Joe Lunardi, a St. Joseph’s University graduate and college hoops bracketologist, is happy that things are returning to normal for his 20th anniversary as a TV analyst, writes Jonathan Tannenwald for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Lunardi, who has been breaking down the bracket for college basketball fans even longer, for the past 26 years, resumed traveling for basketball games last week. He was in Las Vegas for the West Coast Conference men’s tournament that had big-time teams and big-time crowds to watch them.

“The arena was electric,” said Joe Lunardi. “From a professional standpoint, you wouldn’t have known about a pandemic.”

The fans have certainly missed him as much as he has missed the games and the atmosphere they bring, when they kept calling his name from the stands.

“Turning around, hearing your name called out, just feeling alive again in that way,” said Joe Lunardi, “it was pretty cool.”

Lunardi became full-time at ESPN three years ago, after leaving his job in the public relations department at St. Joseph’s, but he remains stationed in the Philadelphia area and his “bunker” studio at the Jersey Shore, as well as in Bristol, Connecticut.

Read more about St. Joseph’s University grad and college hoops bracketologist Joe Lunardi in The Philadelphia Inquirer.