Though there were far more significant losses in 2020, I lament the fact that college basketball’s premier showcase, March Madness, was cancelled due to the pandemic. Many of my fondest sports-viewing memories come directly from the multiweek, season-ending tournament that crowns a champion from 68 contenders—and not just because my beloved Duke Blue Devils have cut down the nets five times during my lifetime. While it’s unlikely that another game can match the legendary 1992 Duke-Kentucky matchup, each March (and early April) brings enough joy and thrills to get me through the relatively slow pace of baseball season.

Here’s hoping the current schedule for March Madness holds and that the tournament goes on. (Most games are scheduled to take place in Indianapolis.) As I cross my fingers, I plan to consult the literature to prepare for the tournament, especially these two March books:

Bracketology: March Madness, College Basketball, and the Creation of a National Obsession, by Joe Lunardi, with David Smale (Triumph Books, March 2): When it comes to prognostication, ESPN analyst Lunardi is King Geek of the college basketball landscape. For more than 25 years, he has displayed remarkable accuracy in his predictions of the seeding and matchups for each year’s tournament. It’s a monthslong process of data crunching driven by a genuine love for the game. “Drawing up brackets is an elusive art, and it takes a lot of explaining,” writes our reviewer. “Suffice it to say that it requires constantly refreshing team statistics as the season progresses in order to predict the makeup of the NCAA playoffs….Lunardi admits that he guesses wrong a couple of times per season, and he can’t always foretell the future, but there’s an impressive science to the enterprise that will enthrall fans of Moneyball and other number-oriented sports books.” Devoted college hoops fans will also appreciate the foreword by Mark Few, head coach of one of the original bracket busters, Gonzaga. Before you fill out the brackets for your office pool, it would be wise to consult Lunardi’s insights on ESPN.com.

Miracles on the Hardwood: The Hope-and-a-Prayer Story of a Winning Tradition in Catholic College Basketball, by John Gasaway (Twelve, March 16): Gasaway, also an ESPN analyst, comes at the college game from an intriguing angle, examining the impressive, sustained success of Catholic schools at the highest levels of the sport. “It’s not so much that God is on their side,” writes our reviewer, “but that over more than a century, Catholic schools such as Gonzaga, Xavier, Seton Hall, Villanova, and Georgetown have put their sports energies into basketball, sometimes forgoing football in the process…..What distinguishes many of these schools is consistent excellence in coaching, which, along with the prowess of its players, is what took schools like Seattle University to an unprecedented ‘four straight appearances at the NCAA tournament’ in the 1950s and lands schools like Gonzaga high in the running today.” If you’re the betting type, I would consider putting some money on Gonzaga to win it all this year. If not, simply enjoy this unique, entertaining sports story. “Fans of college roundball, parochial or not, will enjoy Gasaway’s lively history.”

For particularly ravenous college ball fans, I suggest finishing these two and then moving on to any of the following: Gene Wojciechowski’s The Last Great Game, John Feinstein’s The Back Roads to March and The Legends Club, Frank Fitzpatrick’s The Perfect Game, or Jackie MacMullan’s Basketball: A Love Story. (NBA die-hards should start with Bill Simmons’ overlong but astute and comprehensive The Book of Basketball.)   

Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor.