Underdog Cinderella stories, superstar first-round draft picks, and unknown mid-major athletes all prepare for March Madness with one goal in mind: to win the tournament. The madness of this single-elimination tournament has led to some of the craziest finishes in college basketball history. It has also led to must-see television and to one of the best traditions in sports: filling out a bracket.
There is a higher chance of winning the lottery, getting struck by lightning, or going up to a random person and guessing their birthday than the 1 in 9.2 quintillion chance of filling out a perfect bracket. But that doesn’t stop some Ayala students from the tradition of filling out a bracket every year. Students Lucas Martinez (11), Joshua Townsell (12), and Jake Reeder (12) all have different processes for their “bracketology.”
“I’m going for the underdog—picking a higher seed, like a 15 seed to beat a two seed. But it depends. If it is a really good two seed, or a two seed in a bad division. Last year, my bracket placed fourth place. I had Houston losing to Florida,” said Reeder.
Reeder did extremely well. Florida won the national championship last year, and the underdogs, although not consistent, can help out a bracket as there is usually at least one upset a year.
“First and foremost, I have to make sure that this team has depth to win, knowing they’re never gonna give up. What players lack the coach builds up and vice versa. And lastly, is the history of the school,” said Martinez.
Martinez takes a more analytical approach, opting to make sure teams have high depth, a winning culture, and a good coach, and it seems to have worked in his favor. Martinez picked the University of Connecticut (UConn)to win in 2024 and had a perfect bracket in the first round of 64 that year.
“I just pick whatever teams I like. There’s somewhat of a strategy, but at some point, you just kind of get lucky. So you could base it on some stuff, but it’s pretty random, I’d probably base it on, like, if they defend well. I picked UConn to win a few years ago [2023], and they won. And then the biggest upset I probably picked was Akron versus Kentucky. Then I picked NC State to the Final Four last year. This year, I like Arizona”, said Townsell.
Townsell himself plays basketball, but interestingly, just picks with a gut feeling approach. Sometimes, the gut feeling is all you need, especially as a natural basketball player like himself. He uses that understanding of the game to his advantage.
The beauty of March Madness is that the first four days, until the round of 32 is over, are the most random and chaotic days. You have just as good a chance as anyone in predicting winners, upsets, and more. Townsell, Reeder, and Martinez are all hopeful that this year is the year their teams win it all and that they are the ones to get the first perfect bracket.
