Now that a few days have passed since that crazy first weekend of March Madness, most of us are sitting at home with heart palpitations and busted brackets. If you’re anything like me, you may have turned to a second-chance pool (aka Sweet-16 pool). In these bracket games, offered by CBS Sports, ESPN and others, now you only have to pick the winners of 15 games, rather than 63. But the same question remains…
How do you make SMART PICKS?
Here at Unanimous A.I., we are big believers in a simple principle – Many minds are better than one. Across years of research, we’ve found again and again, that groups make better predictions than individuals, especially when they work together as a “Swarm Intelligence“. By pooling the knowledge and intuition of a diverse group, swarms can vet out emotional picks and misinformation to converge on the wisest predictions.
To test the intelligence of groups, we hosted a SWEET-16 SESSION Wednesday night. It was open to the public, allowing any sports fans to contribute their opinions to the swarm, helping us pick the best possible bracket.
Here’s the resulting SWEET-16 Bracket.
Feel free to steal these picks if you want, but here are four tips that can give you an edge.
- Respect Vegas – Don’t go on seeding alone to make your picks. The bookmakers at the Las Vegas casinos publish betting odds that can guide your predictions.
- Home Cooking – Always look at the location of the games to see if it gives a team an advantage. For example #1 Virginia plays #4 Iowa State in Chicago. That’s a long trip from Charlottesville, but a pretty easy trip from Ames, Iowa.
- Coaches – While anything can happen in March Madness, experienced coaches likely have a better chance of calming the nerves of their young teams.
- Upsets Over? – While upsets almost seem like the norm in the first two rounds, they become less likely as the tournament progresses. While picking a sexy sleeper pick made sense in the first round, be careful picking one from now on.
Want to try swarming? Great, just fill out the form below and we’ll send you an invite.
