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GuideStar’s Harold completes comeback to win NPT Brackets

Completing a stunning comeback that will go down in the annals of NPT Brackets history, Jacob Harold won The NonProfit Times‘ inaugural NCAA Bracket Competition. The president and CEO of GuideStar outdueled a field of a dozen nonprofit executives and The NonProfit Times staff, securing the win thanks to Duke’s victory over Wisconsin last night in the national championship for men’s college basketball.

The Blue Devils’ win gave Harold 32 points, allowing him to leapfrog all the way from fourth place to the top of the final standings. He was the only contestant to pick Duke winning it all. Kristen Lacey of Save the Children, who held her first lead of the tournament after Saturday’s Final Four, was the only contestant to accurately predict the final matchup between Duke and Wisconsin. Had Wisconsin won, she would have held on to first place.

  1. Jacob Harold – 114 points
  2. Kristen Lacey – 101
  3. Kelly Browning – 89
  4. Neal Denton – 84
  5. Jan Pruitt – 81
  6. Rick Cohen – 76
  7. Casey Cole – 73
  8. Amir Pasic – 69
  9. Jessica Frederick – 65
  10. Mark Hrywna – 63
  11. Paul Clolery – 55
  12. Patrick Sullivan – 51

Jan Pruitt, president and CEO of North Texas Food Bank, was our leader for two rounds going into the Final Four, and was the only player to hit on three of her Final Four predictions. But Kentucy’s loss in Saturday’s national semifinal hurt her, along with six others who picked the Wildcats in the final.

Harold’s run through the tournament is more incredible when you consider he found himself in next to last place after the first day of the tournament, and dead last after the second round.

Some bold predictions that didn’t exactly turn out nearly killed his South Region bracket. Incredibly, the only first-round games that Harold picked correctly in the South Region were No. 2 Gonzaga and No. 1 Duke – which he rode all the way to the national championship.

Harold slowly crawled his way back up the standings, to 10th place after the fourth round, and it wasn’t really until the Regional Final (fifth round) when he stood in eighth place, that some possible scenarios started to materialize. For all the bloodletting in his South Region, the West and Midwest regions of Harold’s brackets kept him alive. He only missed six of 32 first-round matchups in both regions but also correctly predicted all four regional semifinal winners.

Congratulations to Harold and thanks to all our contestants for participating in this friendly competition.

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Day 9 – Final Four UPDATE

Lacey.Kristen
Kristen Lacey

Kentucky’s loss to Wisconsin in the national semifinal on Saturday threw the NPT Brackets for a loop, as six players had Kentucky in the final and as a result, just four players managed to score points this weekend. North Texas Food Bank President/CEO Jan Pruitt, who led the standings after the last two rounds, was leapfrogged by all four of those players, but only two of them have any shot at winning it all. A Kentucky loss leaves most of the standings unchanged, including any chance of NPT Staff Writer Patrick Sullivan crawling past NPT Editor-in-Chief Paul Clolery to avoid a last-place finish.

Tonight’s NCAA men’s basketball championship comes down to Wisconsin and Duke and that means the NPT Brackets come down to two contestants: GuideStar President/CEO Jacob Harold and Kristen Lacey, senior director of brand marketing at Save the Children. Lacey racked up 32 points by being the only person to correctly pick the semifinal winners (Wisconsin and Duke), leaping into first place overall. She’s hoping for one more Wisconsin win, otherwise Harold will pass her with a 32-point score from a Duke win.

After Saturday’s Final Four semifinals, Kelly Browning, president/CEO of American Institute for Cancer Research, and Neal Denton of The Y both scored points with Duke but both also have come to the end of the line for potential points. Harold also scored points with Duke but only Lacey accurately picked both finalists among our field of 12 contestants. (This post originally had Browning in first after Saturday’s games but a calculating error gave Lacey only 16 points — she received 32 points for picking both Wisconsin and Duke to win).

  1. Kristen Lacey – 101 points
  2. Kelly Browning – 89
  3. Neal Denton – 84
  4. Jacob Harold – 82
  5. Jan Pruitt – 81
  6. Rick Cohen – 76
  7. Casey Cole – 73
  8. Amir Pasic – 69
  9. Jessica Frederick – 65
  10. Mark Hrywna – 63
  11. Paul Clolery – 55
  12. Patrick Sullivan – 51

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Final Four PREVIEW

Only four players remain with a realistic shot at capturing the 2015 NPT Brackets title, each with their fortunes tied to one team. Neither Neal Denton nor Jacob Harold have been among the leaders after any round of the NPT Brackets yet thanks to Duke and Kentucky, they both have an opportunity to leap past most of the contestants and win it all. In fact, Harold ranked 11th out of 12 players after the tournament’s first day.

