NCAA Tournament 2012: Teams Joe Lunardi Is Overrating in Odds to Win It All
Geniuses aren't always intelligent.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi is the Einstein of bracketology. But while he rarely makes a mistake predicting which teams get invited to the Big Dance, his National Championship odds leave something to be desired. Here are the teams Lunardi overrated while assembling a ranking of schools and their odds to cut down the nets.
Ohio State; Lunardi’s Rank and Odds: Third (10.3 percent)
Fun fact: It takes six straight victories to win the national title.
OSU has the talent to beat any team in the nation, but it's difficult to imagine them stringing together the streak necessary to take the NCAA tournament crown.
The Buckeyes are way too inconsistent. Since December, their longest winning streak of the season has been just six games.
Indiana; Lunardi’s Rank and Odds: Eighth (2.0 percent)
It isn't how you start, but how you finish.
Indiana defeated just one ranked team over the second half of their schedule—one. I'm sure Wisconsin is amused by the fact that it's ranked behind IU, even though the Badgers beat the Hoosiers twice this season (including in the Big Ten tournament).
Memphis; Lunardi’s Rank and Odds: 12th (1.1 percent)
I could've sworn it was a consensus belief that this Tigers team wasn't good.
Before Memphis entered their cakewalk of a conference schedule, they went 6-5 to start the season because they played teams who were actually ranked. Now they're on a hot streak, but unfortunately for the Tigers, UTEP, Central Florida and Marshall won't be in the NCAA tournament.
Wichita State; Lunardi’s Rank and Odds: 13th (0.9 percent)
According to Lundardi, Wichita State is three times more likely to win the Big Dance than Florida State—a team who just beat Duke and North Carolina.
[In Dick Vitale voice]: Are you serious?!
The only ranked teams the Shockers beat all season were Creighton and UNLV. They couldn't even handle Illinois State in their conference tournament.
FSU, don’t take it personally. Wichita State is ranked ahead of Big East tournament champion Louisville, too.
David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.
