The Grainger College of Engineering
Siebel School of Computing and Data Science

CS professor Sheldon Jacobson: "Fill out the bracket from the inside out."

3/19/2025

CS professor Sheldon Jacobson offered advice to those filling out NCAA Basketball Tournament brackets in WTOP News. “Flip it on its head, fill out the bracket from the inside out,” he said, by listing out the Final Four teams first.

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Are you having trouble filling out your March Madness brackets? 

CS professor Sheldon Jacobson spoke with WTOP about strategies for filling out NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament brackets. Jacobson advises beginning with the Elite Eight or Final Four entrants and working back toward the opening round of matches from there.

The CS student-driven BracketOdds website uses data from the past 39 tournaments (1985 through 2024), prior seed match-ups, and winners to design an AI NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket for you. Jacobson started the learning lab behind the website in 2007, and the site launched in 2012.

Learn more in the WTOP news article Are you filling out your bracket the right way? ‘Flip it on its head,’ professor says 

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This story was published March 19, 2025.