Lunardi regrets his Mo State snub last year...

[dab212s]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=lunardi_joe&id=2726478



http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology
Mo State and Northern Iowa are 7 seeds now
Wichita state is last one in and a 12 seed
So. Ill. is a 10 seed.

He has Mo State as winning the Valley.

[cpacmel]

Why the confession? Because I spent too much time Selection Weekend offering big-conference Kool-Aid to Digger Phelps and trying to dissuade Jay Bilas from trumpeting a Michigan team that lost seven of its last nine games.

[CaliRdBrd]

whatever.

[getreal4]

Why the confession? Because I spent too much time Selection Weekend offering big-conference Kool-Aid to Digger Phelps and trying to dissuade Jay Bilas from trumpeting a Michigan team that lost seven of its last nine games.


He sold out and now wants forgiveness

[philcski]

Listen, he stated all last year and the year before his objective was to project what he thought the committee would do, and he thought they would leave Mo State out. He's changing his philosophy to selecting the teams HE thinks are most worthy instead, which I applaud. To be fair... he's not a big-conference Kool-Aid guy, he's a St. Joe's alum and employee, and I think he goes out of his way to be harder on the "mids" for that reason.

He wasn't the one who left Mo State out... the horrible selection committee did. And you, I, the blind man down the block, and my mother knew they should have been in. Wichita blew the doors off the team that took their spot in the first round (Seton Hall) so I look at that as semi-vindication.

And oh yeah, he does a lot of broadcasts for MY alma mater (the Drexel Dragons) and I can't stand him on there... on top of that, he dropped us 7 spots for nothing this week.

[Nyghtewynd]

I'm just not buying this. IIRC, he had MSU in the tournament until the morning of Selection Sunday. There weren't any games that day or the night before that would have changed low seeds like that. Yet, he made the change. Why? Either (a) he has ESP, or (b) someone on the inside told him what was going on.

[azbirdfan]

Hey, I give tremendous respect for him owning up to this!! It takes a hell of a lot balls to own up to a mistake and call out those who influenced him along the way. I'm impressed! I'm sure Digger and Jay aren't too happy though but screw them!

[philcski]

I'm just not buying this. IIRC, he had MSU in the tournament until the morning of Selection Sunday. There weren't any games that day or the night before that would have changed low seeds like that. Yet, he made the change. Why? Either (a) he has ESP, or (b) someone on the inside told him what was going on.

He said Selection Sunday he made the change because he heard the committee was talking about conference "caps", which really only applied to 3 leagues... the MVC (4 spots for 5 teams), the Big East (8 spots for 9 teams), and the CAA (2 spots for 3 teams).

Turns out he still missed two (Air Force and Utah State), and the only reason those made it was they finished 2nd in their respective highly rated conferences. Air Force, while a quality team, had a horrible profile, and Utah State... well... they have been on both sides of the equation. They were the one of the best teams EVER to be excluded (in 2004) before Missouri State was last year, and one of the worst selected EVER last year.

[MSU Bleeds Maroon]

The whole concept of "Joe Lunardi Confesses His Sins" is rather ridiculous. He's got one of the cushiest jobs in the world; he's paid to predict what other people are going to do. He doesn't have any more responsibility than your local TV weatherman; for him to fall on his knees and wail about his past failings is quizzical at best.

He's not on the Committee.

He doesn't sit in the room and help assemble the brackets.

He's a hype-jockey, paid to read the tea leaves and inform the Unwashed Masses of what might be announced on a Sunday evening in early March. What, he wasn't perfect? Big (franking) deal.

Either he's got more hubris than common sense, or he thinks that his projections helped keep a Tournament-worthy team out of the Dance. Either way, Joe Lunardi apologizing for an inaccurate bracket is like the local weatherman apologizing for the rain that didn't fall. Dude, get over yourself.

[MSU Bleeds Maroon]

He said Selection Sunday he made the change because he heard the committee was talking about conference "caps", which really only applied to 3 leagues... the MVC (4 spots for 5 teams), the Big East (8 spots for 9 teams), and the CAA (2 spots for 3 teams).


I don't suppose you have a link for this? I know that this theory has been suggested (one reason why last year's Committee was seen to be an aberration from the norm), but I don't think I've ever seen anyone admit to it.

[philcski]

The whole concept of "Joe Lunardi Confesses His Sins" is rather ridiculous. He's got one of the cushiest jobs in the world; he's paid to predict what other people are going to do. He doesn't have any more responsibility than your local TV weatherman; for him to fall on his knees and wail about his past failings is quizzical at best.

He's not on the Committee.

He doesn't sit in the room and help assemble the brackets.

He's a hype-jockey, paid to read the tea leaves and inform the Unwashed Masses of what might be announced on a Sunday evening in early March. What, he wasn't perfect? Big (franking) deal.

Either he's got more hubris than common sense, or he thinks that his projections helped keep a Tournament-worthy team out of the Dance. Either way, Joe Lunardi apologizing for an inaccurate bracket is like the local weatherman apologizing for the rain that didn't fall. Dude, get over yourself.

Once again... not to sound like his publicist, but THIS ISN'T HIS REAL JOB. He didn't even get paid for it until last year. He's the Sports Information Director at St. Joseph's University.

[philcski]

I don't suppose you have a link for this? I know that this theory has been suggested (one reason why last year's Committee was seen to be an aberration from the norm), but I don't think I've ever seen anyone admit to it.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=lunardi_joe&month=3&year=2006
if you don't have insider, let me know. he went more into detail about it in a chat or on tv or something, unfortunately i can't find it in print...

[MSU Bleeds Maroon]

Once again... not to sound like his publicist, but THIS ISN'T HIS REAL JOB. He didn't even get paid for it until last year. He's the Sports Information Director at St. Joseph's University.

Okay... so he's apologizing for a "failure" in his part-time job... which makes even less sense. :original:

And no, I'm not fiscally attached to the ESPN Juggernaut. No Insider, no EDGE (stupidest fantasy-sports name ever, by the way)... they get to charge their advertisers for my page views, and that's about it.

[philcski]

Okay... so he's apologizing for a "failure" in his part-time job... which makes even less sense. :original:

And no, I'm not fiscally attached to the ESPN Juggernaut. No Insider, no EDGE (stupidest fantasy-sports name ever, by the way)... they get to charge their advertisers for my page views, and that's about it.

i get the magazine, somebody always buys it for me as a gift. don't read the thing half the time it comes but it gets you insider for free.
he says:
"The explanation for George Washington's tumble is the injury to Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who played Thursday against UNC Wilmington. Yet if the potential absence of a key player is that important, what about the actual absence of a key player in the case of George Mason? With Tony Skinn, the Patriots are clearly a tournament-level team. Without him, the committee is giving a distinct and unfair advantage to GMU's first-round opponent (not to mention elevating Mason perhaps unfairly above other at-large teams). I only put GMU in my last bracket projection because there were reports of conference horse-trading going on within the committee, and that's not right no matter how you slice it."

Once again, MSU had a better profile than several teams that made it, no matter how you slice it. Maybe not GMU but definitely Air Force and DEFINITELY Seton Hall and Utah State. The 5-8 record against the top 100 was pedestrian, but there was no bad losses, and a strong SOS. And from a qualitative perspective, I saw SHU play several times and MSU play a few times last year. There was no doubt in mind the Bears were the better team, even if SHU had a couple nice wins sprinkled in there (@ Pitt, @ NC State, @ Syracuse). They were 3-5 down the stretch and got beat by Duke by 53.

[MSU Bleeds Maroon]

Phil, thanks for the cut-and-paste. It's not quite the smoking gun I was hoping for, but it's another indicator that last year's Committee was making up its own rules.

[philcski]

Phil, thanks for the cut-and-paste. It's not quite the smoking gun I was hoping for, but it's another indicator that last year's Committee was making up its own rules.

They do every year. They got caught with their pants down because there was no rhyme or reason behind their selections and seeding, and their borderline selections bombed in the first round. You don't like bad SOS? Ok, exclude ALL of those teams (Air Force IN, FSU OUT... hmmm) Conference affiliation means nothing? (Ok, then how come 5 MVC teams and 3 CAA teams didn't make it, but even though they didn't deserve it 2 WAC and 2 MWC teams made it even if those conferences were probably stronger top to bottom?) You don't like teams playing poorly at the end of the season? (Seton Hall 5-5 IN, Cincy 5-5 OUT, Michigan St 4-6 gets a SIX seed, UNI 4-6 IN, Hofstra/Missouri St 8-2 OUT)

I could go on and on, but my point is there was no consistency in their criteria. It happens every year, and up until last year it was "how can we screw the mids out of a bid." At least that wasn't TOTALLY the case.

