As the weather gets warmer and clocks jump forward an hour, it only means one thing: it’s March Madness season.
The Quinnipiac Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Student Government Association, the Interfraternity Council and the Office of Student Engagement are looking to get in on the age-old tradition of brackets with “Bracket Madness.”
“We hosted our first one this time last year,” Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Avery Moses said. “We wanted to have a way to engage with students that was casual and fun, and allowed them to talk about their passions. Which we know for a lot of people is sports related.”
Anyone who fills out a bracket and gets the most amount of games correct wins a sports jersey of their choice. There’s a point system in place to track the winner, with a correct first round guess gaining one point, the second round two and so on. Some students managed to score over 60 points.
“Some had some Final Four teams,” Moses said. “But nobody has the championship game or winner correct.”
The event also offered a multitude of side raffles with other sports related prizes, such as a basketball and an indoor basketball hoop.
“I heard there would be some nice food and raffle tickets,” sophomore accounting major Andrew Gillis said. “And I got to fill out a bracket in the meantime, it seemed like a great time.”
During Quinnipiac’s common hour, students flocked to the table not only to participate in the raffle, but to see if they could be the one to fill out the perfect bracket.
No one has ever recorded a verified perfect bracket in the near 50 year tradition of filling them out. But some students believe they are up to the task, or at least they hope to pick the correct champion.
“I mean looking through it right now, I think it’s got to be Michigan,” Gillis said. “I just think it’s their year, they got Yaxel Lendeborg, best player in the country. He’s gonna lead the way.”
Michigan seemed to be the consensus pick among participants, but one student in particular went in a different direction for a very specific reason.
“My bracket has all the top seeds in the Final Four because I think they’re all just a tier above everyone else,” senior data science major Jordan Frohock said. “But I have Arizona to win it all, they have a lot of size and move the ball very fast. They also have LeBron James’ son even though he doesn’t play but you can’t slow down the James aura.”
Although the perfect bracket may be near impossible, it doesn’t hurt to try. “Bracket Madness” has allowed more students to get in on the action and just maybe etch their name into history.