NCAA Tournament Update March 31
The lesson to be learned by this year’s Mount Saint Joseph NCAA Tournament is “don’t over think your picks.” Two of the first people to turn in their brackets are also the only ones who have a chance to win.
As we head into Final Four weekend, the title will go to either Orville Bray in the maintenance department, or Katie Risley in the business office, who was languishing near the bottom heading into this weekend’s games. She was one of only three people to pick Syracuse for the Final Four – Marian Bennett and Cyndy Madi were the others – but the only one to pick them to win another game. Louisville is the only team still playing that anyone picked to win the championship, so most of the people in contention can’t change their position in the standings even if they gain points. The Final Four games are worth 16 points each, and the championship is worth 32 points, so here’s what you need to know:
If Syracuse beats Michigan on Saturday, Katie is going to win, no matter what happens in the Louisville-Wichita St. game, or the championship. A Syracuse win would give Katie 81 points and put her in first place. Regardless of what Louisville does, she would remain two points ahead of Orville, who would get the second place money.
If Michigan beats Syracuse, Orville is going to win, and Andrew Stelmach is going to finish second, regardless of what happens with Louisville. Which sort of makes the championship game anticlimactic, unless Louisville is in it, of course. Here are the standings as of April 1:
Points Name
79 Orville Bray
77 Andrew Stelmach
75 Marian Bennett
74 Mike Stelmach
73 Cyndy Madi
73 Trista Boyle
73 Bryan Dant
68 Jennifer Kaminski
65 Katie Risley
63 Kelly Tipton
62 Sister Mary McDermott
61 Sherry Newton
61 Dan Heckel
60 Mark Blandford
59 April Ray
59 Amber Jones
59 Sister Amelia
57 Sister Jane Miriam
57 Lisa Harmon
56 Sister Elaine
53 Kim Gunterman