10-year-old predicts NCAA Final Four

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CAMDEN, Ga., March 30 (UPI) -- A Georgia fourth-grader has one-upped experts by correctly predicting the Final Four in this year's upset-laden NCAA basketball tournament, his teacher said.

Ten-year-old Patrick Lindsey of Camden, Ga., picked the teams as part of a project in Ms. Cantey's fourth-grade class in Camden Elementary, WIS-TV, Columbia, S.C., reported Tuesday.

"We started March Madness poetry because March is poetry month," Cantey said. "I feel if I can get basketball involved I would get more motivation in my students, which taught me a lot about basketball as well."

Cantey decided to use basketball to teach other subjects like geography, and each week the students would pick the winners of each game and post them in the classroom.

"We would ask Patrick, 'who do you think will win this weekend?'" Cantey said.

His answer was Butler, VCU, UConn and Kentucky.

"Some people that watched the teams thought I was OK, but some people were like, 'Are you sure about that?'" Lindsey said. "A lot of people in our neighborhood thought, 'Who is VCU? That team is definitely not going to win.'"

But they did, as did all of Patrick's picks. He predicted upsets all weekend, including Kentucky beating Ohio State and Butler beating the Gators.

"I was shocked," Cantey said. "I don't think anyone has gotten the Final Four correct except for him.

"Patrick is a pretty shy child. He doesn't speak out a lot in class, but this is something he knows a lot about. It's really brought him out of his shell in the classroom," Cantey said.