With the benefit of hindsight, I should have seen this coming.

Last month, I asked Saratoga County supervisors to fill out NCAA Tournament brackets.

I figured it'd be a fun way to foster some competition between the supervisors, who were vying for bragging rights. I used the bracket I'd done the day before as a barometer and gave an extra bracket to County Administrator Spencer Hellwig.

Wouldn't you know it? We, the only two entrants who weren't Saratoga County supervisors, finished 1-2. Actually, Hellwig beat me on the final day of the tournament because he selected Kentucky over Kansas in the National Championship. They just put the finishing touches on a 67-59 win.

I had KU over UK, which is just about as close as I could have gotten without actually winning.

The top finishers among supervisors were the three who picked Kentucky. They were Day's Mary Ann Johnson, Clifton Park's Anita Daly and Malta's Paul Sausville, who admitted he'd never filled out an NCAA bracket prior to last month. This calls for a celebratory anthem.



Here's the full order:

Scoring: 1st Round = 1 point; 2nd Round = 2 points; Sweet 16 = 4 points; Elite Eight = 8 points; Final Four = 16 points; National Championship = 32 points.

1. Spencer Hellwig, County Administrator
Score: 130 (First round 20, Second round 9, Sweet Sixteen 3, Elite Eight 2, Final Four 2, Championship 1)

2. Michael Cignoli, The Saratogian
Score: 122 (22, 10, 6, 3, 2, 0)

3. Mary Ann Johnson, Day
Score: 115 (19, 10, 5, 1, 1, 1)

4. Anita Daly, Clifton Park

Score: 106 (16, 9, 4, 2, 1, 1)

5. Paul Sausville, Malta

Score: 103 (17, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1)

6. Art Johnson, Wilton
Score: 93 (21, 10, 4, 1, 1, 0)

7. Jack Lawler, Waterford
Score: 85 (17, 10, 4, 1, 1, 0)

8. Thomas N. Wood III, Saratoga
Score: 62 (20, 13, 4, 0, 0, 0)

9. Alan Grattidge, Charlton
Score: 51 (21, 9, 3, 0, 0, 0)

10. Phil Barrett, Clifton Park
Score: 44 (20, 8, 2, 0, 0, 0)

11. Matthew Veitch, Saratoga Springs
Score: 39 (19, 6, 2, 0, 0, 0)

12. Jean Raymond, Edinburg
Score: 35 (19, 6, 1, 0, 0, 0)

I share a life philosophy with fictional race car driver Ricky Bobby – if you ain't first, you're last – so I'm a little disappointed with my late collapse. No worries, though. At least I beat the supervisors.

How'd you guys do? Let me know.

Until next time,
MC

The Kansas Jayhawks became the fourth – and final – team to punch their ticket to New Orleans on Sunday afternoon, turning on the afterburners to pull away from North Carolina in the game's waning moments. They'll join Kentucky, Ohio State and Louisville in Saturday's National Semifinals.

That being said, it's time to update the inaugural Saratoga County Supervisors Bracket Challenge. There's been some shuffling, so here's where we started a week and a half ago and here's the update from earlier this week before the Sweet Sixteen.

Five supervisors – Thomas N. Wood III, Alan Grattidge, Phil Barrett, Matthew Veitch and Jean Raymond – have no teams left in the fight, so they're not moving up. Grattidge, Barrett, Veitch and Raymond are locked in spots nine through 12, respectively, and Wood may get bumped down from No. 6 depending on how things shape up.

I broke the rest of it down so you can see how things might change in the next round. Here we go:

Scoring: 1st Round = 1 point; 2nd Round = 2 points; Sweet 16 = 4 points; Elite Eight = 8 points; Final Four = 16 points; National Championship = 32 points; Red = Previously eliminated.

1. Michael Cignoli, The Saratogian
Score: 90 (First round 22, Second round 10, Sweet Sixteen 6, Elite Eight 3)
Maximum Possible Score: 154
Picks remaining: Kentucky over Marquette, Kansas over Ohio State, Kansas 

2. Art Johnson, Wilton
Score: 77 (21, 10, 4, 1)
Maximum Possible Score: 93
Picks remaining: Kentucky over Marquette, North Carolina over Ohio State, North Carolina.

