How to fill out a bracket if you know nothing about basketball

You can. Pick by mascot, by colors, or by seed. Every March, people who never watch basketball finish full brackets, and sometimes win the pool.

Five ways that need no basketball

1. Trust the seeds. A low seed number means a strong team. Pick the lower number in every game. It is the safe way, and it works. New to seeds? Read what a seed is.
2. Pick by mascot. The fiercest animal wins. A bear beats a bird. It is as good a reason as any.
3. Pick by colors. Your favorite colors keep advancing. Your bracket looks great, too.
4. Pick by place. Back schools near you, or places you have lived. Rooting is half the fun.
5. Flip a coin on the close ones. The 8-vs-9 game is a true coin flip. Treat it like one.

Mix them. Seeds for most games, mascots for the rest.

There is no wrong method here.

Two rules that keep you in it

Take a few upsets early. Low seeds win about one first-round game in three.

The 12 seed beats the 5 seed about 35 times in 100.

Pick two or three of those, and stop there.

Read how to pick upsets.

Keep your champion safe. Champions are almost always 1 or 2 seeds.

Since 1985, 1 seeds hold more titles than all other seeds combined.

Pick your champion from the top, whatever method you use.

How our picker does it

Our picker asks the same kinds of questions.

Favorites or chaos. Mascots or colors.

Your answers start all 63 games, with a reason on each pick.

You can flip any pick you do not like.

No basketball knowledge needed, by design.