My family could be described as rather competitive… to put it nicely. Everything can be made a competition between us from who has the most hockey state championships, to playing board games, to who gets shotgun, and even to who mom’s favorite is (a dispute she refuses to settle). Competitiveness just comes with being a Purcell, but some things bring it out of us more than others. March Madness being one of them.

Everyone is always trying to be the one who has the perfect bracket… or in our case, it’s more often the least flawed bracket. Either way, as the years have gone through, I have used multiple strategies in an attempt to construct the winning bracket. I have yet to win, so I don’t know if I’d take my advice, but if you get stuck here are some ideas you can try.

1. Mascots

Some schools just have that one mascot that makes you stop and think, “Wow that is so cool” or “Aw that’s kind of cute” and you might as well give the creative mascot the benefit of the doubt.

2. Location

One year I picked the warmer climate, but I guess you could go for the colder climate if you really wanted to.

3. Where Your Friends Go

As a freshman in college, this was my go-to strategy this year and I have a good feeling about it. Just had to make sure the high school friends know I still support them.

4. School Colors

have a high chance of producing positive results.

5. Higher Seed

As someone who is really not a numbers person, it pains me to admit that sometimes you just have to go with the number.

6. V-for Villanova, V-for Victory

I swear I’m not biased, but it just always makes sense to have Villanova winning the whole thing.