2003 PRE-NCAA CONTEST NEWSLETTER 2

Standings

Every year the Commissioners play their little word-game and ridicule the masses for their group ineptitude. But this year, we really mean it. What else can you say about a group of 94 people in which only nine (9) still have their National Champion alive going into the Final Four? Five of us chose Kansas (Claude; Conte; D Kedson; McMoose; A Scott); Two of us chose Texas (Clark; Koiki); and two chose Syracuse (George B; Hand). Nobody guessed Marquette. Our overall average, 230.87, is more than 20 points worse than last year's 251.55, and quite frankly, last year wasn't one of our best. (And that's only if the word "best" can be placed in a sentence describing our group aptitude without the speaker doubling over in an uncontrollable giggling fit.)

George B currently holds a significant lead, with 286 points. Claude, with 265 points, is the leader among non-paying entries. Money winners, depending on National Champion, are as follows:

SyracuseMarquetteTexasKansas
George B326George B286Clark307Claude305
Alberts270Alberts270George B286McMoose297
Clark267 (tie)Clark267Koiki274George B286
Hand267 (tie)Alberts270Alberts270

Because Koiki and Claude are non-paying, lucky Alberts is in the money even if he finishes fourth. If Kansas wins, Claude will become the first non-paying entrant to win the pool. (You think he wishes he'd just forked over the $10?) 71 entrants paid, so first place will win $336, second place will win $168, and third place will win $56.

For the second time, Baumgarten led after selection of the field, garnering the $100 prize. And for the second time, Baumgarten is nowhere near the leaders at the end of the contest, as he's currently mired in 35th place.

Comfortably in last place is Terhune, with 162 points, "followed" by Altomonte with 180, D Kornfeld with 183, Athey with 187, and Joe McAtee with 189.

Only three contestants correctly anticipated as many as two (2) of the Final Four (4) (George B; J Joseph; Crowther), while 49 got one right, and an astonishing 42 entrants failed to guess a single Final Four team correctly. In a year where all four number 1 seeds made the Final 8, only 30 of us got as many as five correct (including eight contestants who got six right out of Eight -- Mazeffa; Clark; Kleiman; Alberts; Murphy; George B; Jr. Donadio; D Josephs), while two players (J McAtee; Terhune) only got one (1) Final Eight team, and three others (D Kornfeld; Altomonte; Booth) successfully selected just two.

All in all, 23 people chose Texas into the Final Four; 22 chose Kansas; seven chose Syracuse (George B; Fitch; Hand; J Joseph; Mahalko; Rybaltowski; and Shaffer, who always seems to be close (this year, she's tied for tenth) but never wins); and three chose Marquette (J Joseph; P Leach; Reider). J Joseph deserves special mention for picking both Marquette and Syracuse, but not getting either of the easy ones. Four contestants (Glowacki; M Josephs; Koiki; Rybaltowski) chose self-immolating Georgia as a Final Four team. Nine unlucky souls tabbed Georgia into their Final Eight. Only J McAtee picked self-policing Fresno State into the Final Eight. R Broder went with 14th seeded Troy State in her Final Eight, and Terhune tried 16th seeded Utah State. On the good side, Spitz was the only person who managed to select Michigan State into the Final Eight.

All the commentators said the West was a stacked region, but how about D Kedson having all four of his Final Four in that region? Eleven others had three of their Final Four in the West, including D Kedson's mother, P Kedson. Kohart and Terhune had five of their Final Eight in the West, and nine others went West with four of their Final Eight. Coach Doc and R Broder had four of their Final Eight in the East, while Kent and Seidel chose four of their Final Eight in the South.

As for Conference Champions, only 28 of us had more than half of them right. Top dog was M Ruben, with 19 correct conference champions, followed by Baumgarten; Claude; Kent; E Leach; S Adams; and S Smith with 18. On the other end, nine month old M Leach only got eight conference champions right. Athey, Sokol, and J Joseph got nine right, and don't even have the excuse of being an infant.

