*Vicarious World's Bracket Challenge*: Joose's Victory Speech

The Winner's Cup

As we all know by now, Joose, a friend of Vicarious World, has won the inaugural VW March Madness Bracket Challenge. He bested the field of seven with nothing but luck and a couple of hunches. Don't expect a repeat next year.

"Good afternoon gentleman and ladies. It has been a great honor participating in VW's March Madness Bracket Challenge with you. The past few weeks have been very fun and exciting but in the end there can only be one winner. Thanks and good luck next year."

- Joose

*Vicarious World's Bracket Challenge*: Final Standings

Congrats to the Kentucky Wildcats for winning the NCAA Basketball Championship, but more importantly, congrats to Joose for winning the inaugural Vicarious World March Madness Bracket Challenge. He was in the 94th percentile for the thousands of brackets submitted to ESPN. You could make a living outta this. Don't forget to email us to claim your prize; the winner's banana can spoil pretty quickly if you wait too long.

Final Standings (Championship Round points)

win = 320; upset = 640 (no upsets this round)

1) Joose- 1,500 (320)
2) Bluespeck- 1,260 (320)
3) NYC Robert- 1,040 (0)
4) Sister Campbell- 1,010 (320)
5) JrKartel- 800 (0)
5) Jersey Campbell- 800 (0)
7) K.V. Sart- 770 (0)

Well that's a wrap folks. Once again congrats to Joose. See you all next March (if the world doesn't end this year).

*Vicarious World's Bracket Challenge*: The Elite Eight

Only the elite teams of college ball remain in the NCAA tourney. While we all love a cinderella story, I think we love watching teams with NBA talents a wee bit more. Here are the Sweet 16 results:

win = 40 points; upset = 80 points

1) Joose's Gut- 7 wins (3 upsets):            400
2) NYC Robert- 5 wins (1 upset):           240
3) K.V. Sart- 5 wins (0 upsets):               200
4) Bluespeck- 4 wins (0 upsets):             160
4) JrKartel- 4 wins (0 upsets):                 160
6) Jersey Campbell- 3 wins (0 upsets):   120
6) Sister Campbell- 2 wins (1 upset):     120

Totals:

1) Joose's Gut:                860
2) NYC Robert:              720
3) Bluespeck:                 620
4) K.V. Sart:                   610
5) JrKartel:                     560
5) Jersey Campbell:       560
6) Sister Campbell:        450

Looks like Joose is gonna run away with the Bracket Challenge Cup this year. Picking seven out of the eight Elite Eight teams (with THREE upsets!) requires thorough collegiate basketball knowledge, or a whole bunch of luck. Either way, Joose is sittin' pretty atop the standings with three rounds left to go.

Check back on Monday morning for the standings heading into the Final Four.

*Vicarious World Bracket Challenge*: Onto the Sweet 16

The suits who run the NCAA are so gosh darn stoopid. Why call the play-in games the first round? Now when the real first round begins everybody has to call it the second round and when the second round begins everybody has to call it the third round. Let's just call the two rounds before the Sweet 16 the Round of 64 and the Round of 32. They're just warming it up before the field expands to 15,000 schools in 2875 anyway.

The Round of 32 results:

1 win = 20 points; 1 upset = 40 points

1) NYC Robert- 11 wins (2 upsets): 260
2) Joose's Gut- 11 wins (0 upsets): 220
3) Bluespeck- 10 wins (1 upset): 220
4) K.V. Sart- 9 wins (0 upsets): 180
5) Jersey Campbell- 7 wins (1 upset): 160
5) JrKartel- 7 wins (1 upset): 160
7) Sister Campbell- 6 wins (0 upsets): 120

Totals:

1) NYC Robert: 480
2) Joose's Gut: 460
3) Bluespeck: 460
4) Jersey Campbell: 420
5) K.V. Sart: 410
6) JrKartel: 400
7) Sister Campebll: 330

After a crap Round of 64, NYC Rob's picks pan out in the Round of 32 and he now has the overall lead. In other news, two of Sister Campbell's Final Four picks are now out of the tourney after the first weekend. Lightening can strike twice, but rarely does it strike thrice. Better luck next year. Speaking of lightning, the winner of VW's March Madness Bracket Challenge wins lightning in a bottle, or as nonconformists like to call it, a bottle of lightning.

