anania, T Cristinzio, J Donadio, Jr., T Joseph, Packman) and Oklahoma has four (J Donadio, Sr., M Kleiman, Mad Leach, Mahalko). Nobody had the prescience to pick Syracuse.

What that means is we know who's going to win the contest. Conditionally, that is:

IF VILLANOVA WINS:

1st place: M Peloso, 325 points;
2nd place: Selig, 305 points;
3rd place: Crotty, 301 points.

Just outside the money: L Schlegel (298); K Ripley (291); Serri (285).

IF OKLAHOMA WINS:

1st place: J Donadio, Sr., 313 points
2nd place: Mad Leach, 295 points
3rd place (tie): M Peloso, 285 points;
3rd place (tie): Serri, 285 points.

Just outside the money: Su Leach (282); Mahalko (282).

IF NORTH CAROLINA WINS:

1st place: J Donadio, Jr., 299 points
2nd place: T Joseph, 287 points
3rd place (tie): M Peloso, 285 points;
3rd place (tie): Serri, 285 points.

Just outside the money: Packman (284); Su Leach (282).

IF SYRACUSE WINS:

1st place (tie): M Peloso, 285 points;
1st place (tie): Serri, 285 points;
3rd place: Su Leach, 282 points.

Just outside the money: Gorenstein (276); Smith (276); B Whiteside (276).

So that's that. Tune in later this week for Tag Team tallies and Rivals revelry.

And so it goes...

Now that the inevitable occurred, and our second co-favorite, Kansas, has been vanquished, it means that our consensus champion (or in this case, champions) did not even make the Final Four, and our historical pool favorite is now 6 for 27 (22.2%) across the decades. But presumably the eight entrants who chose Villanova (J Broder, Crotty, S Leach, J McAtee, M Peloso, K Ripley, L Schlegel, Selig) as national champs are happy.

As are, we assume, the four contestants who picked Oklahoma as champion (J Donadio, Sr., M Kleiman, Mad Leach, Mahalko). Oddly, although fewer people favored them as champions, more of our entrants took the Sooners into the Final Four (28) than took the Nova gang (20).

Updated standings may be found at the link on the right hand side of the page (perhaps surprisingly, the link labeled "Standings"). And those standings show M Peloso (285 points) and Su Leach (282) at the top. But neither of the leaders has any chance of getting more points tomorrow, so they should probably enjoy it while they can.

All four teams playing tomorrow (Virginia, Syracuse, North Carolina, Notre Dame) are out of the ACC, meaning that league is guaranteed a spot in the championship game. And this time tomorrow, the entire Final Four will have been appointed. Here's hoping for a couple good games.

Fourness

We have our Eight, and the Four get decided in the next day and a half. Surprisingly, five of our top six Final Four choices are still alive:

Kansas (chosen by 51)
Virginia (35)
North Carolina (30)
Oklahoma (28)
Villanova (20)

The only top six choice that is no longer playing is, of course, Michigan State (mourned by 45). Our seventh through eleventh most popular picks are also also-rans:

Xavier (14)
Kentucky (10)
Maryland (9)
Miami (4: Da Dye, L Leach, M McAtee, Tharp)
Iowa (4: Fitch, Pogach, Templeton, Tharp)

The three remaining Elite Eight teams raise interesting possibilities. Well, except for Syracuse, which was chosen by nary a soul. Notre Dame was also chosen by nobody to make the Final Four, but is the wild card of Gorenstein, who has ridden the 20 bonus points all the way into first place with 256 points, and L Schlegel, who currently stands tied for 8th place with 238 points. Another win by the Irish (and the corresponding 30 wild card points) could catapult these two comfortably into the winning circle. Also looking for a little windfall are the three people who took Oregon into the Final Four: D Josephs (in 10th place with 237 points); K Ripley (tied for 25th with 231 points; and Steinhardt (tied for 38th with 222 points), all of whom would presumably welcome 20 Final Four points that nobody else can achieve.

Rounding out our Final Four choices, nine teams that aren't going to get there were chosen by two entrants or fewer:

West Virginia (Booth, T Joseph)
Duke (B Whiteside, J Whiteside)
Baylor (Sa Leach, Rybaltowski)
Arizona (D Kedson, Tester)
Texas (Baumgarten)
Texas A&M (Pogach)
Utah (Sciarabba)
Iowa State (R Wanger)
Dayton (J McAtee)

Looking forward, Gorenstein seems in pretty good shape, 256 current points with the potential of snagging three Final Four teams (including his wild card): Notre Dame, Kansas, and UNC. Three others are also in the top ten of the standings and have three Final Four possibilities: Serri, who currently sits tied for 4th with 245 points and can glean Final Four points from UNC, Oklahoma, and Virginia; L Schlegel, who's currently tied for 8th with 238 points and still has Notre Dame, Virginia, and both of Kansas and Villanova (playing each other so only one can go to Houston); and D Josephs, in 10th with 237 points and Final Four hopefuls Oregon, Virginia, and Villanova.

The rest of our top ten in the standings all have the potential for two Final Four teams:

Harlan, 254 points with Virginia and both of Kansas/Villanova
M Peloso, 245 points with Oklahoma and both of Kansas/Villanova
Su Leach, 242 points with Oklahoma and both of Kansas/Villanova
Crotty, 241 points with Virginia and both of Kansas/Villanova
R Schlegel, 241 points with Virginia and Kansas
Biebel, 238 points with UNC and Kansas

The first two 2016 Final Four teams will earn their spots tonight. Savor the moment.

Eightness

The Tourney starts back up tonight, and we'll get our first four forays into the Final Eight. In the early games, Villanova (chosen into the Elite Eight by 44 entrants) takes on Miami (picked by 20), while Oklahoma (favored by 50) tries to corral Texas A&M (taken only by Pogach). In the later games it's most favored Kansas (62) against Maryland (32), and Oregon (16) vs. Duke (Grossman, J McAtee, B Whiteside, J Whiteside, plus the 31 who picked the Blue Devils as their wild card).

Tomorrow, we'll see Virginia (57) against Iowa State (7: Grossman, Miller, Pogach, Smith, Templeton, R Wanger, J Whiteside) and Wisconsin (Da Dye, Do Dye) vs. Notre Dame (Sciarabba) in the early games, while later on North Carolina (54) exchanges shots with Indiana (4: Coach Doc, L Schlegel, Sciarabba, J Whiteside). Oh, yeah, Syracuse plays Gonzaga, too, though you wouldn't know it from our contestants' predictions (or lack thereof). Nobody took either one of them.

