LinkedIn's March Madness Bracket

Some of my friends and family that I least expected to create a March Madness bracket this year made one, as well as a social media site that never would have made my top three list of sites to have a bracket: LinkedIn. That's right. The site used "only for professional connections and communication" took time out of its schedule of reminding its soon-to-be college graduate users which of their acquaintances have awesome jobs and that they don't. Of course, they did it in their own LinkedIn way.

In order to make the placements on its bracket (shown below), LinkedIn came up with a "dedication score" using the different alumni groups:

Dedication Score = (# of current students and alumni with the word “basketball” in their profile) / (total # of current students and alumni)

Their prediction of who was going to take it all home? Gonzaga University! That obviously means that they are no longer in the running since the Bulldogs lost to Wichita State. Why am I so happy about this? I can't help that my head gets slightly bigger whenever someone claims that their bracket is bulletproof because of all of the science they made up and used to make it. (You'd think they'd learn by now that there is no science behind March Madness.) My heart is still set on my first favorite college team, the Michigan Wolverines (thanks to my dad), even though everyone told me that I didn't have a chance!*

*Because I work for the University of Georgia Athletic Association and am required to follow all NCAA rules and regulations, I am not allowed to officially participate in the actual March Madness bracket. However, I do print out my own bracket every year just for fun personal use.