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Urbana Today
By the People, for the People
U of I Bracketologist Shares March Madness Bracket Tips
Sheldon Jacobson offers advice on how to improve your odds in office pools and challenges.
Mar. 19, 2026 at 12:07am
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Sheldon Jacobson, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, shares his expertise on creating successful March Madness brackets. He recommends picking favorites, considering upsets in the 6-11, 5-12, and 7-10 matchups, and avoiding too many high-seed upsets in the first round. Jacobson also suggests picking winners in reverse order rather than sequentially. While the odds of a perfect bracket are astronomically low, Jacobson's tips can help improve the chances of winning an office pool.
Why it matters
With March Madness upon us, many people participate in office pools and other bracket challenges. Jacobson's insights can help give bracket pickers an edge in these competitions by highlighting historical trends and strategic approaches to selecting winners.
The details
Jacobson and other UIUC professors run a website called BracketOdds that analyzes March Madness results over the past 40 tournaments. They've found that seed patterns tend to repeat from year to year, so picking favorites is often a good strategy. Jacobson also recommends considering upsets in the 6-11, 5-12, and 7-10 matchups, as the likelihood of an upset in those games is similar. He cautions against picking too many high-seed upsets in the first round, suggesting no more than two 10-seeds or higher. Finally, Jacobson suggests picking winners in reverse order rather than sequentially to reduce risk.
- Brackets on most major websites must be filled out by 11 am CST Thursday.
The players
Sheldon Jacobson
A computer science professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who co-runs the BracketOdds website analyzing March Madness trends.
What they’re saying
“We take into account the performance of the seeds over the last 40 tournaments. Because seeds in fact have similar patterns from season to season, tournament to tournament.”
— Sheldon Jacobson, Computer Science Professor
“If they do that, they'll find that they'll be eliminating some of the risk.”
— Sheldon Jacobson, Computer Science Professor
“The 6-11 [matchup], the 5-12, even the 7-10. You want to look there because the likelihood of an upset there is pretty much the same.”
— Sheldon Jacobson, Computer Science Professor
“Pick two, no more than two. You're going to be saying, 'There's going to be more than two.' Well, probably not. Even if there is, they're not going to last very long.”
— Sheldon Jacobson, Computer Science Professor
What’s next
Brackets on most major websites must be filled out by 11 am CST Thursday.
The takeaway
Jacobson's insights can give bracket pickers an edge in office pools and other March Madness challenges by highlighting historical trends and strategic approaches to selecting winners. His tips on picking favorites, considering certain upset-prone matchups, and avoiding too many high-seed upsets can help improve the chances of winning a bracket competition.