Forty two entrants got Wild Card points, led by Kohart, who got 26 points for her astute selection of Michigan State. Unfortunately for Kohart, it was pretty much her only astute selection, as is evidenced by her zero (0) Final Four teams. Nine people got six points for Wisconsin, Littlefield and Yantosh got six points for Butler, and Glowacki got six for Auburn. Twenty five entrants got one point for Utah, Marshall and Seidel each got one point for Purdue, Rich Starbuck got one for Arizona State, and Koiki got one for Indiana

This year's Wamser award goes to Hurrell, who correctly chose Kansas into the Final Four but incorrectly omitted them from his Final Eight, and Hutchinson who correctly excluded Florida from her Final Eight, but incorrectly included them in her Final Four.

Two contestants noted that their only goal in the pool was to beat a single, specified rival. K Sullivan was successful in her single-minded battle against B Peloso, beating him 228 to 209. Booth (198) was not so lucky in her crusade against Whiteside (248). B Peloso also lost handily to his daughter, M Peloso, 224 to 209. And though it wasn't her stated goal, K Sullivan edged her husband, D'Zuro, by a score of 228 to 227. In other potential grudge matches, J Broder (263) beat daughter R Broder (200); Coach Doc (240) beat daughter S Adams (232); J Donadio (256) beat both son Jr. Donadio (222) and wife ME Donadio (207); D Josephs (251) beat son M Josephs (235); P Kedson (241) thrashed husband L Kedson (227), while D Kedson (224) lost not only to both his parents but also to his two year old son, B Kedson (228); R Kornfeld (225) beat brother D Kornfeld (183); P Leach (235) beat both his father, E Leach (232), and his daughter, M Leach (195); hybrid McMoose (256) beat half of its fathers (Joe Mc, 189); B Pappasergi (226) beat all three T Pappasergi's (214 each); and R Wanger (258) bested daughter K Wanger (246). If we missed your particular grudge match, we apologize. Next year, let us know your obsession and we'll publicize it.

In the Tag Team tussle, the "Card Players" (formerly known as Arnie's Army of Bridge Players) finally won, with an average of 240.86. Following the battling bridgesters were the Kedson Klan (234.8), the Friends of JJ (234.0), Syracuse cult UUTV (232.0), and the Donadios (228.33). As always, the Leach Gang (224.25) trails the competition. Also emerging on top for the first time (in the Employer competition) was Urban Engineering (244.80), which beat out Vibroplating (242.67), PaDOT (237.75), "Self" (237.57), and Delaware Investment (228.33).

Showing what a topsy-turvy world it can be, males (232.46) are on top of females (223.41) for the second straight year, and lawyers (243.40) have beaten back humans (229.79) (although the top species is, now and forever, felines (265.0)). In fact, the top occupation for the first time is practicing attorney (257.0), over salespeople (244.5), computer people (241.33), retired people (239.5), engineers (238.33), and accountants (238.0). Students (223.06) trail teachers (233.0) and everybody else. Although within that defective group, Syracuse students (227.0) are better than Pitt students (214.0). In another unusual occurrence, children (219.80) trail adults by a considerable margin. Self-proclaimed deities (224.0) need some work on their clairvoyance.

In the name game, it was the apostles on top, with John (246.20) and Matthew (235.40) leading the way over Rich/Rick (227.40), Bob/Rob (223.80), David (221.00), and your considerably below average Joe (200.67). The New York City area (247.33) was this year's top region, followed by North Jersey (240.50), urban Philadelphia (234.88), the Far West (234.43), the Deep South (232.67), and the Beltway area (232.25). South Jersey (232.00) edged Pennsylvanian Philadelphia suburbs (230.26), Western Pennsylvania (228.33), and Central Jersey (228.33). Upstate NY (227.0), the Midwest (226.0), and New England (215.0) appear to be still suffering from massive cold fronts.

We're taking a break this year from the All-Name teams and Mascot Trivia, but we hope to bring both of them back next year. Detailed breakdowns of everybody’s picks may be found at “Pool Central,” http://www.DKNoFish.com/PoolCentral.htm.

As always, it's been a pleasure running the pool. See you next year.

