2003 NCAA Men's Tournament - Scott's 2003 Contest March Madness

Carmelo and the Orangeman celebrate in New Orleans! (4/8/2003 12:15:32 AM PST)

The Syracuse Orangemen were playground players early, a bundle of nerves late. They juked, jammed and barely held on for a victory that gave coach Jim Boeheim his long-awaited championship.

Syracuse wins the big dance final over Kansas 81-78

Carmelo leads the Orangeman to the Finals! (4/6/2003 1:44:41 AM PST)

Carmelo Anthony twisted, turned and dunked all over Texas, stealing the show and giving Syracuse another chance to win the national championship in the Superdome -- of all places. .

Syracuse gets the win over the Longhorns 95-84

Kansas routes Marquette (4/6/2003 1:41:12 AM PST)

Kansas shook the Superdome with rim-rattling dunks, a fast break that couldn't be stopped and a blowout of historic proportions.

The Jayhawks rolled over Marquette 94-61

Day 5 Leader - Troy Buford (3/27/2003 11:59:01 PM PST)

Troy picked 3 of the 4 games correctly today including the Kansas win. He takes over the slim lead with 86 total points

Troy is fortunate though that Blake Stepp missed that last second jumper for the Zags last week. He has Arizona going all the way.

Kansas KO's Duke - Collison scores 33 (3/27/2003 11:54:18 PM PST)

Roy Williams finally gets a victory over Coach K -- thanks to Nick Collison.

Collison scored a career-high 33 points and had 19 rebounds to lead Kansas to a 69-65 victory over the Blue Devils.

Day 4 Leader - Maria Eliason (3/23/2003 11:33:11 PM PST)

Maria had a strong day picking both the Auburn and the Maryland upsets.
The key to her success is picking teams based on how well she likes their uniform colors.

Looks like her strategy is working well. She picked 12 out of the 16 second round games correctly and she now has 77 points. Troy Buford is close behind with 74.

#12 Seed Butler Advances to the Sweet Sixteen! (3/23/2003 4:16:26 PM PST)


A team of blue-collar kids with crew cuts from a tiny Indiana school
just sent Rick Pitino and his Cardinals back to Louisville.

The 160 lb. Darnell Archey hit a career high 8 three pointers to lead the 79-71 victory.

Day 3 Leader - Quin Eliason or Matt McCord (3/23/2003 2:44:39 AM PST)

Matt McCord takes the lead with 60 points. However, there is controversy about Matt's eligibility in this year 's contest. He is the 4 year old son of Shawn McCord and an accountants way of getting 2 entries in this year's contest. Shawn's accounting craftiness is in full display. Quin Eliason (pictured to the left) is right on his tail with 57 points.

Zags go double overtime with Zona but fall one short (3/22/2003 8:04:42 PM PST)
Blake Stepp turned in an amazing effort despite the Bulldogs 96-95 loss to the Wildcats.
He knocked down several big threes and made some great passes to take Arizona to two overtimes. He had a chance to win it with a leaning 10 footer with seconds to play but couldn't get it to drop.
They Bulldogs played both overtimes without Ronny Turiaf who was disqualified on fouls.

The Irish are the first to advance to the Sweet Sixteen (3/22/2003 11:00:00 AM PST)

The Fighting Irish helped coach Mike Brey celebrate his 44th birthday in style.
They did it with a barrage of 3 pointers. Dan Miller led the way with 23 points and Chris Thomas chipped in 17 as Notre Dame defeated the Fighting Illini 68-60 in Indianapolis.

Day 2 Leader - Steve Jones passes Mr. Eliason (3/22/2003 1:45:00 AM PST)

At the end of day two, Steve Jones surpasses Shane Eliason for the lead with 46 total points.
Matt McCord and Shane continue on his heels with 45 points each.

UNC Wilmington stunned by Maryland! (3/21/2003 10:00:00 PM PST)

Drew Nicholas stunned the Seahawks from UNC Wilmington with a three ball with no time remaining. The officials reviewed the shot on tape but it was good to go. The Teripans escaped a near first round dismissal.

Majerus and the Utes celebrate slim win over Ducks (60-58) (3/21/2003 7:00:24 PM PST)


The Utes were playing shorthanded at games end with three players fouled out.
They were also without star forward Britton Johnsen out with mononucleosis.
Coach Majerus worked magic once again diagramming last second plays on the fly.
Oregon is the first Pac 10 school to lose and goes home after starting the season with great promise.

Tubby's Wildcats extend win streak to 24 (3/21/2003 2:14:07 PM PST)

Kentucky was barely tested in its 95-64 win over IUPUI.
Gerald Fitch who has has several run ins with the Wildcat coach led the effort with 25 points.
He was 5-7 from three point land.

Day 1 Leaders - Shane Eliason and Steve Jones (3/21/2003 1:45:00 AM PST)


Shane leads the pack after day one with 27 points. Steve Jones is close behind with 24. Shane will be in trouble though when his Gators lose to Sam Houston State in the first round.

Four Seed Flyers are gone - Thanks to the Golden Hurricane (3/20/2003 10:45:00 PM PST)

Cinderella finally showed her face. Dante Swanson and Jason Parker each tallied 24 points leading Tulsa past the highly esteemed Flyers 84-71.

Chippewas knock off 6th seed Creighton and Kyle Korver (3/20/2003 10:01:46 PM PST)

The Chippewas have pulled of the days first big upset!
They jumped out to an early 26 point lead behind the hot shooting of Mike Manciel.
Manciel finished with 29 points but Central Michigan had to fight to the finish for the 79-73 win.

The Zags move on! -- Huggins gets ejected (3/20/2003 7:10:22 PM PST)


Ronny Turiaf turns in a 22 point and 10 rebound effort to help lead the Bulldogs to another win at the dance.
He made a school record 16 free throws.

Cal Freshman sends Wolfpack home (3/20/2003 6:52:58 PM PST)

Bears freshman Richard Midgley hit a 3 pointer with 3.9 seconds left to give the Pac 10 another first round win. NC State had just taken the lead 74-73 moments earlier.

Holy Cross almost takes down #3 seed Marquette (3/20/2003 4:01:12 PM PST)
It took 29 points from Travis Diener for the Golden Eagles to hold off the Crusaders from Holy Cross by the score of 72-68.