Hosted every March, the basketball tournament pits the top sixty-eight college teams in the nation against each other in an entertaining, single-elimination format. Every hustle, every shot, and every point counts as teams fight to claim the National Championship Trophy as champions.
Before the commencement of the much-awaited competition, many students predict their own versions of the final brackets at Scarsdale High School. Friend groups join together and form leagues to test the accuracy of their brackets.
Even teachers and members of the faculty partake in the bracket-making. Students and teachers have similar strategies and plans when it comes to selecting the Final Four, the last four teams that meet in the semifinals of the competition. A person’s Final Four bracket is a critical point among competitors, as the prediction alludes to a broader sense of their bracket and the key teams that they believe have a chance of winning the tournament.
Zack Zola ‘27, who has Duke University, State University of Michigan, University of Florida, and University of Tennessee entering the Final Four, believes in picking both top and underdog teams. “I would say, just in general, with starting from the round of sixty-four, I would usually pick at least one five seed or worse to make the Final Four,” Zola remarked.
Noah Weinsaft ‘27, whose Final Four consists of Saint John’s University, Duke University, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical, and University of Florida, agrees that the progression of teams in the tournament can be unpredictable: “I think there is just so much that can happen, like nobody can expect.”
While Weinsaft was hopeful of Saint John’s University’s ability to win the competition, he now roots for Duke, after the University of Arkansas knocked out Saint John’s in the second round.
Serge Azor, an avid NBA follower and Knicks fan, has correctly forecasted the result of twelve out of sixteen matches and ranks seventh in his league among Scarsdale faculty members. Similar to students, he has predicted that Florida, Duke, Tennessee, and Michigan will enter the final stages of the competition.
Although Azor teaches multiple math classes in the high school, he believes that probability is useless in bracket predictions. “I chose Michigan just because I expect there’s going to be some upset of some teams that should be in the Final Four that won’t make it to the Final Four, because that’s just the way basketball is,” Azor elaborated.
While the volatility and excitement of March Madness appeals to both students and teachers alike, the event more importantly brings friends and faculty closer together. “For the most part, it’s just a fun way to socialize with people and to talk about your brackets, even if you don’t have a single clue about who’s who,” Azor concluded.
