Portland State Bracketology

Joe Lunardi has a success rate that rivals Tiger Woods ability to rack up wins in PGA tournaments. Except instead of sinking 15-foot birdie putts like the esteemed Woods, ESPN’s Lunardi predicts where college basketball teams will be seeded in the NCAA Tournament.

Call it March Madness, but Lunardi, who began writing for ESPN.com in 1995 and had his television debut on the Worldwide Leader in Sports in 2002, has only missed 10 teams in his final tournament projections over the past eight years.

The only man bearing the title of Bracketologist, Lunardi presents his final tournament projections, including which teams he thinks will earn bids and where each school will be seeded in the big dance, days before the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee announces the field of 65 squads.

Recently, the Vanguard caught up with ESPN’s Bracketologist to find out where the Vikings will likely fit into the grand scheme of March Madness during Portland State’s first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

Lunardi believes a best-case scenario for the Vikings is a No. 14 seed, however, the bracket wizard still thinks the selection committee could place Portland State as a No. 15 seed. Fortunately for Portland State fans, Lunardi thinks it is highly improbable that Portland State could slip to a lowly No. 16 seed.

At the time of the interview, Lunardi said Portland State’s most likely opponent would be Stanford. Because the 11th ranked Cardinals lost to the University of Southern California this past weekend, their chances of being a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament have diminished greatly.

The most recent version of Bracketology has the Vikings playing against Georgetown in the East Regional, with the first-round site Birmingham, Ala. While Lunardi said the selection committee would be inclined to keep Portland State in the West Regional, with first-round sites in either Anaheim or Denver, the top seeds are catered to when the brackets are created, and thus generally stay close to home.

Regardless of where or whom the Vikings play, Lunardi believes their chances of pulling out a victory against a No. 1 or No. 2 seed are bleak at best. Lunardi said the probability of the Vikings winning a game in the NCAA Tournament is about one in 10.

“I just don’t think the Vikings will be able to defend the major conference opponent they figure to face in the first round,” Lunardi said.