Every year, 65 college basketball teams enter the NCAA tournament with hopes they will pull off a six-game winning streak and bring home the NCAA championship.
That minute number pails in comparison to the millions of people that take part in bracket pools — either online, in an office, or alone (if you’re a loser like myself). Considering the vast number of participants that take part in pools each year, it’s pretty safe to say the pools are more important than the tournament itself.
That is why Andrew Manzone, our BG News Bracket pool winner, can consider himself the smartest man alive (at least in our humble pool).
Out of 57 participants, Manzone was the last one standing, coming in with 152 points after correctly choosing NCAA champion North Carolina. All the glory that comes with winning — five pizzas and three two liters from Papa Johns — didn’t come in just one day for Manzone.
It took months of analyzing, crunching numbers, and getting inside the players’ heads in order to correctly come up with the formula it takes to win a bracket pool.
That goes for all the competitors. Second place finisher Jason Izor said knowing the teams and knowing his anatomy is what got him to the top. He won a free sweat-shirt from the University bookstore for his efforts.
“I research a little bit about the teams,” he said. “But in the end I just go with my gut decisions.”
Izor, a longtime North Carolina fan, said their winning had a great deal to do with his great finish. Most years, he takes the Heels to the house.
“Not every year,” he said. “When they had a losing record a few years ago I didn’t go with them. But if they are a seven seed or above, I go with them.”
After months, years and decades of research, March Madness rolls around. That is when these finely tuned competitors get to come into their own and show what they can do — on paper and on the couch.
“I was glued to the TV a lot,” Izor said.
Third place winner Bob Sunderhaus, who won a $25 gift certificate from Woodland Mall, had a similar method to Izor.
“I evaluated a little bit and thought about who was doing good,” he said.
When the games began, the participants’ nerves were on edge.
Izor was the first to feel this.
“There wasn’t really nerves since I was in a lot of other brackets,” he said.
Sunderhaus felt the same. In the end, the pool brought out the competitive spirit of the participants.
“No, no,” Sunderhaus said. “I kind of just went with it.”
Well, maybe this isn’t a blood and guts competition. Maybe it is just for fun.