As we mentioned Sunday, 56 of us foolishly favored Michigan State into the Elite Eight. Also wrong were the 42 of us who chose Xavier, the 22 who cared for Kentucky, the 16 who went with West Virginia, and the 11 each who chose Iowa and/or Wichita State. The following were not only mistaken, they didn't have a lot of company:

Arizona: 5 (Anania, D Kedson, Kovolski, Sa Leach, Tester)
Purdue: 4 (Mad Leach, Su Leach, Miller, Rybaltowski)
Texas: 3 (Baumgarten, L Leach, Sa Leach)
Utah: 3 (Nocilla, Sciarabba, B Whiteside)
Baylor: 3 (Booth, Sa Leach, Rybaltowski)


Special mention goes to Miller and Sciarabba, who chose uninvited Valparaiso into their Elite Eight. Special jeers go to J McAtee and Tharp, who chose ineligible SMU into theirs. And the most specialest mention of all goes to J McAtee who devoted almost 40% of his Elite Eight to ineligible SMU, Temple (only entrant to choose them) and Dayton (ditto on the only part).

Enjoy the games.

No go, Izzo

We warned you. We could have warned him, but Tom Izzo wouldn't take our call. Our co-champion selection, Michigan State, chosen by 19 of us to win the natty, instead went down in the first round to 15-seed Middle Tennessee State in what some people are calling the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history. A grand total of 56 contestants liked the Spartans into the Elite Eight, and 45 thought them Final Four-worthy. Bill Self, if you're reading this, be afraid, be very afraid.

The only other selected champion to go down was Xavier (taken by Gorenstein and Rubinson), although at least it took a buzzer-beater in the second round to eliminate them. The X-men were also a popular Elite Eight (42 entrants) and Final Four (14) selection. We'll go into more Eight/Four detail later in the week.

Out of 67 contestants, 45 have received 6 wild card points (and counting), for choosing Duke (31), Indiana (9), Wisconsin (3), or Notre Dame (2). Another 11 entrants received a single wild card point, for Utah (9) or St. Joseph's (2). Meaning only 11 entrants failed to garner any points for their wild card selection. And we will cheerfully name them: George B, Grossman, M Josephs, Rybaltowski, Sciarabba, and B Whiteside, all of whom took first round loser California; Karlsruher, who took First Four loser Vanderbilt; Tharp (South Carolina) and J Whiteside (St. Bonaventure), each of whom selected NIT teams; and Biebel 2 and T Joseph, each of whom attempted to select ineligible wild card teams. Either Wisconsin (Su Leach, Serri, Steinhardt) or Notre Dame (Gorenstein, L Schlegel) will necessarily earn at least another 20 wild card points, since the Badgers and the Irish play a Sweet 16 game on Friday. Those who chose Duke or Indiana can only hope to pile up more wild card points as well.

Since almost everybody has won wild card points, the standings haven't changed much. Harlan still leads, now with 204 points, followed by Gorenstein (196), M Peloso (195), Serri (195), Su Leach (192), Crotty (191), and R Schlegel (191).

At least one commissioner is out of town, so we'll all have to wait for the nitty-gritty for a couple days. Until then...

Holy Cross, Batman...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The real games start tomorrow. Enjoy.

No Shocker

For those of you who indulge in advanced stats, you must know the name Pomeroy. His rating system, which tracks points per possession and points allowed per possession and then uses a series of complex formulas to derive a team ranking is very well known in college basketball circles. Most of the time his ratings are at least comparable to conventional wisdom, but every once in awhile a team sticks out.

Like Wichita State this season. Coming into the tournament, Pomeroy ranked the Shockers as the #12 team in the nation. But the selection committee, which obviously paid such advanced statistics little heed, not only seeded Wichita as an 11-seed, but made them participate in a play-in game (a.k.a., the First Four) against Vanderbilt.

This was no cakewalk. Vanderbilt also had a legitimate gripe about having to go through the First Four, being rated #27 by Pomeroy coming into the tourney. Still, Wichita State prevailed, making the Commodores look like that old-time singing group, and winning 70-50.

Next, Wichita State must play Arizona on Thursday night. That sound you're hearing is the nine contestants who chose Wichita State into the Elite Eight (Baumgarten, Da Dye, Do Dye, Fitch, Grossman, Su Leach, M McAtee, Miller, M Peloso, Rubinson, L Schlegel) breathing a major sigh of relief. Or maybe it's the sound of gnashing teeth belonging to Karlsruher, who took Vanderbilt as his wild card.

Two more play-in games tomorrow, and then the main event begins. Stay tuned.

Champs, or Chumps?

In the 26 years this contest has been run, our contestants' consensus national champion has won six (6) times. That's a success rate of 23%. But our question is, if our entrants have two top teams, because of a tie, does that double our chances? If so, that would bring us within four percent of flipping a coin! Yowsa.

Well, we'll discover the answer to that question this year, as both Kansas and Michigan State polled 19 votes each. Naturally, Butscher went for one of the two most popular choices, in this case Michigan State, presumably dooming the Spartans to an early upset. The Kansas Jayhawks will probably feel pretty good about that, until someone reminds them that they're still the co-favorite of our entrants.

Nine of us chose Virginia as national champion (George B, Booth, L Leach, Nocilla, Rybaltowski, Sciarabba, R Simon, Warner, J Whiteside), while eight intrepid souls went for local favorite Villanova (J Broder, Crotty, S Leach, J McAtee, M Peloso, K Ripley, L Schlegel, Selig). North Carolina was the darlings of five contestants (Anania, T Cristinzio, J Donadio, Jr., T Joseph, Packman). Oklahoma was OK for four (J Donadio, Sr., M Kleiman, Mad Leach, Mahalko). Two entrants are crossing their appendages for Xavier (Gorenstein and Rubinson).

As you might have noticed, our top seven champion choices were all #1 or #2 seeds. Only one non-top-two seed got a vote for champion, and that would be Maryland, chosen by co-commissioner M Josephs. Fair warning, the last time M Josephs was the sole person favoring a champion was 1998, when he rode Kentucky all the way to the winnings. Can lightning strike twice? Hey, you never know.

We can't remember the last time in our contest that a #1-seed failed to win a single vote for national champ, but that's just what happened to #1-seed Oregon this season. Those sounds you're hearing are the mad cheers of Ducks' fans everywhere, because they know their chances just got better.

What's in your bracket?

