Bracketodds (2012-Present)

Analyzing brackets in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship

Web Site: bracketodds

Papers Published

Videos

March Madness and Advance Analytics: Improving Your Bracket odds, 4 June 2014

Crunching the Numbers to Reveal Biggest Potential in the Midwest Region, bleacherreport.com on 17 March 2014.

Crunching the Numbers to Reveal Biggest Potential in the South Region, bleacherreport.com on 17 March 2014.

Crunching the Numbers to Reveal Biggest Potential in the West Region, bleacherreport.com on 17 March 2014.

Crunching the Numbers to Reveal Biggest Potential in the East Region, bleacherreport.com on 17 March 2014.

Select Media Coverage

(26 March 2019, Kevin Stankiewicz, Columbus Dispatch) “The Columbus man behind the last remaining perfect NCAA bracket” quoted Sheldon H. Jacobson on the likelihood of the remaining games also being correct.

(20 March 2019) "Illinois professor creates women’s NCAA Tournament simulator," (Doug Feinberg, Associated Press) features the Women’s Basketball tournament simulator launched at bracketodds by Sheldon H. Jacobson. The story appeared on-line and in print in numerous outlets, including Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, USAToday, Houston Chronicle, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Daily Herald (Chicago), News Day, Charlotte Observer, Seattle Times, Washington Times, Miami Herald, The Score, Orlando Sentinel, and others. See also “An Illinois Professor has developed the first ever NCAA women’s Tournament simulator” (21 March 2019, Vinciane Ngomso, Yahoo Sports) and “100 trips through a NCAA women’s bracket simulator” (22 March 2019, Alex Simon, High Post Hoops).

(18 March 2019) “Can analytics help you win your NCAA tournament pool? Don't bet on it” (Michael Weinreb, Yardbarker) quotes Sheldon H. Jacobson on the challenges of picking good brackets. See also “Heart, loyalty and hunches: How people pick their NCAA brackets.” (Rich Trometta, Northeastern University).

(17 March 2019) Op-ed, Bracketology isn't just for March Madness. It can save lives, save money and solve problems, published by Sheldon H. Jacobson on foxnews.com.

(8 March 2019) Resoundingly Human (podcast hosted by Ashley Kilgore, INFORMS) features Sheldon Jacobson discussing the analytics of March Madness.

(12 March 2018) Science of Upsets: Prof has formula that doubles your shot (Associated Press, Eddie Pells) appeared in numerous media outlets, both on-line and in print, including the New York Times, Washington Post, ESPN, USAToday, FoxSports, and ABC News. See also That smarts: Buffalo makes the computer look brilliant (16 March 2017, Associated Press, Eddie Pells), NCAA tournament Winners and Loser: TruTV, Sister Jean, Thomas Jefferson and more (19 March 2018, Chicago Tribune, Teddy Greenstein, Phil Rosenthal and Tim Bannon), and Using machine learning in basketball brackets and beyond (Cisco News, Stephanie Chan).

(12 March 2018) March Madness: Analytics are making picking winning brackets easier (USAToday, AJ Perez).

(12 March 2018) March Madness and Bracketology: Cheryl Raye Stout vs The Machine (WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, Morning Shift with Tony Saraiba). See also Whose NCAA Bracket Did Better: Cheryl Raye Stout vs The Machine (3 April 2018, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, Morning Shift with Tony Saraiba).

(12 March 2018) NCAA Basketball: 2018 March Madness schedule, bracket – and how to win a tournament pool as a newbie (Mic, James Dennin).

(9 March 2018) Interview on ESPN Radio 93.5 with Sheldon H Jacobson discussing the NCAA Tournament field selection, bracket-building, and other tournament topics (Jeremy Werner Show, begins at 27:30).

(7 March 2018) March Madness Upset Prediction: New Method Using Publicly Available Statistics Outperforms Other Techniques released by the American Statistical Association, based on the paper “Identifying NCAA Tournament Upsets using Balance Optimization Subset Selection,” published in Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sport (Volume 13(2), pages 79-93.) See also Saturday Science Edition (10 March 2018, The Daily Kos, Chitown Kev).

