UPDATE: 3-15-20 7:33 P.M.
NCAA cancels March Madness amid coronavirus concerns.
USA Today issues its own bracket and predicts Final Four.
Imagine the possibilities with cleveland.com by clicking here.
What is March Madness?
March Madness is the annual NCAA college basketball tournament that occurs each March with 68 Division I teams. The single-elimination tournament has around 70 million fans create brackets predicting the winners every year. March 15 is this year’s Selection Sunday, where the official list and seedings of the teams are released and the bracket creating begins.
Participating through ESPN Club at Gilmour
Students, faculty, and staff of Gilmour Academy can make their own brackets and get involved with the excitement of March Madness. Riley Barrett (‘20) and Garrett Olsen (‘20) are the co-presidents of the ESPN Club at Gilmour.
The club will be conducting its own Mach Madness bracket at Gilmour. Barrett said, “You do not have to be in the club to join the brackets.” Anyone who is interested in joining in on the competition is able to do so.
Olsen said, “ESPN Club will make an announcement in convocation and send out a link soon” with further information. Barrett added that “last year around 60 people made brackets.” Additionally, Olsen and Barrett confirmed that anyone who joins the Gilmour Bracket through ESPN Club can be eligible to win a monetary prize if they have a winning bracket.
Participating through Friends, Family, and Apps
At Gilmour, one does not have to be in ESPN Club to participate in the brackets. Brackets can be made with friends and families. There are different competitions, official bracket apps, and official websites to sign up on and take a shot at winning more money. Families can compete against each other like Sammi Fedeli (‘22) and her family. Fedeli said, “I really enjoy competing with my cousins online and I am excited to see how the brackets play out.” Friends and families can create brackets together through many different applications such as the popular March Madness app. For more information, click here: https://bracketchallenge.ncaa.com/.
How to Create a Bracket
Participants can assemble brackets in any way they like. Some might research teams. Others may just guess for fun. Barrett encourages potential participants to attend the regular ESPN club meetings because “if you show up to ESPN meetings, you will have a better chance of winning. We discuss college teams.”
Brackets are here: https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/ncaa-bracket-march-madness. A Duke math professor says the chances of a perfect bracket are one in 2.4 trillion, but one does not need a perfect bracket to win anything. The way to win a March Madness bracket is by having the most correct selected wins throughout the tournament.
Predictions at Gilmour
Olsen and Fedeli offered their input on who might win. Olsen thinks “there is no frontrunner this year, so it will be more fun.” Fedeli believes that “Baylor or Gonzaga will be strong contenders.” Some believe it is anyone’s game.
Stay tuned for the official seedings to take a shot at the winners of the 2020 tournament. Updates on more predictions to come.
