4/9/24

***Update: We thought we would have access to e-mails from the group but we apparently do not so we need our top 10 winners to e-mail us at paulbelisportsnetwork@gmail.com so we can get information to send them their prizes. Any non-winners that want to be on the Prof DW e-mail list also respond for future contests.

For the second consecutive year, the UConn Huskies won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship with an impressive win over the Purdue Boilermakers in the title game. The #1 overall seed was the most popular pick in Professor DW’s first ever Bracket Challenge which put more of an emphasis on the earlier round games.

Not only did Skip Smith pull away from the rest of the field to take the grand prize, but he also finished in the top 99.9% of all brackets created on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. Skip correctly predicted three of the four Final Four teams with North Carolina State being the only one that he did not have in the semifinals. After that, Skip would nail the title game by picking UConn to defeat Purdue and was only 17 points off of the total point tiebreaker. Zachary Roth came in second, finishing 180 points behind Skip. Zachary only got two of the Final Four teams correct in UConn and Purdue.

The only person that finished in the top 10 that did not pick UConn to win it all was Bob Kickner who came in in 9th place with 1060 points. Entering the title game, it was down to Bob and Skip as if Purdue won, Bob would have enough points to pass Skip and take home 1st place. However, he ended up coming up just a bit short. Other than Bob, it was all UConn pickers in the top 10 as the #1 overall seed ran through the tournament in dominant fashion, winning by an average of 23.3 points per game and their closest game being a 14-point win in their successful title defense.

Special thanks to OBEE Credit Union and Dave Littleton for the sponsorship of this contest. Dave is a long time financial planner and can help you set and achieve your long term financial goals.

All winners will be receiving emails on how to collect their winnings. Thank you all for playing along in the first bracket challenge and we hope to see you all back in 2025 for the next edition of Professor DW’s Bracket Challenge

Leaderboard (National Champions in Parentheses)
Skip Smith  1540 Points  (UConn) ($250, Championship Plaque, ESN Hoodie)
Zachary Roth  1360 Points  (UConn) ($100)
Brian Permann  1240 Points  (UConn) ($50)
Jenny Fab  1200 Points  (UConn) ($50)
Christopher Rodriguez  1180 Points  (UConn) ($25)
Nick Rice  1170 Points  (UConn) ($25)
Jennifer Kickner  1160 Points  (UConn) ($25)
Josh Worley  1110 Points  (UConn) ($25)
Bob Kickner  1060 Points  (Purdue) ($25)
Garrett Spivey  1020 Points  (UConn) ($25)

elisportsnetwork.com