The Daily Bee's hoops Nostradamus

I've seen some pretty good Final Four office pools in my day, but I've never seen anything like the one Bee reporter Keith Kinnaird recently turned in. It was so good, it was almost shameful he only won $70 — what with all the high rollers in the Bee's $5 pool.

The most amazing portion of his bracket was the right half, the East and South regions, where he missed only one game, correctly predicting 30 of the 31 possible games. Virginia over Tennessee in the second round his lone miss (what was he thinking?).

From the Sweet 16 on, he was perfect, correctly picking all of the Elite Eight, Final Four, final two, and eventually Florida. So what was his secret?

"I don't even watch college basketball," said Kinnaird of his strategy. "I picked the teams based on which schools I liked and where they were located."

This merely confirms my long held belief that the less you actually know about college basketball, the better you do in office pools.

Washington General complex

When it comes to March Madness, I couldn't beat the Washington Generals (aka, the Harlem Globetrotter's whipping boys). In an annual bet with my friend Corey Taule, a fellow journalist from Idaho Falls, we exchange picks and wager a round of golf on our brackets. Suffice it to say, he golfs for free when we get together, has for years. The root of the problem is a few steadfast rules I employed when picking brackets.

One, never pick No. 1 seeds. Since everyone else usually does, it's the best way to get a leg up on the competition, or in most cases, not to.

Two, never pick Duke, North Carolina, Kansas or Kentucky. They are basketball royalty, and much more fun to root against than for. This one has wrecked many a bracket.

Three, flaunt a West Coast bias. A Final Four just isn't a Final Four without at least two Pac 10 teams and a Big West team involved.

Alas, one of these years my system will prevail, just as one of these years, the Generals might actually beat the Globetrotters and I golf for free.

Alligator arms

Am I the only one who gets a perverse satisfaction when excellent free throw shooters cast bricks under pressure? A number of times during March Madness announcer quips like "this is the guy you want on the line in this situation" or "this guy has been excellent from the line all season" were often followed by key misses.

Throw percentages out the window when entire seasons hang in the balance on two free throws. Nerves and pressure caused more than a few quick, short-armed free throws from guys who could otherwise sit in an empty gym and make 100 straight, no problem.

On the flip side, I did get a kick out of watching a 56 percent free throw shooter, who was already 1-5 from the stripe in the game, calmly step to the line and swish two free throws to seal a big win.

Swallow your whistle

I think NCAA basketball refs are some of the best in any sport. The action happens fast, and calls have to be made instantaneously. That being said, they also have the ability to impact a game more than officials in other sports.

I used to referee high school football, and the North Idaho Officials Association is one of the best in the state. Roger Stewart, who also does college games in the Big West, once told the group the most important thing is to make sure the call is there, or call nothing at all. In other words, don't call something on assumption, which can lead to a phantom call.

Those words came to mind while watching UCLA and Florida in the Final Four. The Bruins' Arron Afflalo, his team's best player and arguably the top defensive player in the tournament, picked up two fouls in the first 90 seconds of the game. Miffed and angry at what looked like a awful call, I rewound the second foul and noticed that he never touched a player, he was simply chasing a player. It was a truly mysterious call that made the conspiracy theorist in me wonder if a fix was in. Of course Afflalo promptly picked up his third foul 10 minutes later and the game was basically over by half time.

Herein lies my biggest qualm with officials: The players should decide the outcome of a game, not the refs. This ref, on a call that clearly wasn't there, took perhaps the best player out of a contest, cheating fans, players, coaches and fairness alike. It might have been a sensational game if UCLA had the services of their best player, but thanks to poor officiating, we'll never know.

Eric Plummer is the sports editor at the Daily Bee. For comments, suggestions or story ideas, he can be reached at 263-9534, ext. 226, or via email at "eplummer@cdapress.com."