Here is a place where mathematicians miss the human psychology of run-off elections. It's true that in terms of the math, ranked choice voting is the same as having multiple run-off elections, but in reality, there is a practical difference. Many people have a first choice candidate that they study and get to know. They rarely know much about their second choice, or their third choice. If there was a run-off election between an opponent and their second choice candidate, people would suddenly pay much more attention to their second choice candidate. Their preferences might shift.

For practical reasons, I'd favor run off elections instead of ranked choice.