My favorite FiveThirtyEight stories http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/a-belated-welcome-to-datalab/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/ocean-debris-and-the-search-for-malaysian-airlines-flight-370/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/dont-sleep-on-villanova/ q. On the surface, there isn’t much difference between FiveThirtyEight’s NCAA bracket and the consensus. Our most probable Final Four — Florida, Arizona, Michigan State and Louisville — are the same teams favored by the plurality of participants in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. But there’s disagreement over the Villanova Wildcats, the No. 2 seed in the East region. Our model gives them a 21 percent chance of advancing to Arlington, which is barely lower than Virginia (23 percent) and Michigan State (24 percent). In contrast, just 9 percent of participants in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge picked Villanova from the East, as compared to 46 percent for Michigan State and 23 percent for Virginia. q.. http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/a-march-madness-bracket-for-stat-heads/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/how-to-eat-at-mcdonalds-when-youre-monumentally-broke/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/this-winter-wasnt-the-coldest/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-weather-forecasters-are-role-models/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-people-bet-on-the-favorite-even-when-the-spread-favors-the-underdog/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/disasters-cost-more-than-ever-but-not-because-of-climate-change/