SCOTT'S MARCH MADNESS NEWS
April 8, 2019 10:49PM CST
Another tournament complete! At the beginning of the 3rd round, every top seed had made it to the Sweet-16 expect two (#5-Auburn and #12-Oregon were the only lower seeds to make it past the first weekend.) It felt like a year where all the big seeds would continue to advance. Every Elite-8 games was exciting; and by the time we got to the Final Four, the names were much different than I expected. Even without the marquee names, this Final 4 was exciting basketball to watch. The final game started as a low-scoring defensive game, then both teams started getting hot to give us an exciting OT in the final game. Last year, Virginia was the first #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed. This year, they were again a #1-seed and were losing at half to a #16-seed again. But, they turned it around and redeemed themselves. Congratulations to the Cavaliers (and also to Tony Bennett who I hope will be coaching UCLA next year.)
In the final leaderboard, the big winner is Jamin Nixon's son Reed. He stood at the top of the leaderboard for several rounds and hung on to take the big win with Virginia as his Champ. He also won an extra $400 by winning the best WEST bracket and also the best combined Round 3&4. He even got 11th in the Sweet-16. What a great tournament for Reed as he clearly wins this year's Most Valuable Prognosticator (MVP).
Doug Renner moved into second place overall with Virginia as his Champ while Jim Rotenberg slid to third with Duke. The entire Top 10 gets a prize. Kyle Weurding took the fourth spot with Texas Tech as his Champ and just missed the top spot with the Texas Tech loss. Bill Hutten is the only person to ever win back-to-back in the pool and gets another Top 10 Finish. Mitch Grubisic holds the record for Top-25 finishes in this pool and finished in 10th, which is his 11th Top-25 finish (4th Top-10).
In the Sweet-16, Brian Zeni finishes in the top spot and will take home the $500 prize while Sean Doherty finishes in second for the $300 prize. And finally, third place goes to my awesome nephew Charlie Williams. My bracket was so terrible this year, I am thrilled that someone can make the Williams name look good. He will be getting $100, which I am sure he will use wisely - (treating Jill, Scott, and Harrison at Ben & Jerry's down the hill sounds wise to me!)
Below is a list of this year's winners:
Overall |
Pts | Name | Champ |
411 |
Nixon, Jamin |
Virginia |
383 |
Renner, Doug |
Virginia |
375 |
Rotenberg, Jim |
Duke |
373 |
Weurding, Kyle |
Texas Tech |
371 |
Keskey, George |
Duke |
371 |
FREYTAG, GAVIN |
Duke |
363 |
Carr, Travis |
Virginia |
361 |
Nelson, Scott |
Duke |
359 |
Hutten, Bill |
N.Carolina |
358 |
Grubisic, Mitch |
Virginia |
358 |
Comiskey, Brian |
Virginia |
358 |
Whisman, Kevin |
Virginia |
Sweet 16 |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
144 |
Zeni, Brenden |
Virginia |
134 |
Doherty, Sean |
Virginia |
133 |
WILLIAMS, CHARLIE |
Virginia |
EAST |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
110 |
Russart, Patrick |
Virginia |
110 |
Bairley, Betty |
Michigan St |
WEST |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
112 |
Nixon, Jamin |
Virginia |
SOUTH |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
114 |
Nelson, Scott |
Duke |
114 |
Keskey, George |
Duke |
MIDWEST |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
96 |
Curley, Mike |
Duke |
DAY 1 |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
94 |
Shapland, Dan |
N.Carolina |
DAY 2 |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
109 |
Lennon, Peter |
Duke |
ROUND 2 |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
113 |
Yurkovich, John |
Duke |
113 |
Kann, Brian |
Duke |
ROUND 3&4 |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
117 |
Nixon, Jamin |
Virginia |
LAST PLACE |
Pts | Name | Champ |
---|
40 |
Ponder, Tim |
Abilene-Chr |