3. Jack Lawler, Waterford
Score: 69 (17, 10, 4, 1)
Maximum Possible Score: 85
Picks remaining: UCONN over Louisville,  Kansas over Wisconsin, UCONN

4. Mary Ann Johnson, Day
Score: 67 (19, 10, 5, 1)
Maximum Possible Score: 115
Picks remaining: Kentucky over Missouri, Syracuse over North Carolina, Kentucky

5. Spencer Hellwig, County Administrator
Score: 66 (20, 9, 3, 2)
Maximum Possible Score: 130 
Picks remaining: Kentucky over Missouri, Kansas over Florida State, Kentucky

6. Thomas N. Wood III, Saratoga
Score: 62 (20, 13, 4, 0)
Maximum Possible Score: 62 
Picks remaining: Duke over No selection*, Syracuse over Ohio, Syracuse

7. Anita Daly, Clifton Park
Score: 58 (16, 9, 4, 2)
Maximum Possible Score: 106
Picks remaining: Kentucky over Missouri, Syracuse over Kansas, Kentucky

8. Paul Sausville, Malta
Score: 55 (17, 5, 3, 2)
Maximum Possible Score: 103 
Picks remaining: Kentucky over Missouri, Syracuse over North Carolina, Kentucky

9. Alan Grattidge, Charlton
Score: 51 (21, 9, 3, 0)
Maximum Possible Score: 51 
Picks remaining: Duke and Missouri, North Carolina over Syracuse, Syracuse**

10. Phil Barrett, Clifton Park
Score: 44 (20, 8, 2, 0)
Maximum Possible Score: 44
Picks remaining: Duke over Michigan State, North Carolina over Florida State, Duke

11. Matthew Veitch, Saratoga Springs
Score: 39 (19, 6, 2, 0)
Maximum Possible Score: 39
Picks remaining: UCONN over Marquette, Syracuse over Purdue, Syracuse

12. Jean Raymond, Edinburg
Score: 35 (19, 6, 1, 0)
Maximum Possible Score: 35
Picks remaining: Duke and Florida, Alabama over Texas, Texas***

* Wood, inexplicably, left one of his Final Four selections blank. He had the correct match – Louisville vs. Florida – but he left one of the picks blank. He'd be doing better if he picked Louisville.
** Grattidge picked a National Championship match-up that couldn't actually happen. Those two teams would have met in the Final Four. As fate would have it, they both lost in the Elite Eight.
*** Raymond did the same thing as Grattidge, except her teams lost in the Round of 64. That really hurt.

How are your brackets shaping up? Leave a comment and let me know.

Until next time,
MC

Scroll down, or click here, if you missed my last post about asking Saratoga County supervisors to fill out a bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament. With the Sweet Sixteen set to tip off March 22, it's time for an update.

I thought it'd be a fun way to foster some friendly competition, but this undertaking is proving to be significantly more difficult than I anticipated.

Keeping track of a dozen brackets is challenging in itself, but it's even more challenging when the brackets just aren't filled out properly. I'll give you some examples.

One supervisor said the winner of the Round of 64 UNLV/Colorado game would be Baylor, which played South Darkota in the first round. That same supervisor picked South Dakota over Baylor, but then marked Baylor as beating South Dakota to advance into the Round of 32.

Another supervisor left some of his first round choices blank. One's Final Four contains three teams. Two picked National Championship match-ups that were impossible, as the teams that they picked for the championship game were on the same side of the bracket.

The most egregious error was a supervisor circling the names of the teams in the first round, then filling out the bracket one round in advance. I basically had to guess what that supervisor was trying to do.

Malta Supervisor Paul Sausville admitted that he'd never filled out a bracket prior to last week, but I'm slowly beginning to think that he's not the only one.

Those errors aside, some of the supervisors are actually doing quite well. After the jump, the complete list of standings, plus some highlights from each of bracket.


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