The madness at Rosary has arrived. From saint brackets to a Rosary/Servite competition, the Academy is ready to take on March Madness. Keep reading to learn about some of Rosary’s own March Madness traditions.
It seems fitting that we begin with the man who lives, breathes, and loves basketball: Mr. Aragon. He absolutely loves March Madness, especially being an active supporter by filling out a few brackets (more like a lot of brackets). He shared, “I normally fill out 10 to 20 [brackets]. Every year, I think I will fill out the perfect 10-million-dollar bracket, but the odds of getting struck by lightening are higher than getting a perfect bracket.” Well, that’s an interesting comparison.
Taking a unique route with this beloved tournament, Dr. Frey-Monell has recently introduced “Lent Madness.” It combines religious education with the traditional competition. “Lent Madness is an online Lenten devotion, featuring 32 saints in a bracket-style tournament. It runs from Feb. 19 through Holy Week. Each class votes for their favorite saint after hearing biographies of the day’s match-up,” she explained.
Lent Madness even follows March Madness’ round titles with their own spin. While the traditional tournament has rounds like the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight and the Final Four, Lent Madness has the Saintly Sixteen, the Elate Eight and the Faithful Four. How fitting! But, of course, it’s not a true competition without a winner. Dr. Frey-Monell added, “The class who finished the competition with the most correct choices based on the national vote gets a pizza party.” Dr. Frey-Monell’s March Madness saint bracket has it all: saints, competition and pizza!
Last but not least, this March Madness article would not be complete without mentioning Mr. Hunt and Mrs. Hunt’s Rosary/Servite March Madness Bracket Challenge. This year, Mr. Hunt invited Servite’s AP Physics class to join the challenge; the AP Physics teacher used to be a student of Mr. Hunt and competed in this challenge. This tradition started 10 years ago!
Mrs. Hunt shared a brief overview of the challenge: “Both Mr. Hunt and I have individual students enter their brackets for a chance to win bragging rights (and a free lunch from us). Then we also have a class bracket competition (one per period). We compete against Mr. Hunt’s classes at Servite.” The friendly rivalry doesn’t stop there. This March Madness challenge has its very own trophy. It has gone back and forth from both schools, and it is currently at Servite after being at Rosary for two years. Commenting on the trophy’s new bedazzled look, Mrs. Hunt shared, “It needed some red and gold bling/spirit! We are hoping to bring it back home this year!”
To give a little update on the actual tournament, here is a brief summary of the current standings. In the men’s bracket, UConn recently beat Duke by one point this past weekend. Arizona took on Purdue and ended with a win. In a third vs ninth seed match-up, Illinois came out on top versus Iowa. Finally, Michigan, after beating Tennessee, will join Illinois, Arizona and UConn in the Final Four.
In the women’s bracket, UConn (with a clean 38-0 record) is set to play South Carolina on April 3 at 4 p.m. After beating Michigan 77-41, Texas will take on UCLA the same day at 6:30 p.m. Be sure to tune in to cheer on your favorite teams!
Whether you watch every game or didn’t know that March Madness is a college basketball tournament until right now, the annual competition is huge for college fans. Who do you think will win it all?
