bracketology

Joe Lunardi is credited with inventing the term bracketology. Lunardi had been editor and owner of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, a preseason guide roughly 400 pages long.{{cite news|last=Robinson|first=Tom|title=One man's Bracketology can plant seeds of a rich spring|date=February 26, 2006|newspaper=The Virginian-Pilot|url=http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=100214&ran=19569|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521192331/http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=100214&ran=19569|archive-date=May 21, 2006|url-status=dead|access-date=March 11, 2006}}{{cite news |last=Dietz |first=Brian |title=Ten questions for Joe Lunardi |date=January 21, 2006 |newspaper=The News-Gazette |url=http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/illini-sports/mens-basketball/2006-01-21/ten-questions-joe-lunardi.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160311/http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/illini-sports/mens-basketball/2006-01-21/ten-questions-joe-lunardi.html |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |url-status=live }} In 1995, Blue Ribbon added an 80-page postseason supplement which was released the night the brackets were announced. So that the release could be timely, Lunardi began predicting the selection committee's bracket. On February 25, 1996, The Philadelphia Inquirer referred to Lunardi as a bracketologist, which is the first known instance the term was applied to a college basketball expert.{{cite news |last=Jensen |first=Mike |title=Kittles A Factor In Ncaa Bracket If Villanova Crashes Without Its Suspended Star, Its Shot At A No. 1 Seeding Is Gone. Uconn Stands To Gain. |date=February 25, 1996 |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |url=http://articles.philly.com/1996-02-25/sports/25657189_1_seed-villanova-uconn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402175403/http://articles.philly.com/1996-02-25/sports/25657189_1_seed-villanova-uconn |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |url-status=dead }} While Lunardi did not recall using the term before its use in the article, Inquirer writer Mike Jensen credits its origins to Lunardi.{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Ben |title=Marching Madly Into Brackets |date=March 21, 2014 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304256404579449831528247714 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312065509/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304256404579449831528247714 |archive-date=March 12, 2017 |url-status=live }} Lunardi soon started the website Bracketology.net, and ESPN began running his predictions in exchange for a link to his website.

By 2002, Lunardi had his own Bracketology page with ESPN. He also teaches an online course at Saint Joseph's University titled "Fundamentals of Bracketology".[http://www.sjuprofessional.com/bracketology-course.asp Bracketology | Saint Joseph's University]

Using the NCAA basketball tournament selection process, the NET, and the seeding and balancing process, a "bracketologist" places teams in the tournament in the various regions (most commonly East, West, Midwest, and South however sometimes the region names are changed to reflect the host cities). Some bracketologists go as far as placing teams in which "pods" they will play in the first and second rounds.[http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/11233762 Columns - CBSSports.com] Generally, the lists also show the last four teams in and the first four teams out. However, these brackets change daily as conference tournaments continue and teams automatically qualify for the tournament.

A bracketologist's credibility is judged on how many teams they predict correctly being in the tournament and the average difference between the bracketologist's projected seed and the actual seed assigned by the NCAA Selection Committee. The difference between projected matchups and the differences between the "pods" selected in the first and second rounds are less important. Typically, bracketologists measure their success by comparing their projected seed lists to other bracketologists, as can be seen on the bracket matrix.{{Cite web |title=The Bracket Project's Bracket Matrix - 2024 |url=http://bracketmatrix.com/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=bracketmatrix.com}}

