Alright, let’s dig into how I tackled breaking down that messy 2025 WV high school basketball tournament bracket. Honestly, first time I saw the official PDF, my eyes crossed – looked like alphabet soup with team names everywhere.
Starting Simple
Grabbed my notebook and circled the 8 regions. Scrolled Twitter to confirm which teams actually made it outta sectionals – turns out two lower seeds upset their way in last minute. Rewrote the matchups in pencil cause I knew I’d mess up.
Mapping the Madness
Drew vertical lines down my page to split divisions:
- Left side dumped Class AAA teams
- Right side squeezed in AA and A together
- Top line wrote #1 vs #8 from each region
Made colored dots beside teams: blue for mountain schools, red for valley teams. Started seeing patterns – like how Region 4 always chokes in quarterfinals.
Sticking Points
Hit trouble with double-elimination games. Crossed out my first three tries:
- Forgot consolation brackets expire after semis
- Mixed up bye rules for higher seeds
- Wrote Jefferson in wrong division entirely
Crumpled those papers into basketballs. Finally slapped sticky notes on my monitor: yellow for winner’s path, pink for loser’s bracket exits.
Final Play
Took photos of my chicken-scratch brackets with the phone. Typed it plain in Notepad first:
- Whittled explanations to 5 words per matchup max
- Called Parkersburg South “those green guys” so locals get it
- Highlighted sleeper teams like Elkins in bold caps
Posted it before coffee hit. Woke up to 40 DMs – mostly moms thanking me for making sense before their minivans head to Charleston.