Meet LetsRun.com Genius Visitor Chris Reed – The DII Coach Who Went 16-For-16 On His NCAA B-Ball Picks Yesterday
by LetsRun.com
March 21, 2014
March Madness is upon us and many in the US are participating in the Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge with Yahoo! Sports which is offering a prize of $1 billion to anyone who picks the winner of all 63 games in this year’s NCAA men’s D1 basketball tournament correctly.
When the lottery gets big, many people like to play together so we at LetsRun.com decided to do the same thing here. We formed our own LetsRun.com pool for the contest on yahoo and said anyone who joined agreed to share the $1 billion with everyone else in the pool if they won it.
The good news is after day 1 of the action, one LetsRun.com visitor is one of just .17% of the population with a perfect bracket. Meet Chris Reed, a DII track coach, who is 16-16 right now and more than 25% of his way home to $1 billion.
We had an email Q&A with Chris this afternoon just as the first games were tipping off.
Yes.
PRs?
29:44, 14:21, 3:50
Congratulations on your amazing day 1 with the NCAA picks. We’ve always said the best thing about LetsRun.com is our visitors. We’ve always claimed they are the smartest people on the Internet and you are proof positive. You are one of just a handful of people across the country with a perfect bracket. Tell us about your picking strategy. Are you a big basketball fan?
I didn’t spend too much time with it. Each year, once I make my picks, I never change them, regardless of what I might read or see on television. I basically tried to pick teams who play good defense and commit a low number of turnovers. When in doubt, I think at the college level, a good, experienced coach goes a long way.
I like college basketball, but I didn’t watch a single DI game this year. I watched plenty of DII games live, though.
Once Dayton won the first game, I paid attention the rest of the day. After about eight games, I think there were only about 3% of brackets still perfect, so I was pretty aware of that. By the 12th game, it was down to 0.4%, so at that point I was getting pretty excited. I had to go running, but I wouldn’t go until the St. Louis and ND St. games were over.
The late games were really close as well, so yes, I made sure I stayed up for all of them. I definitely slept happily.
I have Louisville winning it all, but I wouldn’t bet on that just yet; they were definitely tested yesterday. I’m sure I will lose one here pretty soon, but this has been fun for sure.
Chris Reed picture courtesy of Seattle Pacific *Chris Reed Bio
Tell us about how your budding coaching career is going? Feel free to pump up Seattle Pacific and your coaching as if you are smart enough to go 16 for 16, clearly you must be a good coach at getting people to run in circles.
I love coaching more than I’ve ever loved doing anything else (including running, which, for those who know me and those on letsrun, is definitely saying something). I only started at Seattle Pacific less than three months ago; I was at Western Oregon the two and a half years prior to that. As far as how my career is going, I’m certainly happy with the opportunities I’ve had so far. As long as I continue to focus on the success of the student-athletes and the program as a whole, good things will continue to happen.
Absolutely. That’s a lot of money going to many running-mined people, and I think a lot of good can come of that. I know the chances are remote, but yes, if somehow this keeps going for all 63 games, I will share the prize.
I got a 4.0 for a term once, but I was far too lazy to maintain it, haha. I studied Economics at Western Oregon University and graduated in 2011. I’m the oldest of ten, so I have to give a shout out to Steve, Andrew, Michelle, Dave, Cindy, Jessica, Robert, Jonathan, and McKenna.
Yes, every chance I get, but with very little success. I’m too biased in running contests. March Madness is easier because I don’t really know the players or the personalities.
Can we have your picks for today. I’m assuming there is someway for me to look at your bracket but haven’t figured it out. What teams do you have for today?
VCU, UCLA, New Mexico, Kansas, Virginia, Memphis, North Carolina, Iowa State, Arizona, Gonzaga, Baylor, Creighton, Wichita State, Kentucky, UMass, and Duke.
More: Messageboard discussion: *“Chris” in LetsRun.com pool is currently 14 for 14. Make that 16 for 16 on day 1. We still have a shot at the billion!
*Play in the LetsRun.com 2014 NCAA Tournament Challenge– Share $1 billion with your favorite internet trolls