NCAA Bracket Competition: Scores heading into Final Four

Patch.com’s first annual friendly “Local Editor’s and Coaches NCAA Bracket Competition” got underway this last weekend and it’s time to see who is leading the way heading into the Final Four.

The brackets were oh-so unkind to the participants this year, as only one – Sumner boys basketball coach Brett McDaniel – has any teams left in the Final Four. Mercer Island Editor Kendall Watson is second, correctly guessing Kentucky’s upset of Ohio State and picked them to reach the Elite Eight, but is all out of answers in the Final Four. Lakewood Editor Marques Hunter leads the pack by taking a similar gamble on VCU, but couldn’t predict their upset of Kansas and is currently second. Below is the scoring system along with a leaderboard and a quick rundown of which teams each participant has left in the competition.

Scoring System:

 - 1 point for first round wins, 2 for second, 3 for Sweet Sixteen, 5 for Elite Eight, 7 for Final Four, 10 for championship game

- Upset picks in the first round will receive one point, plus a bonus total equal to the disparity in the rankings up to five points. For example, if you pick a 10-seed to beat a 7-seed, you get one point for the prediction, plus a bonus three points for picking the upset. If you pick a 13-seed to beat a 4-seed, you get the one point plus the max bonus of five points for the upset. All upset picks from the second-round on will receive two bonus points.

- 25 point bonus if you correctly select all the Final Four teams

- 10 point bonus for correctly selecting the National Champion

- 1 Billion bonus points if you pick a perfect bracket.

Current Leaderboard:

1)    Marques Hunter (Lakewood Patch Editor)
-       Score after four rounds: 79
-       Teams Left: 0

2)    Kendall Watson (Mercer Island Patch Editor)
-       Score after four rounds: 72
-       Teams Left: 0

3)    Gavin Cree (Mercer Island boys basketball coach)
-       Score after four rounds: 63
-       Teams Left: 0

4)    Nathan Davis (Shorewood Boys Soccer Coach)
-       Score after four rounds: 61
-       Teams Left: 0

5)    Dave Dooley (Lakes Dean of Students and Swim Coach)
-       Score after four rounds: 61
-       Teams left: 0

6)    Mike Baldwin (Patch Sports Editor)
-       Score after four rounds: 59
-       Teams Left: 0

7)    Brett McDaniel (Sumner Boys Basketball Coach)
-       Score after four rounds: 58
-       Teams Left: 1 (UConn)

8)    Kerry Yousey (Peninsula Boys Basketball Coach)
-       Score after four rounds: 58
-       Teams Left: 0

9)     Tony Dondero (Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Editor)
-       Score after four rounds: 56
-       Teams Left: 0

10) Lauren Padgett (Bonney Lake/Sumner Patch Editor)
-       Score after four rounds: 51
-       Teams Left: 0

11) Akiko Oda (Gig Harbor Patch Editor)
-       Score after four rounds: 46
-       Teams left: 0