Who is Charlie Creme?

[OldAlum]

Aside from somebody hired by ESPN to guess the brackets, who is he? Does he have any background that lends weight to his predictions? I recognize that it takes some work to wade through all the possibilities and rules to come up with predictions. But does he have any insight that would make his more valuable?

 

[Carnac]

Aside from somebody hired by ESPN to guess the brackets, who is he? Does he have any background that lends weight to his predictions? I recognize that it takes some work to wade through all the possibilities and rules to come up with predictions. But does he have any insight that would make his more valuable?

NO!!! He did not have UConn #1 in his pre-season top 25 rankings. If a team (any team) wins the NC, they should be ranked #1 in the following year's pre-season poll out of respect, regardless of who leaves or comes. He didn't have the foresight to see this team's potential that has manifested itself into a 32 game undefeated win streak so far.
What he (and others) did not realize is, yes, UConn lost the BIG 3; but they received a new BIG 3 that replaced the 3 that left. And they are doing just fine, thank you.

 

[HardHatGuy#2]

If a team (any team) wins the NC, they should be ranked #1 in the following year's pre-season poll out of respect, regardless of who leaves or comes. .

What is this, someone impersonating Carnac the Magnificent?

Respectfully, I disagree. If a team is ranked #1 based on how LAST year's team finished, doesn't that entirely invalidate the ranking? It becomes meaningless, just a rote copy-paste from last year. I prefer at least an educated guess at how good the team could be this year. Personally, I agreed with the majority of the voters back in November; I didn't think that UConn was this good. They have proven me wrong, and I am quite OK with that.

 

[bags27]

Charlie Creme is a licensed bracketologist. I guess you go to him if you think there's something wrong with your bracket....

 

[Orangutan]

Charlie Creme is a guy that ESPN pays to think about this and write about this. Pretty sure there's not much more to it.

Vis-a-vis the preseason rankings, interesting that the preseason coaches' poll nailed the top 4 in what will mostly likely be seed order:

 

[Adesmar123]

NO!!! He did not have UConn #1 in his pre-season top 25 rankings. If a team (any team) wins the NC, they should be ranked #1 in the following year's pre-season poll out of respect, regardless of who leaves or comes. He didn't have the foresight to see this team's potential that has manifested itself into a 32 game undefeated win streak so far.
What he (and others) did not realize is, yes, UConn lost the BIG 3; but they received a new BIG 3 that replaced the 3 that left. And they are doing just fine, thank you.

So if, for some god forsaken reason, all the UConn players left and had to be replaced with a team of freshmen with no basketball experience at all, they should be ranked #1?

 

[Adesmar123]

Charlie Creme is a licensed bracketologist. I guess you go to him if you think there's something wrong with your bracket....

And I have plenty of bracketologist malpractice insurance.

 

[Carnac]

Charlie Creme is a guy that ESPN pays to think about this and write about this. Pretty sure there's not much more to it.

Vis-a-vis the preseason rankings, interesting that the preseason coaches' poll nailed the top 4 in what will mostly likely be seed order:

View attachment 20538

Most of us could construct a bracket if we used common sense and the eye test as criteria for our selections and placement.

 

[johnnyc]

Charlie Creme is a licensed bracketologist. I guess you go to him if you think there's something wrong with your bracket....

Or maybe a quack and is the cause of something going wrong with your bracket.

 

[AdamOwe]

So if, for some god forsaken reason, all the UConn players left and had to be replaced with a team of freshmen with no basketball experience at all, they should be ranked #1?

Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. <badly paraphrased, I know.>

 

[schmendrick]

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/...f-bracketology-filling-in-all-the-blanks.html

Long story short: pharmaceutical sales rep living in Las Vegas obsessed with college BB; ESPN hired him around 2005 to project the NCCA women's field after his friend declined the job. He's still a pharmaceutical sales rep. No mention of what he needed to do to win the license to be a bracketologist or if that specialized skill helps him with his pharmaceutical sales.

 

[Carnac]

So if, for some god forsaken reason, all the UConn players left and had to be replaced with a team of freshmen with no basketball experience at all, they should be ranked #1?

Not a fair question. That would never happen. I understand that many will not agree with my take on this. It's MY opinion. This is one I can't be moved off of. It's not just when UConn wins. It's for ANY team that wins the NC. Just like in most sports, when a team wins the championship, they are usually picked by the Las Vegas odds makers as odds on favorites to win it again the next year in the initial odds rankings for he next year. Would putting the previous year's champion at #1 to begin the next season invalidate his poll? I don't think so. As we all know, pre-season ranking mean absolutely nothing.

 

[1-of-the-6]

If a team (any team) wins the NC, they should be ranked #1 in the following year's pre-season poll out of respect, regardless of who leaves or comes.

Really? Even if they graduate everybody? Even if their coach retires? This is one of the most ridiculous statements that I've ever seen.

He didn't have the foresight to see this team's potential that has manifested itself into a 32 game undefeated win streak so far.