{{See also|March Madness pools#Brackets}}

Various methods are used to predict the winners in a bracket. While some use math and statistics, others make selections based on team mascots or colors.{{cite news |title=March Madness Bracketology: The Science |date=March 15, 2012 |work=Discover.com |url=http://news.discovery.com/human/science-final-four-120315.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315002845/http://news.discovery.com/human/science-final-four-120315.htm |archive-date=March 15, 2015 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Pells |first=Eddie |title=Bracketology: March Madness Brackets Are Everywhere, Including Cincinnati Classroom |date=March 19, 2013 |work=huffingtonpost.com |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/bracketology-march-madness-brackets_n_2904621.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314210133/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/bracketology-march-madness-brackets_n_2904621.html |archive-date=March 14, 2015 |url-status=live }} President Barack Obama famously made bracket predictions.{{cite news |last=Leitch |first=Will |title=Presidential Bracketology |work=Sports On Earth |publisher=Major League Baseball |url=http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/69613606/president-barack-obama-ncaa-tournament-picks-bracket |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321060451/http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/69613606/president-barack-obama-ncaa-tournament-picks-bracket |archive-date=March 21, 2015 |url-status=live }} After entering office, he presented his projected winners annually on ESPN in a segment called Barack-etology.{{cite news |last=Corasaniti |first=Nick |title=Obama's Bracket: Michigan State vs. Louisville in Final |date=March 19, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/sports/ncaabasketball/obamas-bracket-michigan-state-vs-louisville-in-final.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319203925/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/sports/ncaabasketball/obamas-bracket-michigan-state-vs-louisville-in-final.html?_r=0 |archive-date=March 19, 2015 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Bialik |first=Carl |title=President Obama's Brackets: Apolitical, Cautious And Full of Chalk |date=March 31, 2014 |work=FiveThirtyEight |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/president-obamas-brackets-apolitical-cautious-and-full-of-chalk/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315041410/http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/president-obamas-brackets-apolitical-cautious-and-full-of-chalk/ |archive-date=March 15, 2015 |url-status=live }} However, in 2015 he was bested by his former political rival and 2012 presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, who ranked in the top 0.1 percent of entrants in ESPN's 2015 Tournament Challenge. Romney correctly predicted six of the "Elite Eight" teams, all of the "Final Four" teams, both teams in the championship game matchup, and that Duke would win the title.{{cite news | url=https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/page/instantawesome-RomneyBracket-150407/mitt-romney-march-madness-bracket-was-astoundingly-good | title=Mitt Romney's March Madness bracket was astoundingly good | publisher=ESPN | first=Joe | last=DeMartino | date=April 7, 2015}}

Bracketology as a discipline has spread beyond a focus on basketball, into other sports, as well as pop culture, history, nature, and other topics where a loose application of binary opposition may be profitable for study or enjoyment,{{cite web |url=http://www.bracketsmackdown.com/#/WHATISBRACKETOLOGY |title=Bracket Smackdown! Create Your Final Four of Everything |access-date=2009-05-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424060539/http://www.bracketsmackdown.com/#/WHATISBRACKETOLOGY |archive-date=2009-04-24 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.bracketsmackdown.com/FinalFourOfEverything_Intro.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-05-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708090417/http://www.bracketsmackdown.com/FinalFourOfEverything_Intro.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-08 }} albeit without the label of "bracketology" itself.

This spread has been helped along by literary agent and writer Mark Reiter and sports journalist Richard Sandomir, who have edited two books on bracketology as applied to the world around them, most recently The Final Four of Everything,[http://books.simonandschuster.com/9781439126080 The Final Four of Everything | Book by Mark Reiter, Richard Sandomir - Simon & Schuster] which was published by Simon & Schuster in May 2009.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/sports/ncaabasketball/12bracket.html?ex=1299819600&en=656129a3d782aee8&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss Bracketology article in New York Times]
• [https://archive.today/20110303080401/http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology ESPN: Joe Lunardi's Men's Bracketology]
• [https://archive.today/20130124190045/http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/bracketology ESPN: Charlie Creme's Women's Bracketology]
• [https://www.nit-tournament.com/2020/01/nit-tournament-2020.html Nit Tournament 2020]
• [http://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/ DRatings: Donchess NCAA/NIT Bracketology]
• [http://www.bracketmatrix.com/ The Bracket Matrix]
• [http://books.simonandschuster.com/9781439126080 Publisher website for The Final Four of Everything by Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir]

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