How does Denton, who’s been in the middle of the pack most of the tournament, still have a chance? He still has a shot to predict the final three games correctly — a Kentucky win over Duke in the championship — and that would yield a whopping 68 points (16 for each semifinal and 32 for the title game), enough to edge Jan Pruitt (who picked Kentucky over Virginia) by just three points.

A Duke championship, however, would make Harold our winner as he would then predict the final three games correctly, grabbing 68 points. If it happens that Wisconsin wins it all — or even if they lose to Michigan State in the final — then Kristen Lacey is our champion. Pruitt, our current leader, still has a shot to hold and will be rooting for Michigan State. Since no one chose the Spartans to get past this round, if they keep winning, that means no one’s scoring points and the standings stay relatively unchanged, so the farther they go, the better for Pruitt.

With just four teams remaining in the NCAA men’s basketball championship, there are eight potential scenarios of how the tournament can end. In three of them (all involving Wisconsin, either winning or losing), Lacey would be our champion. Pruitt and Harold each would win under two scenarios:

Kentucky over Duke — Denton, 132 points; Pruitt, 129; Rick Cohen, 124
Kentucky over Michigan State — Pruitt, 129, Cohen, 124, Cole, 121
Duke over Kentucky — Harold, 130, Denton, 100, Pruitt, 97
Duke over Wisconsin — Harold, 114, Lacey, 101, Kelly Browning, 89
Wisconsin over Duke — Lacey, 133, Browning, 89, Denton, 84
Wisconsin over Michigan State — Lacey, 117, Pruitt, 81, Cohen, 76
Michigan State over Wisconsin — Lacey, 85, Pruitt, 81, Cohen, 76
Michigan State over Kentucky — Pruitt, 97, Cohen, 92, Cole, 89

The national semifinals will be played Saturday night, with the two winners matching up in the final on Monday night.

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Day 8 – Regional Final UPDATE
And then there were four. Not just the Final Four teams, but potential champions of the 2015 NPT Bracket Competition too.

Jan Pruitt, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, continues to lead after six rounds thanks to being the only play to hit on three of the four Final Four teams (Kentucky, Wisconsin and Duke; she missed on Virginia). Six players correctly picked two Final Four teams, most with Kentucky and Duke, a couple with Wisconsin and Kentucky.

  1. Jan Pruitt – 81 points
  2. Rick Cohen – 76
  3. Kelly Browning – 73
  4. Casey Cole – 73
  5. Kristen Lacey – 69
  6. Amir Pasic – 69
  7. Neal Denton – 68
  8. Jacob Harold – 66
  9. Jessica Frederick – 65
  10. Mark Hrywna – 63
  11. Paul Clolery – 55
  12. Patrick Sullivan – 51

The average score in the Regional Final was 12.67, or 1.58 out of 4 games correct.

Clolery is the only player who can tear up his brackets, missing on all four Final Four picks with a predicted Arizona-Gonzaga final. Everyone else has at least Kentucky still alive and four players have a legitimate shot at winning it all. Each of them have their fortunes attached to a particular team: Pruitt (Michigan State), Lacey (Wisconsin), Harold (Duke), Denton (Kentucky).

Check back later this week when we take a look at how the NPT Brackets would play out under the eight possible scenarios remaining in the Final Four.

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Day 7 – Regional Final UPDATE

Another lead change in the NPT Brackets after Kentucky narrowly escaped Notre Dame and Wisconsin knocked off Arizona yesterday. Jan Pruitt, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, is our new leader, followed by Amir Pasic, dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

  1. Jan Pruitt – 73 points
  2. Amir Pasic – 69
  3. Rick Cohen – 68
  4. Kelly Browning – 65
  5. Jessica Frederick – 65
  6. Casey Cole – 65
  7. Mark Hrywna – 63
  8. Kristen Lacey – 61
  9. Neal Denton – 60
  10. Jacob Harold – 58
  11. Paul Clolery – 55
  12. Patrick Sullivan – 51

Notre Dame’s loss puts Kelly Browning behind the 8-ball to win our bracket, losing a Final Four pick but also his national champion. Today’s Louisville-Michigan State East Region matchup could help though since Browning and Rick Cohen are the only ones with any skin left in the East. The president and CEO of the American Institute for Cancer Research has No. 4 seed Louisville while Cohen has 7th-seeded Michigan State so there are 8 unadulterated points up for grabs.

