March Madness Brackets: Can ChatGPT Help You Win?
March Madness, one of the most exciting events in sports, is here. And that means millions of people are filling out brackets, hoping to predict the upsets and make a claim to victory in their office pools. But what if you could enlist the help of artificial intelligence to make your picks?
I’m an LA-based tech writer and, like many, I’m a college basketball fan who enjoys the thrill of a bracket challenge. While I follow professional basketball, I’ve been less engaged with the college game this year. Still, the competitive spirit is strong, and I’m participating in a March Madness bracket pool. I’m aiming to finish in the top five, which would be a nice accomplishment.
My secret weapon this year? ChatGPT, the AI chatbot. The odds of a perfect bracket are astronomical, so I’m not shooting for perfection. I just want to outperform my friends and family.
Asking ChatGPT for Bracket Advice
How can you use ChatGPT to fill out your bracket? Here are several ways to approach it.
- Play it Safe: Ask ChatGPT to fill out your men’s or women’s bracket with a statistically sound, low-risk approach, prioritizing favorites with a few historically reasonable upsets.
- Take a Risk: Request a mix of strong favorites, a few calculated upsets, and at least one dark horse team making a deep run.
- Go Bold: Try a high-risk, upset-heavy approach, prioritizing big Cinderella runs, major early-round upsets, and at least one surprise Final Four team.
No matter which prompt you use, you can tweak it as you see fit. You will probably be asked follow-up questions, which you can answer to get a more tailored bracket. Consider things like analytics-based picks or teams with momentum. Decide whether to include historical upset trends or go with your gut.
My ChatGPT Bracket
For my bracket, I opted for a medium-risk prompt, asking ChatGPT to create a bracket with a mix of favorites, upsets, and a dark horse team.
Using the prompt “Fill out a complete March Madness bracket for me, with a mix of strong favorites, a few calculated upsets and at least one dark horse team making a deep run. Make sure to include the First Four. Use this as a guide: https://www.ncaa.com/march-madness-live/bracket,” ChatGPT (version ChatGPT 4o) generated the following bracket:
Note: Initially, ChatGPT wasn’t providing the correct teams, so I told it to use the official NCAA website bracket as a guide. I also had to ask that it include the First Four teams, which it omitted initially. You might need to adjust your prompts to get the most accurate answer depending on the ChatGPT version you are using.
First Four
- (16) Alabama State defeats (16) Saint Francis (PA)
- (16) Mount St. Mary’s defeats (16) American
- (11) North Carolina defeats (11) San Diego State
- (11) Texas defeats (11) Xavier
South Region
- First Round
- (1) Auburn defeats (16) Alabama State
- (8) Louisville defeats (9) Creighton
- (5) Michigan defeats (12) UC San Diego
- (4) Texas A&M defeats (13) Yale
- (6) Ole Miss defeats (11) North Carolina
- (3) Iowa State defeats (14) Lipscomb
- (7) Marquette defeats (10) New Mexico
- (2) Michigan State defeats (15) Bryant
- Second Round
- (1) Auburn defeats (8) Louisville
- (5) Michigan defeats (4) Texas A&M
- (3) Iowa State defeats (6) Ole Miss
- (2) Michigan State defeats (7) Marquette
- Sweet 16
- (1) Auburn defeats (5) Michigan
- (2) Michigan State defeats (3) Iowa State
- Elite 8
- (1) Auburn defeats (2) Michigan State
East Region
- First Round
- (1) Duke defeats (16) Mount St. Mary’s
- (8) Mississippi State defeats (9) Baylor
- (5) Oregon defeats (12) Liberty
- (4) Arizona defeats (13) Akron
- (6) BYU defeats (11) VCU
- (3) Wisconsin defeats (14) Montana
- (7) Saint Mary’s defeats (10) Vanderbilt
- (2) Alabama defeats (15) Robert Morris
- Second Round
- (1) Duke defeats (8) Mississippi State
- (4) Arizona defeats (5) Oregon
- (3) Wisconsin defeats (6) BYU
- (2) Alabama defeats (7) Saint Mary’s
- Sweet 16
- (1) Duke defeats (4) Arizona
- (2) Alabama defeats (3) Wisconsin
- Elite 8
- (1) Duke defeats (2) Alabama
Midwest Region
- First Round
- (1) Houston defeats (16) SIU Edwardsville
- (8) Gonzaga defeats (9) Georgia
- (5) Clemson defeats (12) McNeese
- (4) Purdue defeats (13) High Point
- (6) Illinois defeats (11) Texas
- (3) Kentucky defeats (14) Troy
- (7) UCLA defeats (10) Utah State
- (2) Tennessee defeats (15) Wofford
- Second Round
- (1) Houston defeats (8) Gonzaga
- (4) Purdue defeats (5) Clemson
- (3) Kentucky defeats (6) Illinois
- (2) Tennessee defeats (7) UCLA
- Sweet 16
- (1) Houston defeats (4) Purdue
- (2) Tennessee defeats (3) Kentucky
- Elite 8
- (1) Houston defeats (2) Tennessee
West Region
- First Round
- (1) Florida defeats (16) Norfolk State
- (8) UConn defeats (9) Oklahoma
- (12) Colorado State upsets (5) Memphis
- (4) Maryland defeats (13) Grand Canyon
- (11) Drake upsets (6) Missouri
- (3) Texas Tech defeats (14) UNC Wilmington
- (10) Arkansas upsets (7) Kansas
- (2) Tennessee defeats (15) Wofford
- Second Round
- (1) Florida defeats (8) UConn
- (12) Colorado State upsets (4) Maryland
- (3) Texas Tech defeats (11) Drake
- (10) Arkansas upsets (2) Tennessee
- Sweet 16
- (1) Florida defeats (12) Colorado State
- (3) Texas Tech defeats (10) Arkansas
- Elite 8
- (1) Florida defeats (3) Texas Tech
Final Four
- (1S) Auburn defeats (1W) Florida
- (1E) Duke defeats (1MW) Houston
National Championship
- (1E) Duke defeats (1S) Auburn (74-69)
Using ChatGPT for the Women’s Tournament
While the men’s tournament may be more popular, there are women’s bracket pools. You can use ChatGPT, and a similar prompt to the one in the previous section, to fill out your bracket. Here’s what ChatGPT generated for the women’s tournament, using the prompt “Fill out a complete women’s March Madness bracket for me, with a mix of strong favorites, a few calculated upsets and at least one dark horse team making a deep run. Make sure to include the First Four. Use this as a guide: https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-women/d1/2025“:
This bracket incorporates:
- Favorites: South Carolina, UCLA, USC, UConn, Texas
- Calculated Upsets: Louisville over Arizona, UConn over Texas
- A Dark Horse: Louisville’s deep run
UCLA wins the title in a West Coast showdown against USC!
