Famous weather-predicting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil put his prophetical skills to the test Tuesday, picking Wisconsin to end up in the NCAA championship game in a head-to-head bracket showdown with ESPN basketball analyst Dick Vitale.
Besides the annual Feb. 2 forecast of when winter will begin, Phil and his tophat-clad group of caretakers, The Inner Circle, travel throughout Pennsylvania all year, making appearances at various community events.
Phil left his home in Gobbler’s Knob and made his first trip outside of the state in more than 10 years to meet Vitale in Indianapolis, where the Final Four will take place, for the Allstate March Mayhem Challenge event.
While Vitale made his predictions the traditional way, members of The Inner Circle held small scrolls displaying team names in front of Phil. Members waited for Phil to make a decision by looking at a particular scroll, then wrote names into his bracket.
Phil picked the Badgers to advance to the championship game, where he predicted they will lose to Villanova.
