If you’ve searched “best March Madness bracket,” you’ve probably seen the same three options show up every year: ESPN brackets, “expert” picks, and now ChatGPT brackets.
They’re easy. They’re fast. They’re also usually built on vibes, recency, and team-level narratives that break the moment the tournament gets weird.
Rithmm is different. Our March Madness Bracket Generator is powered by predictive models and proprietary player leveling, which matters more than ever in the transfer portal era.
This article explains the real differences, when each option makes sense, and why Rithmm is built for people who want a bracket they can actually stand behind.
College basketball is a roster sport now.
The transfer portal changed how teams are built, how rotations settle, and how quickly “identity” can flip. In March, the picks that survive are usually the ones that understand who is actually on the floor and what roles they play when games tighten up.
If your bracket process treats a jersey like a stable identity, you’re guessing in the exact moments that decide office pools.
ESPN is great for two things:
A simple bracket UX
A huge social ecosystem for groups and pools
But most people building ESPN brackets still rely on:
Seeds and brand-name bias
Recent wins and “momentum”
Crowd narratives and popular upset picks
Team-level stats that can miss player-level context
ESPN is the place you submit. It’s not always the place you get your edge.
ChatGPT can generate a bracket instantly, and it can sound very confident while doing it.
The limitation is simple:
ChatGPT does not watch games and it does not have your model.
A ChatGPT bracket is typically a synthesis of common narratives, priors, and generic “what usually happens” logic. That can be fun, but it often fails in the exact scenario that defines March: volatile matchups, foul trouble, rotation changes, and player-driven swings.
If you want a bracket that’s entertaining, ChatGPT is great.
If you want a bracket that’s consistent, you’ll want something built on a repeatable method.
Rithmm’s March Madness Bracket Generator uses predictive models and a proprietary player leveling system so roster turnover doesn’t break your process.
Instead of starting with “Who is the better team?”, Rithmm starts at the level March actually punishes:
Who creates late-game shots
Who defends without fouling
Who controls the glass to end possessions
Who stays on the floor in tight tournament rotations
Who becomes the matchup problem when pace slows
Then the bracket generator applies that method across the entire tournament.
With Rithmm, your model can predict the full bracket from the Round of 64 through the championship, and we send the completed bracket to you so you can submit it or use it as your baseline.
Pick your approach using a model you trust or a Rithmm model
The model predicts winners round-by-round across the full field
You receive a completed bracket you can use immediately
Here are real outcomes from 2025 Rithmm bracket projections, pulled from tournament performance tracking.
Round 1 performance
Rithmm brackets hit an 85% success rate in Round 1
That was 13 percentage points better than the average ESPN bracket, which was about 72%
After the first two rounds
Rithmm brackets averaged 2 to 4 more correct games than the national average
Rithmm brackets posted a 78% overall success rate through two rounds
80% of Rithmm brackets still had their predicted national champion alive after Round 2
Nearly half of Rithmm brackets still had their entire Final Four intact after Round 2
Upsets Rithmm projected
Rithmm predicted upsets including McNeese, Drake, Arkansas, and Marquette
Elite 8 leverage
51% of Rithmm brackets had Texas Tech reaching the Elite 8
29% of ESPN brackets had Texas Tech reaching the Elite 8
Final outcome
Rithmm had 49 brackets that predicted Florida beating Houston in the finals
None of this guarantees the future. That’s not how March works. What it does show is that a player-level, model-driven approach can outperform crowd logic early, and early rounds are where most brackets get buried.
Use ESPN when
You want the easiest place to join pools and submit a bracket
You’re coordinating office groups and friends
Use ChatGPT when
You want a fast, fun bracket to spark debate
You want a narrative-style explanation for picks
Use Rithmm when
You want a bracket built on a consistent method
You want something designed for portal-driven roster change
You want your bracket generated by a model, not by popularity
ESPN is where you submit.
ChatGPT is where you get entertainment.
Rithmm is where you get a repeatable process that can scale across the entire tournament, built for the transfer portal era with proprietary player leveling and a March Madness Bracket Generator that predicts the full bracket and sends it to you.
If you’re tired of filling out brackets based on reputation and recency, start at the player level and let the model run the tournament.
Download Rithmm, start your free trial, and generate your bracket for March Madness following Selection Sunday. Its part of your Free Trial.
