March Madness is currently upon us and the college basketball gurus are formulating their picks. Perhaps one of the most respected opinions in the college basketball world comes from Joe Lunardi. Lunardi is a college basketball analyst and bracketologist for ESPN.
Today,  Lunardi come out with his final four predictions, as well as his championship pick.
ESPN.com
As seen above Lunardi’s final four consists of Michigan State, Gonzaga, Virginia, and North Carolina. But he has Gonzaga as the final team dancing.
This comes at a time where the college basketball world is infatuated with the Duke Blue Devils. Seemingly every fan has Duke at least in their final four. Out of 29 college basketball analysts who work for ESPN, 15 of them picked Duke to win it all. 24 of those analysts also have Duke in their final four.
Lunardi is one of the rare analysts that doesn’t have Duke in their final four. Does he know something that we don’t?
According to FiveThirtyEight Duke only has a 19 percent chance to win it all. But in all ESPN brackets, 40 percent of the population have Duke winning it all. Even with a 19 percent chance to win it all, people seem to be overvaluing Duke’s young talent.
Lunardi’s picks are ranked right behind Duke in their percentage to win it all. Virginia has a 17 percent chance, Gonzaga has a 15 percent chance, UNC has a nine percent chance, and Michigan State has a seven percent chance. However, we will see if Lunardi’s picks are correct very soon.
The NCAA Tournament starts Thursday, March 20, 2019 (Not including the play in games).