It seemed the perfect way to combine two constants of college life: homework and the 2008 March Madness hoopla.

As part of an assignment in their advanced math class, College students Neil Goodson and Colin Stephenson devised a formula for predicting the winners in each game of the NCAA's annual college basketball tournament.

Their complex algorithms factored in more than 5,000 games from men's basketball regular season games and conference championships.

And their answers were so accurate that national media outlets soon began calling, booking Goodson and Stephenson on National Public Radio and CBS's "The Early Show." The "bracketologists" correctly predicted a major first round upset, all four Final Four teams as well as the tournament champion the University of Kansas.

Despite his formula's predictive powers, Goodson said he was surprised that he and Stephenson received so much attention.

"On the other hand," he says, "there's nothing like sports to get people excited about math."