So I was staring at my calendar yesterday wondering when the heck MVC women’s tourney starts this year. Saw a million tweets about it but nobody had one simple place tracking all the teams in one spot. Thought screw it, I’ll make my own bracket anyone can print and track at home.
First I grabbed a cold brew coffee like proper serious business and fired up the laptop. Started digging through MVC conference websites using like five different tabs. Found this year’s schedule buried under “2025 Championships” section after clicking through three layers of menus. Annoying but got the dates finally – March 13-16 in Moline.
The Team Hunt Begins
Then came the hard part: tracking down all 12 teams playing. MVC site only showed current standings, not who actually qualified. So I:
- Cross-checked Twitter feeds from beat reporters
- Scrolled through team Instagram posts for clues
- Checked university athletic pages one by one
Took two hours just to confirm freaking Southern Illinois made the cut. Their site hadn’t updated since January!
Finally listed all teams on sticky notes: Drake, Belmont, Murray State, etc. Rearranged them like puzzle pieces matching the bracket format. Made two columns – one with team names, other with blank spaces for score updates.
Print Test Drama
Designed the bracket in Word because I suck at fancy software. Hit print preview and everything looked tiny like ant footprints. Spent 30 minutes messing with margins:
- First try chopped off right column
- Second try made fonts microscopic
- Third try finally worked after scaling to 85%
Added big bold headers so my dad can read it without glasses. Threw in checkpoint dates too – quarters on 13th, semis 14th, finals 16th.
The Tracking System
Last part was figuring out how people mark up brackets without mess. Tested three methods:
- Pencil (smudged like crazy)
- Ballpoint pen (bleed through paper)
- Fine tip marker worked perfect
Left empty boxes by each matchup to track Cinderella teams. Added a notes section at bottom to rage about ref calls later.
Printed four copies already – fridge, office, backpack, and one for beer stains during watch parties. Just need some red markers and nachos now. Tourney’s ready when you are!