Kala Campbell, second year school psychology graduate student (left) poses with friend Stacy Denoon. As of yesterday Campbell was tied for second place globally in Facebook’s NCAA pool.

Photo courtesy of Kala Campbell

Credit: Ron Soltys

Like many Ohio State fans, Kala Campbell, second year psychology graduate student, was on pins and needles last night as she watched the Buckeyes battle the Florida Gators.

But for her, it could mean winning thousands of dollars.

Yesterday Campbell was tied for second place among more than a million participants in Facebook’s March Madness NCAA basketball pool. She was tied at 151 points with Kat Stevens from Longwood University in Farmville, Va.

The official results of the Facebook tournament will not be announced until sometime around April 10, according to the popular social networking Web site.

The tournament’s first place winner receives $25,000, while the second place prize consists of $5,000 and third place wins $1,000. The total value of all cash and prizes in the promotion equals $37,500.

In the event of a tie, there are three possible tiebreakers to determine the winner.

When creating their brackets, entrants predicted the final game’s score. In the first tiebreaker situation, the combined predicted point total that comes closest to the combined points of the final game will win the tie.

If the entrants are still tied, he or she who picked the most correct game winners throughout the tournament will win.

If the first and second tiebreaker situation still do not determine a winner, a third tiebreaker will do so through a random drawing of all entrants who are still tied. That drawing will be held on April 10, 2007, according to the Website. But as far as the success of her bracket, Campbell said it’s been pure luck.

“This is the first time I’ve really gotten involved in watching basketball,” she said in an e-mail interview yesterday. “It’s fun to joke around with my friends to be winning something that I don’t know much about.”

Campbell became interested in March Madness last year when she filled out a bracket for her boyfriend and won. She decided to test her luck again this year.

“It was fun winning last year, and I decided I might as well do it when I was filling out my brackets for people from my hometown,” she said. “I don’t mind watching basketball. I’ve watched a few March Madness games, but that’s it.”

As of yesterday, Jacob Dodson, freshman pre-law major at Moberly Area Community College in St. Louis was in first place with 152 points.

Contact general assignment reporter Caroline Lautenbacher at [email protected].