Brackets And Basketball

The girls are having a "ball" with their brackets this year.
The YD tradition of filling out NCAA Tournament brackets began March 20, 2008. Since then, it has blossomed into a heated (but fun) competition that has the girls watching a lot of hoops and checking their picks.

On opening weekend, the girls huddled several times to go through the winners and losers. Correct picks (Sean would say, "If you picked Northern Iowa, circle Northern Iowa.") were cheered loudly. Losses ("If you picked Kansas, cross out Kansas.") were greeted with groans and boos

Before we get to the standings heading into Sweet 16 games, here's how things shook out in the end last year. And here is how the brackets shaped up last year after first-round games. If you don't want to follow the links, here's all you need to know: Veronica won last year – at the age of three-and-a-half. Oh, and did we mention she also won the first year, too?

So who's leading after the first and second-round games? Veronica, of course. A year older, a year wiser. She picked upsets such as St. Mary's, Cornell and Old Dominion on the way to a family best 25-of-32 correct choices in the first round.

Here's a look at how everyone did in first-round games:

Veronica: 25/32
Julia: 22/32
Lauren: 21/32
Sean: 20/32
Olivia: 18/32
Emily: 18/32

So, by using the point system we put into place last year, here are the standings heading into this week's Sweet 16 contests:

Veronica: 43
Sean: 38
Julia: 36
Lauren: 33
Olivia: 32
Emily: 30

How does it look for Veronica in the long term? Well, two of her Final Four teams are already out. Here are everyone's picks for the Final Four:

Veronica: Tennessee, Brigham Young, Wisconsin, Baylor.
Sean: Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Duke.
Julia: Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky, Duke.
Lauren: U.C. Santa Barbara, Minnesota, Temple, St. Mary's.
Olivia: Michigan State, Vermont, Kentucky, Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Emily: Kansas, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Duke.