As police search for the shadowy figure who leaked the tournament bracket on twitter, we know our contestants are focused on a much more exigent mystery: How'd Butscher do? The answer is, for him, pretty well. He went with most popular picks in the Sun Belt and Big 10, and shockingly won them both. He tried the second-most popular picks in the Atlantic 10 and the SEC, and predictably dropped both of those. Altogether, Butscher correctly picked 6 out of 32 conference champions. But the big news is that only tied him for worst performance of the year. Yes, another entrant, Tharp, also flubbed 26 of the 32 conferences, and what's more, Butscher picked more correct at-large teams than Tharp and has thus risen to second-to-last place. We guess congratulations are in order.

Lost in the excitement of Butscher's achievements, however, is the utter ineptitude of our contestants in general. Only two entrants accurately selected more than half the conference champions (Harlan, with 18 of 32; and M Wanger, with 17). Only two additional entrants got as many as half correct (Marshall and Crotty, each with 16).

As in the classic movie, Murder on the Orient Express, the number 12 keeps cropping up. More than 60% of us managed 12 or fewer conference winners. Perhaps not coincidentally, a majority of us guessed the conference winner in just 12 of the 32 conferences. Perhaps even less coincidentally, there were also 12 conferences that six (6) or fewer of us got right:

- NEC (Fairleigh Dickinson): 6 (Fitch, M Josephs, M Peloso, Selig, R Simon, M Wanger);
- SWAC (Southern U.): 5 (George B, Booth, Gorenstein, Rubinson, Rybaltowski);
- Atlantic Sun (Florida-Gulf Coast): 4 (L Leach, Sa Leach, Marshall, Rybaltowski);
- MAC (Buffalo): 3 (Sa Leach, Su Leach, R Simon);
- WAC (Cal-State Bakersfield): 2 (Crotty, Harlan);
- Mountain West (Fresno St.): 2 (J Broder, Pogach);
- Conference USA (Middle Tennessee State): 2 (L Leach, J Miller);
- Big East (Seton Hall): 1 (Fitch);
- MVC (Northern Iowa): 1 (L Schlegel);
- OVC (Austin Peay): 0 (nobody);
- Horizon (Green Bay): 0 (not a soul);
- Patriot (Holy Cross): 0 (zip, nada, zilch, you get the gist, right?);

While some would argue leading this pack is hardly an achievement, we still give a prize to the leader as of the selection of the field (i.e., now), and this year that prize goes to Harlan, who has mustered 198 points. Currently in second place (even less of an achievement and even less of a... well, no prize at all) is Gorenstein, with 190, followed by M Peloso and Serri, each with 189. Another 18 contestants are within a Final Four selection (20 points) of the leader.

We'll spend much of the week analyzing our contestants' "wisdom" and looking ahead to the tournament. Have fun filling out your bracket.

Butscherwatch

As of 1am on Saturday night (really Sunday morning), 26 conferences have determined their champion, with one late game still going on and five more tomorrow. When we last left everybody's favorite hard luck poolster, Butscher, despite his having chosen either the most popular or second-most popular team in all 32 conferences, he had whiffed on his first 13 chances to get a point. Let's see how he did today, shall we?

In Conference USA, Middle Tennessee State (chosen by L Leach and J Miller) edged Old Dominion (chosen only by Tester), 55-53. Butscher went with the most popular pick, UAB, which was upset earlier in the tournament. Butscherwatch: oh for 14.

Butscher also lost his Big East pick yesterday, Xavier (2nd most popular choice), but nearly everybody else lost today, as Villanova (taken by 44) went down my a mere basket to Seton Hall (picked by Fitch), 69-67. Butscherwatch: oh for 15.

In the Mountain West, Butscher's pick was again the most popular but not the most successful, as San Diego State (touted by 64) lost to Fresno State (guessed by J Broder, Pogach), 68-63. Butscherwatch: oh for 16.

In the SWAC, Butscher once again went with the most popular choice, but you see the trend here? Texas Southern (taken by 62) lost yesterday and Southern University (selected by 5: George B, Booth, Gorenstein, Rubinson, Rybaltowski) squeaked by Jackson State (predicted by nobody), 54-53. Butscherwatch: oh for 17.

In the MAC, it was déjà vu all over again, as Butscher went with favorite Akron (taken by 58), then watched the Zips lose to Buffalo (picked by 3: Sa Leach, Su Leach, R Simon) on a late three-pointer, 64-61. Butscherwatch: oh for 18.

In the Big Sky, Butscher liked second-most popular Montana (taken by 16), but the Grizzlies failed to get past Weber State (selected by 48), losing 62-59. Butscherwatch: oh for 19.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Butscher selected most popular Virginia in the ACC, only to see the Hoos fall to the Heels of UNC (taken by 17), 61-57. Butscherwatch: oh for 20.

At the risk of sounding like a brokener record, the big, bad Butscher chose most popular New Mexico State (selected by 59) in the WAC, only to see the Aggies go down on a last second three-pointer by CS-Bakersfield (chosen by Crotty, Harlan), 57-54. Butscherwatch: oh for 21.

The Pac 12 continued the Butscheristic trend, with a twist. Our hero selected Utah, the second-most popular choice, but Utah didn't lose close like all those others. No, the Utes got smashed into tiny pieces, 88-57, at the hands of the Oregon Ducks (taken by 29). Butscherwatch: oh for 22.

In the Big West, most popular Hawaii (taken by 47) is currently winning over Long Beach State (liked by 3: Baumgarten, P Leach, Templeton), but Butscher went with second-most popular UC-Irvine, who bowed out some time ago. Similarly, he went with Temple, the most popular pick in the AAC, but tomorrow's AAC championship game is between Connecticut (picked by 13) and Memphis (favored by nobody). Butscherwatch: oh for 24.

But then a funny thing happened in the America East conference: Butscher picked a favorite (Stony Brook, taken by 55), and the favorite won, beating Vermont (picked by Su Leach, Pogach), 80-74. Then again in the MEAC, where Butscher's pick, Hampton (chosen by 47), beat South Carolina State (selected by 9: Anania, Booth, L Leach, J McAtee, M Peloso, Rubinson, Rybaltowski, R Simon, Tharp), 81-69. Then one more time, in the Big 12, Butscher went with the most popular team (Kansas, picked by 43), and that popular club beat West Virginia (taken by 4: J Donadio, Jr., L Leach, Rubinson, Templeton), 81-71. In the Southland, he once again went with a favorite (Stephen F. Austin, selected by 64) and that favorite clobbered a pretender (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, taken by 3: George B, Booth, J McAtee), by a score of 82-60. So, happy days but not that happy. Final Butscherwatch of the day: 4 for 28.