(5 March 2018) Who makes the NCAA tournament? Researchers at the University of Illinois can help, based on the paper “Modeling the NCAA basketball tournament selection process using a decision tree” published in the Journal of Sports Analytics (Volume 4, pages 65-71). See also Will your team make or miss the NCAA Tournament? New study may already have the answer (8 March 2018, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus, GA, Jordan D. Hill).

(15 March 2017) Moose and B-Sox talk with Sheldon Jacobson about Bracketodds and the Science behind March Madness (Lazer 103.3, Des Moines, IA).

(14 March 2017) 2017 NCAA Tournament: Stats facts to know to fill out a March Madness bracket (Matt Norlander, CBS Sports) quotes statistics computed at Bracketodds.

(12 March 2017) March Madness Bracket 2017: Betting Advice, Historical Trends and Predictions (Paul Kasabian, Bleacher Report) features data analysis from Bracketodds.

(12 March 2017) How to hack your March Madness bracket to win (Samuel Anderson, Best Life) features tips from Bracketodds.

(12 March 2017) For Northwestern, first taste of March Madness will always be the Sweetest (Chicago Tribune) featured data taken from Bracketodds.

Seven Tips for Crunching March Madness Math, Reuters. See also Global Post, The Fiscal Times, 13 March 2016.

The Proven Way to Pick a Successful March Madness Bracket, Men’s Health, 13 March 2016.

Need help with your NCAA bracket?. Kankakee Daily Journal, Kankakee Valley, Illinois, 13 March 2016.

Professor takes an analytical approach to Madness. Kankakee Daily Journal, Kankakee Valley, Illinois, 12 March 2016.

How to improve your chances for a perfect March Madness. A Minute with Sheldon H. Jacobson, University of Illinois Professor of Computer Science, 9 March 2016 .

Method to the Madness: The Best Way to Fill Out Your NCAA Bracket, Men’s Fitness, March 2016 Issue.

How to build the perfect NCAA bracket, appeared in Men’s Health on 16 March 2015.

Gambling With Computers, appeared in Communications of the ACM on 22 April 2014.

Dominate March Madness: Tips for a Better Bracket, appeared in USA Today on 16 March 2014.

Win your bracket pool with Science, appeared on realclearscience.com on 19 March 2013.

How to Win Your March Madness Pool, appeared in Bloomberg Business on 18 March 2013.

Bracketology: Score some tips from a bracket braniac, appeared in Time Out (Chicago) on 12 March 2013.

March Madness Bracketology: The Science, appeared in Discovery News on 15 March 2012.

My March Madness Picks, appeared in Bloomberg Business on 13 March 2012.

Hoops += Winners, appeared in the Chicago Tribune on 12 March 2012.

The Scientific Way to Pick NCAA Basketball Winners, appeared on Science 2.0 on 15 March 2011.

Real March Madness is relying on Seedings to Determine Final Four, appeared on NSF.gov on 8 March 2011.

Professor of bracketology: U of I computer expert’s conclusion: ‘they call is madness for a reason’ appeared in Chicago Tribune on 14 March 2010.

How to Improve the N.C.A.A Tournament, appeared in the New York Times on 1 April 2010.

Statistics, Probability, and NCAA’s “March Madness”, appeared in Scientific American on 19 March 2009.

Students Involved

2011

Douglas M. King (Senior Project Advisor, Industrial Engineering Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

Emon Kai (Web Developer, Computer Science Undergraduate Student, University of Illinois)

Ammar Rizwan (Web Developer, Computer Science Undergraduate Student, University of Illinois)

2015

Arash Khatibi (Senior Project Advisor, Industrial Engineering Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

Andrew Yang (Web Developer, Computer Science Undergraduate Student, University of Illinois)

2016

Arash Khatibi (Senior Project Advisor, Industrial Engineering Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

Shouvik Dutta (Technical Analyst, Industrial Engineering Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

2017

Kevin Li (Computer Science Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

2018

Ian Ludden (Computer Science Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

Nestor Bermudez Sarmiento (Computer Science Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

2019

Ian Ludden (Computer Science Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

Abhinav Singh (ECE Student, University of Illinois)

2020

Ian Ludden (Computer Science Graduate Student, University of Illinois)

An-Jie Tu (Computer Science Student, University of Illinois)

Last updated: 1 February 2020

URL address: BTRI

Contact Information: Sheldon H. Jacobson, 217-244-7275, email, twitter