In the South Region, top-seeded Duke is the most popular pick with 6, but only 3 players went with second-seeded Gonzaga (Pasic, Cohen and Clolery), a similar tilt toward Arizona in yesterday’s game Wisconsin-Arizona matchup.

Next Saturday’s two Final Four games will be worth 16 points, so there’s still an opportunity for players lurking in the weeds to make a move up the standings before the April 6 Final, which is worth 32 points. With so many backing Kentucky, our eventual NPT Bracket Champion potentially could be only one of a handful of players still in the hunt to realistically win it. Half the field picked Kentucky to win it all but two players could have aces up their sleeves with their national champion picks still alive: Kristen Lacey of Save the Children went with Wisconsin and Jacob Harold of GuideStar picked Duke. And then there’s Gonzaga, which Pasic has winning it all.

If both higher seeds advance today (Duke and Louisville), Pruitt would still have the lead but she’d have to share, with Browning, at 81 points, followed by Casey Cole of City Harvest with 73 points. Pruitt still would lead if Duke advances with Michigan State, but Cohen would be second with 76, followed by Browning and Cole at 73. Should Gonzaga and Louisville advance, Pasic and Cohen would jump ahead of Pruitt with 77 and 76 points, respectively. If it’s Gonzaga and Michigan State, Cohen would be our leader with 84 points, ahead of Pasic (77) and Pruitt (73).

Day 6 – Fourth Round UPDATE

On the back of Michigan State, Rick Cohen nailed 6 of 8 games in the Sweet 16 round to draw within 3rd place with 60 points. AICR CEO Kelly Browning, our new leader heading into the Regional Final round, and Lilly Family School Dean Amir Pasic, now second, scored on 5 of the 8 Regional Semifinal games last night. Our tow leaders appear to be in the driver’s seat, with 3 of their Final Four picks still in the hunt.

There’s a three-way tie for 4th, with Jessica Frederick of SeattleWorks, North Texas FoodBank CEO Jan Pruitt and City Harvest’s Casey Cole all with 57 points. Cole and Pruitt are still lurking though, with 3 of their Final Four picks still alive, but so is Jacob Harold of GuideStar, despite only 50 points (10th place). Cohen is the lone player with all four Final Four picks still intact.

  1. Kelly Browning – 65 points
  2. Amir Pasic – 61
  3. Rick Cohen – 60
  4. Jessica Frederick – 57
  5. Jan Pruitt – 57
  6. Casey Cole – 57
  7. Paul Clolery – 55
  8. Kristen Lacey – 53
  9. Neal Denton – 52
  10. Jacob Harold – 50
  11. Mark Hrywna – 47
  12. Patrick Sullivan – 43

The average score in the Sweet 16 round was 15.67 points (3.92 out of 8 games). The overall average score after four rounds of play is 54.75 points.

The four Regional Final games this weekend will be worth 8 points. In today’s games, No. 2 seed Arizona is the popular pick over top-seeded Wisconsin in the West Region, with 7 contestants backing the Wildcats (including Pasic and Cohen) and 3 for the Badgers.

A Notre Dame upset of No. 1 Kentucky in the Midwest would have quite the impact on the brackets. Not only would 9 of the 12 contestants lose a Final Four team in Kentucky (including 6 as their national champion), but Browning would be the only one grabbing 8 points by having the Irish in his Final Four (and his eventual champion).

Should Arizona and Notre Dame advance, it would put Browning in front by 4 points over Pasic and 5 over Cohen, with Cole and Frederick tied for 4th, 8 points behind the leader. A Notre Dame-Wisconsin scenario in the Final Four would give Browning an even bigger cushion, 8 points ahead of Pruitt, 12 more than Pasic and Lacey, and 13 ahead of Cohen, in 4th place.

Should the top seeds — Wisconsin and Kentucky — advance today, Pruitt would take her first lead of the tournament, and it also would bring Neal Denton of The Y back to life into 4th place while Browning would score zero points and drop to 5th.