The Sweet 16 games begin on Thursday. Check back on Saturday morning for the updated standings. 

Jersey Campbell's FINAL Final Four 03.15.12 2:45 AM

That's it folks, we're set. Etch these picks in stone. Write this down with the golden pen. The time for flip flopping fluctuations is over.

My bracket is just random enough that I am sure I will come out the victor not only in my family pool (my basketball clueless sister has won the past two years... when she heard Mike D'Antoni got fired she asked, "what happened to Jeff Van Gundy?") but in Vicarious World's Bracket Challenge (sign up, like right now) as well.

No surprises here, my FINAL Final Four hasn't been altered from the last post. Same teams, same match-ups, same champions. Me and my boy Obama think alike- UNC will be crowned champions at the end of the tourney.

Kentucky over New Mexico
North Carolina over Cincinnati

NC over UK in the title game

Well, that's it my friends. There you have it. Check back regularly to see Vicarious World's Bracket Challenge standings. They will be updated at the end of every round.

Jersey Campbell's Final Four (subject to change by the time you read this): 03.14.12; 9:30 AM

The man in the middle for my national championship pick has been ruled ineligible for the NCAA Tourney... time to switch it up again.

We've got a little more than 24 hours before the real MADNESS begins, expect a couple more alterations to my Final Four projections. In this addition my pre-bracket release champions, MSU, are outed in the Sweet 16; and my post-bracket release champions, Syracuse, are outed in the first weekend.

This is my new and improved Final Four... for now.

Kentucky vs. New Mexico
Cincinnati vs. North Carolina

NC over UK in the title game. 

Jersey Campbell's Final Four (subject to change by the time you read this) 03.12.12; 10:30 PM

We'll have to excuse NYC Rob for rudely interrupting my Final Four fluctuations. He has promised that he won't do it again.

Turns out I did watch a little college ball this year. I saw a couple of Baylor games this year, "unimpressed" would be an understatement. So I'm going back to my original pick the Kentucky Wildcats. I will probably be changing this pick again before midnight tonight though, the consensus best team in the land never wins the tourney.

Murray State? Seriously? Yeah, I'm gonna go with Michigan State in that bracket. They were going to be my original pick to win it all before the brackets came out. Then they got a #1 seed, I like them better as a #2. Even so, I can't pick Murray State. Not only are they out of my Final Four, but I also have them losing in the first round to Colorado State.

My new Final Four:

Michigan State vs. Kentucky

Syracuse vs. Kansas

'Cuse over MSU in the title game.

Book it! (in pencil)

*Vicarious World's March Madness Bracket Challenge 2012*

The Team of Wannabe Writers here at Vicarious World know a lot about mass distractions. NYC Rob blogs exclusively about relationships and dating, Jersey Campbell is a sports junkie, and nobody really knows what K.V. Sart's does with his spare time.

So it should come as no surprise that Vicarious World has created a NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge for our contributors and fan(s) to compare and poke fun at each others brackets. Sources tell us that everyone who participates in VW's Bracket Challenge will have at least two of their final four teams ousted after the first weekend. Trust us, it always ends up like that.

A couple of rules before you submit your bracket:

- Going chalk is prohibited. That means we will not accept brackets with all #1 seeds in the Final Four, nor will we accept brackets with all #1s and #2s in the Elite Eight. You get the point.
- Only one entry allowed per person. It isn't called the Sheet of Integrity for no reason.
- You do not have to follow these rules.

All that needs to be said has been said. Get your virtual butts into the Vicarious World group on ESPN.com. Here is the link.




LOLOLOL. Gotcha! Seriously though, here is the link.