For those wishing to place bets on tomorrow's games, the Butscher has favorites Michigan State (taken by 42) and Arkansas-Little Rock (liked by 53), and second-most popular VCU (among 15) and Texas A&M (among 9: Booth, J Broder, Butscher, Kovolski, B Peloso, Pogach, Smith, Steinhardt).

Tops in the standings is M Wanger, with 68 points, followed by M Peloso (66), Harlan (66), Crotty (64), and R Simon (64). Another nine entrants have more than 60 points, with a lot more points to be decided tomorrow. Last place, of course, belongs to Butscher, with 29 points.

Getting there

More big conference action tonight, starting with the Big East, where Xavier (picked by 22 of us) got taken down by Seton Hall (selected by Fitch). In the Big 10, Indiana (chosen by 8: Coach Doc; J Donadio, Jr.; Gorenstein; Mahalko; K Ripley; Selig; M Wanger; J Whiteside) lost to Michigan (guessed by nobody). In the Big 12, Oklahoma (predicted by 17) suffered a last second heartbreaker at the hands of West Virginia (taken by 4: J Donadio, Jr.; L Leach; Rubinson, Templeton), while Baylor (liked by S Leach) and Iowa State (selected by Steinhardt) were also sent home.

The ACC saw Miami (taken by 9: Biebel, Booth, J Broder, Da Dye, S Leach, M McAtee, B Peloso, K Ripley, Rubinson) lose a close one and Notre Dame (selected by Steinhardt) get clobbered. In the Pac 12, Arizona (favorited by 18) went belly up. In the AAC, Cincinnati (liked by 13) lost to UConn (also liked by 13) in 4 overtimes, while Tulsa (believed in by 5: S Adams; Anania; Fitch; Rybaltowski; Sciarabba) took a tumble, as well.

Also in the AAC, six entrants went with ineligible SMU (J Broder, Crotty, Mahalko, M McAtee, Selig, Tharp). And, similarly to yesterday, we'll make a bold prediction that this won't be the last time you hear about it.

The big boys in action

The big conference tournaments are under way. Excitement builds in the days leading up to Selection Sunday. But ironically, news in our contest is lightest around now. In fact, the biggest news of the day is for the 2017 tournament: the Ivy League announced they will have a four team tournament next season to determine the league's automatic bid. Hallelujah.

Those of you who called your bookie to employ the Butscher factor probably cashed in pretty good. As we predicted, Butscher's choice, Lehigh, dropped the Patriot League final to Holy Cross, a team that finished ninth in the low-major Patriot League with a 14-18 win/loss record, as well as having no supporters among our contestants. Butscher is now oh for 13.

The trend of our entrants' favorite failing to meet expectations continued in Conference USA, where UAB (chosen by 60 out 67) got conked out by nobody's choice Western Kentucky.

Other than that, very few entries have been affected lately. In the MAC, M Josephs's and L Leach's faith in Ball State was proven misplaced. Similarly, Tharp probably wishes he hadn't backed Texas in the Big 12. In the Big 10, T Joseph, Mad Leach, Rybaltowski, and R Wanger erred on the side of Iowa. The Vanderbilt dreams of Baumgarten, Da Dye, L Leach, and L Schlegel were dashed in the SEC. And Duke blowing a 16 point lead in the ACC presumably irritated J Donadio, Jr., Grossman, D Kedson, E Leach, J McAtee, and Tester.

Also in the ACC, we noticed that current leader T Cristinzio picked ineligible Louisville to win it. We'll go out on a limb and predict this won't be the last time you hear about that.

Zero

Seven more conference champions have been crowned the past couple days, and two of them our contestants actually predicted correctly, bringing the total of conference champions that a majority of us picked up to three out of 12 (25%).

Joining the Ivy League's Yale (chosen by 41) were Chattanooga (picked by 54 of us), which beat ETSU (taken by 12) in the Southern Conference, and South Dakota State (chosen by 47) which beat North Dakota State (liked by nobody) in the battle for Dakota Fanning, er, the Summit League.

The rest of the conference champions showed up on the minority report. In the hotly contested WCC, Gonzaga (32) beat St. Mary's (30). In the similarly bifurcated CAA, UNCW (29) bested Hofstra (30) in OT. Just 16 of us went with Iona, which beat favorite Monmouth (48) by 3 points. And only six entrants had the prescience to pick Fairleigh Dickinson (Fitch, M Josephs, M Peloso, Selig, R Simon, M Wanger) over the operatic Wagner (50). Basically everybody was fuddled by the Horizon League, where Green Bay (favored by nobody) beat Wright State (chosen by only Pogach).

We've posted standings, which may be found in the link in this sentence and also on the right hand side of this page. A grand total of two (2) of us have accurately predicted more than half of the 12 conferences that have been decided, as both T Cristinzio and M Peloso got 7 of 12. Despite a percentage (58.3%) that would earn a grade of F in most area high schools, T Cristinzio and M Peloso currently share first place in our contest, each with 35 points. Just behind the leaders is M Wanger with 33 points and 6 correct conference champions. Also with 6 conference champs are Crotty, Marshall, Selig, and R Simon, all with 30 points.

Three contestants got only one conference correct: B Peloso (husband of co-leader M Peloso), M Paston, and L Donadio, all of whom have 5 points. But the most amazing performance so far belongs to Jeff "The Butcher" Butscher, who is 0 for 12 so far. Giving him zero (0) points.

It's not just that Butscher has failed to guess a single conference champion. No, it's the manner of his defeat. He didn't go out on a limb for the Florida A&Ms or Central Connecticuts of the world. Of the 12 conference champions so far, Butscher chose either our contestants' consensus favorite (Wichita State (chosen by 65); Valparaiso (62); North Florida (59); Belmont (56); Wagner (50); Monmouth (48); and Hofstra (30)) or our second favorite (St. Mary's (30); Princeton (26); High Point (22); IPFW (15); and ETSU (12)). He just somehow managed to lose every one. In fully half of the conferences decided so far, Butscher could have won points from a team in the conference final. But every single one lost.

Tomorrow, the Patriot League will hold its final game, and Butscher is among the nine entrants who took finalist Lehigh. And in a few days, he has Stony Brook playing in the America East championship game. After hearing those facts, however, we've learned the smart money has shifted to Holy Cross and Vermont. We'd feel sorry for him if it wasn't so funny.

Hey, Bulldog

Five conferences have crowned a champion, and our contestants guessed one of them. Congratulations to Yale and the 41 contestants who chose the first place Ivy team that tonight clinched the Ivy League's automatic bid without the bother of a league tournament.

