18 Strength or 18 Charisma?

Poor, poor Cornell. I really liked those future rulers of humanity (or at least financial planners for the people that defeated them). Cornell played an ugly game, but it was the right game. The problem was, they went through a period of about 10 minutes in the first half where they forgot to play defense, and Kentucky ran up and down the court - scoring inside at will.

Once the second half started, Cornell brought the pace to a halt and brought the game within reach, but just couldn't get over the chasm they had allowed in the first half.

Then there's Kansas State. Cornell's brains are juxtaposed with K-State's tatoos. It all kinda reminds me of Dungeons and Dragons. When you were 12 and were creating that awesome character for your quest (and yes, you did play, even if you deny it now), you were always stuck, because you had only so many attribute points and you had to divvy them up between the basic attributes. If you wanted 18 strength, you were sure to have a low score somewhere else, but if you gave yourself all 10s, you character was pretty average - literally and personality-wise.

(Now, some people tweaked the rules, and rolled 3 dice for every attribute, allowing the possibility that your character could be the mythical all 18s super-God, but that wasn't how it was really supposed to be done.)

Cornell reminded me of that conundrum last night. They have Intelligence of 18, and obviously Charisma was pretty high too. But compared to Kentucky, Strength and Dexterity was too low to overcome. Meanwhile, schools like Kentucky have clear one-and-done athletes destined for NBA greatness. But all of that effort on basketball makes their scholastic endeavors farcical.

And so, in the arena of sport, 18 Strengths and 18 Dexterities will always beat those who put the time in to develop other attributes. A school with 18 Intelligence may never win the dance, but at least I can dream. Who knows? Perhaps someone will come along who bent the rules, and has all 18s. That would sure make things interesting.

Editor's Note: For those of you who really didn't play Dungeons & Dragons, each attribute score was randomly generated by rolling 3 six-sided dice and taking the total. 18 is the highest possible (natural) score a character could have (and obviously 3 is the lowest).

SO, at least 1 #1 seed is still alive and on to the Elite Eight. Kansas was slain by Northern Iowa, and last night Butler showed its muscle and decapitated Syracuse. Duke plays tonight it what could eviscerate the remaining brackets in our pool.

Here are the updated futures on each charity listed by possible points remaining:

Charity: Points + PPR = Possible Total
Avon Walk (J. Lamp): 430 + 840 = 1270
Forever Young Foundation: 490 + 760 = 1250
Jesus House: 430 + 760 = 1190
Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation: 450 + 680 = 1130
Teach for America: 460 + 640 = 1100
LDS Charities: 410 + 640 = 1050
Star of Hope: 550 + 280 = 830
Pazapa Center for Handicapped Children: 420 + 400 = 820
Action For Healthy Kids: 420 + 400 = 820
Phú Mỹ Orphanage: 450 +360 = 810
Doctors Without Borders, USA: 390 + 400 = 790
Epilepsy Foundation: 320 + 0 = 320

After the Sweet 16 is over, I'll take a more in-depth look at who's mathematically in it to win it, and who's hanging out with the Epilepsy Foundation.