Brown and Tillberg emerge in Bee Final Four Challenge

SANDPOINT — Come Saturday, Ed Brown will be rooting for the Ducks and Maureen Tillberg the Tar Heels, as the pair emerged as the only two entries to correctly pick three of the Final Four teams in the Bee Final Four Challenge.

The rest of Bonner County, and the Inland Northwest for that matter, will be pulling for the Zags to win it all.

But back to the Challenge, and the $75 in cash that awaits the winner. Both Brown and Tillberg picked Gonzaga, North Carolina and Oregon in their Final Fours, and per contest rules, number of Final Four teams is the first criteria to determine a winner.

The second tie-breaker criteria is most teams in the championship. Since Brown has the Ducks in the final, Tillberg the Tar Heels and neither had the Zags advancing, the winner of the Oregon/UNC semi-final clash will determine the winner of the Bee Challenge.

The rest of the entries were ravaged by the usual upsets, with only 15 entries even hitting on two Final Four teams. The Bee entries are probably commensurate with brackets nationwide, which means Tillberg and Brown are among a select small percentage of people to correctly hit on three Final Four picks.

Of course, nobody predicted the Gamecocks advancing, and why would they? South Carolina hadn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1973, and the program had never advanced past the Sweet 16.

Nobody except Bee reporter Mary Malone, that is. The dark horse No. 7 seed could end up winning Malone the Bee office pool. So what was her reason for picking South Carolina?

“My niece lives in North Carolina,” explained Malone. “I just decided to go with both North Carolina and South Carolina.”

Alas, isn’t that the beauty of March Madness? Each year, almost without fail, a team comes out of nowhere to surprise everybody.

And be honest, how many Zags fans had their eyes water up as the clock ticked down against Xavier? Mine sure did, for reasons that are tough to explain.

There is a deeply personal connection to the Zags, not just in Sandpoint, but all of North Idaho and Western Washington. We’ve all watched Mark Few, considered by some the best coach in college basketball, transform a program from plucky underdogs to the current Vegas favorites to win the National Title.

He’s done it with candor and class every step of the way. It would be fun to compile a list of the blue blood programs Few has turned down over the years to stay put. Legendary North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano once said “don’t mess with happy,” and Few hasn’t.

Whatever extra fame or fortune he could have cashed in at a bigger school is no doubt outweighed by the trout he pulls out of the St. Joe during his downtime.

I was lucky enough to be at the game in Phoenix when Casey Calvary’s tip in propelled the Zags past Florida and into their first Elite Eight, and have followed them with passion ever since. Many in this region do.

That both Brown and Tillberg have the Zags in their Final Fours had to be good karma.

Two more wins and we can celebrate even more.

Good luck to Brown and Tillberg, and thanks to all of the people who stepped up to take the Bee Final Four Challenge.

Better luck next year.