Of the four conferences who actually finished a conference tournament, the best our group could do was 11 of 67 (16.4%). That was our score in the Big South, where UNC-Ashville (chosen by 11: T Cristinzio, Crotty, Coach Doc, Harlan, T Joseph, Mad Leach, Packman, Pogach, Selig, Templeton, Tester) beat up a character from the Music Man (Winthrop, chosen by 28 of us). In the Atlantic Sun, Florida Gulf Coast (taken by 4: L Leach, Sa Leach, Marshall, Rybaltowski) dashed the hopes of ineligible Stetson -- as well as the 59 of us who hoped that regular season champion North Florida would steal the bid on a technicality -- edging the Hatters by 2 points in overtime. In the MVC, Northern Iowa (schelected only by L Schlegel) culminated its conference run by beating 2-seed Evansville one day after besting 1-seed Wichita State. And, as reported yesterday, none of us were savvy enough to pick OVC champ Austin Peay.

Another four conferences are on the verge of finishing up. In the Colonial, it'll be Hofstra (selected by 30) vs. UNC-Wilmington (selected by 29). The MAAC will pit Monmouth (favored by 48) vs. Iona (16). In the Southern Conference, Chattanooga (54) will take on East Tennessee State (12). And in the Patriot League, 9-seed Holy Cross (picked by none of us), having crushed 4-seed Army (60-38) the day after thrashing 1-seed Bucknell, will face Lehigh (taken by 9: Biebel 2, Butscher, Crotty, M Kleiman, L Leach, M McAtee, P Ripley, Sciarabba, J Whiteside).

Championship week's just getting started. Another 27 automatic bids to be determined.

An Interesting Twist

The Atlantic Sun conference championship takes place tomorrow, when the Stetson Hatters take on the Florida Gulf Coast Coasters (actually, the Eagles). As we mentioned yesterday, only four entrants chose FGCU (L Leach, Sa Leach, Marshall, Rybaltowski). None chose Stetson, for good reason, as the Hatters are ineligible for the NCAA Tournament.

So what happens if Stetson wins? Well, the answer lies in an article we linked to a couple weeks ago. If you don't feel like clicking, we'll give you a spoiler: if an ineligible team wins the Atlantic Sun, then the regular season champion is awarded the conference's automatic bid. Which means if Stetson wins, then the 59 of us who chose North Florida get a second chance at the points. An interesting twist, wouldn't you say?

Moving along, the first bid of 2016 was claimed today. And nobody cared. At least nobody affiliated with our contest. That's because not a single one of us was clever enough to choose Austin Peay as OVC champion. As the old cheer used to go, "1-2-3, Let's Go Peay."

The top Big South seed, High Point, lost today, much to the chagrin of the 22 of us who chose the Panthers to win their conference. The conference final will take place tomorrow, between Winthrop (taken by 28) and UNC-Ashville (itemized by 11).

In the MVC, overwhelming favorite Wichita State (selected by 65 out of 67) went down to Northern Iowa (schelected jucsht by shrewd L Schlegel), which will square off in the conference final tomorrow against Evansville (not selected by anybody).

In the NEC, our favorite composing hoopsters, Wagner (picked by 50) will face off against Fairleigh Dickinson (picked by Fitch, M Josephs, M Peloso, Selig, R Simon, and M Wanger).

G'night now. More tomorrow.

Little Stumbles

Championship week is now four days old, and three prohibitive favorites (at least according to our entrants) have already gone down.

Out of 67 contestants, 59 of us chose North Florida in the Atlantic Sun. Instead, that conference final will feature Florida Gulf Coast (picked by 4: L Leach; Sa Leach; Marshall; Rybaltowski) vs. Stetson (picked by nobody).

Belmont (chosen by 56) lost by a point in OT to Austin Peay (chosen by none). The Governors will face Tennessee-Martin (chosen by only Nocilla) in the OVC final.

In the Patriot League, Bucknell (selected by 51) got punked by Holy Cross (selected by zero). There are still four teams left in the Patriot, but Lehigh (chosen by 9) is the only one of the four that received more than one vote from our contestants (the other semi-finalists are American (taken by Fitch) and Army (nada)).

Only a couple other games of even minor consequence to our contest have taken place in the past couple days. Coastal Carolina (chosen by 6: Baumgarten; Fitch; Gorenstein; M Josephs; L Leach; Rybaltowski) was eliminated in the Big South, and Illinois State (taken by Fitch) went down in the MVC.

So, basically, same old, same old. Talk soon.

We're off...

We have 67 entries in our 27th annual Pre-NCAA Contest, and the games have begun.

Well, two days worth of games, anyway. You'd think on the first day of conference tournament play, with top seeds playing low-major bottom-feeders, we'd all be safe, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be wrong.

You'd be really wrong if you were Tharp or Brenner, both of whom have already lost two conference champions. For Tharp it was his Atlantic Sun champion (Jacksonville) on March 1 and his NEC champion (St Francis PA) on March 2. Brenner dropped both of his (America East champ Albany and NEC champ St. Francis PA) on March 2. But the good news (at least for them) is these unfortunate souls were not alone. Fourteen other entrants have already lost a conference champ.

And we will gladly name them. Joining Tharp and Brenner in ignominy were:

In the ATLANTIC SUN:
Jacksonville (4): Packman, Selig, Tharp, Surprise Leach

In the AMERICA EAST:
Albany (8): Brenner, Broder, D Kedson, M Leach, M Paston, Biebel 2, Rybaltowski, Sciarabba

In the NEC:
St. Francis NY (1): Grossman
St. Francis PA (4): Anania, Brenner, Karlsruher, Tharp

In the OVC:
Tennessee Tech (1): Geo B

More games tonight, and speaking only for ourselves, we can't wait to see who's next.

Entries due Monday

If you're planning on entering our contest and happen to come across this blog entry, let this serve as a reminder that all entries are due MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, at 11:59pm.

Any later is too late.

A little friendly advice

When filling out your entry, it might behoove you to see what teams are ineligible for the Big Dance. There are many reasons why a team might not be eligible -- APR standards, NCAA violations, self-imposed exile, just came over from Division II, you name it. Some of these teams may even be eligible for their conference tourneys, but pick them at your peril*. The savvy pool entrant will not only know who's ineligible, but what happens if they win their conference tournament.

So you've been warned. We can almost guarantee that at least a few contestants will pick not one but two ineligible teams. Don't be "that guy," unless your goal is to see your name in lights, right here on the blog. For nothing is surer than our unconstrained delight in exposing our entrants' "special" selections.

In other news, the contest is due exactly one week from today. Get those picks in, pronto.


