Analyzing the presidential bracket

Before we get started, let me just say that this may be the best picture ever taken. It is, from left to right, the Quaker, Jerome Allen in a wig and Amy Gutmann holding a basketball. Feel free to caption in the comments.

Okay, on to more important things:

College Hall's #1 is getting excited for the DP's March Madness competition — with a $100 gift certificate to Smoke's on the line (Click here to enter!). Penn President Amy Gutmann was nice enough to fill out a bracket for this year's NCAA tourney — even though she didn't have a chance to pick the Red and Blue — and send it over to the Buzz. But hopefully the doctor can take a little constructive criticism. With Amy's picks on the table, we assembled our blue-ribbon panel of bracketologists to analyze the boss' bracket, and her odds of being the best at Penn.

She went low risk/high reward this year, picking all four #1 seeds to make the semi-finals, and she has Ohio State winning it all. She might be a native of Brooklyn, but Amy's pragmatic. There's no way she was picking her hometown's Long Island University over No. 2 North Carolina. But what does the DP's crack team of analysts think? See Gutmann's bracket below and their thoughts after the jump.

Update: we've got a new version of Dr. Gutmann's bracket here.

Michael Gold, sports editor emeritus:

Big kudos to Amy for representing the 215 and picking Temple over Penn State. Although if Penn State had a title-winning basketball team, I'm sure my friends at home would never be able to confuse it with Penn. That almost redeems her pick of a drastically over-seeded Florida (seriously, what are they doing on the two line?) over BYU. Also, UConn's a great basketball school and all, but picking them over San Diego State in Anaheim seems like it could just be tacit support of former not-so-beloved coach Glen Miller.

Also two lessons to learn from Dr. Gutmann's bracket (I wish my handwriting were that neat). Neither university happens to be a member of the Ivy League, but I'd hope the Prez knows that Ohio and Ohio State (note to the casual bracket fillers among us: please write OSU next time) are not the same school. Also, putting "Kansas" for both Kansas and Kansas State just seems intentionally confusing.

Brian Kotloff, self-proclaimed 2nd in command:

Pres. Gutmann's bracket has more chalk than a 1st grade classroom. What jumps out to me are the two random 11-over-6 upsets she chose (I guess the coin finally turned up heads): Missouri over Cincinnati and Gonzaga over St. John's. Either Amy G isn't buying the Beasts of the Big East, she thinks Cinci can't handle Mizzou's "40 minutes of hell" press or she's questioning whether the Johnnies can survive the loss of D.J. Kennedy. Or she just likes the number 11. Plus, she dozed off somewhere in the Southwest Region and forgot to pick the UNLV-Illinois and Vandy-Louisville games.

Of course, the Prez's boldest prediction is that Ohio will win the whole shebang. Though Amy's a believer in the Bobcats, last I checked, they lost in the quarterfinals of the MAC tourney and are CIT-bound. Watch those abbreviations!

Megan Soisson, actual 2nd in command:

Amy, I love you but you missed a few. There's so much love for Kansas that she didn't pick the UNLV/Illinois game or the Vandy/Louisville game! My picks: UNLV and Vanderbilt.

I am surprised that Amy didn't pick the Ivy League upset. But I guess since it's not Penn or Harvard... Also, I think that Nova will go down. They have really been struggling since a two-point loss to UConn in January and haven't looked like the same team since. I would have chosen the 8/9 games differently in the first round, but let's be honest those games are tossups and I'm a terrible guesser. But overall in the first round I am a little disappointed in the lack of upsets, though I do love Gonzaga over St. Johns. My only other qualm is putting four number ones in the Final Four. Boring.

Sushaan Modi, assistant shortest hurdler in New Jersey:

Amy Gutmann, seriously?! You picked all four number one seeds — ALL FOUR!! Does she know how many times all four number one seeds made the Final Four? 2008 was one of the most boring tournaments in recent years; hopefully nobody is subjected to the same mess. Gutmann’s bracket plays it very safe, and like just about everyone else in the country, she has the Buckeyes’ on top.

But, Gutmann doesn't seem to have picked many upsets in this year's tournament. She's got Missouri over Cincinnati in the West and a gutsy call of the ‘Zags over St. Johns. I love this last pick. With the loss of D.J. Kennedy, the Red Storm could easily fall apart and Gutmann must believe a perennial tournament-team like the Bulldogs could easily knock them out.