So it's Rah, Rah, Car'lina-lina

For all that last year's championship had, this year's was a snoozer. Literally. I was asleep with 8:30 to go in the second half, though it may have been the manhattans my dad was mixing. 

The real competition this year was in the St. John's Hoops Al McGuire Memorial Final Four contest. Poe asserted checkers is more difficult than checkers. In the same vein I wonder if more calculation is required to simply name the final four teams than to fill out an entire 64-team bracket. But, you say, you fill out your bracket to arrive at the final four in any event. That's true for most, but perhaps the act of focusing the mind on four and only four teams and predicting their final positions requires higher powers of analysis.

Or perhaps not. Some astute hoops observers logged a goose egg this year. Overthinking that injury to Ty Lawson's toe, perhaps, or giving too much credit to the Syracuse 2-3?

Let's cut to the chase. This year's winner is...

Matt Etzell!

Congratulations, Matt. Your NDSU Bison apparel is on the way. Here are the final scores. Remember: 1 point for each team you correctly placed in the Final Four, 2 points for naming the runner-up, and 3 points for naming the champion. 

8 - Matt Etzell

7 - Carolyn Carpenter (last year's champ)

7 - Bruce Holt

5 - Andy Pearson

5 - Kelly Kayser

5 - SPY

4 - Bruce Kayser

2 - Jim Julian

2 - Matt Thurber

1 - Krall

1 - Cole Carpenter

1 - Dan Haase

0 - Bob Root

0 - Marty

0 - Griff

0 - Steve C.

0 - Lucas

0 - The Missus

0 - Audrey Schroeder

No hoops at St. John's this week due to student activity in the gym. See you next week.