| Jeanne is the Champ! Last Updated: April 4, 2006 |
| Milwaukee, WI -- Florida's victory over LSU Monday night helped cement Jeanne Stewart's victory in our pool. One of only three brackets to correctly predict the Gators' national championship, Jeanne finished our pool with 84 points - which proved to be 10 more than anyone else scored. Considering the fact that she was the only person in our pool to correctly predict three of the Final Four teams, her victory was well deserved. Finishing 2nd with 74 points was Jeff Meylor, who held on to that spot despite scoring no points the final weekend. Jeff had led our pool going into the final weekend, but he's gotta be happy holding on to 2nd place. The brackets that finished 3rd thru 6th all scored 70 points. Tiebreakers were used to sort out those spots. After all was said and done, Michael Steinke had two brackets that finished in the top five. His 3rd place bracket (like Jeanne) predicted Florida's victory Monday Night. Michael's other bracket, meanwhile, finished in 5th place. Nice work, Michael! 4th place went to Brian Watkins and 6th place was awarded to Donna D'Angelo. On the other hand, our hard luck bracket belonged to Tom Volkmann - who finished in 7th place. He scored as many points as 3rd place finisher Michael Steinke, but Tom lost all the tiebreakers and finished one spot out of the money. With 397 brackets in our pool, the payouts for the Top 6 finishers were pretty hefty. Congrats to our Top 6 performers! First Place - $790 (40%) Second Place - $395 (20%) Third Place - $300 (15%) Fourth Place - $240 (12%) Fifth Place - $160 (8%) Sixth Place - $100 (5%) Heading into the final weekend, nine different people had a chance to finish in our Top 6. This figure was decidedly lower than any pool we've run - primarily because of the unpredictability of this year's Final Four teams that really limited the possibilities of seeing our leaderboard shuffled. After the Final Four was set, ESPN announced that 4 brackets in their own Bracket Challenge correctly predicted all of the Final Four teams. When you consider that 3 Million brackets were submitted into ESPN'S contest, it illustrates the improbability of George Mason, Florida, UCLA, and LSU comprising this year's Final Four teams. So, I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that none of our own 397 brackets were perfect. Here's a recap of what we witnessed the past couple weeks: The LSU Tigers (#4 seed) and the UCLA Bruins (#2 seed) became the first two teams to advance to the Final Four. Generally speaking, neither of these teams were overwhelming choices to make it to Indianapolis by the people playing in our pool. While a respectable 110 of our 397 brackets (27%) thought UCLA would make it to the Final Four, only 21 of our brackets (5%) thought the same thing about LSU. Interestingly, only 7 of our brackets (1.7%) predicted that LSU and UCLA would BOTH make the Final Four. If you own one of those 7 brackets, a hearty congratulations! The next day, George Mason (#11 seed) joined the Final Four madness, despite the fact that NO ONE in our pool predicted it. On a personal note, I had predicted that the Patriots would lose their opening round game to Michigan State. Of course, I wasn't the only one to make that prediction. Only 35 brackets in our entire pool thought that George Mason would win their first game - much less make it all the way to the Final Four. A few hours later on Sunday, Florida (#3 seed) ousted the last #1 seed (Villanova) in the tournament. Only 31 of our brackets correctly predicted Florida's inclusion in the Final Four. For the first time in 27 years, none of the #1 seeds made it to the Final Four. All told, 16 people in our pool (4%) correctly predicted 6 of the final 8 teams - and many of those brackets litter the top of our leaderboard. Sadly, however, no one in our pool did better than six teams. As a result, none of our brackets scored more than 100 points this year - a figure that has never been reached in all the years this tournament pool has been running. The 98 points that the Ass Kickin Donky Lovin Snicky Snacks scored in 2003 remains an unbroken record. In fact, only once (1998) has anyone else even broken the 90-point barrier. Recapping the tournament's opening weekend, only 3 of our 397 brackets correctly predicted as much as 13 of the Sweet 16 teams - with those brackets belonging to Anthony Steinke, Tom Volkmann, & Donna D'Angelo. Only two of our brackets (.5%) correctly predicted George Mason's run into the Sweet 16 and only three of us (.75%) foresaw a similar run by Bradley. Interestingly, one of those three brackets belongs to Jeanne Stewart. So, if she goes on to win this pool by a mager couple points, Jeanne can probably thank Bradley - in part - for her hefty payday. The biggest upset of the opening round proved to come from Northwestern State (#14 seed) - which shocked the Iowa Hawkeyes (#3 seed) on the 2nd day of the tournament. Only 15 people in our pool (3.7%) corrrectly predicted that upset. Personally, I had never heard of Northwestern