Marissa Nichter admits she doesn’t know much about college basketball. She didn’t watch one game of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

But she’s $500 richer.

Nichter, 22, who graduated from Penn State-Shenango in December, tallied 80 points in the Butler Eagle’s annual March Madness Contest this season, good enough to top the field of nearly 1,000 entrants and claim the first prize.

“I never played the contest before this year, never did a bracket,” Nichter said. “My boyfriend, Colter, plays one every year and so does his father, Sam. His (Colter’s) dad helped me a little with my bracket.

“They talked me into filling one one out this year and giving it a try. I guess I had nothing to lose.

She did something the other two have never done in the March Madness contest. She won — with a rather unique strategy.

“I picked teams based on who had the cuter uniforms,” Nichter said, laughing. “I showed my finished bracket to my boyfriend’s dad and he had me change a pick here, change a pick there ... but primarily, it was the uniform thing. I guess

She picked Connecticut to win the tournament.

“I liked their color scheme more than San Diego’s,” Nichter said.

She has no special plans for her winnings.

“I’ll be taking the state exam (for occupational therapy) and may put it toward that,” She said. “I’m also a saver. I might just put the money away.”

Jessica Campbell, 24, of Chicora, took the $250 second-place prize with 71 points. Connie Malinski, 64, of Clay Township won the $100 prize for third place.

Like Nichter, Campbell had not played the March Madness contest before this year.

“My boyfriend talked me into it,” Campbell said. “He just started getting me into basketball in the past year, so I don’t know much about it. I used advice from him, made some educated guesses ... It was just luck.”

In trying to make some decisions on games, Campbell followed Nichter’s path.

“Sometimes it came down to uniform colors, the ones I liked the best,” Campbell said.

She picked UConn to win the tournament, “but I don’t think I had any of the other three (Final Four teams),” she said.

She has no special plans for the money, but did say her boyfriend and herself are looking to buy a house.

“That money won’t go too far in that regard, but it will be helpful,” she said.

Malinski’s family has been participating in the Eagle’s March Madness Contest “shortly after they started it” and had not finished among the top three before this year. Her youngest brother, Norman Voelker, won the contest in 2019.

“I’m always competing with my brothers and friends in this contest,” Malinski said. “It’s so much fun. We always follow March Madness pretty closely.”

Malinski’s Final Four teams were Connecticut, Miami (Fla.), Arizona and Purdue.

“Duke has my heart almost every year and I’m a Butler person rooting for Purdue (because of Butler graduate and current Boilermaker Ethan Morton),” Malinski said. “But my boyfriend went with Duke and Purdue on his bracket, so I decided to go with something different.

“UConn always seems to hurt me in this tournament every year, so I decided to go with them this time.”

She has little doubt where her $100 will go to.

“It’s Easter,” she said. “I have two grand-daughters. The money will probably go toward them. Everything does ... as it should.”