Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton, a former Iowa State Cyclones player, posted on X advocating for fans to fill out just one NCAA Tournament bracket and "stand on it."[1]
[1] He said: "As a society, this is not how the cookie crumbles. You have to make one choice and stand on it, and that’s how it goes."
The 24-year-old All-Star guard acknowledged one exception: creating separate brackets for emotional picks like an alma mater and a "logical" one.[1] Haliburton selected Iowa State, his alma mater, to win the national championship in the men's Division I tournament, known as March Madness.[1][2]
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament features 68 teams in a single-elimination format, with the First Round scheduled for March 20-23, 2025.[3] The women's tournament follows a similar structure.[3]
Iowa State competes in the Big 12 Conference alongside teams including Arizona.[4] Haliburton described the Cyclones as "battle-tested," citing the conference's strength and Iowa State's performance on neutral courts.[1]
Haliburton is partnering with Reese's on its March Madness Bracket Busting Campaign, which encourages fans to share busted brackets on social media using #ForAReesesSweeps for prizes including Final Four tickets.[1] He participated in a Bracket Summit with New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart and analysts Richard Jefferson and Andraya Carter.[1]
Sources
- Fox News Digital, "Tyrese Haliburton explains why multiple March Madness brackets are lame," March 2025 (approximate, based on draft context), https://www.foxnews.com/sports
- NBA.com, "Tyrese Haliburton Player Profile," accessed February 2025, https://www.nba.com/player/1630169/tyrese-haliburton
- NCAA.com, "2025 March Madness Dates and Schedule," accessed February 2025, https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men-d1/article/2025-01-17/2025-ncaa-di-mens-basketball-bracketology-march-17
- Big12Sports.com, "Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball," accessed February 2025, https://big12sports.com/sports/mbball/
