Championship Weekend Is Here

Basketball starts back up on Saturday, with the championship game concluding the tournament Monday night. They have their dream match up for Coach K, plus many more story lines to bring in viewers this year. Kansas, Villanova, Duke, North Carolina are the remaining teams.

No one predicted this years Final Four teams, which isn't surprising since that usually only happens when mainly number one seeds make it this far. The best our office pool could do is two out of four correct. That's not great, but I only managed one correct or none correct on my brackets, so there's that. 

With only eight tournament scenarios remaining, a quick glance at them reveals the following outcomes for the Championship game:

• Mike Krings wins if Duke beats Villanova
• Anne Quinlan wins if Villanova beats Duke
• Nick Forga wins if Duke beats Kansas
• AJ Wood wins if Kansas beats Duke
• Kim Thompson wins if N Carolina beats Villanova
• Drew Wittchow wins if Villanova beats N Carolina
• AJ Wood wins if N Carolina beats Kansas
• AJ Wood wins if Kansas beats N Carolina

Saturday's Games

• Villanova vs Kansas - 5:09 (CBS)
• Duke vs North Carolina - 7:49 (TBS)

Monday's Game

• Winner vs Winner - 8:00 (CBS)

** All times are US/Central

Championship Weekend At US Bank Stadium

This is my 23rd year of hosting this Bracket Contest, and for the first time, I was able to attend a Final Four Weekend. My seats were in the second level, not the greatest, but being there in that atmosphere was undescribable. Especially when the Auburn Player fouled the Virginia player behind the three point line to end the game. The mood inside the stadium when we all finally realized what was happening....wow!

The games were so good and so fun to witness with the passionate fans that were there for each of the four schools. The Texas Tech fans were the loudest, or at least in my section they were the loudest. I knew all of their cheers by the end of the Saturday games.

We do have a winner in the 2019 Bracket64 Contest. Congratulations goes out to Jamie Kiritschenko who had the best pick percentage overall. Started out slow in the first round correctly picking only 24 of 32 teams, but picked it up the remainder of the rounds and most importantly, having the guts to pick Virginia as their Championship team. Well done!

Here are the top five brackets earning cash for this years tournament:

Jamie Kiritschenko - 165 Points
Cory Vogel - 162 Points
Bob Ross - 160 Points
Blake Pierre - 160 Points
Cory Vogel - 159 Points

Congrats to all of the winners and we will see you in 2020!!

Four Teams, Eight Scenarios Remain

This is it, the final weekend of games. Four teams remain and there are now only eight tournament outcomes remaining. I've enjoyed the tournament this year having three new teams playing in the final weekend. Or at least it has been a while since they were last here. I am still surprised that the Florida vs Wisconsin game was the first overtime game of the tournament this year. How does that happen?

And a reminder, the games shift to Saturday and Monday this weekend. I know the Saturday games are on CBS, I'm unsure about the championship game. However, if it's similar to last year, it was TBS for the general broadcast and a tailored school broadcast on two other channels.

With just three games to go, here are the final eight scenarios and where you will finish in the standings depending on the outcome:

If South Carolina beats Oregon
If Oregon beats South Carolina
If South Carolina beats North Carolina
If North Carolina beats South Carolina
If Gonzaga beats Oregon
If Oregon beats Gonzaga
If Gonzaga beats North Carolina
If North Carolina beats Gonzaga
Our current Top Ten pick sheets are as follows:

1. Smitty 2
2. Smitty 1
3. Kevin Jorgenson 1
4. Kevin Jorgenson 2
5. Colette Kraft
6. Jay Erickson 1
7. Jessie Forga
8. Kelly Crazz
9. Todd Swank
10. Regina Johnson 1
10. Jean Quinlan

If you are still in it, good luck!

We Have A Winner And A Champion

Wow. What a great game tonight by Villanova and North Carolina. It kept me on the edge of my seat and hooting and hollering as the last few shots dropped into their nets. Such an enjoyable game this was to watch versus the semi-final blowouts. Villanova's shooting percentage was just lights out and the difference in the tournament.

The Final Standings for the 2016 Bracket64 Office Pool contest are now posted, head over to the website to see your final ranking. Congratulations goes out to Tridi 1. He has played in this pool for seven or eight years now and his first time as the winner. He correctly picked the winner of the tournament, the runner up and three out of four of the final four teams. Well done!

The top five brackets are as follows:

1. Tridi 1
2. Cory Vogel
3. John Sundby
4. Ryan Stokes
5. Ren 1

I would like to thank everyone for participating in this years contest. I hope you had a fun tournament and enjoyed as much basketball as you could watch. We will see you next season for our 21st year.

Duke Wins....Again!

I must admit, being from Minnesota, I wasn't onboard with Wisconsin winning, yet again, because they have put together a great team and have great coaching and it's another sport they are doing well in. While here in Minnesota, we don't always seam to get our money's worth, while throwing plenty of cash at our coaches, just to see them leave or get let go after we sign them to an extended contract. However, the more I thought about it, put away my pettiness, jealousy, whatever you want to call it, I started rooting for Wisconsin to win.

I believe it's mainly because Duke has won it plenty of times, Wisconsin wasn't expected to win, and it was 1941 the last time they made it to the Championship game. But, I mentioned it in my last blog post, coaching appears to be key in this tournament. If you have great coaching, you typically have a better chance of advancing to the next round. You still need good players, but without good coaching, you're going to be sitting in my shoes rooting for Minnesota. Congrats to the Blue Devils on their victory.

As for the Office Pool results, with 76% picked correctly, Quincy Nguyen and his 186 points was our winner. Congratulations Quincy! Quincy correctly picked the lats four teams, the runner up and the champion correct. Impressive!

Here are your top five money winning brackets for the 2015 tournament

1. Quincy Nguyen
2. Mitchell Hahn
3. Jen C
4. Jamie Kiritschenko
5. Brock Pierre


See you in 2016 for our 20th Season of this office pool !!

Final Weekend Of The Tournament

We are starting back up for the final weekend of games. Is it surprising that three of last years final four teams have returned, or is it a sign of good coaching from year to year? Which ever it is, the winner of last years tournament has not advanced, which brings in Michigan State as the final team, led by Coach Tom Izzo. Coaching does matter.

Both of the semi final games tonight are on TBS, not CBS. However there will Team Cast broadcast for each team on TNT or truTV.

On TBS at 6:09 EST
#7 Michigan State vs #1 Duke

TNT Team Cast for Duke Blue Devils
truTV Team Cast for Michigan State Spartans

Approximately 30 minutes from the the end of first game they will tip off for the final game of the evening.

On TBS at 8:49 EST
#1 Wisconsin vs #1 Kentucky

TNT Team Cast for Wisconsin Badgers
truTV Team Cast for Kentucky Wildcats

For the Office Pool standings, we have exactly eight tournament scenarios remaining. They are as follows:

If Kentucky beats Michigan St
If Michigan St beats Kentucky
If Kentucky beats Duke
If Duke beats Kentucky
If Wisconsin beats Michigan St
If Michigan St beats Wisconsin
If Wisconsin beats Duke
If Duke beats Wisconsin

Best of luck to ya peoples....