* - our contest rules clearly state that for our purposes, "conference champion" is the team representing the conference in the NCAA.

27th Annual Pre-NCAA Contest is up and running

The 2016 Pre-NCAA Contest is ready to roll!

The entry form may be found here

The rules may be found here

This year for payment, we accept cash, checks, Venmo, or Paypal -- instructions are on the rules page.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29.

Take Five

It's over. This commissioner has returned from Indianapolis, Duke has won the championship, and Coach K has won his fifth title, putting him ahead of everyone except the legendary Coach Wooden.

But obviously more importantly, the Pre-NCAA Contest can now crown its winner. And the winner is Tester, with 360 points. Second place goes to Baumgarten (354), third goes to Mahalko (350), and in fourth place was Karlsruher (346).

Mr. Tester, we salute you, but that's all we're going to do, because Tester chose to be frugal and prudent (and lots of other boring adjectives) and not to pay for his entry.

Those sounds you're hearing are the cheers of Baumgarten (now getting first prize), Mahalko (second prize), and Karlsruher (third prize), who must really appreciate Tester's dedication to the pure fun of competition. Special kudos to Baumgarten for winning first prize for the second straight year.

Tester becomes the third non-paying contest champion, after Biebel in 2004 and Crotty in 2010. Duke's win also ensured the Brady's now-20 year old record for most points in the contest (379) will continue for at least another year.

Final standings may be found here, or by using the link on the right hand side of the page.

Have a great off-season. Commissioners out.

Imperfect?

Live from Indianapolis...

Game one:

Game two:

With previously undefeated Kentucky going down, that means our contestants' consensus champion has actually won the tournament six times in 26 years, a rousing 23.1%.

We're very much looking forward to Monday night.

Rarified Rivals

After C Whiteside lost to Booth last season for the first time ever, he pondered whether life was worth living, or at least whether he ought to still play in the contest, and isn't that more or less the same thing? For her part, Booth couldn't help wondering whether the feel-good story of 2014 was a mere fluke, a tiny blip on the radar screen of life.

Predictably, they were both wrong.

While Booth failed in her attempt to serve a second straight whupping on her brother-in-law, she only finished four points behind C Whiteside, 295 to 291. Counting last year's win and her one point loss to her nemesis in 2013, it would appear Booth is a force for C Whiteside to reckon with. She even managed to tie mutual Whiteside enemy, Butscher, 291 to 291. Both Booth and C Whiteside trounced Whiteside's trash-talking twins, B Whiteside (270) and J Whiteside (259). And as can be seen in the above scores, the internecine squabble between the twins ended with B Whiteside as the victor.

Recently minted octogenarian E Leach (293) fell before his own son, P Leach (326), but managed to tame the rest of the Leach Gang fairly handily. Madison Leach (258) punished her sister Samantha Leach (235) but both siblings had a thing or two to teach the family dog, L Leach (225). Former contest darling, Mash Leach (259) smacked all three of them around.

B Peloso (286) suffered defeat at the hands of his Duke-loving wife, M Peloso (291), but perhaps more importantly vanquished arch-nemesis K Sullivan (275). Perhaps taking just a bit of the sting out of that ignominious defeat, K Sullivan did manage to handle both her husband, D'Zuro (248), and her deceased mother-in-law, Haklar (270).

Before the tournament, Karlsruher (346) expressed a profound desire to extend his 7-year stretch of dominance over Millan (268), and his wish was granted. Also kicking Millan while he flopped around on the floor were fellow rivals, Brenner (336) and Feinblatt (324), although Millan did manage to beat both T Joseph (265) and T Joseph 2 (254).

Similarly, K Ripley (220) pleaded with the Fates to allow her victory over her husband, P Ripley (312), and father, R Wanger (276), but unlike Karlsruher, her wish appeared to fall on deaf ears.

Among the Donadios, it was L Donadio (288) who spanked both her brothers, J Donadio, Jr. (278) and N Donadio (259), as well as dear old dad, J Donadio, Sr. (274). Amongst the wreckage of what was formerly "12A," Serri (264) edged Gorenstein (263), while both pounded Sciarabba (245). Within the members of DBR, BlueKevIL (301) won the day, topping Kedsy (276), ACCBballFan (275), Nocilla (269), Tommy (268), and Superdave (246).

M Josephs (316) once again handled his old man, D Josephs (285). T Cristinzio (232) topped A Cristinzio (176). R Schlegel (273) regained control over L Schlegel (271). Da Dye (324) beat Do Dye (281). And Mike Mc (276) bettered Joe Mc (225).

T Josephs beat himself (265 to 254), but Selig (271 to 284) and Harlan (323 to 332) didn't.

At least one commissioner is off to the Final Four. We'll try to post on location.

Tag Team tartar

In this topsy turvy place we call the world, sometimes down is up, east is west, and black is white. Even more dizzying, sometimes lawyers (280.5) score better than humans (275.19) and males (275.23) beat females (270.23). And forget about dogs and cats living together, as the canines (225.0) are skulking away with their tails between their legs, while the felines (no entries) have apparently boycotted the contest altogether.

The Millan-os proved to be one tough cookie when it came to picking pools this season, as the six entry group (perhaps also known as the "7th Floor Crew") shaked and baked its way to this season's top Tag Team mark, averaging 298.8 points. Coming in a distant second to the gourmet baked goods was the group formerly known as Whiteside and his Enemies, now dubbed "Whiteside and Haters" by the two youngest Whiteside entrants, with an average of 281.2. Last year's top Tag Team, the Donadio Group, finished third (274.75), barely edging the D'Zuro Consortium (274.0). Among the also-rans, DBR (272.5) once again squeaked ahead of the Ripley Believe-it-or-Nots (269.33). The Urban Engineers (257.5) failed to make a tribute to Alberts, but at least they beat the Remnants of 12A (257.33) by the slimmest of margins. And continuing what seems to be an annual tradition, the Leach Gang finished at the bottom, with an average of 250.56 points.

Among favorite schools (minimum 2 entries to qualify), University of Pennsylvania supporters (327.5) proved that an Ivy education is at least good for something. Due to the Orange probation, Syracuse fans (292.0) had extra time to fill out their entries, and it showed. Among schools that actually made the NCAA tournament, Duke fans (277.1) demonstrated their team is better than they are, beating out Maryland (265.0) and VCU (239.5), but finishing behind Villanova (287.6) and Temple (282.33). Among the remaining qualifying schools, Penn State (270.4) edged Johns Hopkins (268.0), and for DCCC (204.0), well the joke sort of writes itself, doesn't it?

