Not to brag, but this article is kind of a big deal.

Two years ago, our numbers told you that Gonzaga was a good choice to push far in your bracket because the public seemed to undervalue them. That year, they made it to the National Championship, losing to North Carolina.

Not bad.

Last year, the analytics were victorious. With 14.4% of the public siding with Villanova to win it all, our algorithm saw that as an opportunity -- we gave them over a 27% chance to do it.

And voila! Math wins again.

When attempting to win any sort of NCAA Tournament-related pool, you shouldn't ignore who your competition is likely to pick. Your goal is to win, and with a single-elimination tournament that'll have plenty of variance, there's no reason to pick favorites when competing against 40 or 50 other people.

You need to be different. But you need to be strategically different.

And that's where ESPN's Who Picked Whom data can really help. We've got our own stage odds here at numberFire, and by comparing those numbers to what the public is picking, we can extract the most valuable picks to make in your bracket.

Want to get a huge leg up on your March Madness pool? Subscribe to numberFire and get instant access to power rankings, bracket picks, game simulators, and tons of awesome expert advice to help you make the right decision.

Even better, we're offering subscriptions at our All-Pro level for $19.99 to first-time users over the first month when you use the promo code BRACKET.

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