NOTE: This page is still under construction, but there's a lot of data. The reconstruction is in 2 phases... Today is March 21, 2025
2024

2024

1st Place: Trevor Misfeldt is one of the guys that worked at Roguewave Software in Corvallis. He's been participating in this bracket challenge since at least 2000 (he's in those standings and I don't have any prior). Until his son finished 2nd last year, I haven't seen Misfeldt's in the top 3, but lately their family's been showing up in the top 10, so I figure it was inevitable to see one of them on top. Trevor's stuck it out a long time to reach the top.

3 things stood out about his bracket. He picked the exact combined (final) score of 135. He had both Finals teams in UConn over Purdue, and he nailed 5 of the Elite 8. That's where he got his advantage over Oz and Jen, because they had higher overall pick percentages.

Patience perseveres. Nice job!

2nd Place: Marc Osborn: Oz's participation dates back to at least 2000 where one of his brackets finished 11th. In 2003 he finished 2nd. He took some time off from the bracket challenge at some point, but got back involved 3-4 years ago and in that time he's now finished 2nd and 3rd in the main challenge and he came into this year as a 2-time defending Pick 4 champ.

Marc's pick percentage was 67.7%, which was 2nd to Jennifer. He had UConn over Purdue and 2 others predicted that. Garrett Sather and this year's champ. He only had 3 teams alive in the Elite 8. One more and he would have won.

3rd Place: Jennifer Conner is the daughter of Big Dave Conner and neither of them have partcipated in a handful of years.

Her strategy was mostly informed by standings this year going into the tourney and where me and my friends went to school (Creighton, Illinois, Zaga). She attended ASU and she's dating a Connecticut native, so that influenced some of her choices. She took St. Mary's to the Final 4 and her justification is that she perceives UNC as choke artists and she didn't want to pick Zona too far.

She had Houston over Marquette in the South, so she credits NC State's sleeper run for some of her success. But I see a few things that stood out. 1. St. Mary's was here only loss(es) in the West, she picked Clemson to the Elite 8, and she had the highest pick percentage of anyone else. 69.4%. It makes sense, because she doesn't have a lot of red ink. If she had picked Purdue to the finals, she would have tied Trevor (but still finished 2nd b/c of the tie-breaker). Solid work.

Pick 4: JT & MJ: This was interesting in that Justin and I had the same picks. We took all the 11 seeds and we got 6 wins. That's a stat I want to pay more attention to because it's meaningful. Nobody else this year had more than 3 wins and we (Justin and I) had the only team advance beyond the first weekend (NC State), so this challenge ended after only 4 days. We knocked off the prior 2-time champ in Marc Osborn and both JT and I are first-time winners. There's no tie-breaker, so we're co-champs.


2023

2023

1st Place: Joe Durbin is in the 2000 standings and has probably been participating longer, but I do not have records. Joe knew my brother and after my brother moved to California, Joe played softball and fantasy football with us.

If you check prior years, you'll see Joe is a 2-time Pick 4 champion (2011 & 2013), Sarah finished 3rd in 2018 and this year him and Karly finished 1st & 3rd. In fact, Joe passed Karly late to finish 1st, so maybe there's a little animosity.

2nd Place: Hayden Misfeldt is the son of Trevor and lately it seems the Misfeldt family has been showing up pretty regularly in the top 10. As far as my records go, this is the first time a Misfeldt has finished on the podium, so there's a little bragging rights for Hayden.

Trevor was recruited by Big Dave. I worked with Big Dave at Smith Barney and he later worked with Trevor at Roguewave Software in Corvallis. As far as I know, they're all Beaver fans.

3rd Place: Karly Durbin: I'm waiting to get information on Karly, but if memory serves, Tove is Joe's wife and Karly (along with Sarah) are their daughters. While Joe's been participating for decades, the rest of the family hasn't been involved as long.

Pick 4: N/A: I had to scramble to find new software after Turbo Tourney capsized. Abandoned P4. Not enough time.