State before this tourney began. Needles to say, I wasn't one of the 15 brackets to pick that upset. Our first real bracket buster occurred when Bradley defeated Kansas the same night as Northwestern State's victory. More than half of our brackets had Kansas advancing to the Sweet Sixteen and 55 different people in our pool (14%) had the Jayhawks advancing all the way to the Final Four. At the same time, only 18 people in our pool (4.5%) correctly predicted Kansas' first round demise. Yet again, we set a new record for the number of brackets submitted into our pool. In fact, the 397 entries into this year's pool topped last year's record by 74. Thanks to everyone who joined the pool! Connecticut was the overwhelming choice to win the title. A total of 154 of our brackets (38.8%) had the Huskies cutting down the nets in Indianapolis. Unfortunately for those 154 brackets, George Mason ended that dream during their improbable run to the Final Four. With 91 votes, Duke was our 2nd choice to win the title. Here is the count of our predicted national champions. As mentioned earlier, only three of us foresaw Florida's title. Connecticut - 154 Duke - 91 Villanova - 42 Texas - 19 Boston College - 16 Memphis - 11 Gonzaga - 9 Ohio State - 8 Kansas - 7 Tennessee - 6 Illinois - 5 Syracuse - 5 UCLA - 4 North Carolina - 4 Iowa - 3 Florida - 3 Pittsburgh - 2 LSU - 1 Washington - 1 West Virginia - 1 Michigan State - 1 Marquette - 1 Georgetown - 1 UAB - 1 Wisconsin - 1 By clicking on the blue scroll at the top of this page, you'll be taken to the final standings. I hope that everyone enjoyed this year's pool, and I hope to see brackets from everyone again next year. -Steve Schroeder |
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| 2006 NCAA TOURNEY POOL |
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| Our Pool: |
| By the Numbers |
| 0 - The number of NCAA teams beginning with the letter 'S' that won their opening round games. Syracuse, Seton Hall, Southern Illinois, San Diego State, Southern, and South Alabama all lost their opening games. Eighteen of our brackets correctly predicted that none of the "S" teams would win their 1st round game. 0 - The number of brackets that correctly predicted George Mason's run into the Elite 8 & the Final 4. Of all the games played in this year's tournament, George Mason's Sweet 16 victory over Wichita State and their Elite 8 victory over UCONN were the ONLY games that resulted in no points being awarded to anyone in our pool. I can't ever remember that happening in all the years this tournament pool has been running. 1 - The number of brackets that predicted that all of the #12 seeds would win their opening round games. Two #12 seeds did win (Texas A&M and Montana). 1 - The number of people who correctly predicted Bradley AND George Mason's respective runs into the Sweet 16. Congrats to Joel Stueland for picking both of these upsets - although Joel's bracket finished in 294th place. 2 - The number of "homer: brackets that predicted that Wisconsin, UWM, and Marquette would all reach the Elite Eight. As a result of their predictions, the brackets owned by Jim Schultz and Rich Anderson can each declare that they are the biggest "homers" in our pool this year. 3 - The number of brackets that correctly predicted Bradley's run into the Sweet 16. 3 - The number of brackets who predicted a national championship for Florida. Jeanne Stewart, Michael Steinke, & Tom Swiderski can claim bragging rights this year. 13 - The number of brackets that predicted a Sweet Sixteen comprised entirely of #1 thru #4 seeds. 15 - The number of brackets that had Wisconsin, UWM, and Marquette all losing their 1st round games. As it turned out, only UWM won. 15 - The number of brackets that correctly predicted #14 Northwestern State's opening round victory over #3 Iowa. This proved to be the biggest upset in the 1st round. 21 - The number of brackets that predicted that none of the #1 seeds would reach the Final Four. For the first time since 1980, none of the #1 seeds made it to Indianapolis. 23 - The number of brackets (yawn!) that predicted that all four #1 seeds would reach the Final Four. Hmmm . . . that didn't quite work out, did it? 29 - The number of people who joined this pool in 1996. We've grown a bit in the past 10 years, ehh? 83 - The number of brackets that incorrectly predicted that all eight Big East teams would win their opening round games. The Big East went 5-3 in opening round games. 143 - The number of brackets that incorrectly predicted that all six Big Ten teams would win their opening round games. The Big Ten went 3-3 in opening round games and got NONE of their teams into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1996. Ouch! 160 - The number of brackets that had Wisconsin, UWM, and Marquette all winning their 1st round games. 394 - The spot that Tom Vaughn's entry "Heads or Tails" finished. Could a bracket showing Penn, Belmont, Washington, and Boston College in the Final Four have expected anything better? |
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