They call it March Madness for a reason as anything can happen -- including a 12-year-old boy notching the best bracket in ESPN's tournament pick 'em game.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Duke's 68-63 victory over Wisconsin in Monday's NCAA men's basketball tournament national championship game led to sixth grader Sam Holtz finishing tied atop ESPN's bracket challenge leader board.
Out of 11.57 million contest entrants, Holtz is tied atop the standings with another user with 1,830 points and was in second place until the Blue Devils defeated the Badgers Monday night.
"To be honest, I didn't believe it at first when Sam told me," Sam's father, Butch Holtz, told the publication. "Sam's the kind of kid who's always looking at the newspaper, and comparing and analyzing stats as soon as he gets up every morning."
One problem that Holtz is facing, however, is that he may not be able to win his grand prize. The prize for finishing atop the leader board includes a $20,000 Best Buy gift card and a trip to the 2015 Maui Invitational, however the rules of the game on ESPN's website state that the contest is open to American citizens that are 18 years of age or older.
Holtz, under the username of sammyholtz16 and using his father's email address and information with his consent, correctly picked Kentucky, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Duke to be in the Final Four and for Wisconsin and Duke to meet in the championship. He then successfully picked Duke to pull out a victory over Wisconsin on Monday.
ESPN's website also notes that "the top 1 percent of entrants, based on overall points, will be entered into a random drawing" for the biggest prize on Thursday, and it's possible Holtz will still have a chance to win the big prize.
"Like the rest of my family, I thought he was goofing around when he told me at first, and when I went on ESPN's site, I couldn't believe my eyes," Sam's brother Joe Holtz told the paper.
He added: "Sam couldn't wait to go to school today to tell everyone what he's done.The funny thing is, Sam filled out four or five brackets and told me the one that has him tied for second place was the one he thought would do the worst."
Duke won the tournament for the fifth time in school history on Monday and now Holtz may very well cash in.
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