A Kentucky-Arizona Final Four matchup would be akin to an “Oprah” episode (“You get a point! You get a point!”), leaving the standings relatively unchanged; Pasic would be up by 1 point over Cohen, with both Cole and Frederick still looming 3 points behind, and even Harold making a move up to 5th.

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Day 5 – Fourth Round UPDATE
Suddenly, it’s a whole new ballgame. Capitalizing on games being worth double each round, Lilly Family School Dean Amir Pasic scored a perfect 16 points last night, correctly picking winners in all four games in the NPT Bracket Competition. The move vaulted him all the way from 8th place to become our new leader, with 57 points. Guidestar’s Jacob Harold also nailed all four games correctly last night, lifting him out of last place in our field of 12.

There’s a four-way tie for second place between Jessica Frederick, Kelly Browning, Jan Pruitt and Casey Cole, all with 53 points. They were able to leapfrog Neal Denton and Kristen Lacey, who hit on only one game last night. (A calculating error from Round 1 was rectified; there actually was a tie for first heading into this round, between Browning and Frederick, each with 45 points at the time).

  1. Amir Pasic – 57 points
  2. Kelly Browning – 53
  3. Casey Cole – 53
  4. Jessica Frederick – 53
  5. Jan Pruitt – 53
  6. Paul Clolery – 51
  7. Rick Cohen – 48
  8. Mark Hrywna – 47
  9. Jacob Harold – 46
  10. Kristen Lacey – 45
  11. Neal Denton – 44
  12. Patrick Sullivan – 43

The West Region has been kind to most contestants, with only two higher seeds defeating lower seeds so far, but Pasic still has only missed one game in the region (No. 14 Georgia State over No. 3 Baylor), while Jan Pruitt has only missed two (No. 8 Oregon over No. 9 Oklahoma State). North Carolina’s loss to Wisconsin last night means that two contestants lost a Final Four team: Denton and Browning. Browning is the only one to pick Notre Dame, which remains alive after beating Wichita State — a blow to Clolery, who lost a second Final Four team.

The remaining four games of the NCAA’s regional semifinals are scheduled tonight; each correct win is worth four points. A Utah upset of Duke would be a boon to Pasic and Clolery, the only ones banking on an upset of the Blue Devils. Of the eight teams in action tonight, Duke is the most popular pick (8), followed by Gonzaga (5).

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Day 5  – Fourth Round (Sweet 16) Preview

We head into the Fourth Round of the tournament with the two leaders of the NPT Bracket Competition separated by just a point, and a jumbled pack of seven contestants only seven points behind them. In the Sweet 16, there are four schools that are the most popular picks. First, it’s Arizona, tapped by 9 of our 12 contestants, followed by Kentucky, Duke, and Wisconsin, each selected in 8 brackets. From there, it’s a drop-off to 5 for Gonzaga, followed by four each for Notre Dame, North Carolina and Wichita State. Two picks that might have the most impact on the final standings at this point are Louisville and Michigan State — each picked just once to advance past  this round.

Kelly Browning (Louisville) and Rick Cohen (Michigan State) could score major points against the competition on the backs of these two teams since no one else predicted them all the way to the Final Four. Correct games are worth four points in this round, and eight in the next (played on Saturday and Sunday).

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Day 4 – Third Round UPDATE

Only two contestants in the NPT Bracket Competition still have their Final Four picks completely intact after third round this past weekend. Top scores in the third round came from Kelly Browning and Paul Clolery, who both hit on 10 of 16 games, scoring 20 points. Despite already losing two Final Four picks, Jessica Frederick continues to lead, with 45 points, out of a potential 64 points (70 percent):

  1. Jessica Frederick – 45
  2. Kelly Browning – 44
  3. Paul Clolery – 42
  4. Kristen Lacey – 41
  5. Jan Pruitt – 41
  6. Neal Denton – 40
  7. Casey Cole – 40
  8. Amir Pasic – 39
  9. Rick Cohen – 38
  10. Mark Hrywna – 35
  11. Patrick Sullivan – 33
  12. Jacob Harold – 30

Michigan State’s upset of second-seeded Virginia on Sunday busted most everyone’s brackets, devastating the East Region in particular. A Villanova-Virginia regional final was the most popular pick but others also had Northern Iowa. Only Cohen and Browning have the most remaining points available in the East, thanks to their regional champs still being active (Michigan State and Louisville). They are the only contestants with all Final Four selections still intact.

