Hello bracketologists! I am coming to you live from the Hampton Inn in Jefferson City, Missouri this morning as we in the NCCGA Central will be competing in the first round of our second regional tournament at Eagle Knoll Golf Course later today.
Anywho, on to the important stuff...
After both Michigan teams fell last Sunday as I brilliantly predicted (sarcasm alert), the Final Four is officially Florida, UCONN, Wisconsin and Kentucky. Most of the NCCGA Madness participants took the overall number 1 seed Florida Gators to win their brackets, and it has paid off as there are a lot of guys who picked them to win it all at the top of the individual leaderboard.
| 1 Dominic Ricasoli | Duquesne |
900 |
| 2 Ben Leon | Georgia |
860 |
| 3 Brad Buchberger | Central Washington |
850 |
| T4 Tyler Piddington | Wisconsin |
830 |
| T4 Tom Cox | Wisconsin |
830 |
| T6 Dave Pytel | Baylor |
820 |
| T6 Eric Prince | Kentucky |
820 |
| T6 Kris Cummings | Ohio State |
820 |
| T9 Aaron Krueger | Wisconsin |
810 |
| T9 Bill Donovan | Missouri |
810 |
| T9 Zack Dhionis | New Hampshire |
810 |
According to my calculations... If Florida wins the tournament, Dominic Ricasoli (Duquesne) will stay at the top and claim the title of individual champion of the first ever NCCGA Madness. If Wisconsin wins it all, Tom Cox (Wisconsin) will take home the bragging rights. If it's Kentucky, then Eric Prince (Kentucky) wins.
No one picked UCONN to win the whole thing, so predicting the champion if they win isn't so black and white.
As for the team leaderboard, the Badger golf team is still at the top. UCONN and Kentucky winning on Sunday really helped them keep their lead over the pack.
| 1 Wisconsin |
4060 |
| 2 Ohio State |
3750 |
| 3 Baylor |
3590 |
| 4 Missouri |
3400 |
| 5 Virginia |
3360 |
| 6 Iowa State |
3340 |
| 7 Boston College |
3240 |
| 8 Central Washington |
3180 |
| 9 NCCGA Leadership |
3080 |
| 10 Pittsburgh |
3040 |
Predictions:
Hopefully you haven't bet next year's tuition on who I've called to win the last few games... But just for kicks, here's who I've got advancing to the National Championship:
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It'll be interesting to see if Florida can hold Kemba Walk, uh, I mean Shabazz Napier and Co. from going off like they have in the games leading up to this one, but I think they will.
As for my Wiscy pick, don't let me down Badgers... I apologize for not giving you any confidence with my picks until now. Hopefully this won't jinx you guys, and if it does... You know where to come with your torches and pitchforks.
**Kevin Fitzpatrick is a junior at Iowa State University. Follow him on Twitter! @KFitzy87
