Gardner's quest for the perfect NIT bracket continues tonight

With the men's NCAA Tournament taking a three-day breather, the NIT steps boldly into the breach tonight with four Sour 16 games (hey, they can't exactly be "sweet," it's the freakin' NIT). That means Irish Trojan NIT Pool leader Mark Gardner's perfect bracket will be put to the test. Gardner is 20-for-20 and leads the pool with 152 points, 14 more than his nearest competitors.

Tonight's games are #4 Cal at #1 Ohio State, #3 Dayton at #2 Illinois State, #5 UAB at #1 Virginia Tech, and #3 Nebraska at #2 Mississippi. The first two games are at 7pm EDT, the second two at 9pm. Gardner picked the favorites: tOSU, ISU, VT and Ole Miss.

After tonight, only seven games will remain, so if Gardner goes 4-for-4 tonight, his mathematical chance of finishing with a perfect bracket (assuming all teams have an equal chance of winning) would improve from 1-in-2,048 to 1-in-128.

Also tonight is the first half of the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament. In my women's NCAA pool, it's a seven-way tie for first at the conclusion of the first round, with F.X. McGahee, Chuck Wessell, Kevin Curran, Tom Caputi, Michael Rosenkrantz, Ken Stern and Kay Torg all having 145 out of a possible 160 points -- the same total as the "all favorites bracket." Complete standings here and after the jump.

11th annual women's NCAA pool
1. Kay Torg - 110
1. Ken Stern - 110
1. Tom Caputi - 110
1. Chuck Wessell - 110
1. F.X. McGahee - 110
--. *ALL FAVORITES BRACKET* - 110
6. Soren Hammerschmidt - 105
6. Kevin Hauschulz - 105
6. Joseph Hiegel - 105
6. Bill Pancoast - 105
6. Kevin Curran - 105
6. Rick Boeckler - 105
6. Jim Hu - 105
6. Colleen Duggan - 105
6. Carol LaPlante - 105
6. Kevin Pilz - 105
6. Michael Rosenkrantz - 105
6. David Kreutz - 105
18. Josh Rubin - 100
18. Matt Kagan - 100
18. Matt Thomsen - 100
18. Joshua Krause - 100
18. Mark Gardner - 100
18. Gerry deSimas - 100
18. Brian Dupuis - 100
18. Kristy McCray - 100
18. Pat Caplin - 100
18. Steve Leys - 100
28. Randy Styles - 95
28. Steve Duvernay - 95
28. Dan Port - 95
28. Ken Wagner - 95
28. Danny Pilz - 95
28. Gary Kirby - 95
28. Toby, Sasha and Butter Zak Loy - 95
28. Jackie Wilson - 95
28. Carolyn Blessing - 95
28. Sean Sullivan - 95
28. Jeremy Gist - 95
28. Chris Bravo - 95
28. Peter Timbrell - 95
28. Weston Cross - 95
28. Kelly Strutz - 95
28. Jessica Osborne - 95
--. *AGGREGATE PICKS BRACKET* - 95
44. Joe Loy - 90
44. Matt Wiser - 90
44. Gary Atkinson - 90
44. Jeff Freeze - 90
44. Greg Kagan - 90
44. Dave Whelan - 90
44. Ian Auzenne - 90
44. Sandy Berman - 90
44. Greg Plank - 90
44. Jeff Vaca - 90
44. Yvette Webster - 90
44. Stacey Dubois - 90
56. Jay Johnson - 85
56. Scott Paine - 85
56. Tyler Condon - 85
56. Amy Aemisegger - 85
56. Chris Aemisegger - 85
56. Scott Loomer - 85
56. Ryan Dalidowitz - 85
56. Bonnie Stone - 85
56. M.T. Swanson - 85
56. Kim Stone - 85
56. Jeff Morrison - 85
56. Leanna Loomer - 85
56. Rachel Wetherill - 85
56. Patrick Roach - 85
56. Brendan Loy - 85
56. Jen Ham - 85
56. Conor Sullivan - 85
56. Lisa Velte - 85
56. Don LaPlante - 85
56. Jennifer Elam - 85
56. Brandon Minich - 85
77. Ted Zak - 80
77. Becky Loy - 80
77. Joyce Kohler - 80
77. Bob Lutts - 80
77. Joanna Rubin - 80
77. Mike Wiser - 80
77. Kristy LaPlante - 80
77. Andrew Long - 80
85. Ginny Zak - 75
85. Rosalie Town - 75
87. Rose Holden - 70
87. Robbie Loy - 70
87. Katrina Lewonczyk - 70

Comments

[Gardner]

Easily the closest I've paid attention to the NIT since 2000 when Penn State came in third place, and had a home rushing the court in a Penn State 105, Siena 103 regulation victory scoring with under 3 seconds left.

Anyway, Go Buckeyes, Redbirds, Hokies, and Rebels

[Brendan Loy]

Rushing the court for an NIT win? LOL. Awesome.

Gee when do begin the vaunted CBI pool? The tension of who gets to the Final 4 there and who wins the Midwest region?

[Brendan Loy]

I was going to have a CBI pool, actually, but they reseed the Final Four, so I decided it was too much trouble.

You asked. :)