Pruitt and Pasic both had a clean third round in the West region, with Pruitt missing on only two second-round games and Pasic on one game, out of possible 12 total. For a complete look at each contestant’s Final Four picks, scroll to the bottom of this post.

The average score in the third round was 8.25 wins (out of a potential 16), or 16.5 points (of a potential 32). The average overall score after three rounds is 39 points (61 percent of the potential 64 points).

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Day 3 – Third Round UPDATE

The first day of the Third Round was ugly, with almost half of the NPT Bracket Competition field losing a Final Four team thanks to N.C. State’s upset of Villanova. All 12 contestants had Villanova advancing at least another round, with five picking them at least to the Final Four.

Villanova’s loss dented a few brackets but none more than Patrick Sullivan, who lost his national champion pick and is left with just Duke in the South Region, and Casey Cole, who picked the Wildcats as national runner-up.

In the standings, Jessica Frederick continues to lead with 37 points (out of a possible 48 points/77 percent), followed by Kelly Browning (34), and a three-way tie for third between Kristen Lacey, Jan Pruitt and Amir Pasic (33). Pasic was the top scorer on Saturday with six wins out of eight games. He and Pruitt made a move in the standings thanks to being among three contestants (including Lacey) to pick Xavier in the Sweet 16.

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Day 2 – Second Round UPDATE

It was a quiet second day of the tournament compared to the first, with most games going according to seeding but some separation at the top of our leaderboard. Jessica Frederick heads into the next round with 27 points out of a possible 32 (84 percent), followed by Kristen Lacey and Paul Clolery (25), and Neal Denton and Kelly Browning (24).

Perfect 8-for-8 Round 1 regions were scored by Lacey (East), Frederick and Browning (Midwest). There were some serious setbacks in yesterday’s games for Patrick Sullivan, who lost Final Four pick Davidson and had a deep run for Providence end in Round 1. Likewise for Mark Hrywna and his hopes for Georgia making the Elite 8. Most contestants still have their entire Final Four field intact heading into the Third Round.

The average score for the Second Round was 22.75 out of a possible 32 (71 percent.) The Third Round gets under way today with eight games on top, with correct picks now worth two points each.

Day 1 – Second Round UPDATE

No one’s bracket went unscathed on the tournament’s first day. The highest score was 13 out of 16 games (81 percent), by three contestants: Neal Denton, Jessica Frederick and Kristen Lacey. On their heels is Kelly Browning (12) and Paul Clolery and Jan Pruitt (11). Bringing up the rear are Jacob Harold (7) and Rick Cohen (9).

The most common misfire was Iowa State, which left no one’s bracket perfect after one day and in some cases may have already busted it. Frederick picked the Cyclones for the final, as did Mark Hrywna, whose South region essentially was destroyed after Stephen F. Austin (slated for the regional final) bowed out. Patrick Sullivan was the only one to pick UCLA over SMU and Clolery was the lone voice to back Georgia State over Baylor. Pruitt’s bracket took a hit with the loss of SMU, which was pegged for the regional final versus Duke.

The average score on Day 1 among our 12 contestants was 10.75 out of 16 (67 percent).

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The Contestants

If it’s March, that means the office copy machine is working overtime, churning out brackets for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. It’s no different at The NonProfit Times, where we’ve invited a handful of nonprofit executives to join us in some good-natured fun to predict the tournament. The winner will get nothing more than the admiration of their peers nationwide and the others will be left with the scorn and ridicule that goes along with picking so many No. 12 seeds.

Of the 12 entries, the most popular Final Four picks are Kentucky (9), including six to win it all; Arizona (7), Duke (6), and Villanova (5). Standings will be updated after each day’s games. The first two teams listed in the Final Four are participants in the title game.

Kelly Browning, chief executive officer, American Institute for Cancer Research
There are no major upsets or any Cinderella stories, with most higher seeds advancing early, but that changes eventually: only a single No. 1 seed makes the Final Four and this is the lone bracket to pick the Fighting Irish for the Final Four – knocking off Kentucky in the process.
Final Four: Notre Dame (3) over Duke (1); North Carolina (4), Louisville (4).

