Guides & Resources

How each of these decisions actually gets made, how my models forecast them, and what is happening in the current cycle.

Every category here has the same three kinds of guide. One explains the real process, meaning who votes, what they are given, and by when. One explains how my model forecasts that process and how accurate it has been. One tracks the current cycle as it develops. Start with the process guide if the decision itself is new to you, since everything else assumes it.

Cross-Category

All Three Categories
The Decision Calendar
Every vote, announcement, deadline and event across Bracketology, the Hall of Fame and the Oscars, on one filterable timeline. Filter any category or event type on or off to see just what you came for.

Next up: Sep 2 — 83rd Venice Film Festival
Open the Calendar → All Categories

Bracketology

The Process
How the Field Gets Built
The 12 people on the selection committee, the seven metrics on every team sheet, quadrant records, the 1 to 76 seed list, and what the expanded field changes.
Read Guide → 76-Team Era
This Cycle
2026 Bracketology Watch
What is shaping the field this season. The first 76-team cycle, the conference map after realignment, and where the preseason numbers have teams.
Read Guide → 2026 Season
Reference
How Bracket Studio's Scoring Works
Why I grade seed accuracy instead of wins, how the Paymon Scoring System scores a finished bracket, and what a good score actually looks like.
Read Guide → 456 Possible
How-To
The Bracket Studio Guide
A full walkthrough of Bracket Studio, covering drag-and-drop placement, Auto-Seed, Compare, saved slots, sharing and keyboard shortcuts.
Read Guide → Studio How-To
How-To
The Paymon Guide
How to score a finished bracket against the real field with the Bracket Performance Calculator, and how to read your summary.
Read Guide → Studio How-To
Reference
A Glossary of Bracketology Terms
Plain definitions of NET, quad records, the seed list, WAB, automatic qualifiers, bubble tiers and everything else on a team sheet.
Read Guide → Reference

Once you know the criteria, see how my bracket scored against the real field →

Hall of Fame

The Process
How the Hall of Fame Vote Works
Fifty selectors, every cut from the nomination list down to 15 finalists, the 80 percent threshold inside the room, and the Class of 2027 calendar.
Read Guide → 80% To Get In
This Cycle
The Next HoF Class
Who is in line for the Class of 2027, which holdovers are already locked into the finalist slate, and how HoFW ranks the cases.
Read Guide → Class of 2027
The Model
How the HoF Worthiness Model Works
How HoFW scores every player against a 100-point bar for their position, why pre-1999 careers are excluded from training, and how it validates against every class since 2005.
Read Guide → 0.999 AUC

Once you know the vote, see how closely HoFW tracks it, class by class →

Academy Awards

The Process
How the Academy Votes
Branch nominations, the preferential ballot, why Best Picture is counted differently from every other category, and every confirmed date for the 99th Oscars.
Read Guide → 99th Oscars
This Cycle
This Year's Contenders
The films and performances shaping the race to the 99th Oscars, from the Cannes results through the fall festival slate.
Read Guide → Current Season
The Model
How the Oscars Forecast Model Works
Why the guild awards dominate the model, how the three-stage pipeline adds signal through the season, and why leave-one-year-out validation makes the accuracy numbers hold up.
Read Guide → 77% · Core 6, 1997+

Once you know the ballot, see how the model scored across 30 years of ceremonies →