I’m an accountant, and this is my weekend. I opted for the busy spring semester of academe instead of busy season. But on this weekend we can all take a break. It’s the opening weekend of seven post-season D1 basketball tournaments.
There are many dozens of basketball games, with four tournaments for men’s teams (N-68, NIT, CBI, CIT) and three for women (N-64, WNIT, and WBI.
There are games to score, statistics to tally, and bracket contests to administer. You do bracket contests, right? Print out a blank tournament bracket and pencil in your predictions for every tournament game, 67 for the N-68 and 63 for the N-64.
Bracketology takes on a second meaning for an accountant–how to score the brackets for your contest. I prefer weighting the first weekend heaviest, say 32 points for the 1st round (1 pts each game), then 32 (2), 24 (3), 16 (4), 10 (5), 6 (6).
This year I filled in brackets for the N-68 (men) and N-64 (women). I did not fill out brackets for either of the NIT tournaments (men or women), although I have done so in past years.
I like bracket contests that are free. After all, pride trumps any amount of money.
I teach an evening section of Intermediate Accounting for guys who can’t make it to the day section. We decided to have a bracket contest scored by ESPN. There are 320 pts each round, with points per victory depending on the round: 10-20-40-80-160-320. I went with non-trendy pick Kansas. So far, my crystal ball seems to be cracked. I’m standing at 20/32 and 10/16 for the first two rounds.
On the women’s side, I’m 25/32 in predicting 1st round winner. I predict Baylor to win.
Remember, if you have money bet on your bracket and win, then you must report it on your 1040. Ask your contest administrator for a 1099.
Debit and credit – – David Albrecht
The Summa 
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