Move over bracketology. There's a new kid in town. Maybe.

As reported here last Sunday night, Indie Sport is conducting a study to test the hypothesis that the ancient phenomenological art of mascotology is as good as, or better than, traditional analytical bracketology in picking the winners of March Madness games (see our previous Indie Sport post, Mascotology, for all our Round 1 projections).

For those of you who missed the post-- and you number in the millions-- mascotology is based on an intuitive, metaphysical understanding of which team's mascot would whup the other if they met in a battle to the death.

The first set of data is now in from today's games, as well as Tuesday's play-in game between Mount Saint Mary's and Coppin State, and it is very encouraging. Of the 17 games contested to date, mastocology identified 15 winners, a success rate of 88.2%. And though there is still time to review our projections for Friday's games and lay down or modify your bets, it would be inappropriate, if not illegal, for us to advise you to do so, so we will not.

A retrospective analysis of our two failures to correctly project the winners of 1) the Wildcat-Golden Eagle clash between Kentucky and Marquette; and 2) the Wildcat-Trojan matchup between Kansas State and USC reveals that our channeler erroneously attributed to Kentucky the energetic field associated with the K-State variant of wildcat, defined as "a quick-tempered and savage person," rather than the smallish feline who showed up as bird food today for Marquette. Given these corrections, it is now abundantly clear why Kansas State was able to extend the Trojans this afternoon until they burst down the stretch.

Anomalies such as the metaphysical dyslexia that created the Wildcat reversal in our channeler's mind are measurement errors considered to be within the limits of statistical tolerance. As such, they are expected effects, particularly when generated under atmospheric disturbances such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.

Because this is a scientific study being conducted with the strict rigor demanded of serious research, the results to date must be considered nothing more than a modest sampling of data and should be treated with prudence and caution. There is a long way to go and the hypothesis is far from having been confirmed.

Indie Sport remains committed to a dispassionate assessment of the veracity of mascotology. We encourage you to post the results of your first round projections so that we may compare our outcomes with those of more traditional methodologies. Your contributions are both appreciated and essential to the advancement of science.

The next set of data, as well as our mascotological projections for this weekend's games, will be published tomorrow night, Friday March 21. Tune in and may the vibe be with you.