Paul Clolery, editor-in-chief, The NonProfit Times
Another contrarian with Kentucky picked to get knocked out even earlier, by Maryland, but there are plenty of shockers on the first two days: No. 15 New Mexico State, No. 13 Eastern Washington, and a pair of No. 14 seeds in Northeastern and Georgia State, which also finds a spot in the Sweet 16.
Final Four: Arizona (2) over Gonzaga (2); Wichita State (7), Virginia (2).

Rick Cohen, former executive director, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
Not many surprises in the early rounds, this bracket blows up in the East region, where No. 6 Providence and No. 7 Michigan State meet in the Sweet 16, the same point where top seeds Wisconsin and Villanova fall.
Final Four: Kentucky (1) over Gonzaga (2); Arizona (2), Michigan State (7).

Casey Cole, chief of staff, City Harvest
This bracket goes out on a limb early, with more than a few double-digit seeds advancing to the Round of 32: No. 12 seeds Buffalo and Wyoming, No. 11s Ole Miss and Texas, No. 10 Ohio State, and the would-be shocker of Thursday, No. 13 Harvard over No. 4 North Carolina.
Final Four: Kentucky (1) over Villanova (1); Arizona (2), Duke (1).

Neal Denton, SVP, chief government affairs officer, government relations and policy, YMCA of the USA
Another pick for a Buffalo upset over West Virginia, this bracket leans toward conventional wisdom most of the way through, with only the West region featuring a final without top seeds (No. 3 Baylor and No. 4 North Carolina).
Final Four: Kentucky (1) over Duke (1); North Carolina (4), Villanova (1).

Jessica Frederick, development and communications manager, SeattleWorks
Early-round upsets include No. 13 UC-Irvine and No. 6 Butler sneaking into the Sweet 16. The difference in this bracket could be in the East where no one else picked No. 3 Oklahoma to reach the regional final.
Final Four: Kentucky (1) over Iowa State (3); Arizona (2), Villanova (1).

Jacob Harold, president/CEO, GuideStar
Upsets abound, with No. 13 Harvard reaching the Sweet 16 along with two No. 12s in Buffalo and Stephen F. Austin, on top of first-round shockers No. 12 Wofford, No. 13 Eastern Washington, and another pick for UC-Irvine.
Final Four: Duke (1) over Kentucky (1); Arizona (2), Virginia (2).

Mark Hrywna, senior editor, The NonProfit Times
Another flurry of Cinderellas, with No. 12 Stephen F. Austin advancing to the regional final, along with a Sweet 16 for Buffalo and a dark horse in No. 10 Georgia, the only bracket in which it advances past the second round, reaching a regional final. But no, he’s not from Iowa.
Final Four: Kentucky (1) over Iowa State (3); Wisconsin (1), Northern Iowa (5).

Kristen Lacey, senior director of brand marketing, Save the Children
Brackets say a lot about a person. In this case, they say, “I’m from Ohio.”  The first rounds are the calm before the storm, until the Buckeye State erupts, with both No. 10 Ohio State and No. 11 Dayton reaching the Elite Eight.
Final Four: Wisconsin (1) over Duke (1); Kansas (2), Virginia (2).

Amir Pasic, Dean, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
Another upset special in No. 13 Eastern Washington, this bracket hinges on the contrarian regional finalists in No. 3 Utah and No. 6 Providence. There’s also some home-state love with No. 13 Valparaiso and No. 10 Indiana at least getting one win.
Final Four: Gonzaga (1) over Kentucky (1); Arizona (2), Villanova (1).

Jan Pruitt, president/CEO, North Texas Food Bank
You can tell this bracket comes from the Lone Star State, riding Larry Brown’s local Mustangs of SMU into the Elite Eight, along with a two-round journey for No. 11 UT-Austin. There’s also a deep run for No. 3 Northern Iowa.
Final Four: Kentucky (1) over Virginia (2); Wisconsin (1), Duke (1).

Patrick Sullivan, staff writer, The NonProfit Times
Employing the ingenious yet unheralded Wildcats strategy – picking any and all teams nicknamed Wildcats – this bracket also predicts a lengthy stay in the tournament for No. 6 Providence and a Sweet 16 appearance for Harvard. Early-round upsets are predicted for Wofford, Stephen F. Austin as well as No. 14 Albany.
Final Four: Villanova (1) over Kentucky (1); Arizona (2), Davidson (10).