Lake Zurich 6th grader with near-perfect NCAA bracket could win big

LAKE ZURICH, Ill. -- How long does it take to fill out a winning NCAA bracket? Sam Holtz, a sixth grader from north suburban Lake Zurich, took only five minutes to fill out his.

"I just rushed right through it. I think it was kind of all skill. Some people say it's luck, but I think I studied enough," Sam said.

Sam, 12, and a group of friends watched eagerly for the outcome of Monday night's Duke-Wisconsin game, knowing a Blue Devils' win would catapult him to a tie for first place among 11.57 million entries in ESPN.com's bracket challenge.

Sam filled out ten brackets this year. His winning bracket was the fourth.

When Duke brought it home with a 68-63 win over the Badgers, pandemonium broke loose.

"I didn't even think I'd get in the top 100,000 when I first made a bracket. I just make 'em for fun. I didn't think I'd make it this far, so it's incredible," Sam said.

"I didn't even pay attention. I was teasing him today, telling him, 'Will you stop printing those brackets? You're wasting all my ink out of the printer.' He's like, 'Oh, yeah. I know what I'm doing. Leave me alone.' I guess he proved me wrong," said Butch Holtz, Sam's father.

Sam Holtz said ESPN officials told him that is he ineligible to claim the top prize - a $20,000 gift card and a trip to the Maui Invitational basketball tournament - because he's 12 years old. ESPN requires participants to be at least 18.

"I'm irritated," Holtz told the Daily Herald. "Yes, I'm still proud of my accomplishment, but I'm not happy with the decision."

Finishing with the best bracket does not equal an automatic claim to the prize. ESPN awards the prize through a random draw of the brackets that were among the top 1 percent in the contest - about 115,700 this year. Kevin Ota, a spokesman for ESPN Digital Media, said the network is putting together some kind of prize for Holtz.

"We plan to have fun with this," Ota said Tuesday. "The great thing is that this kid beat all these experts out there."

The tournament includes 67 games and Holtz missed only six. He was perfect picking games played in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four. Out of 11.5 million who entered a bracket on ESPN's website, Sam finished tied for first with 1,830 points after Duke beat Wisconsin 68-63 in Monday's championship game. He entered 10 brackets in the contest.

"There is no secret," said Holtz, who attends Lake Zurich Middle School North. "There was some luck, and I studied ESPN.com. I just picked the teams that I felt had the best players."

His mother, Elizabeth, kept him home from school Tuesday.

"He wanted to go to school today, but I kept him home because ESPN said they planned to call this morning," she said. "He wants to go this afternoon, but I told him if Jimmy Kimmel calls, he's going to have to miss that too."

Thiis is the third year Sam has filled out a bracket.

PHOTOS: Duke, Wisconsin play for national title

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)