March Madness 2018: Bracketology

About This Episode

Updated for 2018! Brackets will be filled, hearts will be broken, and you’ll probably lose five dollars in your bracket pool. On this episode of Playing with Science, we’re breaking down the mayhem that is March Madness with hosts Chuck Nice, Gary O’Reilly, and bracketologist Chris Dobbertean. If you don’t understand what “bracketology” is, fear not: Gary, a former professional soccer player, doesn’t either, so we can learn together. You’ll hear Chris explain the basics of the tournament including the structure, how teams are selected or invited, and why certain matchups are prone to upsets. You’ll even hear what Chris looks for when picking teams in his personal bracket. Discover the changes the NCAA made to the weight assigned to each regular season win. Learn more about the Ratings Percentage Index – the main metric used to measure a team’s success by the NCAA. Discover how Chris fell in love with March Madness all those years ago. All that, plus, we get predictions on the Final Four and Chuck makes a tantalizing promise to whoever picks a perfect bracket…as long as you tell the truth!

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: March Madness 2018.