Round 3 Update:

 
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With 465 points Austin Evans is our leader with 7 games remaining. He has a 10.9% change to win it all.

  • No one will win $334 dollars with aggregate seeds of 9 or greater (e.g.- 3+2+3+1= 9).
  • Seth Gurss has an 18% chance to win it all with the only bracket to have selected Loyola (Chi) and Nevada playing in the Sweet 16.
  • Yes, we have a #9 seed Kansas State vs. a 11 seed Loyola-Chicago playing for a spot in the final four.
  • 21 (3.2%) contestants still have a chance at 1st place and two tickets to the NCAA Finals
    • Seth Gurss, Austin Evans, Veronica Martin, Ian Taylor, Lawrence Nagengast, Jon Edwards, Shawn Lahar, Lauren Chapman, Andy Jennings, Pam O'Shaughnessey, Becky Varney, Ethan Dickerson, Chun Chan, Stephen Stone, Bryan Torres, Julie Wingreen, James Dinnan, Anna Carr, Calvin Roeper, Micah Chapman, and Elly Kutrieb
  • Sitting in 168th place, Julie Wingreen, still has a 1.6% chance to win the PYO Challenge.
  • Elite Eight makeup: 3 Big 12; 2 ACC, 1 Big East, 1 Big 10, 1 Missouri Valley

Champion picks

Getting to Know the Leaders:

  1. Who is your favorite NCAA basketball team?
  2. Where were you born & where do you currently live?
  3. Family?
  4. What is your occupation?
  5. Of all the people alive in the world today- who would you want to have lunch with and why?
  6. Advice you’d give to those contestants you’re beating? What was your strategy?

1st place- Austin Evans

Profiled in previous round (1st place in round 2)

2nd place- Becky Varney

  1. I don’t have one. Usually I cheer for whoever my husband is cheering for, unless I am in an ornery mood and want to cheer against him 😜
  2. I was born in Baltimore, MD and now live in Akron, OH
  3. I have an incredibly hot husband Donny Varney and 4 amazing children Jaden(10), Brielle (8), Adi (5), and Pre (21 months)
  4. Wife and homeschool mom 😊
  5. Right now I would say my 3 college BFFs (Holly, Dana and Bug). We don’t get to see each other much because of distance.  I know I was supposed to pick one person, but they are all like sisters to me and it’s the most fun when we are all together 😘

  6. I didn’t have much strategy. I picked mostly top seeds, then randomly picked some upsets. So I guess my advice is don’t think too much and just go for it. (I filled out my entire bracket in under 2 minutes)

3rd place- Jacyln Adams

      Profiled in previous round (1st place in round 1)

4th place- Stephen Stone

  1. My teams are Georgia Tech in the ACC and Univ. Florida for the SEC. (I was born in Atlanta so Tech would be pick 1!

  2. I am currently living nomadically...just got back from a contract job at McMurdo Station, Antarctica and will be in Anchorage Alaska for the summer.

  3. I am not married and try to spend as much off contract work time with my 10 nieces and nephews and family!

  4. I have worked in the transportation industry for the past 8 years but worked in television news prior to that.

  5. I would love to have lunch with Mike Rowe (from Dirty Jobs and other tv shows!).

  6. My advice for everyone else is... I didn’t watch a lot of b-ball this season due to being way down south on the frozen continent without much access to tv and very slow internet. So any advice or tips would be go with who you like and want...ie, I wished UVA won this year because they have been good for a few seasons now and thought it was there time...obviously not this year!

5th place- Nick Banaszak

      Profiled in previous round (t-5th in round 2)

6th place- Seth Gurss

  1. Kansas State University. 
  2. I was born in Garnett, KS and lived in different parts of Kansas as I grew up ( Pratt, St. John, Rose Hill and Wichita). I now live in Allen, TX (just North of Dallas, TX)
  3. I have the worlds greatest family, in my humble opinion. I have a fantastic wife and two daughters. My wife's name is Jennifer and she taught elementary school for 20 years and now works for an edtech software company as a salesperson (Fun Fact - she's currently in 632nd place in this PYO Tourney - you'll read about her more below). My oldest daughter is Ellie and she's 15 and she just got her learners permit and can't wait to drive as long as she doesn't have to put the car in reverse - EVER. My youngest daughter is Ava and she is almost 13 years old and is into many things, including theater - she's now a stage manager in a local children's theater production. We are lucky enough to live near my parents, Donna and Terry, who play a very active part of our lives as well. As I type this, I'm sitting in a hotel restaurant in Atlanta, GA eating a late breakfast with my Dad, Terry. We decided last-minute yesterday to fly to Atlanta and attend, in-person the LIVE, the epic match-up between KSU and Loyola-Chicago. EMAW!!! 
  4. Sales for Frontline Education
  5. Oprah Winfrey - If I could have lunch with Oprah AND she liked me, just imagine how many more people I would get to have lunch with. 
  6. Great amounts of Humility is required for this tourney - to get good enough to make it into the top tier of the PYO challenge, it takes years of work, practice and unfair beatings. I've been in this tourney for as long as I can remember and I've only tasted the sweetness of of this level once and was then quickly beaten back into submission by a 10 year old making his first NCAA picks ever. Just a few of my many friends in this tourney are still struggling through this cruel and unusual practice... David Sullivan (228), Charlie Hughes (463), Jennifer Gurss (632) - My run for the championship is on your shoulders and my glory only comes because of your stunning defeat. HUMILITY!!!