A one-year old's view of bracketology

I decided to turn to my granddaughter, who celebrates her first birthday today, to make my March Madness selections.  No, she's not talking yet but I do think I know her well enough to know what teams she'd pick if she was filling out a bracket.

Here would be her strategies:

Birds win - The nursery is decorated with a bird motif, so that means that birds will advance throughout the tournament, be they Jayhawks, Cardinals, Bluejays or Owls.

Bears win too - Brown Bear, Brown Bear is her favorite book, so that means that Golden Bears, Grizzlies and Bruins are all solid picks.

Dogs and cats, oh my! - My granddaughter's pets include a dog and a cat so she'd have to pick Bulldogs, Great Danes and Wildcats, right?

Is it pink? - No school in the field of 68 sports pink as a color but purple, another favorite, is prominent and would certainly influence her choices.  Perhaps we throw in the color orange as well, given that Syracuse is the only school with a lone color as its nickname.

Once these strategies are implemented, the bracket yields a Final Four comprised of Kansas (bird), Syracuse (color), Louisville (bird) and Kansas State (cat.)  Who wins?  Well, Kansas beats Syracuse as the bird trumps color and Louisville beats Kansas State as she prefers birds to cats, given the general grumpiness of her family's feline.

National championship:  In the final, and match-up of the best birds, Kansas would emerge as the winner given her final strategy, i.e., "I'd pick who Mommy and Daddy want to win!"  (It also wouldn't hurt that her family holds five degrees from that fine institution.)