Mike Quinn wins LRT NIT Pool

Mike Quinn, a.k.a. “isuquinndog,” a 2001 Illinois State alum and one-time Missouri Valley Conference guestblogger on the Irish Trojan’s Blog, won the 7th annual Living Room Times NIT Pool thanks to MVC runner-up Wichita State’s 66-57 win over Alabama in the NIT championship game.

Quinn, seen at right with me at the 2006 MVC tourney, actually did not predict Wichita’s success — indeed, they were the only NIT Final Four team he did not correctly pick. But because of his success elsewhere in the bracket, he had the lead heading into the title game, and merely needed Alabama to lose so that Jeff Morrison, who had picked the Tide, wouldn’t overtake him on the leaderboard.

Quinn, whose Final Four was Alabama, Colorado, Washington State and Dayton, and Morrison, who had Bama, CU, Oklahoma State and Wichita State, were the only two contestants who got 3 of the Final 4 right. Nobody got all four.

Quinn finished with 196 points out of a possible 317. Morrison is second with 189, followed by Vinny Jankowski and Joshua Krause with 174, Allan Lewis with 167, Gary Kirby with 166, Tim Wiseman with 159, Don LaPlante with 154, and rounding out the Top Ten, Matt Thomsen and my 3-year-old daughter “Loyette” with 154. Full standings here.