7 strategies for casual fans filling out their March Madness bracket

For one week in March, offices and classrooms around the country are briefly interrupted by a flurry of bracket building and predictions made by amateur experts.

Building the perfect bracket is all but impossible — you have a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 chance of doing it this year — but that’s no reason not to try. Just like any team in the field of 68 can string together a few perfect games to become national champion, any person can put together a bracket and get lucky enough to win their pool.

If you’re not a die-hard basketball fan, or are almost fully unfamiliar with the sport this year, the prospect of filling out a bracket can be a bit daunting, but it shouldn’t be! Anything can happen in the NCAA Tournament, and even the best of experts are only guessing when they suggest their locks for the Sweet 16 and potential upset picks.

For those looking to fill out their bracket with less stress, below we’ve compiled a few suggestions on how to go about working your way through the field of 68 without too much difficulty. Whether you choose to play it safe and pick mostly favorites, or go wild imagining mascot fights, here are a few suggestions for making the process of building your bracket a bit easier.