THE NCAA SELECTION PROCESS

BRACKETOLOGY SYLLABUS

Those seeking a degree in College Basketball must successfully pass five required Bracketology courses.

 

Bracketology 101: This course begins with a study of the strength and weakness of the college teams and conferences and ends with the compilation of a field of at least 68 teams eligible for an invitation to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Assignment due two weeks before Selection Sunday.

 

Bracketology 202 (Prerequisite: Bracketology 101): Students will select, seed and place their nominees into a preliminary NCAA Tournament bracket, one adhering to the basic principle of creating balanced regional pairings that avoid rematches of regular season games and early round pairings of teams from the same conference. Due 10 days before Selection Sunday.

 

Bracketology 307 (Prerequisite: Bracketology 202): This class is devoted to refining the research and data from the prerequisite courses. It also deals with "Bubbles", taking into account late season results and further analyzing the relative strengths of marginal teams. A revised pairings bracket is due prior to the start of Championship Week.

 

Bracketology 407 (Prerequisite: Bracketology 307): Successful completion of this class entails submittal of students' final pairings brackets along with justification for inclusion and exclusion of Bubble teams. Final Pairings Bracket is due no more than one minute before public announcement of the Official NCAA Tournament Field.

 

Bracketology 509 (No prerequisites): Only requirement is to fill out two complete brackets, one based on student's final bracket and one based on the official NCAA Tournament Bracket. o

 

Grading:

    Bracketology 101 (Pass/Fail): A preliminary field must be submitted before the deadline.

    Bracketology 202 (Pass/Fail): The first pairings bracket must be submitted no later than two           Sundays before the official announcement of the field.

    Bracketology 307 (Pass/Fail): A revised pairings bracket is to be submitted prior to                Championship week.

    Bracketology 407 (Pass/Fail): A final pairings bracket that includes at least 60 of 68 official           invitees must be submitted by the deadline (see above). Additionally, a scoring system will           be applied to submissions, awarding points as follows: 1 point for each correct team; 2 points           for each correct regional placement; 1 points for each correctly seeded team (+1/- 1); 3          points for each correct matchup. One must score at least 150 points to become earn the           degree of Bachelor of Bracketology.

    Bracketology 509: Win your pool (points awarded according to individual pool rules) or beat the      chalk (by Selection Committee seeding and awarding 1 point for each correctly advanced           team     in Round 2, 2 points for Round 3; 4 points for each team picked in the Sweet 16; 8 points      for each team to make the Elite 8; 16 points for each correctly placed Final Four team; 32           points for each correct semifinal choice and 64 points for picking the NCAA Champion] to earn      a degree as Master of Bracketological Science (MBS). To earn a PhD in Bracketological           Science, one's completed Final Bracket (from Bracketology 407) must score higher than that           of the Committee's.