4/7/25
Then there were two. In a tournament that started with 68 teams, 66 games have been played and only one remains after a wild Final Four. Florida was able to fend off a late charge by Auburn while Houston erased a six-point deficit with 30 seconds left to stun Duke setting up a Florida-Houston championship game. While only two teams have a chance at being National Champions, three different contestants have a chance to win the grand prize of Professor DW’s March Madness Bracket Challenge.
After leading for a bulk of the tournament, Jeff Johnson of Chehalis dropped all the way to seventh since he could only get one of the semifinal games correct. Since Tennessee was eliminated, he finally ran out of gas in his quest for a championship.
Chad Jackson and RJ Wilson are currently tied for first with 1390 points and both picked Florida to win the National Championship. If the Gators win, it will go down to the total points in the title game tiebreaker in which Chad guessed 164 and RJ guessed 140. However, Chad has not filled out the form for us to contact him if he wins which is a requirement. If he does not do this by tip-off, RJ will take the win with a Florida victory.
On the other side of the coin, a Houston Cougars win will give the victory and grand prize to Rad Palmer. Rad is only 50 points behind with 1340 and a Houston win will see him fly by Chad and RJ and to the winner’s circle.
Again, the top 10 all fall into the money and there could be a massive shift in the top 10 depending on which team cuts down the nets. Remember, if you have not entered the contact form then you must do that before tip-off or 5:50pm PST. Any failure to do so disqualifies you from any prizes and you will forfeit your winnings.
Out of all of our entrants, 13 predicted Florida to win the National Championship while 8 predicted Houston to win it all. Florida has not won a basketball national championship since winning back-to-back in 2006 and 2007 which is also the last time they made the championship game. Houston has not played in the title game since losing back-to-back championship games in 1983 and 1984. The Cougars are looking for their first basketball national championship in program history.
Down below is the top 10 leaderboard currently with just the title game left. There are a few people that can jump into the top 10 based on who wins between Florida and Houston. Only one member of the top 10 is guaranteed to fall out and that is Cliff Glaze since Duke is eliminated. This will come down to the wire!
Leaderboard (National Champions in Parentheses)
T1. Chad Jackson- 1390 Points (Florida)
T1. RJ Wilson- 1390 Points (Florida)
3. Rad Palmer- 1340 Points (Houston)
4. Eric Williams- 1320 Points (Florida)
T5. Mark Westley- 1310 Points (Florida)
T5. Trent Twamley- 1310 Points (Houston)
T7. Lori Cappelletti- 1290 Points (Houston)
T7. Jeff Johnson (Chehalis)- 1290 Points (Florida)
9. Cliff Glaze- 1260 Points (Duke)
10. Macy Bundy- 1250 Points (Florida)
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