And you're holding him accountable for this, when virtually NOBODY, including UCONN's OWN COACH, knew this would happen? Forget what I said above. This is the most ridiculous statement that I've ever seen.

 

[Carnac]

Charlie Creme is a licensed bracketologist. I guess you go to him if you think there's something wrong with your bracket....

Yeah, and I'm a licensed proctologist . You come to me if somethings wrong with your.........

 

[Jim]

Long story short: pharmaceutical sales rep living in Las Vegas obsessed with college BB; ESPN hired him around 2005 to project the NCCA women's field after his friend declined the job. He's still a pharmaceutical sales rep.

So the basis for picking the Womens' bracket is he has good drugs?

 

[Carnac]

Really? Even if they graduate everybody? Even if their coach retires? This is one of the most ridiculous statements that I've ever seen.



And you're holding him accountable for this, when virtually NOBODY, including UCONN's OWN COACH, knew this would happen? Forget what I said above. This is the most ridiculous statement that I've ever seen.

Then you haven't been here very long. If everybody leaves.....That's not going to happen. You're attempting to use scenarios to make your point that would never happen. Just say that you disagree and move on. I'll say it again.......pre-season rankings mean absolutely nothing. 1-of-the-6, I'm not offended at all if you don't agree with my take.

 

[DefenseBB]

So basically no one knows his background or qualifications as to why he got his gig. While I view myself as an insightful guy, I, in no way could speak to the degree that Charlie has at times as, despite our minor quibbles with his rankings, he seems to do a good job in logic and examples. In researching who he is I found he worked with Joe Lunardi 20 years ago when this started for the Men's bracket and he's been doing the women for awhile. I would say that ESPN has hit its mark on this as it has generated discussion and scrutiny to a very passionate cause for us sports aficionados.

 

[cohenzone]

I think he's a donut maker.

 

[DogWarden]

Charlie's latest predictions.

Charlie Creme ESPN Bracketology: Latest NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Predictions

 

[Carnac]

Guys, what are we arguing about here? You think Creme is credible and you put stock in his brackets and polls, and I don't. We can all get along. Do I have to follow the crowd (or conventional wisdom) to be thought reasonable? I'm NOT a follower. Creme's pre-season poll struck a cord with me, and I didn't like it, and still don't. That's my personal prerogative. Many others had no problem with it. I have not attacked anyone that agreed with his poll. I may offer my take, but that's it. We can agree to disagree.

 

[JordyG]

Charlie Creme is a licensed bracketologist. I guess you go to him if you think there's something wrong with your bracket....

If you cross state lines to aid him in his work can you be arrested for bracketeering?

 

[JordyG]

So the basis for picking the Womens' bracket is he has good drugs?

In this society when you're very young and very old someone who deals in good drugs becomes your world.

 

[Carnac]

What is this, someone impersonating Carnac the Magnificent?

Respectfully, I disagree. If a team is ranked #1 based on how LAST year's team finished, doesn't that entirely invalidate the ranking? It becomes meaningless, just a rote copy-paste from last year. I prefer at least an educated guess at how good the team could be this year. Personally, I agreed with the majority of the voters back in November; I didn't think that UConn was this good. They have proven me wrong, and I am quite OK with that.

I understand your posture on this. His rankings were basically correct for the top 8 teams, he just had them in the wrong order. I know no one saw or could predict UConn being this good. That's not the point. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, if he was wrong then, what makes him right now? I'm talking about PRE-SEASON polls. It's not hard to make predictions for bracket selection and placement because you're using fresh up to the minute data as your criteria. You're rating teams that have had the same roster all year long, no changes. You're using team performance as recent as yesterday. His pre-season polls do not use that same criteria. Let me ask you this, If he had ranked UConn #1 this past September, would he have been wrong?

 

[Adesmar123]

Guys, what are we arguing about here? You think Creme is credible and you put stock in his brackets and polls, and I don't. We can all get along. Do I have to follow the crowd (or conventional wisdom) to be thought reasonable? I'm NOT a follower. Creme's pre-season poll struck a cord with me, and I didn't like it, and still don't. That's my personal prerogative. Many others had no problem with it. I have not attacked anyone that agreed with his poll. I may offer my take, but that's it. We can agree to disagree.

With all due respect, I think we are disagreeing with your wording.

" If a team (any team) wins the NC, they should be ranked #1 in the following year's pre-season poll out of respect, regardless of who leaves or comes."

The general concept I think we can agree or disagree upon. But when you throw in those qualifiers, it becomes much more difficult to find common ground.

 

[Plebe]

Aside from somebody hired by ESPN to guess the brackets, who is he? Does he have any background that lends weight to his predictions? I recognize that it takes some work to wade through all the possibilities and rules to come up with predictions. But does he have any insight that would make his more valuable?

What "background" lends weight to Lunardi's predictions, other than the fact that he just started doing them on his own initiative and built a respectable track record by observing how the selection committee had chosen previous at-large fields and applying those observations to the current season?