George Fucking Mason!

The Advance checks in on the Island bar with the $1.5 million NCAA pool:

The two signs posted on the mirrors behind the bar at Jody’s Club Forest indicate what only those in the know need to know — 537 lines are left in the West Brighton tavern’s March Madness Pool.

The nondescript black writing on plain white papers reveals:

123 people picked the fourth-seeded LSU Tigers to win it all.

240 people think the second-seeded UCLA Bruins are going to hoist the trophy.

173 people believe the third-seeded Florida Gators will cut down the nets.

. . .

With more than 150,000 entries submitted in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament betting bonanza, the pot is reportedly worth upward of $1.5 million.

It costs $10 to enter a line and each submission must include a prediction of the Final Four teams, plus the NCAA champion and the score of the title game, which will be played Monday night in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

And you may be wondering if anyone penciled in the surprising 11th-seeded George Mason team — apparently, yes:

Only one person took a giant leap of faith and selected the longest of long shots, George Mason’s Patriots, the giant-killers who entered the tourney seeded 11th in their 16-team region.

. . .

Since no one this side of Nostradamus could have predicted this year’s Final Four, insiders say the rules of the pool have been slightly altered.

Those remaining have three of the Final Four correct — the fourth pick having been knocked out during this past weekend’s Elite 8 games — and the winning pick still alive.

Rumors are circulating that one fellow was one team shy of walking away with the all the cash. He supposedly had the top-seeded Villanova Wildcats instead of their opponent, and eventual vanquisher, Florida.

But that same man is still in the pool because he was the only one to take a flier on George Mason doing the Cinderella dance.

Backstory: Shh . . . Don’t Tell The IRS!