OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Filling out NCAA tournament brackets is a tradition for many fans — but for those who stress over every pick, a math expert has some advice: skip the AI and stick to the numbers.
Jason Mayer has been filling out brackets since he was a kid.
"I've been doing them since I was like a little kid, basically. We were in, you know, in high school doing them and, um, you know, just going out to the library to watch the game," Mayer said.
Mayer said he doesn't really have a strategy when he fills them out because it never seems to work.
For those thinking AI might be the answer, Nathan Pennington, chair of the math department at Creighton University, says think again.
"So what they are built to do is very loosely speaking, average text," Pennington said. "You ask it a question and it does like the equivalent of a Google search and looks for all the relevant stuff it can find. And then it kind of averages it."
Pennington did offer some tips on how to make picks depending on your goals. If you want to get as many correct picks as possible, he recommends a straightforward approach.
"Just go through your bracket, pick the higher seed every time, and then when you get to the Final Four, just guess on the last four," he said. "And you will probably end up getting 60 to 80% of the games right."
For those competing in a bracket pool with friends or coworkers, Pennington said racking up more points is the key — and that means being a little strategic about where you deviate from the favorites.
"Then what you'd want to do is mostly pick favorites and maybe pick the second or third favorite in the tournament overall under the assumption that most people are going to pick the overall favorite," Pennington said.
As for Mayer, he already knows who he'll be cheering for when the main bracket kicks off.
"I'm hoping Nebraska can do (well) because they haven't had a season quite like this in a while," Mayer said.
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