Bracketology Is Ruining College Basketball

Every time I try to watch college basketball, all I hear about is brackets. Please make it stop.

UConn is on the bubble in this very weird college basketball season. UConn, in my lifetime, has rarely been on the bubble. They’ve usually been very good or very bad, with few bubblicious seasons in between.

This past week, a check of “bracketologists” gave me absolutely no idea where UConn stood when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. They were rated as high as an #8 seed by some, and not even in the tournament by others.

What’s the point? I’m glad you asked. There is no point. Except to get you to click on articles and share tweets on social media.

Joe Lunardi spawned the “bracketology” phenomenon in the same way that Mel Kiper Jr spawned the “mock NFL drafts” phenomenon. The difference is that Mel was actually pretty accurate in his early predictions, which led to his rise. Joe Lunardi is apparently just friends with people at ESPN.

Did you know that Lunardi has correctly predicted all 68 teams once — yes, once! — since the bracket expanded in 2011. That’s a full decade where he is batting .100 and yet ESPN devotes endless hours of broadcast time to him. Each network and sports site has their own “bracketologist” who likewise are merely guessing like the rest of us.