March Madness - NCAA '14

[huskerfan01]

HELLO.

With the recent release of this year's March Madness bracket, I have decided to simulate the tournament in NCAA '14. Because, well why not? It's Spring Break and I've got time to kill.

With 68 teams in the MM field, there's plenty of teams in NCAA '14 able to be used in the bracket. The rosters will be the OS created by vikesfan and his team, props to them.

Ideally, I will use the 68 seeded teams and match them with their best OVR partners in NCAA '14. For example, Duke (MM) = Bama (NCAA 14), UNC (MM) = Clemson (NCAA 14), and so on all the way down to NC Central. A Google Sheets link will be provided once the team list is set.

I will sim every game using sliders (TBD) and post the results round-by-round on this thread. Also, I'll update the bracket found on the Google sheet.

Hope you all enjoy!

*any team suggestions/storylines please leave them on the thread*

[huskerfan01]

TEAM REVEALS

Without further ado, here is "Selection Sunday". My main criteria for assigning teams were 1) even talent distribution and realism 2) assign matching pairs IF within reason 3) geography 4) potential cinderellas or upsets within reason and 5) big dropoff starting with 13 seeds since those upsets rarely happen.

I will group by seed on the pairings below and also attach the link to the Google sheet. Hopefully, I can get some sims in today and have the play in games complete by tomorrow. Thanks for reading along!

1 SEEDS
- Duke will be represented by Alabama (97 OVR)
- Virginia by Notre Dame (95)
- North Carolina by Clemson (97)
- