Wow! When the tournament tipped on March 16th, who would have thought that this tournament would have so many “firsts” in tournament history, so many upsets and a Final Four that looked nothing like we all would have predicted! Last night Connecticut hoisted the trophy as National Champions, having beaten San Diego State 76 – 59! Connecticut now joins some other blueblood programs that have at least five national championships!
Tammie Rhea, one of our East Wichita Rotarians, won the pool! She had Connecticut making it to the championship game, albeit not winning it. However, she was the only one in the pool who had one of the teams still playing in the final game and, because the points increase as the tournament progresses, she had enough points to overcome Tanner Hearson, adult son of EW Rotarian Denise Hearson, who had Miami, CT’s Final Four opponent, going to the championship game. Besides Tammie and Tanner, the rest of us had all the points we could possibly get after the Sweet 16/Elite 8 weekend. Shucks!
But remember there are still three non-winning bracket members, drawn at random, who win $50. This year, those three winners are …. drum roll please ….. Sean Dennehy, Eileen Kludt (#1), and Jamie Pearson, highlighted on attached standings Many thanks to Rotarian Dave Sproul, who did not have a bracket in the pool, for helping out and drawing the names. He was very impartial and quite a sport to help with the drawing!
The fundraiser has become an annual tradition for East Wichita Rotary! Many of you “bracket buddies” this year were not East Wichita Rotarians, so a special thank you to each of your for saying “yes” to an ask to buy a bracket or two and play! And thank you to EVERYONE, on behalf of the East Wichita Rotary Foundation, for your support in making this the most fun, successful year yet, profiting $2075 for our Foundation, surpassing last year’s profits by 30%! Lastly, many thanks again to EW Rotarian, Shane Pullman, of Nugent-Pullman Realtors, for sponsoring this year’s prize purse.
Until next March, have a great year!