The Jerome Begins

Posted Feb 23, 2007 by Aaron Knox

Updated Feb 23, 2007 at 10:16 AM

ORLANDO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT — So I got the e-mail Thursday calling for entries into the 6th annual (except the year we skipped) “Send It In, Jerome” Championship Week Challenge. The contest originally was conceived by Orlando Sentinel UF beat writer Dave Curtis and New York Times college sports reporter Pete Thamel, who at the time were students at Syracuse who had only two options: Go outside and risk losing a digit to frostbite or log on to the Internet and follow the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The contest’s name is a loving homage to college hoops analyst Bill Raftery, who yelled, “Send it in, Jerome!” on Jan. 25, 1988 after Pittsburgh’s Jerome Lane threw down a backboard-shattering dunk against Providence. The object of the contest is simple. Pick the winner of each Division I conference basketball tournament. You get bonus points if you pick a winner that began its tournament as a No. 3 seed or lower.

I’m hoping to make Jerome history this year by becoming the first person to finish dead last — out of dozens of entrants — for two consecutive contests. Suffice it to say, my strategy for my first Jerome failed miserably. I loaded up on No. 3 seeds, figuring the bonus points for each surprise champ would boost me. But, as has been noted in this space before, I am an idiot.

So here are my picks for Week One of the Jerome. Feel free to tap the comment link and insult me.

America East: Albany

Atlantic Sun: East Tennessee State

Big Sky: Weber State

Big South: Winthrop

Colonial Athletic: Hoftstra

Horizon: Butler

Metro Atlantic: Marist

Mid-Continent: Oral Roberts

Missouri Valley: Missouri State

Northeast: Central Connecticut State

Ohio Valley: Tennessee Tech

Patriot: Holy Cross

Southern: Davidson

Sun Belt: Western Kentucky

West Coast: Gonzaga