The NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden next Tuesday is set — UMass-Stanford at 7pm Eastern, followed by Minnesota-Washington at 9pm — and the 8th annual Living Room Times NIT Pool is down to a Final 3: Tommy Lemoine of Manchester, NH (a Michigan State alum), Dan Dinunzio of Storrs, CT (a current UConn senior), and Mike Wiser of Lansing, MI (a USC and Stanford alum and current MSU grad student).
Lemoine is an 800 Games Project participant who goes by @hoopthink on Twitter. Wiser is a friend of mine from USC’s Trojan Hall and a long-time contestant in my contests for more than a decade, and is trying to win his first Living Room Times basketball pool. Dinunzio is a fellow Newington High alum and, currently second place in the women’s pool, is gunning for a rare double pool championship.
Here are the current standings. Lemoine is first with 164 points. Dinunzio is second with 152. Jeff Poor is third with 151, but is mathematically eliminated. Wiser is tied for fourth with J. Scott Fitzwater at 141, but Fitzwater is mathematically eliminated; Wiser is not, because of his prediction that his alma mater Stanford will win the championship.
Here is how the scenarios play out:
* Wiser wins the pool if Stanford wins the title.
* Lemoine wins the pool if Washington wins the title, or loses the title game to UMass.
* Dinunzio wins the pool if Minnesota wins the title, or loses the title game to UMass.
This means that, next Tuesday, if UMass wins the first semi, Wiser will be eliminated and the second semi will decide the pool — Lemoine wins if Washington wins, Dinunzio wins if Minnesota wins. But if Stanford wins the first semi, Wiser will stay alive, and the second semi will merely decide which contestant, Lemoine or Dinunzio, gets to essentially face off against Wiser in the title game for the pool championship.
In other news, the men’s Sweet 16 starts tonight. Here again the current standings and victory scenarios in that pool.