Standings Going into Final Four
 Back to Top

NameScoreConf ChampsWild CardChampionFinal 8Final 4
George B28615WisconsinSyracuse62
Al Alberts27014MemphisKentucky61
JEFF CLARK26714WisconsinTexas61
Claude26518WisconsinKansas51
Jonathan broder26317WisconsinLouisville51
Marc Kleiman25916DaytonOklahoma61
Randy Wanger25817UtahKentucky51
Mc Moose25715UtahKansas51
John Donadio25616UtahArizona51
NormRick RosenStarbuck25517UtahKentucky51
POLLY SHAFFER25514UtahDuke51
Laura Harlan25414WisconsinArizona51
Jeremy Kent25218CincinnatiArizona41
Colin Fitch25114DaytonKentucky51
David Josephs25112MemphisKentucky61
Eric Wagner25015DaytonOklahoma51
Steve Smith24918DaytonArizona41
Curt Whiteside24817UtahKentucky41
Arrowman24717CincinnatiKentucky41
Marc Reider24713UtahArizona51
JJ Joseph2469DaytonKentucky52
Kelly Wanger24616UtahArizona41
Audrey Kohart24414Michigan StArizona4
John Marshall24413PurdueArizona51
Chris Nowakowski24413UtahPittsburgh51
Wayne Crowther24311DaytonKentucky42
Craig Weinberg24315VirginiaArizona41
Matt Mazeffa24216MemphisKentucky6
Karen Hutchinson24117Fresno StArizona41
Phyllis Kedson24114CincinnatiArizona41
Coach Doc24014WisconsinKentucky5
Nick Mahalko24015OregonArizona41
Kevin Kasprzak23913DaytonArizona41
matt rybaltowski23913Texas TechArizona41
Neil Baumgarten23818MemphisKentucky4
ArnoldSOB Selig23816DaytonDuke5
Matt Ruben23719Pittsburgh4
Chris Hurrell23517Arizona41
Matt Josephs23512AlabamaOklahoma51
Perry Leach23514CincinnatiKentucky41
Manny Pogach23514AlabamaArizona41
Norm Rosen23517UtahArizona5
Glenn Shapiro23516DaytonArizona31
Susan Abrams23417DaytonKentucky5
ESPN Bracketology23415UtahOklahoma5
Adesina Koiki23413IndianaTexas41
Joe Glowacki23313AuburnKentucky41
Sarah Adams23218WagnerKentucky4
Ed Leach23218DaytonArizona4
bob huffnagle23114AlabamaKentucky5
Rich Warmbier23015OregonDuke31
Brandon Kedson22816TennesseeArizona4
R.A.B. Starbuck22812UtahKentucky31
Rick Starbuck22811WisconsinArizona31
Kate Sullivan22813UtahKentucky41
Kevin Biebel22717WisconsinKentucky4
Bob D'Zuro22713MemphisKentucky41
Bob Hand22715Weber StSyracuse31
Pop-Pop Kedson22715UtahArizona4
BRETT CONNELLY22611MemphisKentucky41
David Harvie22616UtahArizona4
Bruno Pappasergi22615AlabamaArizona4
Robert Kornfeld22512Arizona41
A. Scott22515Kansas41
Frank Conte22414UtahKansas41
Haklar22414WisconsinOklahoma4
David Kedson22413UtahKansas31
Matt Murphy22413MemphisArizona6
Maggie Peloso22413DaytonKentucky41
Richard Starbuck22415Arizona StLouisville4
Junior Donadio22210UtahKentucky6
Jay Yantosh22215ButlerArizona3
Bill B22015MemphisArizona4
Peter O'Brien21916MemphisArizona4
Ben Friedfeld21514Arizona4
Littlefield21412ButlerArizona4
Todd Pappasergi 121413UtahKentucky4
Todd Pappasergi 221413UtahKentucky4
Todd Pappasergi 321413UtahKentucky4
Barbara Spitz21314St. John'sArizona31
Bob Peloso20914UtahArizona3
Barry Jaynes20812MemphisArizona4
Doug Silverman20812Kentucky4
MaryEllen Donadio20713UtahArizona3
RICK SEIDEL20210PurdueArizona4
Rachel Broder20010PennsylvaniaLouisville41
Scott Sokol2009ManhattanArizona5
Nancy Booth19814CincinnatiArizona2
Madison Leach1958UtahOklahoma4
Joe McAtee18916Georgia TechArizona1
Scott Athey1879UtahArizona3
David Kornfeld18314HawaiiDuke2
Joe Altomonte18014VillanovaArizona2
Kyla Terhune16216ManhattanNotre Dame1