By LARRY VAUGHT
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi said Wednesday that Kentucky remains as one of the “last four teams in” and would open NCAA Tournament play in one of the play-in games in Dayton either Tuesday or Wednesday if the tournament started today.
Lunardi and former coach Seth Greenberg, now an ESPN analyst, were part of a national conference call Wednesday and my question to them was where Kentucky would be as of today.
“There must be a decrease in market share for Kentucky because we have gone 23 minutes without a Kentucky question,” Lunardi said. “We are not doing due justice to the Big Blue Nation without touching on Kentucky. Thank you for holding on.”
He said he had seen viewpoints “all over the map” on Kentucky since the injury to Nerlens Noel. UK is 4-3 with wins over Florida and Missouri after Noel went down with his knee injury but lost decisively at Tennessee, Arkansas and Georgia.
“I have them in Dayton for the time being,” Lunardi said.
He said no final decision would be made until after UK plays either Vanderbilt or Arkansas Friday night in the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville.
“I would not want to see Kentucky lose that game from a Kentucky standpoint or that would bring all that about what team are they now away from home without Noel,” Lunardi said. “If they win on Friday, I am convinced they are in. If they lose on Friday, it will be a conversation (about the tournament) for the next 48 hours.”
Greenburg believes Kentucky should be in. He feels the SEC has been a “little maligned” with nine teams in the top 100 of the RPI.
“Kentucky played its best basketball without Nerlens Noel. Their two best wins (Florida and Missouri) came without Nerlens,” Greenburg said. “They have shown the ability beat very good teams without him. When you look at the total picture, don’t you think they are deserving?”
Lunardi countered by noting he had Tennessee as the “first team out” of the NCAA field and that the Vols beat UK by 30 points in Kentucky’s first game without Noel.
“I don’t think they are a lock at this point (to be in the NCAA),” Lunardi said. “We’ve never really been in a situation with such a key guy going down with a number of games remaining.”
Lunardi did say if he had to bet, he would think Kentucky would “slip in” the tournament and he would not be surprised to find UK starting in a play-in game in Dayton.
“I know the city of Dayton is ready to explode if that happens,” Lunardi said.
11 Responses to Lunardi looking for UK to start NCAA play in Dayton, Greenberg says Cats deserve to be in tournament already
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A play-in game. Are you kidding me! Hey, I just hope we’re in.
Just what, besides his inability to hold a real job, makes this Lunardi something or other the accepted gospel in all things NC2A basketball ?
If you tell me that he once worked for espn you must first wash your mouth out with paint remover.
According to Wikipedia:
Joseph Lunardi is a college basketball analyst for ESPN. He was born in Philadelphia, he is a graduate of Haverford High School in Pennsylvania, and is a Saint Joseph’s University alumnus. Lunardi currently lives in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. He is best known for creating Bracketology, which he calls the “art and science” of predicting the teams that will be selected in the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. He is well known as the resident bracketologist for ESPN. In addition to his duties at ESPN, he is the Assistant Vice President of Marketing Communications at Saint Joseph’s University and does color commentary for men’s basketball for the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. Lunardi correctly predicted all 65 teams to appear in the 2008 NCAA Tournament,[1] while correctly selecting 63 out the 65 teams in the 2009 field by placing both Creighton and St. Mary’s incorrectly in his final bracket on March 15.[2] Lunardi correctly selected 64 of the 65 teams in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, believing that Illinois would receive the final at-large bid, while in reality, Florida did.[3]
Lunardi’s first bracket for ESPN received 250,000 hits in the first 90 minutes posted. His brackets sometimes receive millions of hits over the course of a season.[4] Since then, he has been a fixture on ESPN’s Bracketology program and on SportsCenter, especially during the months of February and March in the run-up to the NCAA Tournament.[5]
HE actually does pretty good with his predictions. He obviously has a lot of knowledge or the selection committees just go by what he says, while they sit in that room and drink coffee.
Just what, besides his inability to hold a real job, makes this Lunardi something or other the accepted gospel in all things NC2A basketball ?
If you tell me that he once worked for espn you must first wash your mouth out with paint remover.
He seems to be on a par with this Thamel creep at SI.
Let’s just win the SEC tournament and then there will be no doubt! Go Cats!
Exactly!
Lunardi is also the 26th (20 something) least accurate predictor of the tournament anyway. Surprised that news hasn’t been tossed around more about Mr ESPN bracket predictor in the month of December guy!
OK, fair enough and read my response to “Anonymous”, it applies here too.
Question for you, exactly how many “predictors of the tournament” are out there?
I know he is very accurate at selecting the field, but have read that he is not so good at selecting match ups and where the teams play???
Seriously. Who is??? I bet he knows where dook will be playing…every year. That’s all ESPN cares about anyway. So, what difference does it make if he’s not 100% correct every year? ESPN has to fill the airwaves with something don’t they? It’s not like Baseball has steroid scandals going now or the NFL has murders or rapists to report about.
The man asked who Lunardi was, I gave him some info and an obvious observation of what I think of him. I didn’t say the man’s mouth was the Gospel.
I want to add:
“He is best known for creating Bracketology, which he calls the “art and science” of predicting the teams that will be selected in the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.”
In his own definition he states that he calls what he does, “the art and science of PREDICTING the teams that will be SELECTED…”
That is all.