Here is a formula that I believe to be true: The less time I spend on a prediction, the more likely it is to happen. I’m fairly certain Albert Einstein devised this formula first, but it was confirmed for me at the 1995 Super Bowl. At the beginning of the week, I was 100 percent sure that the 49ers would beat the Chargers by about a million points. But, as the week went on, as more and more analysts broke it down, as more and more players began making their points, as my mind filled with all sorts of new information, I began to doubt.

By Friday afternoon, I thought the Chargers had a chance.

By Saturday evening, I had the game more or less a toss-up.

By Sunday afternoon, I thought the Chargers were going to win.

On the third play, San Francisco’s Steve Young hit Jerry Rice on a wide-open bomb for a touchdown, and the 49ers beat the Chargers by about a million points.

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So, for a few years now, I have done what I call the 64-second bracket (now 68 seconds because the field has expanded). The idea, simply enough, is to pick the entire bracket in 68 seconds. No time to look anything up. No time to ponder the deep dark secrets of each team. No time, frankly, to learn even basic information about Liberty or La Salle, like their nicknames.*

*Well, I know Tom Gola played for La Salle.

Deep down, you know this is the best way. You know it’s true because the person who will win your office pool, nine times out of 10, knows nothing about these teams. You’re breaking down how Bucknell’s style will match up against Butler, maybe looking at some video, maybe analyzing the seemingly similar but subtly different coaching styles of Dave Paulsen and Brad Stevens. They’ve invented some system involving alphabetizing and which name sounds more like food they like. And when they beat you, well, you will have no choice but live with it, the same way you have to live with the basic fact that a flush beats three of a kind in poker, even if your opponent didn’t realize he HAD a flush.

So, 68 seconds. That’s all. No matchups. No breakdowns. Just blunt, undisguised guesswork while going as fast as I can.

First round (Four seconds): Four games, four seconds, that’s all you can give them. I chose N.C. A&T, Middle Tenn. State, La Salle and LIU Brooklyn. I have no idea why.

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Second round (33 seconds): First thing I do is advance all the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds into the next round. As most know, a No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16, and it is extremely rare for a No. 2 seed to lose (though two did just that last year). I do take a half-second to think about Florida Gulf Coast over No. 2 Georgetown because, well, I don’t know. I know someone who is a huge Georgetown fan, and I envisioned how she might respond to that upset. I don’t really have time for personal asides like that.

It’s often wise to pick at least a single No. 3 seed to get upset — No. 3s have lost about 15 percent of the time over the years — so I choose Davidson over Marquette. I did, almost accidentally, hear an amazing statistic about third-seeded Florida: Apparently the Gators were 0-6 in games decided by six points or fewer. This might have made it tempting to pick Northwestern State over Florida.* But this stat counts as “information,” and information is precisely what I’m trying to avoid here.

*Northwestern State (which is in Natchitoches, La.) is appearing in its third NCAA tournament. Northwestern (which is in Evanston, Ill., and is sort of famous) has never appeared in an NCAA tournament. This remains one of the most amazing sports facts ever. I have to believe Northwestern alum Seth Meyers has a good bit on this.

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A No. 4 seed often gets upset; I picked Montana to upset Syracuse.

The most famous upset line in the NCAA tournament is the No. 12 seed beating the No. 5 seed — it happens more than 30 percent of the time in real life. I’m picking Cal over UNLV — I do know that game is in California, which makes this a dangerous pick because there’s actual reasoning behind it. I’m also picking Akron over Virginia Commonwealth, just because Cinderella teams like Shaka Smart’s VCU sometimes get upset themselves when they are the favorites.

I have No. 11 Bucknell upsetting No. 6 Butler for that same reason — the Cinderella Curse — and No. 10 Iowa State upsetting Notre Dame because, well, I don’t know, I was in a serious hurry by this point. The 8-9 matchups are always a toss-up. I picked No. 8 North Carolina to win because I want to see Roy Williams play Kansas in Kansas City. I picked No. 8 Pittsburgh, No. 9 Missouri and No. 9 Temple. This round took WAY too long. I need to pick the third-round games much quicker.