By: David Kay
I always find it entertaining when somebody is considered a sporting “expert.” For example, ESPN’s “Mr. Bracketologist” Joe Lunardi makes a living off predicting the NCAA Tournament by crunching all sorts of numbers and draws millions upon millions of eyes to his version. He is to bracketology what Darwin is to theory of evolution.
I will never consider myself an “expert” at anything except maybe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air trivia. (Bring it.) When it comes to my deep, deep, deep passion for college basketball and the NBA Draft, I have time and time again referred to myself as a “nerd” and graciously accepted it as a compliment when others call me one.
Part of my nerdom this year involved creating my very own bracketology. Now I understand that people may not take it seriously and think “what possible credit does this guy have when predicting the NCAA Tournament brackets?” I don’t blame you. Not one bit. So what I did is break down the numbers comparing my final bracketology versus Lunardi’s. Here’s how we matched up head-to-head.
Click here for my final version.
Click here for Lunardi’s final version.
TEAMS IN THE FIELD:
Lunardi 64/65 (had Illinois in/Florida out)
Me: 64/65 (had Mississippi State in/Florida out)
CORRECT SEED AND REGION:
Lunardi: 10
Me: 9
CORRECT SEED:
Lunardi: 28
Me: 27
CORRECT REGION:
Lunardi:
Midwest: 5/16
West: 3/16
South: 4/17
East: 5/16
TOTAL: 17/65
Me:
Midwest: 5/16
West: 5/16
South: 4/17
East: 4/16
TOTAL: 18/65
CORRECT OPENING ROUND CITY:
Lunardi:
Spokane: 3/8
San Jose: 1/8
OKC: 2/8
Milwaukee: 2/8
New Orleans: 1/8
Jacksonville: 2/9
Providence: 3/8
Buffalo: 5/8
TOTAL: 19/65
Me:
Spokane: 4/8
San Jose: 2/8
OKC: 3/8
Milwaukee: 2/8
New Orleans: 1/8
Jacksonville: 2/9
Providence: 1/8
Buffalo: 4/8
TOTAL: 19/65
So there you go. Lunardi and I tied in two categories. He got the best of me in two others by one while I topped him in predicting which region teams will go to by one. Am I proud of this? HELL YEAH! I feel as proud as a parent whose child brings home a straight-A report card.
For me, being some nerd who watches way too much college basketball and treats bracketology as a habit; spending maybe an hour per update to be in the same ballpark as Lunardi; an expert who calls it his career to be a Bracketologist is something I will absolutely brag about for the next 364 days.
So maybe next year when you want to check out the projected brackets, you will say, “David Kay has them as a four seed in the West Regional” rather than, “Lunardi has then as a five seed in the South Regional.”