Pool bulletin
April 1, 2001
8:45 PM

RILEY, NOTRE DAME LIFT STIGLIANO TO POOL VICTORY

   There will be no Southern California champion in Newington,
Connecticut's hometown pool. Not this year, at least.
   Newington High School graduate Todd Stigliano, a sophomore at
Providence College, edged ahead of USC sophomore Mike Wiser to win The
Living Room Times's fourth NCAA women's basketball pool Sunday when
Notre Dame won the national championship.
   Wiser had led the pool since the end of the Elite Eight, and appeared
destined for victory when Purdue jumped out to a big lead early in
Sunday's title game. But Stigliano claimed victory when Notre Dame's
Ruth Riley hit two clutch free throws with 5.8 seconds left to lead the
Irish past the Boilermakers, 68-66.
   Riley had 28 points and 13 rebounds Sunday, and in addition to the
game-winning free throws, she also hit the clutch jump shot with 1:01 to
go that tied the game after Purdue had taken a 66-64 lead.
   Stigliano's confidence in Riley proved prophetic. "Way to be Ruth
Riley. That's my girl," he had said on Friday after the All-American
center helped lead Notre Dame into the title game.
   Stigliano is connected to The Living Room Times NCAA pool tradition
through Newington High School, just like every previous champion has
been. Wiser, who went to high school in the Kenmore, New York, met
pool administrator Brendan Loy in college at USC.
   Nine of the ten pool champions during the six years of Times men's
and women's pools, including the men's pool champion who will be crowned
tomorrow, have been members of the Newington High School Class of 1999.
The other was a Newington High School teacher.
   Stigliano, who had never finished higher than eighth place in his
previous five Times pool appearances, ended up with 320 points out of a
possible 477, ten more than Wiser's 310. Stigliano also finished tied
for fourth place out of all contestants in all women's pools hosted by
the Pick65 website.
   For winning the Times pool, Stigliano will receive a free t-shirt
from Pick65 declaring him the champion.
   UConn sophomore Jenn Castelhano, another NHS graduate, finished third
in the Times women's pool with 279 points. Castelhano, who is still in
contention to win the Times men's pool, was eliminated from the women's
pool when Notre Dame beat her national champion pick -- her own school,
UConn -- in the Final Four.
   The other nine contestants were mathematically eliminated before the
Final Four began. Four of those nine, including men's pool leader Kevin
Hauschulz, tied for fourth place with 274 points. Two more tied for
eighth with 253 points.
   According to tiebreaker rules that reward "risky" picks, pool
administrator Loy finished fourth, followed by UConn sophomore Hauschulz
in fifth, Maryland sophomore Josh Rubin in sixth and USC sophomore
Yvonne Ngai in seventh. According to the same rules, Boston College
sophomore Beth Milewski beat out Boston University freshman Anna
Najdzion for eighth place. However, the contestants with identical point
totals will be considered tied for the purposes of Times pool history
and record-keeping, because past  pools have not allowed tiebreakers.
    USC sophomore Rebecca Zak finished tenth with 232 points, and fellow
USC sophomore Rosie Town was eleventh with 224. USC junior and Daily
Trojan Sports Editor Ying Le, who went 1-for-8 in predicting the Elite
Eight and 0-for-4 in picking the Final Four, finished last with 169
points.
   Le, who picked third-round upset victims Tennessee and Duke to play
in the Final Four, was not the only contestant who struggled because of
early upsets. Across the board, point totals were lower than usual for a
women's pool because this year's women's tournament was less predictable
than past years' tourneys have been, apparently reflecting increased
parity in the sport.
   Stigliano's point total was the lowest winning score in Times women's
pool history, and 2001 will be the first year in which the women's pool
winner had a lower score than the men's pool winner. (Depending on the
outcome of Monday's Duke-Arizona game, the men's winner will have either
334 or 353 points.)