{"39714":{"#nid":"39714","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Professors Predict Final Four Match Ups","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECome April 6, Tar Heel fans should have reason to celebrate - providing the math is right. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELRMC (Logistic Regression Markov Chain), the computer ranking system designed by three professors at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has predicted that the NCAA Final Four basketball match ups for 2009 will be the University of North Carolina vs. the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Memphis vs. the University of Louisville. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe championship battle, according to LRMC calculations, should pit North Carolina against Memphis with North Carolina emerging as the victor. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EUnlike the NCAA tournament seeds released yesterday, LRMC forecast Memphis reaching the Final Four instead of the University of Connecticut.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022There are a few instances where it disagrees with the seeding,\u0022 said Dr. Joel Sokol, operations research professor in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech who devised the program. \u0022On the other hand, our system agrees with the awarding of fewer at-large bids for mid-majors than in the past. There just weren\u0027t as many deserving mid-major teams this year.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf history is any indicator, it\u0027s a promising prognostication.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELRMC, developed by Professors Sokol, Paul Kvam and George Nemhauser, has been proven to be an impressively accurate method to forecast tournament results. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELast year, the LRMC method correctly identified all Final Four participants and heralded Kansas defeating Memphis in the eventual championship.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe LRMC formula includes scoreboard results, which teams are competing, home court advantage and margin of victory in its computational formula. In addition to predicting a potential victor, these calculations can also offer insight into teams that hold more - or less - potential than NCAA seeding indicates.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor example, the 2008 predictions included picking out overrated teams such as Duke, Vanderbilt and Connecticut, which all lost in early rounds. The system also identified West Virginia and Kansas State as potential spoilers. Both teams completed upset victories during last year\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Impressively Accurate Method Forecasts Tournament  Results"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Come April 6, Tar Heel fans should have reason to celebrate - providing the math is right. LRMC (Logistic Regression Markov Chain), the computer ranking system designed by three professors at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has predicted that the NCAA Final Four basketball match ups for 2009 will be the University of North Carolina vs. the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Memphis vs. the University of Louisville.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Computer ranking system designed by three Ga. Tech professors"}],"uid":"27281","created_gmt":"2009-03-16 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:20","author":"Lisa Grovenstein","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-03-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2009-03-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"39715":{"id":"39715","type":"image","title":"Tech Tower","body":null,"created":"1449174117","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:21:57","changed":"1475894258","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:37:38","alt":"Tech Tower","file":{"fid":"189652","name":"tre09966.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tre09966.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tre09966.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":55263,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tre09966.jpg?itok=rrWdN9PM"}}},"media_ids":["39715"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.finalfour.gatech.edu\/","title":"LRMC rankings and analysis"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/newsroom\/assets\/pdf\/2009_LRMC_ProfPicks.pdf","title":"LRMC"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1157","name":"computer ranking system"},{"id":"1156","name":"Final Four"},{"id":"1158","name":"LRMC"},{"id":"1155","name":"NCAA"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EDon Fernandez\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMarketing and Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:don.fernandez@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EContact Don Fernandez\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6016\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["don.fernandez@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}