Men’s Big Ten Basketball Name of the Year Tournament 2023: Finals

Back in the halcyon days of the Name of the Year tournament, there were some times when you just knew a name was going all the way to the finals. Nohjay Nimpson in 2010 was about the easiest pick of my life.

Well, when I put together the Name of the Year Big Ten Tournament this year, I had a sneaking suspicion it might be a two-horse race, and the semifinals confirmed my hunch:

Carson Dick had all kinds of dark horse potential...but did you know that Boo Buie ’s full name is Daniel Richard Buie? He even had a Dick tucked away in his back pocket just in case this matchup necessitated whipping it out.

It did not come to that, as Buie won by a commanding margin.

Speaking of commanding, the BasketKaizer Wilhelm Breidenbach was defeated just as soundly by Dain Dainja, the son of former Minnesota Golden Gopher Baba Dainja. I don’t have access to the Name of the Year archives from that long ago to know if Baba Dainja ever appeared in their bracket (he was many years after God Shammgod) but I’d like to think he did.

Our bracket is down to two names both using the “X X+Y” construction. Let’s find out the true identity of our champion!

And hey just for the hell of it...the NCAA tournament used to have a national third place game, so why not us?