This section is devoted to tracking and judging predictions made by colorful basketball analyst Dick Vitale. To what end? Fortunately, I'm not obligated to provide an answer to that question. Here are some predictions he made back in February that we can already evaluate:
Prediction: "Pittsburgh is making the NCAA tournament."
Outcome: Nope. Making this prediction in the preseason, when Pitt was a top-10 team, would have been understandable. But the Panthers were already 3-7 in the Big East when Vitale issued this proclamation. Unsurprisingly, Pitt went 4-7 down the stretch. And heck, they didn't even get an invite to the NIT. However, Pitt did beat Butler in the CBI semifinals on Wednesday. So kudos for that. Dick 0, World 1.
Prediction: "No one is going to beat Syracuse in the regular season."
Outcome: Proving that the Curse of Vitale is alive and well, the Orange lost their first game after this prediction was made. Dick 0, World 2. However, in his defense, 'Cuse didn't have center Fab Melo for that game, and that was their loss until the Big East Tournament semifinals. So this wasn't a terrible prediction, merely a bad one.
Prediction: "I'm going Giants, baby...24-20, Giants win."
Outcome: Congrats to Vitale, who correctly picked the Super Bowl winner. The score wasn't too far off either (actual: 21-17). Dick 1, World 2.
Prediction: "LeBron James is going to win the MVP."
Outcome: The MVP hasn't been awarded yet, but this one looks pretty good for Vitale, considering the beastly season LeBron is having in Miami. Though to be fair, picking the best basketball player in the world to win his sport's MVP award six weeks into his best season is a bit like predicting that Albert Pujols is going to hit a few dingers. No points will be awarded yet.
March Madness: So now we'll take a look at Vitale's bracket, which is free domain on ESPN.com. He isn't doing so hot, ranking in the 33rd percentile overall. He only picked three first-round upsets, getting one right (N.C. State) and two wrong (West Virginia, UConn). Like a lot of people, he got burned by picking Missouri and Duke to make deep runs, but he also had Florida State, Michigan, Vanderbilt, and Wichita State each winning at least two more games than they actually did. He also guessed half the Sweet Sixteen correctly, but five of his Elite Eight are already eliminated.
Vitale's Final Four? Kentucky, UNC, Missouri, and Florida State, with Kentucky winning the whole thing. We'll see how he does this weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment