Now that the brackets are set and picking has begun, I wanted to get some insight from the Niners Nation faithful. I was recently invited to join a charity bracket pick 'em for media members (apparently I'm not considered "media.") The contest is being conducted by Bodog, and was thought up by Richard Gardner, Bodog's Sportsbook manager.
It's a straight bracket prediction contest with the winners getting the following:
1st Place: $5,000 to charity of your choice
2nd Place: $3,000 to charity of your choice
3rd place: $1,500 to charity of your choice
Points leader after 1st weekend: $1,000 to charity of your choice
I decided to go with Susan G. Komen for the Cure as my charity of choice. As the representative of Niners Nation, I thought it'd be fun to get some insight and predictions from all of our readers. I'm not asking for a breakdown of every single game (although that's certainly welcome). Rather, I'm thinking more along the lines of Final 4 predictions, national champ predictions, who might be a Cinderella through the first weekend, that sort of thing.
Obviously we'll have plenty of conflicting suggestions, but if anything pops out as a consensus option I'd be happy to go with that. As far as options for the final 4 and national champion, let's think a little outside the box. Kansas and Kentucky are two of the favorites to go far. In order to win bracket contests, or at least get in the money, you either need to pick a unique national champ and nail that, or if you pick a Kansas or Kentucky, you need to hit a lot of first and second round upsets.
While we're obviously a football site, I know there are a lot of people out there that are passionate about college basketball. I spent most of the season watching UNLV and missed out on a lot of other teams. So any insight is welcome.