In the tri-state area, Pennsylvania (278.7) showed New Jersey (274.75) and New York (271.4) which real estate is choicest. Residents of warm weather states illustrated the effect of sunshine on the brain, as Florida (262.5), California (259.33), and Virginia (257.75) got tanned at the bottom. Going into more detail on a regional basis, Western PA (315.5) bettered urban Philadelpia (284.0), suburban Philadelphia (276.18), central New Jersey (274.75), and New York City (271.4). The Midwest (301.0) beat out the South (261.2) and the West (259.33). And the region known as DMV (257.5) probably needs a new identity.

Teachers (307.0) showed students (272.33) that they still have a lot to learn. Those in the financial industries (296.43) suggested to those in the IT industry (287.75) that it's more lucrative the cook the books than hack into computer networks. Retired people (279.78) perhaps pointed practicing attorneys (273.0) and engineers (272.25) toward what they should be doing next.

The average commissioner (296.0) topped the average contest entrant (274.82). And our underage-entrants once again exemplified one of the commissioners' favorite old adages, proving that children (265.57) should be seen but not seen gambling.

Top names this year include Jack (302.5), Kevin (292.5), and Matt (282.0). Calling yourself Luke (279.5), Nick (279.3), Jeff (277.0), Mike (275.0), or David (272.6) seems neither to help nor hurt. Then again, anyone named George (269.5), John (267.0), Bob (267.0), and Rick (264.0) might want to consider witness protection.

Tomorrow: Rivals 2015. So stay tuned.

Deja Vu all over again

See what we did there?

The all-time record for most points scored in the Pre-Tournament contest happened all the way back in 1996. Not coincidentally, that is also the only other year that more than one person picked a wildcard that made the Final Four (or even the Elite Eight). The all-time record holder, Brady, scored 379 points that year in a record that would last at least 19 years.

The all-time record for fewest points needed to win the Pre-Tournament contest happened in 2011 when Huffnagle won with 223 points. The 2nd-fewest points to win the contest happened just last season, when Baumgarten won with 257 points.

What's the relevance of the above trivia? Just peruse the information below and hopefully you'll figure it out.

IF MICHIGAN STATE WINS
1. Baumgarten, 429
2. Mahalko, 425
3. Karlsruher, 421

IF WISCONSIN WINS
1. Baumgarten, 394
2. Mahalko, 350
3. Karlsruher, 346

IF KENTUCKY WINS
1. Mahalko, 390
2. Karlsruher, 386
3. Harlan 2, 372

IF DUKE WINS
1. Tester, 360 (non-paying entry)
2. Baumgarten, 354
3. Mahalko, 350
4. Karlsruher, 346

So, Brady's record is only safe if Duke wins. And unless Kentucky wins, the new record holder will be someone who previously had the second-lowest winning total ever. Ain't life a funny thing?

Deja Vu all over again

So, last year, Wisconsin had to beat Arizona to get to the Final Four and then had to play Kentucky in the national semifinal game. This year, same exact thing. Weird, right? On the other side of the bracket, Duke has to play the same Michigan State team it played back in November. And in the Pre-NCAA Contest, last year's winner, Baumgarten, is ensconced in first place once again.

We'll give you some more details tomorrow. In the mean time, full standings may be found here or from the Standings link on the right hand side of the page.

Unluck of the Irish

Wow. That was some game. Kentucky survived by 2 over Notre Dame and Wisconsin handled Arizona. In the meaningless, mid-Four standings, it's Brenner in the lead with 306 points, followed by Baumgarten (304), Harlan 2 (302), and Mahalko (300). A Cristinzio (156) is still in the cellar.

Eight in the books

The Elite Eight has been decided, as Duke (chosen by 67 contestants), Gonzaga (58), Louisville (7: Barone, Booth, J Broder, T Cristinzio, Crotty, Mahalko, Joe Mc), and Michigan State (1 -- M Peloso -- plus 17 who took the Spartans as wildcard) have rounded out the field.

Dale Dye has jumped back into the lead with 274 points, followed by Brenner (266), Baumgarten (264), Harlan 2 (262), Bill Acchione (261), and Mahalko (260).

One thing that the six above-named contestants have in common is they all picked Michigan State as their wildcard, and thus all picked up the bonus points for having a wildcard hit the Elite Eight. This is the fourth time in contest history that such a thing has happened, after 1990 (Texas into Elite Eight), 1996 (Mississippi State into Final Four), and 2013 (Wichita State into Final Four). And it's probably safe to say it'll be hard to finish in the money unless you're one of the 17 entrants wise enough to go Green with your wildcard. Without going into too many permutations, the Final Four for each of the top six in the standings are as follows:

Da Dye: Kentucky, Iowa State, Maryland, Virginia;

Brenner: Kentucky, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Virginia;

Baumgarten: Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin, Iowa State;

Harlan 2: Kentucky, Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia;

Bi Acchione: Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, Villanova;

Mahalko: Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin, Arizona.

Seven (7) of us correctly guessed six (6) of the Elite Eight (8): Geo B, Brenner, Selig 2, Mahalko, Karlsruher, T Joseph, and M Peloso. 35 of us got five right out of Eight; 29 were right on just four. Six hapless souls managed only three (3) of the Eight (Burch, Serri, S Leach, K Ripley, E Pogach, D Josephs). And the prize for Elite Eight cluelessness goes to A Cristinzio, who accurately predicted only one (1) Elite Eight (8) team (Duke) and thus edged out Sciarabba, who lucked into two (2) Elite Eight teams (Kentucky and Wisconsin).

Kentucky (72), Duke (49), Wisconsin (39), Arizona (26), and Gonzaga (25) are fairly common Final Four choices. Other than Michigan State, the only contestants who have even an outside shot at gaining ground are the three who chose Notre Dame as a Final Four team (Brenner, T Joseph, M Kleiman), and Booth, who took Louisville.

After romping her way through her first three contests, Steinhardt has fallen on hard times. Fallen far enough to land in second-to-last place, with 186 points. Fortunately for Steinhardt, she's still 30 points ahead of cellar dweller A Cristinzio (156).

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

Double your score, double your pleasure

Well, Kentucky doubled up West Virginia, 78-39, while the three other favorites were challenged but won. So, all but two of us got Elite Eight points for UK (all but A Cristinzio and Nocilla), 70 of us got Elite Points for Wisconsin (all but Booth, A Cristinzio, Hahn, D Josephs, L Leach, S Leach, Rybaltowski, K Sullivan, J Whiteside), 57 got E8 points for Arizona, and 17 got lucky with the Irish of Notre Dame.

