March is the month of the Irish, spring and basketball. This year the Student Association (SA) decided to get the student body involved by hosting a school-wide March Madness bracket competition.
After announcing that they would be holding Harding’s first school-wide bracket challenge through the ESPN website, SA Secretary and head of the Public Relations Committee, senior Chelsea Bradley worked with the rest of the SA to get the word out about the competition via social media and flyers around campus. The final day to submit brackets was March 19.
“We had over 1,000 bracket entries in our Harding group,” Bradley said. “Given the short notice with spring break and everything, we definitely consider that a success.”
Students had the chance to make up to 10 brackets and submit them for a chance to win a variety of prizes. The top five brackets will win one of the following prizes: TV, iPad, PS3 or gift cards.
Some students, like sophomore Hunter Berryhill, may not be interested in basketball at all, but when given the chance to win one of the prizes the SA is offering, she said she could not help but enter.
“I honestly don’t really care for basketball that much, but when I saw that the SA was offering an iPad I made one of my guy friends help me fill out a bracket,” Berryhill said. “I figured I have five chances to win an iPad, who wouldn’t do that?”
This competition is very similar to the Tournament Challenge ESPN does on its own website. The SA may not be offering a $20,000 Best Buy gift card and a trip to the 2015 Maui Invitational like ESPN, but students definitely have a better chance of winning.
Junior Thomas Hesson, who has been filling out brackets for years, said this competition was a great way for everyone to get involved in a little friendly rivalry.
“I am so happy the SA finally decided to do something like this,” Hesson said. “It is a great way to get the student body involved by giving them a little incentive to do something that most people would do anyway. I hope this is something they continue to do in years to come.”
