In the end, the chalk won out as #1 overall seed Kentucky won the whole thing. That may seem boring, but consider the following:
- Seeding between the various 1 seeds has mattered since 2004, the year the NCAA stopped randomly pitting regional winners against each other in the national semifinals, and instead did so according to the seeding of each region's 1 seeds. In other words, starting in 2004, the #1 overall team's region in the tournament would face the #4 overall team's regions and the #2 overall team's region would face the #3 overall's region.
- Since 2004, here is how the #1 overall seed has fared:
- 2004: Overall #1 - Kentucky (lost in Round of 32), #2 seed Connecticut wins title
- 2005: Overall #1 - Illinois (lost in Final), #1 seed North Carolina wins title
- 2006: Overall #1 - Duke (lost in Sweet 16), #3 seed Florida wins title
- 2007: Overall #1 - Florida (won title)
- 2008: Overall #1 - North Carolina (lost in Final Four), #1 seed Kansas wins title
- 2009: Overall #1 - Louisville (lost in Elite 8), #1 seed North Carolina wins title
- 2010: Overall #1 - Kansas (lost in Round of 32), #1 seed Duke wins title
- 2011: Overall #1 - Ohio State (lost in Sweet 16), #3 seed Connecticut wins title
- 2012: Overall #1 - Kentucky (won title)
So the #1 overall seed has failed to get out of the first weekend of the tournament as often as it has won the tile in the last 9 years. So while on paper it seems boring, it's about as "boring" as 4 #1 seeds making the Final Four, which has only happened once in the tournament's history (2008). Shoutouts:
To Ed K, Mo M, and Joanne T, you three had a shot at the top 3 spots in the pool, but needed Kansas to avoid digging themselves a chasm before starting to climb. Congratulations on staying alive through the final day, even if your final point total doesn't reflect how close you actually came.
To the 26 of you who correctly picked Kentucky to win the tournament, including: Lindesy U, Angela S, Anna C, Daniel B, Suzie W, Moose S, Bernie Q, Molly C, Elliot B, Arthur S, Don B, William S, Joe P, Malcolm OC, Peter G, Chuck M, Noah K, Josiah K, Ben F, James P, and Andy M.
To Corey H (OSU) and Manuel J (Louisville): the only two entrants to finish in the top 28 despite not correctly picking the correct overall winner. Bonus (repeat) shoutout to Manuel for correctly picking all of the Final 4 teams.
To Ryan W, for correctly predicting the exact final score of the final game: 67-59. Honorable mention to Susan G, for coming within one point of the exact final score (67-58).
To Jamie L, who finished the highest of everyone in the pool who missed out on all 4 Final Four teams, beating 12 others, 5 of whom got at least 1 team right.
To Chuck M, who got quite a bit of grief from Sam OC and myself while watching Georgetown-NC State on Day 4 for at that time, being behind little Miles in the pool. Chuck rebounded to pick the correct title game match-up and the correct winner to leave both of us far behind in the dust.
To Ed K, for outpacing the K family field. Also to Celinda K and Denise K, for outpacing me. And finally, to little Miles, for keeping me out of the family cellar.
Baseball has the Mendoza line, and now the Pool has the Baby line. To Zahra H, Sue G, and Rachel G, for coming in below the baby line.
To David K, the defending champion of the pool, who followed up his 2011 win with a 5th place finish in 2012, with 134 points.
To Tammy F, who finished 4th in this year's pool, with 137 points.
To Nathan G, who came in 3rd with 141 points.
To Paula B, who ended up 2nd with 144 points.
And to Julie S, who vaulted into the lead after Day 9 and held on when Kentucky won, for winning the 12th Annual Pool, with 147 points. Congratulations, Julie!
Condemnations:
To repeat myself, to the NCAA. The game ended after 11:30 last night. If I hadn't been running this pool I would have shut the game off at halftime. Think about starting an hour earlier next year, or continue worrying about how giving a player a bagel with cream cheese is a violation instead. Your call.
To Nike, I am underwhelmed by the new uniforms. Well, specifically, I am underwhelmed by the new Seahawks uniforms, especially the alternate grays, which look suspiciously like unwashed whites. I am a veritable expert on unwashed whites, having gone 2.5 years through college before meeting my wife.
To Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, who has a "thumb situation" and needs to see a specialist. I am dubious of Beckett's "injury" since he goes on the 15-day DL for hangnails and blisters, and due to his central involvement to the Beer and Fried Chicken ridiculousness of September 2011.
To Morris Claiborne, former LSU cornerback and projected top-10 (maybe even top-5 pick), who reportedly scored a 4 (out of 50) on the annual Wonderlic test. If you're interested in what kinds of questions are on the test, go here. Note that you're supposed to answer the 12 sample questions in 5 minutes if you decide to try and take the sample test.
Back to the NCAA again, the Women's Basketball Final is tonight, and guess what time it starts? 8:30. Not 9:23. 8:30. I realize the audience won't be as big for this game (I usually don't watch, thanks to college basketball burnout, but I'm considering it this year to see if anyone can solve Brittney Griner), but you're trying to raise the audience for this game, why not the men's one???
Finally, I'd just like to say another thank you to everyone who participated in this year's pool. It was by far the largest of the 12 pools I've run, and I hope you had as much fun following along as I did organizing and updating things.
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