2022

2022


1st Place: Delen Kitchen finished 4th back in 2003. She was in the Winner's Circles in 2005 and 2009. That means after 19 years of participation, 2 2nd place finishes and 13 years since a podium, Delen's finally on top of the world.

2nd Place: Justin Talbott: 3 years ago, Justin picked Virginia all the way and finished 3rd place. Back in 2002, he finished 3rd. Now he's got a 2nd place finish after picking Kansas all the way. JT's friends with Gunney, Patzke and others that I knew through work or softball. As long as I've known Justin, he's been participating in rodeos and last we spoke he was still doing that to earn some money on the side.

3rd Place: Marc Osborn: Oz is friends with JT, Gunney, Patzke, and Smitty. He was roommates with some of them until he moved to Montana.

Pick 4: Marc Osborn: Marc hadn't ever participated in Pick 4 - until last year - and now he's won it in back-to-back years. Pretty impressive. Great job!K


2021

1st Place: Steven Mosley. As far back as our records go, Steve is our first back-to-back champion in our main bracket challenge, so congratulations for that. I'm hoping Mosley offers further insight/clarification, but as long as I've known him, I've taken him for a bigger football fan than basketball, yet he's won more titles in this bracket challenge than he has doing fantasy football... and he's got way better odds winning FF. So he's doing well and next year he'll attempt to be our first three-peat champion.

2nd Place: Brian Dehen finished 2nd place in 2012. He recruited Andy Kitchen, who took first in 2010, when Brian took 3rd.

3rd Place: Enrique Salazar: 2-time champion (2007 / 1999) and 3rd in 2001. His strategy is to pick teams with good guards, because he feels they're more important in a one-and-done scenario. And a little luck never hurts. He's a graduate of USC (Southern Cal) and currently lives in Los Angeles. Cowboys, Yankees, and Knickerbockers fan.

Pick 4: Marc Osborn: Once upon a time, a beaver and a duck mated. 9 months later, Marc was born in Eugene, Oregon. That dual connection has engrained a love of both species forever. He once lived with Talbott, Gunney, and Patzke in Lake Oswego before moving to Montana. He says he loves the Ducks and grew up on Ducks games. His parents had front row parking for their motorhome on the curb 50 feet from the gate to get into Autzen Stadium!! Back before it cost a million dollars to get parking and tickets!!!! But Tinkle being from Montana, he loves to see the Beavers succeed!

He has a lot of history in our bracket challenge and got on the podium with a 2nd place finish in 2003. He hadn't participated in Pick 4 until this year. He picked UCLA, Ohio, Oregon State and Utah State as his 4 teams. UCLA reached the Final 4 as a play-in and Oregon State reached the Elite 8, so Oz ended up scoring the most points we've seen in the Pick 4 challenge.

Welcome back and great job!

2020


No tournament due to Covid

2019

1st Place: Steven Mosley won Tourney 2-c back in 2017 and this is his first main title. He's an Eagles fan with the tattoo and man cave to boot.

2nd Place: Rob O'Leary is a Bucknell grad. Calls himself a March Madness dork who takes days off work to watch tourney games. Doesn't sound dorky to me. Betting against Duke helped. A better pick percentage could have landed him on top.

3rd Place: Justin Talbott: JT's been participating in this for near a couple decades. This is his 2nd time finishing 3rd. He likes college football more than basketball, and he has no loyalty to any school. He attended Lewis and Clark College to play football, and he makes a little money participating in rodeos (calf rope and team rope).

Pick 4: Andy Kitchen is our first back-to-back champ in Pick 4.

T-2C: Did not do this challenge

2018
1st Place: Scott McIntosh won the whole shabang in 2016, Pick-4 last year, and now in its 2nd year, he's won T2C. This marks the first time someone has won both the main challenge and T2C in the same year. Nice Job!

2nd Place: Phone Vongsy is a long-time participant in our fantasy football league. He finished 2nd, despite having the highest pick percentage at 70. Had he picked Kansas over Duke, he'd won.

3rd Place: Sarah Durbin had the 2nd highest pick percentage with 67, more than the winner, but she needed 1 more final 4 team.

