Starting at the top with Gov. John Hickenlooper, we asked a few well-known Coloradans to give us a peek at their brackets. For the next three weeks, follow along with The Denver Post “Colorado Celeb Pool” to see how our guest pickers fare.
Those who signed up for the public scrutiny: Nuggets guard Ty Lawson, who is the only one in our group who actually played in and won the NCAA Tournament; Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and third baseman Ian Stewart; MMA fighters Nate Marquardt of Aurora and Brendan Schaub, who played football at Colorado; Denver pro golfer Mark Wiebe; executive chef and owner of three hot Denver restaurants, Jennifer Jasinski; and Flobots drummer Kenny Ortiz.
The first surprise: Lawson didn’t choose his North Carolina Tar Heels, who are seeded No. 2 in the East Regional, to win it all. He went with Kansas. He does have his Tar Heels beating Ohio State to go to the Final Four.
The consensus national champ among our pickers? Kansas, which also was picked by Hickenlooper, Tulo and Marquardt. Three took overall No. 1 seed Ohio State: Jasinski, Wiebe and Ortiz. Other national champs were Notre Dame (Schaub) and Duke (Stewart).
Hickenlooper had the most faith in Northern Colorado, picking them to make the Sweet 16.
as we chart their courses for the top spot in this year’s Colorado Celebs pool.
