In spring 1999, NCAA Tournament brackets and ISU Intramurals molded together to form NCAA Basketball Pick ’em, and last spring with the support of Instructional Technology Services the event was served up via the Internet.

“Garry Greenlee, [associate director of intramural sports], asked our instructional technology contact, Jeff Sorensen, if it would be possible to put it online in the fall of 2005,” intramurals coordinator Linda Marticke said. “Instructional Technology started working on the process early in spring semester 2006, and March 2006 was our first online competition.”

Participation in the event exploded last year in comparison to previous years.

Last March, 329 students participated in the competition. The previous two springs, the tournament only had a combined total of 186 participants.

Prior to intramurals’ online abilities, brackets had to be picked up, filled out, and returned all by hand and foot.

There was one problem affecting participation with this method – Spring Break. Often times, the beginning of the tournament lands during Spring Break, including this year.

“Several students told me it was great having it online – so they could participate no matter where they were for Spring Break,” Marticke said.

Alex Diehl, senior in chemical engineering, finished second in the men’s tournament last year, which he argues he would’ve won it if UCLA had beaten Florida in the championship. Diehl agrees with Marticke.

“It’s a lot better than what it was, with Spring Break coming up. It’s definitely an added plus,” Diehl said. “I think this year will be even better because many students have heard of it now through word of mouth.”

Spring Break travelers who will participate in the contest this year can thank the IT guys for doing the dirty work to get the web system up and going.

Sorensen worked with his IT team, based out of 115 Durham Center, to get the technical aspect of the intramural completed.

“I manage a team of full-time and student developers who do projects for a number of different departments on campus,” Sorensen said. “Rec Services is one of those departments. In this particular instance, it was a team of two students and one full-time staff person who worked on the project.”

Sorensen said all the hard work put in from his team pays dividends to all involved at the bottom line.

“In the long run, it saves Rec Services an incredible amount of time as compared to recording and scoring the brackets by hand,” Sorensen said. “It’s also a lot more accurate and gives the users a more interactive feel as they can check back and see how they’re doing, who’s in the lead, etc. So in the end I think everyone agrees that it has been time well-spent.”

Diehl is in awe of the work the IT team has done with the intramural, and hopes to win another T-shirt this spring.

“Last year’s format was very impressive. Not quite as good as ESPN or those guys, but for a college intramural, I was very impressed,” Diehl said.

As far as the actual competition aspect of the tournament goes, Diehl, who considers himself “very knowledgeable,” and whose friends call an “expert,” offers some friendly advice.

“Don’t rely on the media. A lot of times they just pick the safe bet,” Diehl said. “You’re probably better off not even watching the experts. Even picking your favorite mascots could work out better for you.”