Kindred eight-year-old has one of the best brackets on ESPN

KINDRED, N.D. (KVRR) – We are close to the Final Four for both the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and for anyone that filled out brackets, they probably already look like Swiss cheese and full of holes. But for one Kindred eight-year-old, his bracket is near the top of the ESPN leaderboards.

“I just look at the teams and see who they play next and see if they are the good team and maybe they will win.” said Lincoln Ham.

Ham filled out a men’s bracket, and is in the 99.9th percentile out of 24 million brackets.

“I remind him there’s more luck involved than just skill. It’s pretty cool. I will admit he did beat me pretty badly in this year’s bracket competition. We did them all as a family so it was fun to follow the games and compare brackets.” said Jalen Ham, Lincoln’s dad.

Ham’s Final Four picks were Purdue, Houston, UCONN and Alabama. Meaning this young guy picked three of the final four teams correctly, including the Crimson Tide that highlights former Devil Lakes player Grant Nelson.

This has also been a great time for the Ham family as Lincoln has spent time with his dad and sister. Which has also made his dad happy since the kids are invested in how the matches are going.

“Oh absolutely. My daughter filled one out too. Dad wins when both kids want to turn on March Madness. So there’s no complaints from me.” said Jalen Ham.

Ham is currently first for a Youth Minnesota Vikings fan group, and could need his champion pick of UConn to win it all to stay on top. But he’s actually wanting second in that group because first place gets a signed TJ Hockenson helmet, while second gets a signed Justin Jefferson football. Jefferson is his favorite player.