I know everyone expects and is used to the upsets, but this year has been pretty wild. As we stand right now, 25 Entries have already lost their Champion. That’s a little over 30% in only two rounds. Dylan F. has made a statement in the first weekend having two of his five brackets in the top 3. I guess it can pay off (for now) to enter as many brackets as you can. As for the tournament itself, it does seem like it has been one of the better ones in recent years. Just feels like more games have been exciting and the quality of play has been higher. Hopefully it continues as some really interesting match-ups are ready for Tonight and Tomorrow, with the promise of even better games over the weekend. As for this update, it’s short and to the point with some basic stuff and an interview with a past champ.

S(taudt): How does it feel being the only person to not only win twice, but do it in back to back years?

L(uke): It feels good. Really good. Solidifying yourself as one of the best of all time is a good feeling. It was a historic run that will be talked about for years.

S: Have you been filling any brackets out since? Would you ever come back? Bambi is the defending champ and currently has a top 5 bracket, if he wins this year would you come back?

L: I’ve only filled out random brackets since, entering all chalk and such. I haven’t entered any challenges competitively since retirement. Also, this year I was completely off the grid not filling any bracket out. I’ll never pull a Wizards Jordan and come back. I’ve tasted my victory and went out accordingly. I also won my fantasy football league this year (Mike Tomleague), and have decided to retire from that as well. I’m the only team who has won multiple times (3) in the 7 year history of the league, so I decided to go out on top. You need to know when to hang it up, and what better time than as the only dynasty? And who knows, maybe I’ll come back on the management side in a few years like Phil Jackson.

S: Who do you see winning it all this year?

L: I like how Wisconsin has been looking. I really liked Florida a few years ago when they won two years in a row (notice a theme?), and they’ve been playing some good ball, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they pull it out again.

S: Do you have a specific strategy when filling out your bracket?

L: The best advice I can give, and the strategy that brought me the success I had, is going with the smart pick over the heart pick. Often times you’ll pick the teams you have that “gut feeling” about. Obviously there’s the annual upsets of 12 over 5 and sometimes 13 over 4, but you can’t get too crazy, and you have to be willing to pick smart.

S: Any parting words to this years pool?

L: (drops mic)

As for the rest of this year’s standings and info, you can link to the League Home on ESPN Here

Previous Winners

2013
First – Bambino (1460)
Second (tie-break win) – Bliss Marie (1220)
Third (tie-break loss) – Dylan F. (1220)

2012
First – Bob W.
Second – Lyndsey S.
Third – Dave W.

2011
First – Andy K.
Second – Candace B.
Third – Maria S.

2010 AND 2009
First – Luke Z. (Only back to back Champion)

2014 Champions List
Florida – 24 (~30%)
Michigan State – 10 (~12%)
Duke – 9 (~11%)
Arizona – 7 (~9%)
Louisville – 6 (~7%)
Wichita State – 5 (~6%)
Kansas – 5 (~6%)
Virginia – 4 (~5%)
Syracuse – 3 (~4%)
Iowa State – 2 (~2.5%)
Michigan – 2 (~2.5%)
Oklahoma – 1 (~1.25%)
Nova – 1 (~1.25%)
Wisconsin – 1 (~1.25%)
Kentucky – 1 (~1.25%)
Creighton – 1 (~1.25%)
Total of 82

PPR (Possible Points Remaining)
ALL tied with 1240
Craig D. 2
Tara S.
Andre S. 1
Shane C. 1
Staudt Jr. 2
CowboyJ81 3
Bryan K. 5
Suggs 1

That is all I have for now. As usual, any Q’s/Concerns/Comments/Ideas, let me know.
~Staudt

As everyone expected there we some really nice upsets in the first two rounds of games. The traditional 12 over 5 a few times, a very nice first half by the 13 seed La Salle was enough for them to hold over K-State, and finally the one everyone is talking about… 15 seed FGCU over Gtown. The FGCU highlights were some of the best I have seen from a college hoops game in a long time. Anyways, the main reason I am giving this update post is to share some stats with everyone. Nothing crazy, but a little update I do every year. Besides what is below you can keep track of the league on the LEAGUE PAGE.

All three had Kentucky winning it all.

