Welcome to the first of two days of low workforce production and nail biting moments that lead into 3 glorious weeks March Madness. The first round of 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament tips off today and it should be another doozy of an experience. With everyone scrambling to get their brackets in before the 12:15pm EST, hundreds of thousands bracketologists spent the last few days studying stats, algorithms, trends, match ups, or just favorite mascot to complete their winning pool entry(s).

But for Nic Smith, Global VP of Product Marketing for Cloud Analytics at SAP, it’s all about the data and analytics. In a clever and fun way to jump into March Maddness, Nic and his SAP Data Genius team are using their company’s BusinessObjects Cloud to breakdown which teams will advance in this year’s college basketball tournament.

Using analytic capabilities that include data preparation, modelling, data exploration, planning and what-if analysis, visual storytelling, and automated smart data discovery to uncover hidden patterns for which teams will perform best in the tournament, Nic outlines the steps his team used to create the winning bracket.

How does your bracket stack up again our #DataViz team? #VizTheMadness yourself at https://t.co/lYq0uTYz56 pic.twitter.com/Azo8pcQAMP

— SAP Analytics (@SAPAnalytics) March 13, 2016

Nic’s team is planning to share results as the rounds of the tournament unfold and provide updated analysis, what-if scenarios, and insights based on college team performance. He also challenges anyone to see if they have what it takes to beat the SAP DataGenius bracket and begin and share (trash talk) their results using #vizthemadness with @SAPAnalytics.