March Madness ‘guru’ meets with students in Bracketology course

With March Madness just weeks away, students enrolled in PHED 199: Special Topics were treated to an exclusive Zoom visit by Joe Lunardi, who’s widely credited with inventing and popularizing “bracketology,” the art or science of projecting which teams will play in the NCAA’s fabled basketball tournament and how they’ll be seeded.

Career Development Office Associate Director Chris LaGrow, who teaches the one-credit Bracketology course, arranged to have Mr. Lunardi meet with his students on Feb 10. In fact, Lunardi helped LaGrow, who has a certificate in bracketology, develop the course.

In his Zoom visit, Lunardi shared insight into how the tournament selection committee makes its decisions, answered specific questions about high-profile teams such as Duke, St. Bonaventure and Syracuse and explained some of the ranking systems used by the selection committee to evaluate teams.

“We had a lively and interesting discussion covering issues including COVID's impact on the season and next month's tournament, some of the economics involved with the tournament, whether there is any favoritism or bias toward or against certain schools and the prospects of nearby St. Bonaventure,” Mr. LaGrow said.

Lunardi regularly appears on ESPN at halftime and between games on their networks, LaGrow explained, “so this is unquestionably his busiest time of the year, but he was able to make time and spend the full hour of the class with us.”

Students were already familiar with Lunardi’s work and came prepared with very good questions, LaGrow noted. “The class was definitely engaged and actively involved in the discussion throughout,” he said.

Kevin Siracuse, a senior majoring in Communication: Journalism, with a minor in Sport Management, enjoyed the open format and the varied topics discussed.

“We talked about many things such as how the committee chooses between small schools with good records and big schools with not so good records, whether or not the committee is consistent with how they select the at-large bids and then we finished by talking about specific teams and asked him whether or not he thinks they'll get in the tourney,” Mr. Siracuse explained.

“Now, I have a better understanding of how the committee selects the 36 at-large bids,” Siracuse said.

LaGrow plans to invite Lunardi for a follow-up visit after the tournament begins.

In the course, LaGrow, an avid follower of football, baseball and college basketball, covers the process and procedures followed by the NCAA Selection Committee and the tools and data it utilizes to make those decisions. The course simulates the committee’s work through the creation of a class bracket, with students serving as committee members, so they’ll learn how to create their own projections in the future and better understand the bracket itself.

Truly interdisciplinary is how Interim Director of the School of Business Linda Hall describes the course, which demonstrates the importance of mathematics and statistics in the business of sports. It also attracts students from a variety of major and minors, such as Sport Management, Athletic Coaching, Communication: Journalism, Audio/Radio and Video Production, as well as Finance, Public Accountancy and Criminal Justice. The course is housed in the School of Business.

“Mr. Lunardi's guest appearance was a great opportunity for students to learn from the bracketology master,” Dr. Hall said.

Lunardi’s rise at ESPN as a staple voice and resource for NCAA tournament field projections is reflected on a new multi-year contract he recently signed. He has been affiliated with ESPN for 25 years.