Right up until the match-ups last weekend, that is. "The Michigan State game killed me. I had Michigan State winning it all," said David.

He knows a few things about basketball, and has coached the Ocracoke School Dolphin boys' team.

"My hopes were up, and then they plummeted," he said, with his habitual grin. "I went from hero to zero."

The online Quicken Loans pool guarantees $100,000 toward "buying, refinancing or remodeling a home" to the top 20 bracketologists. David must not have read the fine print, because he said he would have spent the money to first throw a big party, complete with a bouncy castle, and then put a big chunk of it toward his daughters' college funds. A new car would be nice, too.

Though his bracket outperformed the vast majority of college basketball fans', the irony is that "I can't even win the local pool," said David. He hopes to wind up second in the island NCAA pool, and net a more modest sum. Maybe a small party will be in order.