Hawkeye State Paranormal has history of NCAA tournament success

Dann Figueroa of Cedar Rapids insists he wasn't in a paranormal state last March when he won a national contest picking NCAA tournament games.

“No, no, I'm not a psychic or a medium or anything like that,” Figueroa said, laughing.

Two facts: The Cedar Rapids man did win the MySpace Bracket Challenge last year, topping a field of 19,857 contestants who filled out NCAA men's basketball pairings online. And he is a co-founder of Hawkeye State Paranormal, which tries to help people understand the paranormal through investigation and research.

Hawkeye State Paranormal has been featured on KGAN-TV. It conducted an investigation at Daniel Arthur's Restaurant in Cedar Rapids this month. The restaurant is located on the site of what was a funeral home.

As for making his tournament selections in 2009, Figueroa said he relied on watching games on television, reading newspapers for information and taking an occasional cigarette break to mull things over while filling out his selections.

Whatever his methodology, his bracketology was spot on. Figueroa, 33, had the entire Elite Eight and Final Four of the tourney pegged. He had North Carolina beating Michigan State in the title game, which is how it played out. Not many envisioned Michigan State reaching the title game when the NCAA field was announced.

Even Figueroa's tiebreaker, which he didn't need, was keen. He said 162 points would be scored in the championship contest. There were 161.

“It came down to the championship game,” said Figueroa, who works at Lone Star Steakhouse. “It was my championship game. If North Carolina won, I won.

“I was nervous, oh, yeah. I was up early that day, and the game was at night, but after 10 minutes it was a blowout.”

The $10,000, he said, “took care of a lot of debts. I didn't buy anything extravagant, but I put myself in a better position than I previously was.”

If you want to hunt this man down to get his picks for the 2010 NCAAs, first read these remarks of his:

“I've been filling out brackets since I was in school, and this was the first time I won, even if there were just four or five of us.

“I made my picks on feelings and knowledge. Not having Iowa in the tournament helped because I'll always pick Iowa to go to the Sweet 16. I can't help it.”

This year, Figueroa said, “It might be Kansas' year. They look almost unbeatable. I don't see anyone from the Big Ten doing anything this year.”

So make your picks accordingly. Also remember what the sage of 2009 said about winning an NCAA pool.

“It's all luck, really.”

TRY YOUR LUCK this year, and enter to win a one-hour helicopter flight and other prizes, in our

NCAA Bracket Challenge