In possibly the most useless standings of the season (halfway through the Sweet 16), we have a new leader -- L Schlegel, with 241 points. Last year's winner, Baumgarten, has surged into a second place tie with Da Dye (each with 234), just ahead of E Leach (233), Biebel (231) and Do Dye (231).

At the bottom of the standings, A Cristinzio (146 points) seems locked and unloaded, trailing the 2nd-to-last contestant, T Cristinzio (172) by 36 points.

Full standings may be found via the Standings link on the right hand side of the page.

If Eight is enough, what does that say about Four?

More games are upon us. By the end of tomorrow night, the Elite Eight will be known. But how much did our contestants "know" when they filled out their entries? Let's take a look, shall we?

Here's a list of the teams we chose to make the Elite Eight:

Kentucky: 77
Wisconsin: 70
Virginia*: 70
Duke: 67
Gonzaga: 58
Arizona: 57
Villanova*: 55
Kansas*: 35
Iowa St.**: 18
Utah: 18
Notre Dame: 17
Maryland*: 14
Northern Iowa*: 14
Baylor**: 9 (Burch, Crotts, Do Dye, M Josephs, L Leach, Marshall, K Ripley, R Schlegel, Warner)
Oklahoma: 8 (Crotts, Hahn, D Josephs, D Kedson, E Pogach, Rybaltowski, Serri, Tester)
North Carolina: 8 (Booth, Burch, A Cristinzio, Crotty, M Josephs, S Leach, Marshall, Steinhardt)
Wichita St.: 8 (Burch, Joe Mc, M McAtee, Paston, K Ripley, Rubinson, R Simon, C Whiteside)
Louisville: 7 (Barone, Booth, J Broder, T Cristinzio, Crotty, Mahalko, Joe Mc)
SMU**: 5 (Barone, M McAtee, Paston, E Pogach, Serri)
San Diego St.*: 2 (M Kleiman, Sciariabba)
Georgetown*: 2 (Burch, D Kornfeld)
Arkansas*: 2 (M Leach, Rybaltowski)
West Virginia: 2 (Mahalko, Steinhardt)
Butler*: 1 (Sciariabba)
Belmont**: 1 (Booth)
Miami-FL***: 1 (A Cristinzio)
Mississippi**: 1 (Barone)
Xavier: 1 (Booth)
Oklahoma St.**: 1 (A Cristinzio)
Penn St.***: 1 (A Cristinzio)
VCU**: 1 (J Whiteside)
Michigan St.: 1 (M Peloso)

* -- oops
** -- serious oops
*** -- thought they were entering a pre-NIT contest


Here's what we thought about the Final Four:

Kentucky: 72
Duke: 49
Wisconsin: 39
Virginia*: 37
Villanova*: 35
Arizona: 26
Gonzaga: 25
Iowa St.**: 9 (Baumgarten, Da Dye, D'Zuro, Gorenstein, Haklar, P Leach, O'Brien, Rybaltowski, Templeton)
Kansas*: 7 (Burch, T Cristinzio, D Kedson, S Leach, K Ripley, Tester, J Whiteside)
North Carolina: 3 (Burch, A Cristinzio, Crotty)
Maryland*: 3 (Da Dye, L Leach, Selarnick)
Notre Dame: 3 (Brenner, T Joseph, M Kleiman)
Utah: 3 (Atkinson, A Cristinzio, Grossman)
Northern Iowa*: 2 (Fitch, D Kornfeld)
Wichita St.: 1 (Joe Mc)
Baylor**: 1 (Do Dye)
Louisville: 1 (Booth)

* - same as above
** - seriously same as above


After tonight, there'll be a few more oopses. Enjoy the games.

To Dye for

Wildcard points are stacking up, but Dale Dye remains on top of the standings, with 214 points. E Leach has also kept his lofty 2nd place position (203 points), and it's a family affair, with Doug Dye jumping into a tie for third with L Schlegel, both with 201.

Looking forward, however, it looks like the Dye might be cast, and not in Doug and Dale's favor. Dale Dye, for example, only has four (4) Elite Eight teams still alive, and only one (1) possible Final Four team. Doug Dye's entry is similarly flawed, with a maximum of four (4) Elite Eight and two (2) Final Four teams. E Leach, on the other hand, has five (5) live Elite Eight teams and four (4!) live Final Four teams (although he can only get three of them, since he has both Duke and Gonzaga).

Here's a list of the top of the standings and the number of live Elite Eight and Final Four teams:

Dale Dye (214): 4 and 1
E Leach (203): 5 and 4
Doug Dye (201): 4 and 2
L Schlegel (201): 5 and 3
B Peloso (196): 5 and 3
Baumgarten (194): 5 and 3
Blane (194): 5 and 3
Feinblatt (194): 4 and 2
Harlan 2 (192): 6 and 3


In an astonishing achievement, Mahalko still has all eight (8) of his Elite Eight teams alive and all four (4) of his Final Four. Sadly for Mahalko, he can only get a maximum of six (6) of his Eight, due to some of his teams playing in the same subregion, but he still has a shot at all four Final Four teams. Even more sadly for Mahalko, he only has 180 points, 34 behind Dale Dye and with the same national champion (Kentucky), but technically he's still got a shot.

Not quite as boastworthy as Mahalko but still plenty impressive is Karlsruher, with seven (7) live Elite Eight teams and three (3) Final Four teams. OK, maybe not so impressive, since Karlsruher has three teams in the South Region and two in the Midwest Region, so he can only get a maximum of four (4) Elite Eight teams correct, same as Dale Dye. Also, Karlsruher has only 176 points and the same national champion as the others.

Speaking of the South, coming from the association that brought us a "Big 12" with ten teams and a "Big 10" and "Atlantic 10," both with 14 teams, we guess a "South Region" with three of its four remaining teams from Utah, California, and the State of Washington makes perfect sense.

After the dynamic duo of Mahalko and Karlsruher, 23 of us have six (6) live Elite Eight teams, 33 of us have five (5), and 19 (including both Dyes) have four (4). The somewhat less scintillating pair of A Cristinzio (three (3) Elite Eight teams) and Schiarabba (just two (2) of the Eight) don't figure to be moving up in the standings anytime soon.

Eleven of us still have four (4) live Final Four teams: Selig, T Joseph, M Josephs, Mahalko, L Donadio, M McAtee, Nocilla, Warner, Butscher, E Leach, and Paston; 43 of us have three (3) Final Four teams alive; 24 of us have just two (2) of the Four left, and only current leader Dale Dye is sitting with a measly one (1) active Final Four team.

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

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.