Champions
L’Vill – 23
Miami (FLA) – 15
Indiana – 12
Kansas – 8
Duke – 7
OSU – 6
Florida – 6
Gonzaga – 4
Michigan – 2
Cuse – 2
Mich State – 2
ND – 1
UNLV – 1
G*Town – 1

Total of 90

PPR (Possible Points Remaining)
ALL tied with 1560
Xane 1
TB4U22
3 to the Dome
Staudt Jr. 1
Skuf 1

That is all I have for now. As usual, any Q’s/Concerns/Comments/Ideas, let me know.
~Staudt

Most, if not all of you received my text about March Madness this week. Now that the brackets are out I wanted to put up a post with some more information about getting into the group, submitting brackets, and other details about the poll. If you do not need help setting up an account and filling out brackets you can go directly HERE to the group page, enter the password given in the email (for whichever brackets you want to enter), and will be fine. Please name your bracket in a way so that I can tell it is yours and number them if you have more than one. If you do need help setting it up, I have a learn more button that is below the general information. If you click that button, it will expand and have a step by step way to join ESPN and the group.

>>Only Brackets on ESPN and in the group will be accepted.

>>Scoring is as follows:

Round 2: 10 points per pick
Round 3: 20 points per pick
Round 4: 40 points per pick
Round 5: 80 points per pick
Round 6: 160 points per pick
Championship: 320 points per pick

Typically in my years of running it, the weight of the Championship is not that great, but I cannot change the ESPN scoring. So, getting the Champ right is the same as having all 32 games correct in the first round. Choose wisely.

>> Tiebreakers:
1.Fill out on ESPN the Total points Tiebreaker for the Championship.
2. Total number of Championship Teams Correct
3. Total number of Final Four Teams Correct
4. Total number of Elite Eight Teams Correct
5. Total Number of Sweet Sixteen Teams Correct
6. Total Number of 32 Teams Correct
7. Split

>>Play In Games: DO not count and DO NOT need to be picked

>> Updates:
I will try and send up some stat updates as often as I can, like in previous years. ESPN itself will up real time bracket updates, and also has a “PPR” stat that is “Possible Points Remaining” so you can get an idea as to who is still in it.

>>Other:
Feel free to share the group with any friends are family and fill out up to 5 brackets for yourself. If you are filling out brackets for someone you know but are using your OWN ESPN account, the group will cut you off at 5 brackets regardless. If that is not a problem, just name the brackets accordingly. If that is a problem… you may have to create a second ESPN account.

Click here to learn more about Registering and Setting up ESPN Bracket

---

Many of you will just be able to skip this stuff regarding ESPN. Anyways, for anyone that does not already have an ESPN account or just wants to create a new one, go to ESPN. In the top right corner, you will see Click on the “Register” button and fill everything out.

---

Once you are Registered or Signed in you can start to fill out brackets. ESPN will allow you to make up to 10 different brackets and the max for my poll is 5, so make sure you only enter the ones you want to count into the group. Continuing, on the same image above there is a button that says “Fantasy & Games,” click that. Once you are redirected to the fantasy homepage, there will be a menu on the right of the screen, choose “Basketball” and then “Men’s Tourney Challenge.”

---

Now you can hover over the “My Brackets” tab on the new page and “Create Another Entry”

---

On the create entry page you will have to fill some settings out. The only important setting for my group is the name of your entry. Please name it with all or part of your name so I can tell whose bracket is whose. If you have more than 1, please indicate them by having them numbered. Once you choose your settings and name your bracket hit “Save Settings” at the bottom of that page.

---

This will take you to your bracket to fill out. You may go in and change your bracket as much as you want up until the start of the first game on Thursday. Once that game starts your bracket will lock and the group will lock. So, make sure if you have multiple brackets on ESPN that the correct one(s) you want in the group are “joined.” Otherwise, there is no excuse once the group locks. Whatever brackets are in the group will be counted towards the total and I will not accept any other brackets. To fill out your bracket just click the teams you want to win each match-up and it will advance them in the tournament. Also, make sure you fill out the tie-breaker at the very end (score of the Championship).

---

Once you have your bracket filled out you will want to join the group. make sure the bracket you want to enter is the one chosen by hovering over “My Brackets” and clicking the one you want to put in the group. One you have done that you can click the “My Groups” tab that is also shown in the above picture. Once there you can use the search feature to find out private group. Just Search “Staudt” and it should be the only one that comes up… OR CLICK HERE AND IT WILL TAKE YOU TO THE GROUP PAGE

---

Finally, just enter the password that was given in the email and your bracket will be in the group. You can leave and join the group with up to 5 brackets until the first game starts on Thursday.

If you have any problems with setting up an account or getting into the group, just send me an email or text.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns… feel free to email/call/text me.
~Staudt