Objective Bracketology: Be the Only One in Your Pool to Use These Methods

March 17, 2016 | Drew Troller

With March Madness kicking off this week, everyone is watching their brackets closely to see which teams will rise to the top of the NCAA tournament. From detailed player analysis to superstitious patterns, people spend a lot of time and energy coming up with the best angle for filling out a bracket so that they can win their March Madness pool

And then some other jerk who arbitrarily picked their teams wins.

So if you can’t beat them, join them, right? I’ve covered this in the past with brackets based on things like which team’s mascot would win in a fight, and a year later, which team’s school boasts the most famous alumni.  Those brackets did not do well. There’s no reason to think that this year’s Mascot Madness will do any better. Maybe that’s because I used totally subjective judgments to determine who should win each match-up. Maybe what my bracketology needs is a conceit based on data with much more empirical value, but with the same basketball wisdom.

In other words, I came up with brackets that are objective, but have NOTHING to do with how well the teams play basketball.

I am for real entering these brackets in some public pools, just so I can see which strategy is most practical, and how many actual college basketball fans I can beat. If you really don’t know who to pick in your pool, give one of these brackets a shot. Give March a bit more Madness.

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March Methods | A “How To” Guide For Completing Your NCAA Tournament Bracket

March 16, 2016 | Brad Hartsock 1

March Madness is upon us and with that the annual tradition of filling in a tournament bracket. The tournament plays out in very unpredictable fashion, making it extremely unlikely to pick even the first round games correctly, let alone the whole thing. Here are 10 possible strategies to setting a bracket that will defeat your friends, family and co-workers, earning you bragging rights and possibly a cash payout. Read More

NCAA Mascot Madness – Genius Bracketology

March 20, 2013 | Drew Troller 4

This year, I’m trusting in the unpredictable. I’m doing something bold. I’m trusting my brackets not to expert advice or probability or whether I believe a high-scoring offense or a solid defensive core will win basketball games.

I’m making a bracket based on which mascot would win in a fight. For every game. It’s perhaps the first time someone has gone on the internet and actually advocated mascot-based bracketology. It’s NCAA Mascot Madness. It’s genius.

For safety – and science – I made a bracket that was based on my own (mostly safe) picks. And I’m stacking it up against a bracket which – by my own arbitrary determination – asks which team’s mascot could kick the other’s ass. The results are fascinating. Read More