ALHAMBRA/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- Tar Heel Tyler Hansbrough came back for his senior year to win a championship.  Coach Roy Williams said he wanted to win the championship for Hansbrough.  They just didn't think it'd be so easy.  For the sixth straight tourney game, #1S-North Carolina whipped their opponent by more than 11 points, this time home-crowd favorite #2MW-Michigan St. by 17 (89-72), in winning their 5th NCAA crown.  After 6 foot-10 center Goran Suton nailed a 3-pointer to give the Spartans a 3-2 lead, the pro-Spartan crowd figured their team had a chance and memories of the 35-blowout loss four months ago to this same Tar Heel team in this same dome would be forgotten.  But UNC couldn't miss and by the time the score was 22-7 and then 36-13 with 9:12 left in the first half, the Spartan bench looked like they had given up which was disappointing to see.  The Spartans committed 14 turnovers in the first half (of which, Tar Heel Ty Lawson had 7 of his record 8 steals) and when they tried anew for the second half, they started with... a turnover.  Every time Michigan St. had cut the lead to 15 or 16 and had the ball, a turnover or bad shot would ensue.  That, foul trouble, and missing 4 of 8 free throws down one stretch doomed them despite UNC shooting poorly in the second half.

UNC's championship was picked by a record 36 entries (31.6%).  This was the highest percentage to pick the correct champ since 2000 (36.1%) when... Michigan St. won it all.  This allowed Rainman (2 years), AC (1st year), and Buckeye Mike (14 years, $40 bonus in '04) to join the big money, pushing Little Miss Sunchips (Tied-10th, 142 pts), Baba (15th, 139), and The Rat Pack (17th, 138) out of the money.  Bizarro Larzby (6 years) had already clinched first and Buckeye23 (4 years, Bonus in '07) moved to second place.  Saikdog (146) finished sixth, just two points outside the money.  Will he curse himself for picking UCLA in the Sweet 16?  These three points lost would have given him 3rd place (via tiebreaker).

Although $495 richer, Lawrence M's Bizarro Larzby did miss going a Perfect Last 7 (he picked Michigan St.), missed breaking Van&Sam's record of 166 points, and he missed nailing the first-ever Double (winning both a top prize and Bonus with 2 entries).  Shake N' Bake (4 years) fought off Lawrence M's first entry Larzby (108th, 93) and eight others (who had the Big East with 17 wins) in winning the $40 Bonus.  Some garbage time points pushed the total points in final to 161, which he was closest to (159).  No one guessed the correct total (four entries were 2 points off), the first time that's happened since 2002.

Congrats to this year's pool winners (all 6 winners have never finished in the big money (just Bonus for 2)):

    1st Place =       $495.00   Lawrence M (Bizarro Larzby), 158 pts
    2nd Place =    $250.00    Wendy B (Buckeye23), 151
    3rd Place =     $170.00    Adam Cutler (AC), 149  (won tiebreaker)
    4th Place =     $115.00     Ford R (Rainman), 149 
    5th Place =     $ 70.00      Mike B (Buckeye Mike), 148 
    Bonus Prize =$ 40.00     Kevin T (Shake N' Bake), 25th, 132

The final pool information can be found on the official site: http://www.HWCI.com/ncaa.

    Tids & Bits:  Even though it may have been 60,000 out of a record 72,922 Spartan fans, it's still a huge dome and most are probably "corporate" types, not rabid fans... UNC had a record 55 points in the first half and record 21 point lead at the half (55-34)... at least one entry has picked the correct champ since 1998 (1997 was the only other year no on picked the correct champ)... I (Ides of Fabone, T-35th, 129) finally picked the correct champ (it's been a while, since 2001)... David F (The Mighty Mobelfakta) picked UNC which is a record 6th time he's picked the correct champ (15 years); his dad, Bing F (Bingo) also picked UNC and has the highest % picking the champ (50%, 4 of 8 years) with at least 6 years in the pool... however, Corey S (C$) is 2-for-2 and Paul T (Poolraider) & Spencer C (Octagon of Doom) are 3-for-5... the Midwest regional champion had won the last 3 titles (having sent a rep to the Final for six years running)... the 114 entries racked up a record total of 13,545 points; the 118.8 average is the 3rd highest-ever; also the 4,846 wins is a record and 67.5% winning percentage is the 3rd highest-ever... Tedd L's Teddy's Teams (113th, 80) was the only entry to finish under .500 (30-33 record)... if you picked all the higher seeds to win, you would have finished in 53rd place with 122 points; if you were the POTUS (thanks Gareth M for submitting Presidential Picks), you would have finished in a tie for 40th place with 126 points... the 17 wins for the Big East is the most wins for a conference since we started the Bonus in 2003... the 161 total points scored in the final is the most since 2001 (165)... Lawrence M is now our 3rd highest money maker (behind Robinson C's haul of $680 and Scott T's $630)... Lawrence M, Adam C, Ford R, and Kevin T became the 42nd, 43rd, 44th, and 45th persons to win money in our pool... Wendy B and Mike B became the 13th and 14th persons to win money at least twice... Lawrence M is just the third person to ever win money with his 2nd entry (no one has won on their 3rd entry); so out of 104 extra entries, just 3 have won...