On another tangential note... I will go postal if UCONN goes 9-7 in the Big East and gets a bid this year. I also have a graduate degree from Rutgers so I can appreciate the "BCS" point of view (well... sort of, the Scarlet Knights aren't ever good) and this team has shown absolutely nothing that would indicate they deserve inclusion.

[cpacmel]

He's the Sports Information Director at St. Joseph's University.

I don't think he is even the SID at St. Joes.


Assistant Vice President for University Communications

[philcski]

I don't think he is even the SID at St. Joes.


Assistant Vice President for University Communications

My mistake, right idea, wrong title. I know his job is to promote SJU sports...

[Mick Taylor]

The whole concept of "Joe Lunardi Confesses His Sins" is rather ridiculous. He's got one of the cushiest jobs in the world; he's paid to predict what other people are going to do. He doesn't have any more responsibility than your local TV weatherman; for him to fall on his knees and wail about his past failings is quizzical at best.

He's not on the Committee.

He doesn't sit in the room and help assemble the brackets.

He's a hype-jockey, paid to read the tea leaves and inform the Unwashed Masses of what might be announced on a Sunday evening in early March. What, he wasn't perfect? Big (franking) deal.

Either he's got more hubris than common sense, or he thinks that his projections helped keep a Tournament-worthy team out of the Dance. Either way, Joe Lunardi apologizing for an inaccurate bracket is like the local weatherman apologizing for the rain that didn't fall. Dude, get over yourself.

Now THAT'S an awesome post!

[MVC Fan]

"The explanation for George Washington's tumble is the injury to Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who played Thursday against UNC Wilmington. Yet if the potential absence of a key player is that important, what about the actual absence of a key player in the case of George Mason? With Tony Skinn, the Patriots are clearly a tournament-level team. Without him, the committee is giving a distinct and unfair advantage to GMU's first-round opponent (not to mention elevating Mason perhaps unfairly above other at-large teams). I only put GMU in my last bracket projection because there were reports of conference horse-trading going on within the committee, and that's not right no matter how you slice it."

Thank you for posting this.

That last part makes me really, really mad, and I wish he would make a bigger issue out of this. Maybe I'm not as jaded as some and so this isn't as big a deal to them, but after following the selection process for many yrs I'd come to trust what the committee always fed us in the past about how 'conferences don't get bids, teams do.' They usually backed it up, considering leagues like the ACC & Big 10 sometimes (rightly) had as few as 3 teams. After the MVC got way undervalued (SIU, Bradley) or flat-out screwed (MSU, Creighton) last yr, though, as well as the AFA/SHU/USU additions, it looked like something fishy was up, but for Lunardi to essentially say it was true...wow.

Those are the ones he should be calling out, not himself. He gets inside info from them on a periodic basis, so he won't do it, but...that makes it truly sound like selections have as much to do w/politics as any kind of criteria, which is just sad.

[MSNSaluki]

While I'm very proud of SIU's Sweet 16 run in 2002, I've always wondered how much pull Doug Elgin had getting the Salukis safely in the field since he was on the committee. Did he make a deal with somebody?

[philcski]

While I'm very proud of SIU's Sweet 16 run in 2002, I've always wondered how much pull Doug Elgin had getting the Salukis safely in the field since he was on the committee. Did he make a deal with somebody?

I don't think so, because SIU's merits were strong enough on their own that year. 26 wins, tied for the league title at 14-4, a solid nonconf schedule, and an RPI of 50.
Of the teams NOT selected above them in the RPI:
Villanova finished 8-10 in the Big East
Arkansas was 6-11 in the SEC, 14-15 overall
South Carolina was 8-11 in the SEC
UNLV, by all rights, should have made it- however regular season champs Wyoming were given the 3rd bid from the MWC...
Virginia was 7-10 in the ACC