Ivey, Boeckler, Hiegel battle in NIT Pool

Heading into the NIT Final Four, Josh Rubin still leads the Living Room Times NIT Pool — but he is mathematically eliminated from winning it. Regardless of what happens at Madison Square Garden next week, someone will pass Rubin in the pool standings.

Rubin, Greg Kagan and Dan Port were knocked out of contention Wednesday when Rhode Island beat Virginia Tech, which was Rubin’s predicted NIT champion. Then, when the Rams were joined by fellow Atlantic-14 member Dayton as the Flyers beat Illinois, Kelly Strutz, who had picked the Illini to win the title, was eliminated.

That leaves Steve Ivey of Greensboro, NC, Joe Hiegel of Greenfield, WI, and Rick Boeckler of Silver Spring, MD — Rebecca Loy’s uncle, and the champion of the 2003 and 2006 LRT women’s NCAA pools — competing for the pool championship. The semifinals at MSG next Tuesday will determine who stays alive, and in fact a pool champion could be crowned that night.

Dayton plays Ole Miss at 5pm Mountain Time on Tuesday, and Rhode Island takes on North Carolina at 7pm Mountain Time.

If Dayton and Rhode Island win, Ivey will win the pool. If Ole Miss and Rhode Island win, Hiegel will win the pool. If Ole Miss and North Carolina win, Boeckler will win the pool, becoming the first three-time Living Room Times pool champion.

If Dayton and North Carolina win, Ivey and Boeckler will remain alive through to Thursday’s title game, with Boeckler winning if the Tar Heels capture the title, and Ivey winning if Dayton wins.

You can view full “what-if scenarios” here. Rubin, the current leader, will finish somewhere between 2nd and 4th place.

Rubin is a University of Maryland alum and a high-school classmate of pool administrator Brendan Loy. Boeckler is, as mentioned earlier, the uncle of Loy’s wife Becky. Hiegel is a longtime blog reader and a regular pool contestant since 2007. Ivey is a 2005 Kentucky grad who “stumbled upon [this website] a few years ago searching for NIT pools and [has] been a regular pool entrant ever since.”