The NCAA Tournament was again a bit more predictable this year as the landscape of college basketball is changing. With the #1 seeds all conquering their regions and 14 straight favorites winning heading into last weekend the leaderboard was pretty much set heading into the Final Four.

The 23rd year for the OSGA NCAA Bracket Challenge featured a $10K perfect bracket prize, a $1600 prize pool, boosted prizes for OSGA Members and Sweet 16 prizes from top handicapping site, GamblersWORLD. We are happy to announce “Chicos” as the winner of the 2025 OSGA NCAA Bracket Challenge! Chicos had Florida winning the Championship game and the entire Final Four. His total of 172 points won the contest by just a single point to cash for the top cash prize of $1000!

“Cactus” was near the top of the leaderboard throughout much of the tourney, firing 51 correct picks and amassing a massive 171 points! His 2nd place finish is good for a $300 prize.

In any tourney bracket contest, they key to winning is simply having the team that hoists the trophy and cuts down the nets. This year we changed the scoring to ensure that the contest winner must have the NCAA Champion, as this year the winner was worth 32 points. In fact, every round was worth 32 total points yielding the opportunity for a perfect score of 192 points. Unfortunately, there was a software glitch in the new scoring that was corrected after the contest had ended. So players did see scores jump, but in the end, the final leaderboard was barely affected. The run by Florida sealed the deal for everyone who cashed for a prize. Florida backers dashed to the front of the leaderboard, as all of the top 19 finishers had the Gators to win it all.

Longtime OSGA member and contest participant “Dawk20” used Florida to vault into third place when the scoring glitch was corrected, Dawk20’s 170 points gave him the extra OSGA Member prize boost from a $200 to $300 prize! And “CD” wound up in fourth place with 167 points to cash for the final prize of $100.

After 23 years, we still enjoy hosting an NCAA Tournament bracket contest and giving away cash prizes, especially boosted ones to OSGA Members. Watching the leaderboard, as well as our own OSGAJim’s picks (124th place!), adds a little excitement around OSGA for the three weeks of college hoops Madness.

Congratulations to everyone who played and to those who cashed in! Head to the OSGA NCAA Bracket Challenge leaderboard to check the standings and see how you fared versus other players. Make sure to check back in the Fall for our annual Progressive Pick ‘Em, with a huge surprise for players, when NFL football returns in the fall.

Become a member today to get in on the members’ only extra prize offerings for our annual NFL Progressive Pick ‘Em.