Go ahead and pick teams by mascots or colors, but put a little science behind it. A BuzzFeed original analysis of the last 15 NCAA tournaments.
Evil mascots beat good ones.
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We broke down school mascots into 8 categories: birds, reptiles, mammals, insects, colors, nature-related, evil beings, and people which included local culture related stuff. The evil beings beat the people category 71% of the time. So if an evil-mascot team is matched up against a person-mascot team, you know what to do.
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Reptiles are also a good bet.
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Reptiles also beat up on the people 75% of the time. And they came up victorious against mammals 70% of the time. Other mascot trends that occurred about 60% of the time include birds bombing nature; colors over mammals; evil consuming mammals and reptiles; mammals, insects and nature trouncing people; and mammals eating insects.
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Don't bet on the Ivy League.
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Some conferences, like the Ivy League, have a somewhat dismal history. Check the charts below to see which conferences have stalled out, and where, over the last 15 years.
Image by Elise Amendola, File / AP
So, in the last 15 years...
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