NCAA bracket projections 2014: Australian mum bracket

If you’re looking for a bracket with plenty of upsets and out-side-the box thinking, Kate has you covered. My Australian mother is hot off the heels of predicting the Super Bowl for SBNation.com, so naturally we needed to ask her to fill out a bracket.

There are two brackets I’m confident my mother would ace: Live theater and Bruce Springsteen songs. But the NCAA tournament is a whole new thing. She has only heard of a few schools, instead relying on gut instinct, places she’d visited and tidbits picked up along the way.

Eat your heart out, Warren Buffet.

Kate was not given the seeds before being asked. The sanctity of the process was paramount and we didn’t want her picking chalk. Congratulations Arizona, you were the only No.1 seed to win your opening game. Hey, it’s a rough bracket this year and Coastal Carolina are BEASTS.

- Kate on Harvard: “I know they’re very bright, but I don’t know if they can play basketball.”

- My mother giggled every time I mentioned “BYU.” She believed it sounded like “BYO,” as in “bring your own alcohol.” She enjoyed this very much and it was likely critical in their Sweet 16 run.

- Upon eliminating North Carolina in the Elite Eight, Kate apologized: “I feel bad for them. I know they’re not good at anything else.”

My mother’s bracket was fascinating, but her random combination of Final Four teams was something to behold. Congratulations to NC State for playing your way into greatness, while Pittsburgh got the sweetest road possible.

It was important to understand what motivated Kate to have these teams go all the way. Asking her about each college/city was the best way to achieve this.

“Well, I’ve never been there. I know it’s a very old steel town.”

Me: Anything else?

Kate: Nuh.

“It’s a midwest town and I’m sorry to say it’s very depressed financially right now.”

“In California. Half of the city speaks Spanish. They have sun and surf, it’s very nice.”

“Oooh... they’ve got very good basketball players there. Is that where Shaquille O’Neal came from?”

Me: No.

Kate: Not him, the other very good one.

Me: Michael Jordan?

Kate: YES! Michael Jordan. That’s where he went to school.

Me: Sorry, he went to just North Carolina, not NC State.

Kate: Oh.

If you’re in one of those leagues that uses final score to break ties, you need to lean on my mum to tell you what to do.

“Let’s see. I know people commenting said my football score for the Super Bowl was more like a basketball score. So what did I say? Hmmm... okay. San Diego wins 72 to 62.”

There you have it folks! The only bracket you’ll see this year that’s been hand picked by an Australian mother, live from Sydney. If you use this to win the billion please give her some credit, or at least a nice bottle of wine -- BYU of course.