Pick 4: Andy Kitchen won the main challenge back in 2010. This is his first P4 title.

Tourney-2c: Scott McIntosh

2017

Tourney-2c is a 2nd chance tourney that we did when a lot of entries fizzled out after the first weekend. This was the first year doing it.

This is also the first year that the brackets were made available by clicking your name in the standings.

1st Place: James Murray has his name all over this winner's circle page. Back in 2013 he took 1st and 2nd. This is his 3rd title. See 2001.

2nd Place: Jace Snyder is a first-time participant and a recruit of Jon Carlson.

3rd Place: Eric Flett finished 3rd and 4th this year. Pretty dialed in. He won in 2009 and finished 3rd two years ago. He's a recruit of James Murray.

Pick 4: Scott McIntosh won the main challenge last year and now P4 (our 8th year).

Tourney-2c: Steve Mosley is our inaugural champ

2016

Note: I didn't build a gallery, well, I haven't found any pics. If they turn up, I'll post.

1st Place: Scott McIntosh was recruited by Marc Osborn (his brother-in-law) and he played football at PLU.

2nd Place: Mark Jacoby took Villanova all the way, but couldn't catch Scott. Finished 1st and 3rd back in 2000.

3rd Place: Ben Jacoby also had Nova all the way. Father-Son finish 2-3. Solid!

Pick 4: Debbie Price came from behind on the heels of Syracuse to beat Gunney. She won the main challenge back in 2006.

2015

1st Place: Big Dave Conner He's known me since about '95. He normally puts too much faith in the Pac-12, so this year he had an influencial friend that pressured him into picking Duke. He didn't actually think they'd win. He had a pick percentage of 79, so he deserved to win. Nice to see Dave bring it home after having never finished on the podium.

2nd Place: Adam "Gunney" Guenther and Big Dave worked at Smith Barney together. Gunney picked Duke all the way, finished 4 back of Big Dave, and had a pick percentage of 67. He won Pick 4 last year.

3rd Place: Eric Flett is a recruit of James Murray. He won back in 2009.

Pick 4: Jon Carlson's first win, 6th year.

2014

1st Place: Jeff Rogers Jolly Rogers last participated in 2010, so welcome back! Only picked 62% correct, but nailed 3 of Final 4.

2nd place: Jake Reynolds nailed 6 of Elite 8, but only had a pick percentage of 63. First-time podium.

3rd place: Brian Dehen "Mike D" had 73% of games picked correctly, which was 2nd best to Jeff Brennan, but the best of all the guys on the podium. His bracket was looking the strongest until Kentucky prevailed, and once Florida lost, he couldn't do anymore.

Pick 4: Adam Guenther is a 1st time champ in our 5th year of this challenge.

2013

Note: Sorry, didn't compile a gallery this year.

1st Place: James Murray. Recruited by my brother, James has been participating in this bracket challenge since at least 1998. He's married and his hobbies are his 3 boys. Basketball is his first love, and he played at a small D3 school. He doesn't have any allegiances to any specific teams, so he doesn't get tunnel vision when filling out brackets.

He has "an honest, unbiased opinion on most teams - with the exception of the PAC 10 (now 12) and West Coast teams (Cal, OR, Gonzaga, Zona), as teams are never/rarely as good as people make them out to be - sorry. "

2nd Place: James Murray. This is the first time a participant has finished 1-2. Nice job!

3rd Place: Scott Fagan is friends with Clark Chen and my brother. He was also on the podium in 2005.

Pick 4: Joe Durbin. This is our 4th year of Pick 4 and Joe is now our first 2-time P4 champion!

2012

Most felt even though Kentucky was young, that they had a solid chance to win it all, and they did. Of the top 30 entries, only 3 didn't take Kentucky all the way.

1st Place: Scott Roberts picked 78% correct. Only 4 entries had 70+ percent; 3 of them were top 10. He was recruited by Big Dave he was lucky to win because he didn't watch any games all year; he took advice from Sports Illustrated and went with a few gut choices.

