BREAKING: Nathaniel Abbott Named Assistant Bracket Manager!

Nathaniel Abbott has shown his dedication to the Bracket Challenge.

Current Young Family Bracket Manager, Brad Young, has named his nephew, Nathaniel Abbott, the Assistant Bracket Manager in the annual Young Family Bracket Challenge!

Abbott, a current Algebra 1 student at River Valley Middle School, will also keep the brackets in his possession, to ensure that the ever-aging Bracket Manager, Brad Young, is counting correctly.

"It's time, I think." says Young.  "Nathaniel has proven his dedication to the Bracket Challenge and it's time to bring him in to a leadership role in the Challenge."

"I'm getting old," continued Young.  "It'll be good to have a set of fresh eyes backing me up."

Nathaniel did not comment on the promotion, but did "Like" the announcement on Facebook!

With great power comes great responsibility, young one!

Round 2 Starts - a Shift at the Top!

Well, Round 2 has official started.  Teams are vying for a spot in the Sweet 16 and our family is out for blood!

Before I start, I just have to say that this tournament has been incredible!  The games have been insanely close!  March Madness indeed!

So Dayton continued it's Cinderella story by beating Syracuse yesterday to get to the sweet 16 for the first time since 1984.  And the only other upset on the day was UCONN beating Villanova!

That hurt a few people.  One person it didn't hurt? Jo (Mom).  She has UCONN winning it all.  Not so sure about that one, Mom!

But a quite a few people picked that upset!  Brad, Jo (Mom), Jeremy, and Matt.  Who did it hurt the most?  Gary (Dad) and Eric, who both had Villanova in the Final Four.  Ouch!

There is some movement at the top… well not the very top.  Brad is still winning!  Teresa has moved into 2nd place!  Beth has slid up into 3rd, and Mom and Allison are tied in 4th!  What happened Nathaniel and Matt?  What happened?!?!

Still winning…………...

Standings so far:

1.  Bradley - 63 points
2.  Teresa - 56 points
3.  Beth - 55 points
T4. Allison - 54.5 points
T4. Jo (Mom) - 54.5 points
T6. Nathaniel - 52 points
T6. Gary (Dad) - 52 points
8. Jeremy - 51 points
9. Matt - 50.5 points
10. Jacob - 49 points
11. Heather - 48.5 points
12. Eric - 47 points
13. Melissa - 42 points
14. Lindsey - 15 points

The Sweet 16 will be set tonight!  Who will be in first after tonight???  If it's Teresa, I'm going to be pissed if she takes the top spot… she's so deadly in the Challenge.  It's like she played basketball or something… oh, wait… she did… and was insanely good!

I am finding it difficult to keep finding pictures of me to put on the blog. C'mon, guys……..

Standings

MERCER-ful Day! DOOK GOES DOWN, UNC Wins, and Brad's still in the lead!

Well, yesterday may have been the perfect day for Brad.

Mercer University, a school of 4,500 undergrads in Macon, GA, beat the Dook Blue Devils (the perpetually overrated team ever) in the round of 64 today.

It was beautiful.

Mercer beating Dook was b-e-a-utiful!

Then UNC won a game against a pesky point guard named Cotton (because honestly Providence College didn't play that game, only he did), who dropped 36 sickeningly incredible points.

Go Heels!

And Brad is still in the lead.  Great day for Brad!

Not a great day for Nathaniel, though, who lost his National Championship pick.  Everyone be warned that he will be cheering hard core for a team that nobody has winning it all, to win it all.  He is essentially now cheering for everyone to lose every game in their brackets.  He's ruthless!  You've been warned.

Stephen F. Austin pulled a HUGE 4-point play at the end of regulation to send the game to OT and then beat VCU.  Who called that upset?  Lindsey!  Only Lindsey!

It was a great day for Bradley! #Winning!

Other than Mercer and SFA, there weren't too many upsets though, so we had some big movers today in the standings:

1.  Bradley - 28 points
2.  Nathaniel - 27 points
3.  Teresa - 26 points
4.  Matt - 25.5 points
5.  Boo Boo - 25 points
T6. Allison - 24.5 points
T6. Jo (Mom) - 24.5 points
8.  Jacob - 24 points
9.  Heather - 23.5 points
T10. Eric - 22 points
T10. Gary - 22 points
T10. Melissa - 22 points
13.  Jeremy - 21.5 points
14.  Lindsey - 15 points

Basketball is hard.

FOUR overtime games!

TWO 12-5 upsets!

A #1 seed pushed to the brink against a #16 seed!

Basketball is hard.

There were some quality games yesterday!  Even Boo Boo was enjoying them!

"Some looked way too close for comfort!", said Boo Boo.  "Could be a good tourney if they stay like that!"

Congrats to Teresa on being the only one to pick the North Dakota State upset, and Brad to be the only one to pick the Dayton upset!

Here are the standings after day one:

1.  Bradley - 16 points
T2. Boo Boo - 14 points
T2. Nathaniel - 14 points
T4. Jo (Mom) - 13.5 points
T4. Matt - 13.5 points
T6. Melissa - 13 points
T6. Teresa - 13 points
T8. Allison - 12.5 points
T8. Heather - 12.5 points
10. Gary (Dad) - 12 points
11. Jeremy - 11.5 points
T12. Eric - 11 points
T12. Jacob - 11 points
14. Lindsey - 6 points

Those hurt the most from last night?  Jacob, Jo (Mom), and Lindsey.  Jacob had Ohio State in his Final Four.  Jo (Mom) had Oklahoma in the Final Four.  And Lindsey?  She had Albany winning the National Championship over Manhattan - both of whom lost yesterday.  Sorry, Doodle!  Maybe next year!

Another full day of games today!  Here. We. Go!

Past Winner, Jeremy Bird Submits Bracket... 67 minutes late...

Jeremy Bird, the winner of the 2011 Young Family Bracket Challenge, has submitted his bracket past the 6:30 pm deadline today.

His only comment:

"Here... I don't even care."

His bracket selection for the first play in game was for Albany to beat Mt. St. Mary's.  And it just so happens that he submitted his bracket at half-time... when Albany was leading Mt. St. Mary's.

Anything for an extra .5 points, isn't that right Jeremy?  Isn't that right?

2014 Young Family Bracket Challenge Kicks Off!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

The 2014 NCAA Bracket has been released and we are ready to go for the 2014 Young Family Bracket Challenge!

The four #1 seeds are: Florida, Arizona, Wichita State, and Virginia.

Wichita State is undefeated this season at 34-0… it could be interesting to see if they can finish it undefeated or if they fall early.

The brackets have been emailed to everyone, so fill it out and get it back to me by Tuesday at 6:30 pm!  The play-in games make it tough, so we need to get them in early.

Two-time defending Champion, Robbie, is not participating in the challenge this year.  Who is going to take it home this year???