The team to *not* pick if you really want to win your March Madness pool this year

As you read this, the clock is ticking down to mid-day Thursday when the 2026 March Madness tournament begins, which is also your deadline for filling out your bracket. All sorts of advice is flying around the internet -- so we've collected some sound or novel intel to help guide to an informed bracket this year.

Andrew Beaton and Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal advise against picking the best team in college basketball this year to win the whole thing. Duke enters the tournament as the top-rated team in the country, which also makes them the most popular pick among the millions of Americans filling out a bracket this week. They say, "The smartest thing you can do is pick against Duke."

Their rationale is that 30% of brackets already filled out on Yahoo have Duke coming out on top. "Betting against them is strategically optimal," Beaton and Cohen say, advising to approach your bracket like a value investor. 

Not necessarily ready to pick against the best team in college basketball? You can always turn to one of the A.I. chatbots. Last year, the A.I. tools could barely complete the task of filling out a bracket, but in 2026, all of the major chatbots are able to get the job done. That doesn't mean they'll necessarily pick you a winning bracket, but if you're looking to outsource the job, A.I. is an easy answer. Another option is to consult odds on prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi before you lock in your picks on Thursday. 

And for those who aren't ready to let A.I do the picking for them but are looking for some handy intel before filling out a bracket, there are a few things to consider. USA Today highlights six teams that are poised to be bracket busters, Yahoo Sports urges caution when picking upsets, and sports reporter Andy Scholes dives into long-term championship trends. One that might be useful for you, depending on how deep into the weeds you want to dive, is that since 1997, every single national champion has come from the eastern half of the U.S. That alone might help you narrow things down. 

Click here for the rest of Scholes' quick tips and trends, and, most of all, good luck -- because no one really know what's going to happen.