Wildcats are popular pick

Super Bowl Sunday is the single best day in sports.
But for a four-day stretch beginning today, college basketball is king.
The first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, and the craziness of the upsets and near-upsets that almost always ensues, is spectacular. And having an extra stake in the tournament with a bracket, even if it is just for pride and bragging rights, makes it even more fun.
Today I’m going to give you a look at The Commercial Review’s inaugural bracket contest. Joining several members of The CR’s staff this year are Jay County High School athletics director Bob Lutton, Fort Recovery athletics director Barb Sautbine, IHSAA Sports Information Director Jason Wille, JCHS principal Phil Ford, Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman, FRHS boys basketball coach Brian Patch, Dunkirk Mayor Dan Watson and former JCHS and Indiana University East basketball player Tyler Rigby.

The upsets
Captain conservative in the group was Watson, who didn’t pick a single team seeded lower than No. 10 to win in the first round. Meanwhile, CR managing editor Mike Snyder and Patch went wild with upsets, choosing seven and six teams seeded lower than 10th respectively.
Patch also made the most daring upset pick, selecting 14th-seeded Belmont to defeat third-seeded Georgetown in the opening round. In fact, he has both Belmont and No. 13 Davidson advancing to the Sweet 16.
It should come as no surprise that the most popular No. 10 seed was Purdue, which was chosen on eight of the 13 brackets I’m tracking in this column. Xavier was also a popular pick to knock off Notre Dame.
North Carolina State was the favorite No. 11 seed, while Long Beach State and 2011 tournament darling VCU shared the honor for No. 12 seeds.
Other than Patch’s pair only two other entrants selected teams seeded lower than 12th — No. 13 New Mexico State (Lutton) and No. 13 Ohio (me).
Beyond the first round, both Lutton and I have No. 11 Texas making the Sweet 16. And the honor for the wildest Elite Eight pick goes to Wille, who chose No. 12 Harvard to make a deep run.

The Final Four
Beyond the opening rounds, there were not a lot of crazy picks.
The No. 1 seeds dominated, with Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan State and Syracuse, in that order, the favorite picks to make the Final Four. Kentucky was named on all of the “celebrity” brackets.
The next two teams most often picked to make the Final Four were No. 2 seeds Ohio State and Missouri.
Thankfully, some participants did stray from the chalk.
Most notably, Lutton has Texas making it all the way to the Final Four, and Both Sautbine and Banser went with No. 4 Indiana to come out of the South. The other teams selected by just one person to advance to New Orleans were No. 4 Louisville (CR commercial printing manager Carl Ronald) and No. 3 Marquette (me).

The champions
Kentucky is the make-or-break team for most. The top-seeded Wildcats were chosen to win it all on six brackets (CR county reporter Steve Garbacz, Snyder, Lutton, Watson, Patch and Ford).
The next most popular team was North Carolina, chosen by Ronald, Rigby and Wille. The other four of us went off the board.
No one was further off the beaten path than Banser, who selected No. 4 Indiana. Then again, I chuckled when he picked Butler in our office pool last season and Bob ended up getting the last laugh.
Sautbine went with the team that seems to be the darling of the all the experts, No. 2 Missouri, and Geesaman chose No. 1 Syracuse.
As for me …
Most of the NCAA champions since 1985 have had a couple of the same characteristics. This year, only two teams fulfill those “requirements” — North Carolina and Missouri.
However, I didn’t pick either of them. I figure if your favorite team is a legitimate contender for the title it only makes sense to pick that team.
Go Buckeyes.[[In-content Ad]]