Well, now that I've successfully transitioned myself into 'anybody but Kentucky and thank-god-the-Masters-is-only-next-week' mode, here's some fun tidbits heading into today's Final Four. It's been a great tournament as a whole, and the unpredictability of it has certainly been reflected in the TNIAAM Bracket Challenge.
First, we'll take a look at our top ten:
1) DRBSouthington - 138 [Kentucky]
2) Afino's Losers - 133 [Kentucky]
2) final4cuse - 133 [Syracuse]
4) kohatcuse - 130 [Kentucky]
4) Bim Joeheim [pegs] - 130 [Syracuse]
6) Elvir's palace - 129 [Syracuse]
7) Distraught - 128 [Syracuse]
8) Boeheim/Hopkins 2012 - 125 [Syracuse]
9) Humble&Hungry - 124 [Michigan St]
10) BigE - 123 [Marquette]
DRBSouthington has been holding serve for the most part of this tournament. He/She didn't even leave much of a door open, because they picked KU in the final.
What about the Louisville anomaly, that HAS to be worth a lot of points if they beat Kentucky, right? The stats tell me that only 1 bracket has them in the Championship game...so not so much. Please raise your hand in the comments if you're the one who picked them, because, like, that's awesome. Sorry, I'm not clicking through 269 brackets to see who it is.
There's 4 brackets that can win, 2 are in the Top Ten: DRBSouthington & kohatcuse. The other two, as you guessed, are the highest ranked brackets that have either Kansas [Pat Forde-Hands, currently 22nd] or Ohio St [ShortBoken, currently 14th].
Here are the winning scenarios:
Kentucky over Kansas - DRBSouthington
Kentucky over Ohio St - kohatcuse
L'Ville over Ohio St - kohatcuse
L'Ville over Kansas - DRBSouthington
Kansas over Kentucky - Pat Forde-Hands
Kansas over L'Ville - Pat Forde-Hands
Ohio St over Kentucky - ShortBoken
Ohio St over L'Ville - ShortBoken
Now, for the rest of you who could care less about those 4 lucky bums...there's some interesting factoids and tidbits after the jump...
Factoids
- Zero entrants correctly picked the Final Four.
- The highest-ranked bracket with L'Ville in Final Four is 'luke b's bracket' [14]...however 'ol Cool Hand here had Michigan in the Championship game...so 'oh no sorry about that WHA-MMY!'
- The highest-ranked bracket with zero correct Final Four picks is 'headydoo' [12] who had Cuse, Baylor, UNC, and Quette. That basically reads like this year's bracket equivalent of 'Waiters, Keita, Southerland, & Fair', so we don't fault you too much. Hope you packed a parachute headydoo, looks like you're about to plummet to the 70-80s by the end of the weekend
- 10 people picked Mizzou to win the whole thing.
- 2 of you picked Georgetown in the Final. I invite you to meet me at the syracuse.com boards so I can list the various things you should do to yourself.
TNIAAM Notables [as of right now]
4: Pegs
32: StrawHatGuy (suck it, Trebek!)
40: Mr Plow's Terrible Picks
67: BloodyYank44, wildcalth, EastCoastBias
78: John Cassillo
100: HoyaSuxa
106: PointBlankPeriod
115: orange22
127: EZCuse, Minotti
138: Dan Lyons
165: DukePettyjohn
175: ljmilman
185: ActionCuse
219: FeloniousPhunk [justice for being the only MALE I know actively searching for one of those knit Otto caps with the 2-foot tassels. I have one for you, Chris, if you want I'll send the companion 'Real Sorostitutes Wear Orange' shirt with the knots tied down the side]
Placement that Makes me Giggle
227: Lucy's Picks - This is Mrs. Magician. Many of you may have noticed her in the TOP FIVE after the first second round because she picked the Lehigh upset. If you've ever read Sean's bio, you know that she 'doesn't give a crap about Syracuse.' Lucy had exactly 1 Elite 8 correct: Syracuse. Her Final Four consisted of Syracuse [ok], South Florida [I could see that happening], and then Virginia & Notre Dame [both bounced in first round]. However, she is still well clear of....
The Futility Award
The worst completed bracket was created by something called 'SD SU Orange Bleeder', which sounds like something they'd plug as a 'shocking new case on the next episode of House.' I would list the transgressions, but it's easier to view them here.
My Favorite Bracket Names
- Etan Thomas' Poetry Slam [feat. Jae Crowder's dreads]
- Kueth My Thirst [because the water bowl at Jimmy's doghouse is empty]
- I Want To Go To There [because 'blerg' was the first thing I said after losing]
- You Call ... We Ball [Heidi Fleiss' bracket]
- Gottlieb Rewards Points [earn double during all illegal purchases in March]
- Not 10 F***ing Upsets! [because that's SUCH a bold prediction]
- F.M.L.O. [For My Love of Orange?]
- craig forthskin [so THAT was the extra weight that prevented him from getting more than 4" off the ground]
- Wion Daiters [this is how Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo pronounces his name]
- Mick Jagger moves like Otto [Otto's first job was being one of the 3 oranges in the guy's mouth on the cover of Exile on Main St.]
- MrPlow99's terrible picks [oh, I get it, you're going to be all smarmy and self-deprecating]
- Team Awesome [A simple statement stands out in this era of over-embellishment]
The 'Oh, it's YOUR Fault Award' goes to...
'Syracuse Fan in Asheville' - Yup...it's YOUR fault.