Mighty Casey Has Struck Out

With a mighty thud, the tournament’s top seed, The Louisville Cardinals went down in a blaze that was all but glorious.  On the surface such a sound defeat is shocking…until you examine it a little more closely.  Who did Louisville play in rounds 1-3?  Moorehead State, who had to win a game just to earn the right to get smoked by Louisville; Siena, who gave them a semi-test, but still, far from a contender; and Arizona, whom we found out, in the words of Bryson Davis, “They are who we thought they were.”  Let us compare that to whom Michigan State faced in rounds 1, 2, and 3.  Robert Morris – ok, no much to talk about there; USC, the PAC-10 tournament champion; and Kansas, the defending NCAA champions (minus notable players, of course).  Add to the mix the media debasement of the Big 10 and praising of the Big East, and the Spartans were simply better prepared to play at a level necessary to win.  Tonight’s result further solidifies another of my March Madness iron laws, one that I often repeat, and seldom obey: never pick against Tom Izzo in March.  Simply put, the man is a winner.  How many times has Tom Izzo taken a team of seemingly inferior talent to the Final Four.  This is as at least twice in my recollection.  I can all of you Sparty’s doing the victory dance all the way to Detroit.

Speaking of Detroit…

There’s no place like home, but if you can’t play at home, close to home will do just fine.  Michigan State playing in the Final Four in Detroit should not be overlooked.  They definitely have a shot.

Sooner or later, it all comes crashing down.  What happened?  I slept through the UNC-Oklahoma game.  Literally.  What I thought was going to be a titanic clash turned out to be colossal trash.  After dominant performances, Blake Griffin and Oklahoma looked completely inept against Hansbrough and North Carolina.  UNC and UConn seem to have established themselves as the favorites at this point, but Villanova may be the hottest team of the four.  Michigan State appears to be the underdog, but underestimate them at your peril.  Something tells me Jim Calhoun will not make that mistake.

With the Final Four set, it is time for our round four awards.

Awards

The This Is How The West Was Really Won Award goes to six contestants who were the only ones to pick all 15 games correctly in any region, re-picks included!  Curiously, these folks picked all 15 games correctly in the West region, while no one picked all 15 games correctly in any other region in the tournament.  The winners are Angie Crone, Bill Bailey, Bryson Davis, Gene Pollastro, Holli Heffner, and Megan Risner.

The Beasts Of The East Award goes to six contestants who were 14-1 in the East region: Zach Richardson, Dave Wilson, Laura Ramirez, Joey Inskeep, Ben Crone, and Mark Vandre.

The Heartland Award goes to only two contestants who were 14-1 in the Midwest region: Paul Alexander and Neal “Get Out Of The Top Ten Already” Cunningham.

The Mouth of the South Award goes to a platoon of folks who were 14-1 in the South region: Jon Blair, Megan Risner, Tom Kline, Steve Fifield, James Wells, Frank Riviera, Scotty Wilson, Joey Inskeep, Billy Brundage, Jacob Brundage, David Brush, Stan Feldman, Mike Brown, Stephen Borkowski, and Chuck Sage.

The What Demented Imbecile Invented This Cockamamie Scoring System Award goes to Dave Moritz.  Dave accomplished a genuinely noteworthy feat.  He is the only contestant – one out of 465 – who picked all four Final Four teams correctly.  He did so with original picks, but that is just icing on the cake.  No one else got the Final Four right, re-picks included.  Dave’s ranking?  274!

The Jeff Is A Genius Award goes to Señor Underdog, a.k.a. Dave Barndt, who is barely above .500 but in 19th place because of 46 bonus points, second-highest in the contest.  Dave will receive an autographed picture of me, which I am sure his sons will cherish forever.

The Worst To First Award goes to Mason Gallmeyer for his stratospheric rise in the contest standings, climbing from 431st to 44th!

The Desperately In Need Of A Bailout Award, sponsored by AIG, goes to Cheri Rayles, whose stock has fallen further than an investment bank with all of its holdings in subprime mortgages.  Cheri was once in 2nd place.  Today she is 458th, seven spots from dead last!

The You Must Be Either Vulcan Or The Incredible Hulk Award goes to the green-blooded Chris Randazzo, who has fed me a steady stream of Michigan State woofing and propaganda over the last week or so.  Chris did send me a clever comment today.  “There are many happy Spartans in the motor city who are elated to see their team play a ‘home game’ at Detroit’s Ford Field.  Besides basketball, Detroit fans are starving for the home team to win a game in that place!”  And the people said, “Amen!”

The Coach Croojawooski Award goes to the highest ranking contestant with the most difficult to pronounce Polish last name, Mike Martynowicz, now in 5th place.  I’m thinking Mike has to be a Duke fan out of sheer national loyalty.

Finally, the If You’re Going To Lead The Contest, Pick A Less Disgusting Alias Award goes to Mike “poops” Brown.  Dude.  Ick!  Ahem, Mr. Brown is in first place with 123 points, but he is not untouchable, especially with two huge scategories bonuses remaining to be claimed if Villanova wins one game and/or Michigan State wins 2.  I find myself really enjoying this year’s contest more than any other in recent years, because the final outcome is truly still up for grabs with only three games left to play.

With the, the Wizard will step back behind the curtain until next Saturday.  Many thanks, once again, to all of you who take the time to send a comment, a compliment, and even a jab or two via email.  If you’re wondering “what’s in it for me” as far as doing this contest goes, one of the joys I receive is seeing the steady flow of emails and nickname changes as the contest unfolds.  It has become your commentary, of sorts, and the fact that so many take the time to actually do it shows me that it’s worth it to do this craziness every year.  As totally unimportant as a leisure activity like this is in the grand scheme of things, it means a lot when folks show their appreciation with their most valuable asset, their time. 

Time to sign off before I get all sappy or something stupid like that.