March 20 marked the beginning of the annual event that captures the utmost interest for both students and teachers: the March Madness bracket at Branson.
Every year, a Branson student sends out an opportunity to participate in the March Madness tournament predictions for both women’s and men’s college basketball. Students are tasked with predicting the winner of each game and how far each team is going to make it in the tournament.
Eventually, as the games play out, Branson students slowly drop out as their predictions do not hold true, leaving one winner to receive a prize.
“It’s just fun when you get to see something that the whole school and teachers rally behind and so everyone joins. This year there will definitely be some cool prizes including stuff like a trophy,” said Mo Jacoby ’25, a student body president and March Madness organizer.
The experience holds both excitement and friendly competition for Branson students as they get closer to the end of the school year.
“It’s more just fun to see freshmen through seniors competing. It’s an awesome opportunity with a lot of school spirit,” Jacoby said.
The winner of the March Madness bracket is usually a student who meticulously takes their time with both strategy and college basketball knowledge. However, last year’s winner Mait Wais ’26, who is also a news editor for The Blazer, was an interesting exception.
“I truthfully just put the different teams into ChatGPT and had it generate a bracket,” Wais said. “I hadn’t put much thought into it, but as I started to move on in each round I realized the ChatGPT had honestly been right in its predictions, which is pretty crazy, if you ask me.”
Despite his success, Wais wouldn’t recommend his method to students planning on entering this year.
“I honestly wouldn’t use the same strategy as me,” Wais said. “I think it was pure luck that I happened to win from the brackets ChatGPT gave me. Each student should probably just go with their own knowledge and see where it takes them.”
Remy DeJean ’26 is a big fan of college basketball, and decided against choosing the favored Blue Devils from Duke.
“The team I am choosing to win the entire tournament is the Houston Cougars,” he said. “They’ve been on fire recently and they have won 23 games in the Big 12, which is one of the best conferences in college basketball.”
He added, “I honestly wouldn’t say I have a huge strategy because what makes March Madness cool is the unpredictability of the game.”