2nd place: Brian Dehen attended Gonzaga (when Stockton was there). Strategy was instinctive. Had a feeling about Dukies. He was recruited by Clark Chen (14+ years ago). Just 2 years ago he finished on the podium (3rd).

3rd place: Jeffrey Showalter was recruited by O'Leary. No real strategy, just got lucky.

Pick 4: Marc Manipon

2011

Well, this was an interesting year. For only the 3rd time in history, not a single 1-seed was represented in the final 4. When the smoke cleared, we had our first repeat champion:

1st Place: Charles Ippoliti. Congrats to Charles for being a 2-time champion; he last won in 2002. He's not our first 2-time champ, but he has finished 1st and last in the same year - twice. Beat that.

Recruited by Big Dave Conner back in 2000, Charles is a graduate of Oregon State University, but his favorite team is any team that wins him the tournament. "Go Huskies!!!". (UConn that is).

2nd Place: Brandon Lee. First time podium. UO grad, Blazers fan, plays a lot of hoops and has a 2-handicap on the links. Schwing.

3rd Place: Corey Hightower beat out Nick Sahonchik for 3rd by virtue of a tie-breaker.

Pick 4: Joe Durbin. Even though UConn was a 3-seed, their points helped Joe pass Kevin to win. Duck alum.

2010

1st Place: Andy Kitchen Back in 2005 and 2006, Andy's daughters finished 2nd, so they got on a podium before him, but this is the first time any of them have come out on top. I can't find 2001 standings, but there are brackets from Andy, Emma, and Delen (1 from each) in 2002. I am pretty sure Andy was recruited by Brian Dehen and that was the first year they participated. Now he's beat out Brian for top honors.

Andy picked 70% of the games correct. That's the main reason he won it all, on top of picking Duke all the way. Joe Durbin had the top pick percentage at 71, but he had Kansas.

2nd Place: Big Dave Conner climbed into 2nd after having Duke all the way. He passed his fellow colleague Randall Robinson (he picked OSU).

3rd Place: Brian Dehen also took Duke all the way, knocking Chris and Nick down.

Pick 4 (1st year): Nick Sahonchick!

2009

1st Place: Eric Flett had one of the highest pick percentages in 2008, but he finished 15th overall. This year he finished 1st and 4th. His top bracket had 81% of the games correct; 4th place was 78%.

Eric's been friends with James Murray since 2000. He lives in Northern California and attended Cal. He follows the Pac-10, and he felt the Pac-10 would do pretty well this year. As for the rest, he'll say it was just luck.

2nd Place: Delen Kitchen was on the podium back in 2005 when she finished 2nd to Kareem. Now 4 years later she's runner-up again.

She's the daughter of Andy and 4 years ago she was a sophomore at the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy. Now she's a sophomore at Arizona State studying film production. Delen said, 


	"I would like to thank my utter distaste for
	 this particular institution, as well as a
	 new friend from Missouri, for allowing me
	 to make seemingly well-thought-out and
	 intelligent choices regarding this year's
	 picks when the truth of the matter is I
	 never watched a game and I still like the
	 name "Villanova"."
Well, nice job Delen. I'm curious how your film career progresses. Maybe we can collaborate on a film someday. I'm an aspiring writer.

3rd Place: Jason Kuhnau picked UNC all the way because that's his favorite team. Jason's his alias. He's Aqua Man.

2008

1st Place: Mike Jacoby. In all my years running and participating, this is my only title. I will say I was really dialed in this year. I watched a ton of basketball. Calipari's Memphis squad had Joey Dorsey and Derrick Rose. Those guys were bigger than Kevin Love and Darren Collison, so I felt if they faced each other, Memphis had a legit shot to advance and they did. My bracket also had Kansas beating Memphis in the championship, so in the end, while I did get lucky, I feel like watching as much hoops as I did, helped me foresee matchups. I also was tied for the 2nd highest pick percentage at 75.

2nd Place: Travis Kuhlman. I beat Travis down the stretch because he had Texas to the Final 4 and UCLA in the finals.

