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Right on with UConn

Bracket Challenge winner rides Huskies to championship

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Posted: Tuesday March 30, 1999 11:57 PM

Bob Segreti was correct when he predicted Richard Hamilton would lead UConn to the promised land. Tom Hauck/Allsport

ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- Bob Segreti's friends thought he was crazy. How could he pick Connecticut to beat Duke in the NCAA championship game?

Simple. He thought the Huskies would win.

"Everybody was saying that it was the wrong pick and that there was no way UConn was going to beat Duke," said Segreti, who finished first in CNN/SI's Hoops Bracket Challenge out of a field of 185,617 entries. "They also thought I was crazy to pick Gonzaga to go so far [Elite Eight], but picking them may have carried me. Without that, I might not have won."

Segreti, a U.S. Air Force meteorologist stationed at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma, won with 234 points, defeating Jennifer Hawkins and Tom Buchheit by 12 points. He missed five of the Sweet 16, but was correct on the remaining picks. And, if it had been needed, Segreti just missed the tiebreaker, picking UConn to score 80 points. The Huskies defeated Duke 77-74 on Monday night.

And that's not all.

Using the same bracket, Segreti, 35, also won The Sporting News' Beat The Bracket game and ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge. Oh, by the way, Segreti won the office pool at the Enid (Okla.) News and Eagle, where he works part-time as a sportswriter.

By the end of Monday, Segreti had won two trips for two to next year's Final Four in Indianapolis, 64 pizzas, a personal computer and a $1,000 shopping spree at an on-line sports memorabilia site.

"The guys I work with were kidding me about not being able to do this well with the weather," he said. "I said that I do pretty good with that, too. There was also a little bit of luck on my side."

Segreti, who correctly picked Temple to reach the Elite Eight and had Detroit upsetting UCLA in the first round, was only six points in front heading into the Final Four, but his nearest two competitors had chosen Duke to win it all.

He said his toughest decision was to take Ohio State over St. John's. He was about to submit his bracket with the Red Storm in the Final Four before changing his mind at the last minute and going with the Buckeyes.

"You should have seen me Monday night. I was so excited," Segreti said. "I'm surprised I did as well as I did. I don't get to watch as many games as I would like, but I still try to follow college basketball as closely as possible. I'm still really surprised at all this."

Click here to check your performance in the CNN/SI Hoops Bracket Challenge.

 

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