After an immense amount of research the Jewish Bracket is back! We have done this a few times. A deep dive into the tournament using a Jewish algorithm that is completely arbitrary and made up. This complicated system picked a Jewish winner. We do not advise anyone use this system, though if you know nothing about college basketball and want in on the bracket fun then here is your chance. Around 10 years ago this algorithm did win me the tournament when Cornell went to the Sweet Sixteen with 2 Jewish players. Here is how points were decided.

• A team could qualify for up to 4 points.
• 1 Point for if the school has a Hillel or is served by a Hillel.
• 2 Points for a Jewish player on the team.
• 1 Point for a Jewish coach/manager
• 1/2 points were given if there was too much doubt to confirm a player/coach was Jewish.

How was the research done? Great question! Yes, I went through every team that qualified for the tournament. We researched if they were served by a Hillel. Then I went through rosters. Any player who sparked a question (there were a lot), we Googled, Twitter, and Facebook searched. We found 7 confirmed Jewish players and 5 coaches/managers. Another 10 players we could not find anything confirming or denying their Jewish representation. We took into considerations locations, affiliations, last names, and more. There were players, for example like D’Shawn Schwartz, who during my research found wearing a cross. Images like that, quotes of the New Testament, and often Christian High Schools disqualified players from this list. Yes, of course, we know we could be mistaken. It is HIGHLY possible that we missed a player or coach or that we are just wrong! Let us know if you have other names to add or remove. But here is the bracket and below that who is playing. Happy Bracketing!!!

Players:

Jared Wulburn – Purdue

Brandon Lieb – Illinois

Shane Feldman – Syracuse

Ben Sternberg – Cleveland State

Zach Light – Colgate

Alex Klatsky – Florida

Max Thorpe – Florida State

Coaches:

Josh Pastner – Georgia Tech

Dave Klatsky – Colgate

Isabelle Schneiderman – Virginia Tech

Adam Kaplan – Iona

Michael Schwartz – Tennessee

Maybes:

Kansas – Christian Braun

Missouri – Parker Braun

Creighton – Jett Canfield

UCSB – Max Cheylov

Iowa – Michae Baer

Grand Canyon – Dima Zdor

Georgetown – TJ Berger

Florida State – Justin Lindner

Iona – Parker Weiss

Alabama – Jordan Bruner