the secret numbers you need to fill out your brackets

Much like Captain Ahab in the cartoon posted here a couple of days ago, at this time of year we all put in massive amounts of time filling out our brackets for the NCAA tourney and give up trying to get our jobs done for a couple of days.  Because of all of the productivity lost and its damage to the economy, I felt it was time for me to spend a couple of days doing diligent research so you could work at your job and still make sensible choices on your tournament brackets.

Your first thought is probably concern that I am not getting my job done, but as you may remember I am retired, so my job is not working.  I am an elderly man on a fixed income, remember?

Anyway, I have come up with what I call The Jimbo Number or TJN for short.  The number for each team in the tournament was calculated by figuring in the team’s winning percentage, RPI, percentage against top 25 and 26-50 rated teams.  I also weighted the winning percentage for the team’s last 12 games, figuring that the guys who get on a hot streak have a better chance.  I added in some light weighting of free throw percentage, assist to turnover ratio and rebounding.

Anyway, the higher number the better.  If you get stumped in your selections, just compare The Jimbo Number (TJN) of the two teams you are comparing and use the TJN instead of flipping a coin.  You can find The Jimbo Number on the chart below.  It is in alphabetical order by team name for convenience of finding the teams.

Now, most of you are probably getting ready to mortgage everything and go all in with my numbers.  Before you do you may want to remember that this is just for entertainment and more than $5 should not be put at risk on the data I am giving you.  Before you do anything crazy, be sure you consult with the missus.  She will probably ground you in reality before you do something you shouldn’t.

“Wilma,” you may say, “Let’s get ready to mortgage the house.  Jimbo has given me all the information I need to make a fortune.”

“Isn’t that the guy who said to buy Apple at $500 because it couldn’t go any lower?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“And wasn’t he the guy who said to buy the Greek shipping stocks because they would be the first companies to profit from a worldwide economic recovery?  And you have seen the Baltic Dry Index lately, sinking just like all those shipping stocks.”

And, Wilma is probably right, but if you are going to burn five bucks on the office pot, anyway, you may want the use the information on this table.
 

Step up your game to a higher level.

 

THE JIMBO NUMBER
School	TJN
Akron	309.78
Albany (NY)	251.35
Arizona	353.12
Belmont	319.41
Boise St.	298.81
Bucknell	333.67
Butler	337.40
California	317.85
Cincinnati	262.02
Colorado	310.49
Colorado St.	313.18
Creighton	315.58
Davidson	296.70
Duke	422.96
Florida	356.54
Georgetown	394.03
Gonzaga	441.93
Harvard	237.28
Illinois	283.79
Indiana	385.11
Iona	210.80
Iowa St.	289.27
James Madison	199.67
Kansas	444.44
Kansas St.	332.55
La Salle	271.37
Liberty	185.77
LIU Brooklyn	216.70
Louisville	422.00
Marquette	339.40
Memphis	349.87
Miami (FL)	395.31
Michigan	344.42
Michigan St.	345.94
Middle Tenn	330.29
Minnesota	280.84
Missouri	327.66
Montana	266.30
N.C. A&T	190.47
New Mexico	414.20
New Mexico St.	290.79
North Carolina	293.18
North Carolina St.	307.12
Northwestern St.	256.08
Notre Dame	328.54
Ohio St.	363.97
Oklahoma	268.70
Oklahoma St.	344.70
Ole Miss	333.32
Oregon	346.27
Pacific	271.92
Pittsburgh	328.18
Saint Louis	405.21
San Diego St.	302.14
South Dakota St.	309.98
Southern U.	238.70
St. Mary's (CA)	311.17
Syracuse	309.24
Temple	332.41
UCLA	357.61
UNLV	347.08
Valparaiso	273.01
VCU	307.94
Villanova	291.35
Western Ky.	199.17
Wichita St.	332.63
Wisconsin	335.89