Eau du Midwest

This weekend's Final Four, with two teams from the Big 10, brings back memories of the TPP's early days. Big 10 teams won two national championships during the first three years of the TPP -- Indiana in 1987 and Michigan in 1989 -- and the pool was dominated by Big 10 sympathizers who profited from their shameless biases. Sometimes the Administration could've sworn he smelled the vegetal smell of a Great Lakes algal bloom on some brackets. Ick.

Years later, as the TPP added more participants from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, the pool became a big ol' ACC circle jerk.

There really is no accounting for taste.

Now, with the Big 10 inexplicably resurgent, TPP participants may have been caught with their "Research Triangle is for Lovers" sweatpants down. Picking percentages
were very low this year. Perhaps some of our AWOL TPP vets would've had the cojones to pick Michigan State or Wisconsin a little deeper.

And yet, in the end, BILL LEONARD and ROB HENRY -- two unapologetic ACC folks -- may ride their choice of North Carolina as national champeen all the way to the bank.

Here are participants' picks for this weekend (below). You can figure out the permutations for yourself, or you can wait for the Administration to post possible winners later.

Participant	Points	Champeen	Runner-up
Mitchell	86	Illinois	Syracuse
Weintraub	76	Illinois	North Carolina
Gibbs	75	Illinois	North Carolina
Wyner	74	Illinois	North Carolina
Webber	71	Illinois	Wisconsin
Hopps	70	Illinois	North Carolina
Borenzweig	69	Illinois	Connecticut
Leonard	66	North Carolina	Illinois
Brumberg, D & J	65	Connecticut	Oklahoma State
Henry	65	North Carolina	Oklahoma State
Hoffmann	65	Oklahoma State	Syracuse
Seldin	60	Illinois	Kansas
Frost	58	Illinois	Oklahoma
Swartwout	57	Illinois	Syracuse
Lazur	56	Illinois	Oklahoma
Tait	56	North Carolina	Oklahoma State
Brumberg, A	55	Illinois	Duke
Miller	46	Kansas	Illinois
Brumberg, M	28	Gonzaga	Villanova