March Madness is thrilling, exciting and dragging us to the edge of our seats. But this year… the game has been slightly upsetting, mostly because of all of the upsets. After all, Duke and Villanova both failed to make it past second round. This year, only eighteen brackets out of eighteen million correctly predicted the Sweet 16. The list dwindles even more, with no. 2 Arizona being defeated by no. 11 Xavier on Thursday night. Odds are Warren Buffet’s one million dollar prize money for 100% bracket will once again go unclaimed. No wonder, either, as the odds of winning March Madness are 1 in 4,294,967,296. If that’s not impossible, I don’t know what is.

But it begs the question. What’s the best way to play? How should you really plan out your bracket? Some people become extremely mathematic, using formulas, others take a different route… Playing it by ear or by heart. Who knows, the mascot-picker might also be the million-dollar winner one day.

There are other wacky ways to pick the winning team and make March Madness patterns, other than statistics….

People pick their favorite uniforms

Their favorite players

Their alma mater

Their favorite vacation destination

The weather at the location (good weather=win)

The attractiveness of the players

The height of the coach

The team with best hair

The current amount of players in the NBA from the team

The boldest band

The cuteness of the mascot

The team name

The tallest players

The number of syllables in the name

The best players names

How do you make your picks? What way has worked the best for you?