3rd Place: Debbie Price would have won if Memphis won, and they had a big lead. Kansas had to batten down the hatches to pull it off (in OT). She had the best pick percentage (76).

4th Place: Vince Manipon did great, but he had UCLA beating Memphis.

2007

1st Place: Enrique Salazar once told me his philosophy is to be a student of the brackets. Knowledge is power, but it helps to have a little luck. His attention to the details is why he's continually competitive in this bracket challenge. He won back in 1999, making him our first 2-time champion (at least in so far as our records go back). He finished 3rd in 2002 and he's typically finishing in the top 20. Tribute video. Nice job Enrique!

2nd Place: Jane Takeuchi was recruited by Pete Case who also helped her fill out her bracket. They decided on Ohio State, because they didn't think Florida would repeat.

3rd Place: James Murray played DIII basketball and has a passion for hoops. He was in Atlanta for the F4 this year. James won in 2001 and he's always poised to win this thing.

4th Place: Elizabeth Mosley is the wife of Steve. We hadn't met to this point, but we since have, at a Red Sox game in Seattle. Her strategy is to let her husband tell her about each school, then pick the winners.

2006

Note: With UConn and all the 1-seeds getting knocked out, it opened the doors of opportunity. This is the first year that a woman has finished 1st place and also the first year the top 3 were all females.

1st Place: Debbie Price. First time podium and she's tops because she picked 78% of all games correct. She only had 3 losses in the first round, and nailed 12 of the sweet 16.

2nd Place: Emma the Kitchenator is the 15-year-old daughter of Andy Kitchen, and sister to last year's runner-up Delen. Sisters take 2nd place 2 years in a row. Emma looks at team records and seeds to determine who to pick. She doesn't watch college ball, but does like sports. She plays high school tennis and runs cross country. She wants to be a chef and likes Western Oregon because their mascot is a wolf. She finished 2nd because she nailed 7 of the elite 8 (only missing George Mason). Had UCLA beat Florida, she'd taken first place.

3rd Place: Taylor Carlson is 10 years old. She picks teams based on their names, where they're from, and female intuition, a trait she got from Dad :) She only picked 5 of the Elite 8 correct, but got points with LSU and UCLA to the final 4. Like her father, she bleeds green and hopes to attend U of O someday.

4th Place: Patrick Mulquin is mentioned as a top finisher because we had 151 entries. He's the only male on the podium. Pat was recruited by my brother Mark... they work together. He graduated from Hampden-Sydenry College (Va) in 91 where he played basketball, then moved to LA about 5 years ago. He likes the Terrapins and hates Duke; that led him to selecting LSU, which actually would have got him first place if they'd beat UCLA... close but no ceegar.

2005

Note: The pictures for the gallery are gone, vanished. If they turn up, I'll link the gallery back up.

1st Place: Kareem Baird. I met Kareem when he came out to Oregon to visit. We've been doing online fantasy leagues with Steve Mosley, Debbie Price, and others for over 10 years. He's a pretty avid sports fan; North Carolina is his favorite basketball team, and he formerly played football at University of Delaware. He has done our tourney in the past, but had not ever been on the podium until now. Fitting that he wins when his favorite team wins huh?

2nd Place: Delen Kitchen is the 16-year-old daughter of Andy Kitchen, and older sister of Emma (who finished 10th). Delen's a sophomore at the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy and wants to be a film director. 3rd year in the tourney, first time on the podium. She did not use any system to pick the teams other than the fact that she likes the name "Villanova" and didn't listen to her father. She also didn't watch a single college game all year. awesome.

3rd Place: Scott Fagan. Recruited by Clark Chen, he's been friends with Clark and my brother for many years.

4th Place: Lisa Reed is a huge North Carolina fan. In fact, she graduated in 1982 and lived in the same dorm as Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Matt Doherty, and Al Wood!!! She works at the same firm as my brother down in LA.

Note: Lisa Reed, Jennifer Demoff, and Ron Ponce tied Scott. He won the tie-breaker (missed the total combined score by 1 point. Lisa missed by 2, Jennifer 3).

