Ernie Palas wins The Standard’s NCAA Bracket Challenge

The 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has come to an end, crowning North Carolina as this year’s NCAA Champion after a 71-65 victory over Gonzaga Monday night, April 3. Likewise, The Standard’s NCAA Basketball Bracket Challenge has also come to a close, crowning its own champion in a battle that - just like this year’s championship game - also went down to the end to determine a winner.

That winner is Ernie Palas of Waukon, who was actually tied with Gregg Jones of Waukon with a final score of 136 points at the end of this year’s contest but edged out the victory by virtue of the combined points scored in the championship game tie-breaker. With that tie-breaker ironically also ending up at 136 points in the 71-65 final score, Palas guessed 161 points to finish closer to that actual game total than the 184 points guessed by Jones, giving Palas this year’s contest crown and $50 in Standard Bucks.

Listed below are this year’s final top 30 entries:
Ernie Palas    136
Gregg Jones    136
Rosanne Wicks     129
Tami Stilwell    128
James Bucher    127
Jarod Dahlstrom    127
Brenda Houg    124
Jim Winters    124
Logan Houg    123
Amy Opperman    123
Bobbi Hansmeier    122
Chance Adam    122
Carol Johnson    121
Darwin Johnson    120
Charlie Hammel    120
Betty Estebo    119
Brock Waters    118
Beckham Delaney    118
Nancy Brandt    118
Konnor Krambeer    118
Miles Hansmeier    116
Gina Curtin    116
LaVonne Palas    115
Joyce Schorg    114
Eddie Frick    113
Andrew Davis    113
Sarah Waters    112
Katie Gress    112
Mark Welsh    112
Scott Houg    111

Palas and Jones were the only two entries to choose North Carolina to beat Gonzaga in this year’s championship game, while 11 entries picked Gonzaga to beat North Carolina. A total of 44 entries picked North Carolina as this year’s national champion, while 32 picked Gonzaga. The Standard thanks all of this year’s entries and sponsors who made the Bracket Challenge possible.