Drawing closer towards the highly anticipated March Madness NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Falcon Flash staff created a perfect opportunity for all students of Lower Dauphin High School to get involved and have some fun competing against their peers. 

Starting Monday, March 13, the day after Selection Sunday (when the finalized bracket is announced) blank brackets will be available on the door of Mrs. Russell’s classroom (room 206). Complete the bracket and return it before the start of the first round of the tournament on Thursday, March 16. 

With the first four games, which determine two of the sixteenth seeds and two of the twelfth seeds for the competition, beginning on Tuesday, March 14, those games will not be factored into the competition as there would not be an ample amount of time for finished brackets to be returned. 

Instead, when filling out a bracket, the sixteenth seeds and twelfth seeds competing in the aforementioned games will be selected as a combination of the two teams (Texas Southern/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for example) if one believes that the sixteenth seed or twelfth seed will upset the number one seed or number five seed.

The bracket competition will be scored in the following manner for each game:

• First Round (March 16-17)
  • Correctly select the winning team: 1 point 
    • Example: Baylor vs Vermont 
      • Pick is Baylor and Baylor wins→ 1 point
  • Incorrectly select the winning team: 0 points
    • Example: Baylor vs Vermont 
      • Pick is Vermont but Baylor wins→ 0 points
• Second Round (March 18-19)
  • Correctly select the winning team: 3 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the actual winning team in the previous round: 1 point
    • Example: Baylor vs Vermont
      • Pick is Vermont but Baylor wins
      • Baylor then plays Kentucky
      • Baylor wins→ 1 point
  • Incorrectly select the winning team: 0 points
• Sweet 16 (March 23-24)
  • Correctly select the winning team: 5 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the actual winning team in the previous round: 3 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the actual winning team two rounds ago: 2 points
    • Example: Baylor vs Vermont
      • Pick is Vermont but Baylor wins
      • Baylor then plays Kentucky and Baylor wins
      • Baylor then plays Auburn and Baylor wins→ 2 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 1 point
    • Example: Baylor vs Vermont
      • Pick is Baylor and Baylor wins
      • Baylor then plays Kentucky and loses
      • Kentucky then plays Auburn and loses→ 1 point
  • Incorrectly select the winning team: 0 points
• Elite Eight (March 25-26)
  • Correctly select the winning team: 7 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the actual winning team in the previous round: 5 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the actual winning team multiple rounds ago: 3 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 2 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 1 point
    • Example: Baylor vs Vermont
      • Pick is Baylor and Baylor wins
      • Baylor then plays Kentucky and loses
      • Kentucky then plays Auburn and loses
      • Auburn then plays Houston and loses→ 1 point
  • Incorrectly select a winning team: 0 points
• Final Four (April 1)
  • Correctly select the winning team: 10 points
  • Select a winning team that lost to the actual winning team in the previous round: 7 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the actual winning team multiple rounds ago: 4 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 3 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 2 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost ot the team that lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 1 point
    • Example: Baylor vs Vermont
      • Pick is Baylor and Baylor wins
      • Baylor then plays Kentucky and loses
      • Kentucky then plays Auburn and loses
      • Auburn then plays Houston and loses
      • Houston then plays Tennessee and loses→ 1 point
  • Incorrectly select a winning team: 0 points
• Championship Game (April 3)
  • Correctly select the winning team: 25 points
  • Select a winning team that lost to the actual winning team in the previous round: 10 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the actual winning team multiple rounds ago: 5 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 4 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 3 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 2 points
  • Select a winning team that had lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the actual winning team: 1 point
    • Example: Baylor vs Vermont
      • Pick is Baylor and Baylor wins
      • Baylor then plays Kentucky and loses
      • Kentucky then plays Auburn and loses
      • Auburn then plays Houston and loses
      • Houston then plays Tennessee and loses
      • Tennessee then plays Kansas and loses→ 1 point
  • Incorrectly select a winning team: 0 points

Following the conclusion of the tournament, scores will be tallied up and the student that submitted the highest-scoring bracket will be crowned the champion and win a gift card, feature on the Falcon Flash website and a feature on the Falcon Flash social media accounts.