Computer model says UNC will win tournament

(CNN) - Here's a hot tip: The University of North Carolina is going to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

At least that's the prediction of Joel Sokol, a Georgia Tech professor whose statistical model correctly selected the Final Four, championship game and winner of last year's tournament.

Be glad he's not in your office's betting pool.

Finding some kind of rationality in March Madness, which starts in earnest Thursday, has been an American pastime for decades. Tournament brackets are everywhere, and from sports TV to the dinner table, everyone seems to have predictions about which team will claim the top spot, and why.

But in recent years, "bracketology," as sorting out the single-elimination basketball tournament is sometimes called, has increasingly become the scientific endeavor its name suggests. It's even something on which university professors and professional statisticians stake their reputations.