Meet the Butler Eagle March Madness bracket winner, who won with a little help from a self-made app
Jack Craig was torn.
When completing his bracket for the Butler Eagle’s March Madness basketball contest last month, Craig had Duke and Michigan facing each other in the national championship game.
He’s been a Duke fan for nearly a decade but had reason to go against the Blue Devils.
Craig, 19, had created an app he named “Court Forge.“ It used trends in the NCAA tournament since 2000 along with stats from this year’s participating teams to pick winners of matchups.
The app advised him to take Michigan, and he did.
It was a wise decision. Duke had already been knocked out by UConn in the Elite 8 while the Wolverines defeated the Huskies in the title game Monday night. Craig, who lives in Clarion County, finished in first place out of 832 entries with 100 points. He was presented Wednesday with a $500 check by the Butler Eagle.
“March Madness is what I look forward to most as a basketball fan,” he said. “I filled out a bracket for this contest last year, but didn’t do too well. I created the app for this year’s tournament.”
Finishing behind Craig were two Butler residents — Emily Selfridge (96 points) and Ken Winters (95), who won $250 and $100, respectively. Like Craig, they had Michigan winning the championship.
Craig is a sophomore at Penn State DuBois. He graduated from Clarion-Limestone High School in 2024 but has strong ties to Butler County. His father, Patrick Craig, scored over 1,300 points for Karns City before graduating in 2002. He still has family members living in the county, and they helped him obtain the Eagle’s bracket contest.
“Basketball is a huge part of my family,” Jack said. “My dad is the boys basketball coach at C-L. My great-grandmother, Shirley Craig (of Chicora), had the winning bracket for the Butler Eagle in 2017.”
Jack Craig pointed out his app is not foolproof, evidenced by the fact it had Duke reaching the championship game.
“It also had Florida getting to the Final Four after winning a very close game against Illinois, and I picked Illinois,” he said.
Another good move since Florida lost in the second round to Iowa.
“Michigan had a very strong team,” he said. “They blew out Tennessee and Arizona (by a combined 51 points) to get to the final.”
Selfridge and Winters admitted they are not college basketball fans but managed to correctly pick the Final Four teams (Arizona, Michigan, UConn and Illinois).
“I tend bar at the Monroe Hotel and the games were on TV there,” Selfridge said. “That’s the only time I saw any of the tournament. I’ve been filling out a bracket for years, along with my dad and sister. Placing second, I guess it was luck of the draw.”
For his picks, Winters followed the advice of his friend, Butler resident Jim Metlack.
“I didn't follow the tournament, but Jim called me up last week and said if Michigan wins, I may be getting a call from the Eagle,” Winters said.
