How the woman with a near-perfect NCAA Tournament bracket made her picks

New York Times

04-04-2025

You might recognize her name: Joeigh Eaton. Look familiar? That's because she's currently at the top of the leaderboard on ESPN's Men's Tournament Challenge.
Eaton is one of five people tied for first place among more than 24 million bracket entries in ESPN's competition, and her bracket is perfect since the Round of 32 began. Her only three misses, all in the Round of 64, came when No. 10 New Mexico beat No. 7 Marquette, No. 2 St. John's beat No. 15 Omaha and No. 7 Saint Mary's beat No. 10 Vanderbilt.
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'I picked Omaha to win because a boy from my hometown actually is playing for them,' Eaton told The Athletic about the long-shot pick. 'And so, I was just trying to have a little faith and pick Omaha, and they just got, you know, they got beat.'
But the rest? Straight sweeps.
'I never expected to be in this position,' Eaton said. 'I honestly kind of filled it out pretty fast.'
Eaton, 25, has plenty of basketball experience. She played through high school, growing up in Mound City, Mo. Her sister played Division II in college and her brother currently coaches at the high school level. Eaton hopes to coach one day, too.
She lives in Ames, Iowa, working as a substitute school counselor while getting her master's degree in school counseling. Like many other bracket-making, formerly playing college basketball fans, Eaton went with her instincts.
'I actually had picked Mizzou,' the Missouri native said. 'I think I had clicked Mizzou, and then I was like, 'Nope, they always disappoint us.' And so I changed that pick to Drake, which ended up being right.'
As for No. 12 McNeese over No. 5 Clemson?
'I just kind of felt that one,' Eaton said.
She chose No. 10 Arkansas over No. 2 St. John's because she has some family in Arkansas. That risk worked out, too.
'It's been really, really crazy,' Eaton said about her ranking. 'I've had a lot of people reach out, and just being from a really small town in the Midwest, I think everybody's pretty pumped about knowing someone who's on there.'
With four No. 1 seeds in the Final Four, this year's tournament hasn't included many major upsets. But there are no completely perfect brackets left, and someone has to sit at the top of the leaderboard. For now, that rank includes Eaton, alongside four others. She has Duke beating Florida in the final.
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'My brother and sister and I, we're kind of Duke fans, just kind of grew up liking Duke and Coach K (Krzyzewski) and all that. So I do usually pick Duke,' Eaton said. 'It ended up being a great year to pick them.'
She's never done this well in the past. If — and how long — she stays at the top will become clear once the Final Four starts Saturday.
Regardless, she's well-positioned in her bracket pool of college friends — though she has no plans to quit her day job.
'It's really lame,' Eaton said, 'but all we (win) is bragging rights.'
(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos courtesy of Joeigh Eaton)