Stephens Fam Bracket Throwdown

Each year we do a March Madness NCAA brackett challenge in our household.  In past years we have even included the NIT, CBI, Women's NCAA, and the Cricket World Cup (ok, not really) to see who gets basketball bragging rights in our household.  Apparently it all comes down to luck because I vaguely remember Savannah winning or nearly winning one year when she couldn't even say basketball yet - just "back-e-shaw".  I will say she had VCU either in the Final Four or Elite Eight last year so perhaps she is the resident college basketball guru in our house.  Sue has also won in past years with the only one still to not win the family bracket challenge is Isaiah, and its not looking good for him this year either. 

Now for the brackets...

I generally prefer mid-majors just because I don't like the name brand schools.  This year I went with minimal upsets but only had one #1 seed in the Final Four. My four are Baylor, Missouri, Ohio State and North Carolina with Ohio State beating Missouri for the title.

I'm not sure about Sue's reasoning for her picks though I think it includes minimal over analysis.  It must work because its a toss up each year for who will win. Her final four are Kentucky, Marquette, Ohio State and Kansas with Kansas winning it all.

Isaiah's brackrt philosophy is "I only have a 5 second attention span".  Surprisingly he started off strong and picked all the better seeds except Alabama.  Interestingly, when asked about a list or series of names he usually picks the last name stated not the first. So maybe he really knows what he is doing. Isaiah's four teams...TBD.

Savannah's bracket process usually involves a lot of word association, home team bias, and record setting runs from teams with long or interesting names.  A couple years ago she was big on Duke and Butler (because of Uncle Jim and Aunt Andrea's dog named Duke and Butler's location in Indiana). As mentioned she foresaw VCU's run last year (as did her smart dad by the way). Well this year she is all in on VCU.  Why might you ask? Because they are from Richmond just like her. And why did she pick St. Mary's for the Final Four? Because apparently she remembers the name of the hospital she was born in. Now the Marquette and UNC-Asheville connections are murkier but just remember if she's right we are all witnesses. Surprisingly she went against Virginia even though she already got her UVa tshirt out to wear. I'm sure if Georgia or Ball State can ever manage to get in they will be highly regarded as well.  And if Savannah State ever gets in (oh so close this year) then Savannah might just pencil in their NCAA Championship without bothering with the rest. 

We'll report back in April with the final point tally for all four brackets, plus the baby's belated Final Four picks.