March Madness 2022 Final Update
April 9, 2022
“The Comeback”
Kansas rallies from highest deficit ever in championship game
Jayhawks 72 Tar Heels 69
Down 15 points at the half, Kansas explodes for 47 in the final twenty minutes, reversing the tables on the early game dominance of North Carolina. Monstrous first 20 minutes for the physical Heels and a smothering defense. It looked like the hot #8 team was going to cruise to victory. But such was not to be. Kansas came out blazing in the second half and before you knew it, the game was tied. Kansas rallied ahead, then back and forth. Came down to the wire. High paced action and not a referee to be heard from. Physical, strong and at the end, the shots fell for Kansas. Christian Braun kept the JayHawks in it with 12 points and 12 rebounds and a glass of Remy Martin with 14 points and a cigar off the bench. Ochai Agbaji tournament MVP. Congratulations to Bill Self and the crew. Rock Chalk. Our March Madness Kansas faithful very happy! Even the K State fans perhaps? Have to however appreciate North Carolina’s tenacity and tournament run. Brady Manek, RJ Davis, and Armando Bacot with a fabulous game in the losing effort. Another year ended and only Roy Williams with a mask on!
The Final Standings
Congratulations to our 2022 March Madness Champion, Jonah Coleman!
The Slim Reaper. Traversing Tennessee, Colorado, Nebraska, and currently in Virginia with the Guard hoping to fly and attending to the Chinook helicopters. 5th place finisher in 2017, Jonah ascends to join the elite, and becomes our latest winner.
Runner Up goes to Sammy G!
- Jonah Coleman (Heir to the throne indeed!)
- Sam Garau (Another fine showing for our 2002 champion. 4th time in the top ten!!)
- Greg McComis (10th place tie 2005. Long time coming)
- Rob Wathen III (Excellent work for father and son. Appreciate the enthusiasm)
Rob Wathen II (tie)
6. Skip Oliver (Best finish to date. Beats the goat award. 10th place 2017)
7. Michael O’Connor (Solid again for our 2014 March Madness Champion)
8. Naomi Grimm (I dare say strong finish for the 6 year old! She has a future as a bookmaker)
9. Christian Fletcher (Keeping our country safe)
10. Ron Coleman (Upstater cracks top ten)
Bridesmaid (11th place) AJ Gauthier (Sorry no money but name in lights more rewarding!)
Last place: Jim McDaniel (Had but one team left in the elite eight and was trying to win. You should pay the Webmaster GG who came in 3rd last but unlike you, actually tried to lose.)
We used to have the GOAT award (The animal, Not the greatest of all time. A domesticated mammal raised primarily for its milk. Over 300 distinct breeds. Closely related to the sheep.) We have done away with the award for two reasons. 1) It’s possible to win last place while picking the top seeded teams. Case in point here. And 2) Such as not to embarrass anyone who did a really bad job of picking teams. See past winners index at top of home page for your amusement.
Place finish of the total score of the game (72-69) = 141 points = 141st place
Amie Torla, Jon Skeels, Tom Waits, Steven Gowdy
(4 way tie splits $100. $25 a piece)
Charity News
$13,000 to be given to the charities and the March Madness Endowment Fund!
Personal thanks to following 115 participants who donated extra money to the event.
My apologies if I left anyone out. Of course, thanks to ALL who participated as this is largely a charity basketball pool with an entry take to charity.
Jack Cleary Mike Cleary Sam Garau Phil Gilson Gary Gurtcheff Alan Newman Lance & Stacy Payton Mike Russo Skip Seaman Tom Waits Rob & Shannon Scott Elliott
Ron Bonger Keith Bratton Randy Braun Chris Combs Patty Dewey Mark Erickson Travis Farhar Jim Hall
Leslie Kwon John Lamb Dave Machisko Colleen Martin Keith Mercer Eric Miller Sherwood Joe Smith
Tony Stephens Dale Todd JB Wells Rick Wepsic Greg Willming Amber Anslinger David Carlson Jon Coleman
Rick Friedman Corey Greening John Grimm John Heinrich Paul Kainrath Julie Leaf Steve Mank Ken Marshall
Dee Massengale Chris McConnell Judy McDonald Kelly Morgan Lynne Morgan Patrick Morgan Skip Oliver
Paul Perry Vince Prop Michael Pyfferoen Tom Rose Karen Rush Keith Shipman Joe C Smith John Willis
Tom Berkley Dan Bishop Billy Blake Michael Brown Vickie Buse Bill Cleary Brian Culley John Cummins
Lois Davidson Aaron Deloof Melanie Emge Christina Ernstes Ryan Fears Christian Fletcher AJ Gauthier
Grant Gilles Jim Godsey Brian Goffinet Scott Gowdy Jim Hall Monica Herrenbruck Jeffrey Huelson Chris Jesop
Steve Jones Michael Kainrath Kevin Kalb Clint Keown Adam Kunkel Todd Lang Fred McCool Jolayne Meyer
John Miles Clay Miller Ryan Morgan Todd Murphy Ryan Neal Michael O’Connor Dharmesh Patel Reece Rounder
Grant Saylor TJ Schick Jake Schiff Kevin Shinar Brad Smith Joe Smith Nikki Spradley Sam Stratman AJ Stuckey
Mark Vickers Haley Vos Lee Wagmeister Ben Waits Tyler Watkins Nick Weaver Tom Weber Jake Wojkovich
Brad Wilson Lebra Winiger Danny Winn Joel Bowers
$ 4430 calculated and received via the amount taken out from the (paid) entry fees.
Additional charity money donated by individuals totaled a stellar $ 8570.
Total charity money to be disbursed is $13,000 !!
March Madness Endowment Fund $ 8000
Borrowed Hearts Foundation $ 2500
Tri-State Food Bank $ 2500
Pool Accounting and Payouts
443 entries received. I am covering a few and will call this official. Good show people. $15 dollars of each entry will go to the prize fund. That’s $6645 to be split according to the formula listed on the March Madness 2022 Welcome Letter. So here you go.
Jonah Coleman Lincoln, Nebraska $ 2658
Sam Garau Evansville, IN $ 1329
Greg McComis Munster, IN $ 665
Rob Wathen III Phoenix, AZ $ 400
Rob Wathen II Evansville, IN $ 400
Skip Oliver Evansville, IN $ 266
Michael O’Connor Evansville, IN $ 200
Naomi Grimm Durham, NC $ 200
Christian Fletcher Annapolis, MD $ 133
Ron Coleman Springville, IN $ 133
Jim McDaniel Evansville, IN $ 266
Amie Torla Wichita, KS $ 25
Jon Skeels Evansville, IN $ 25
Tom Waits Newburgh, IN $ 25
Steven Gowdy Evansville, IN $ 25
AJ Gauthier Chicago, IL No money-11th place but a jolly good showing
(Total $6750. $100 split 4 ways added on, and rounding up)
Checks to the winners will be mailed within the next 2-3 weeks or you can receive your money via Venmo if you send me your Venmo name. If your address is different than what you listed on your entry name, please advise if you want the check to get to you. Thank you all for participating! See you next year.
“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
-Anne Frank