Brian Carman winner of Imperial Republican’s bracketology contest

    Brian Carman’s pick of Villanova as this year’s winner of the mens NCAA Final Four basketball tournament proved to be the difference in the Imperial Republican’s bracketology contest.
    Carman entered the Final Four with 38 correct picks in the tournament, placing him in second behind Nick Banuelas of Wauneta who went into the weekend with 39 points.
    The two wins by Villanova to take the national championship made the difference for Carman. He finished with 40 points to Banuelas 39 points.
    Banuelas was down to just his Kansas pick in the Final Four so when they fell to Villanova, that ended his chance to win.
    Penny Strand and Tracy Pribbeno of Imperial and Matt Klima of Wauneta all tied with Banuelas with 39 points. All three had Villanova as their winner, picking up two points in the Final Four.
    Chad Leibbrandt went into the weekend with three of the four Final Four teams but had Kentucky defeating Kansas in the national championship game to knock him out.
    Villanova came out of the East regional as the No. 1 seed  to face Kansas, the Midwest region’s No. 1 seed.
    That game proved to be a  95-79 shooting beat-down of Kansas. Villanova made a Final Four record 18 3-pointers, shooting 43 percent outside the arc.
    On the other side of the bracket, Michigan, the No. 3 seed in the West region faced off against this year’s cinderella team—Loyola-Chicago, the No. 11 seed that won the South region.
    Michigan brought an end to Loyola’s magic run, defeating them 69-57 to advance to the championship game against Villanova.
    They didn’t come out on fire against Michigan until guard Donte Divcenzo came on the floor to light up the nets and his team.
    He finished the night with five 3s and 31 points to lift Villanova over Michigan 79-62 for its second national title in three seasons.
 

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