2004

1st Place: Kevin Demoff. He picked Georgia Tech beyond Gonzaga and hit all Final 4 teams.

2nd Place: Jennifer Demoff. This is the best finish by a woman since Tricia Breslin took 2nd back in 2000 and this is the first time husband-wife have finished 1-2.

3rd Place: Charlie Ippoliti. Originally from Rhode Island, he's an actor who graduated from Oregon State. He was 1st place in 2002, now 3rd. He picked 73% of all the games correct, which is tied for tops. Only 1 loss in East region. Good run.

4th Place: Jon Carlson. Another guy whose Father is the Oregon Duck, Jon bleeds green. He's the other with 73% of the games right. He picked every first round game correct in Atlanta and Phoenix regions and only missed 4 1st round games total.

2003

1st Place: Lee Miller won despite not picking the champ. He lives in Florida and makes a living telling people who to bet on. He was 2nd two years ago.

2nd Place: Marc Osborn is a friend of Justin Talbott. The Oregon Duck gave birth to Oz, who now lives in Montana after growing up in Bend. He's a water skier and baits his fish with pharmaceuticals from his company when he goes fly fishing. One solid aspect of Marc's winning bracket was he only had 2 losses in the East (Louisville and Wake in the 2nd round). First podium.

3rd Place: Jim Shur"shot" picked 73% of the games correct, which topped everyone.

In all my years doing this tourney, I've learned one thing: There is no method to the madness.

2002

1st Place: Charles Ippoliti worked at Roguewave Software in Corvallis Oregon. I've never met him. He's participated in the tourney for at least the past 3-4 years. Big Dave Conner recruited him.... Dave and I worked together at Smith Barney awhile back. Charles finished 1st and last, which is a 1st for our bracket challenge.

2nd Place: Marc Manipon is a quick study who usually knows enough to be dangerous.

3nd Place: Justin Talbott and I met through Adam Guenther. These days Justin's working and participating in rodeos.

2001

Note: I have not been able to find a copy of the standings from this year. If they turn up, I'll post them.

1st Place: James Murray is a friend of my brother's who lives down in California. He met my bro while working at Schwab and I met him at a golf course where we had part of my brother's bachelor party. Back in 1999, James had an entry come in 2nd place and last year he had 2 entries in the top 10. He's competitive in the bracket challenge every year and this year he finishes atop the standings for the first time. Congrats James.

2nd Place: Lee Miller and I have known each other about 5 year's. He resides in Florida, makes a living telling people who to bet on, and has been doing our bracket challenge for as long as I've known him. This is his first podium. Good Job Lee.

3rd Place tie: Enrique Salazer and Bash Derti. Enrique's a friend of mine from SoCal. He finished 1st in 1999, the year Murray finished 2nd. Way to go Rico Suave. I don't know Bash or who recruited him, but he had 2 entries in the top 5.

2000

1st Place: Mark Jacoby is indeed my brother and he happened to pick Florida to advance deeper than most. He ended up finishing 1st and 3rd, which is the first time 1 person finished in 2 of the top 3 spots.

2nd Place: Tricia Breslin was recruited by Marc Osborn and/or Adam Guenther. Tricia predicted Michigan State to win it all, which they did, and she got 2nd place over my brother by a point. This was the first time a female ever finished in the top 3.

3nd Place: Mark Jacoby. Dominant year. Nice job little brother.

1999

Note: The only reason I know Enrique and James finished 1-2 is because in the
 2001 winners circle, I mentioned it. At this point in time, I don't have any
 records, standings, nor do I know who finished 3rd.

1st Place: Enrique Salazar is a guy I met long ago at ESPN chat, before we had to register for an account. But all of us used the same handles and Enrique was 2smooth. Pretty sure. At the time he was attending Southern Cal. Congrats Rico.

2nd Place: James Murray I met at my brother's bachelor party.

3rd Place: Unknown. I don't have standings or a gallery for this year. If data turns up, I'll post it.

That's all the history I have backed up online. I'll search for more. I think I have a paper trail of some earlier challenges, maybe. If I find, I'll post.