West Coast Convo Bracketology Competition Results
By Mary Harvill
Congratulations to our Editor Mark Kramer on winning the first West Coast Convo Writers NCAA Bracketology competition.
Apr 4, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Karl-Anthony Towns (12) and Devin Booker (1) embrace as they leave the court following their loss to the Wisconsin Badgers 71-64 in the 2015 NCAA Men
You won’t find many sequins or shirtless men like on Dancing with the Stars in this crowd, but it’s as solid a group of bracketologists as there ever was.
Mitch watched his gold medal turn to silver when his projected championship game match-up of Kentucky and Gonzaga did not come to fruition. Had he picked Duke over Gonzaga he might be wearing the gold or at least tied for it.
I got to stand at the bottom of the proverbial ski race course and watch my silver medal turn to bronze when Kentucky fell out of my championship game matchup with Villanova which seems laughable now with Villanova’s departure from the field in the third round.
James Stapleton was en route to being the genius of the competition had Wisconsin pulled off the win over Duke for the National Championship since he picked Wisconsin to win it all, flying in the face of all of the rest of us who picked Kentucky to win. He also had Notre Dame beating Kentucky, correctly predicting Kentucky’s departure from the tournament when all the rest of us thought Kentucky was invincible. Right idea, wrong round on the Kentucky scenario.
Mark picked Duke all the way to the title game which game him the edge over all of us. And he scored big points when his surprise pick of Michigan State in the Final Four came true. That’s why he is the Editor of West Coast Convo.
The Keys to Mark’s Win:
- A great basketball IQ;
- Picking correctly in the early rounds;
- Not suffering from “homer” syndrome by avoiding the temptation to pick Gonzaga as the National Champion;
- The ability to compare team playing styles and pick the winner of the match-up.
"“I’d like to thank Tom Izzo for justifying my pick of Michigan State in the Final Four and leading me to victory. Always trust Izzo in March.” -Mark Kramer"
Next year we will cast our net wider and invite some of our fellow sports writers (and possibly our readers!) to join our bracketology competition.
2015 West Coast Convo Writers NCAA Bracketology Final Standings
- Mark Kramer – Editor of West Coast Convo
- Mitch Krmpotich – Gonzaga Writer
- Mary Harvill – USF Writer
- David Thompson – Portland Writer
- James Stapleton – Contributor
- Andy Buhler – Gonzaga Writer
- Josh Horton – Former Editor and Contributor
- James Pigott – BYU Writer
- Sam Falcone – LMU Writer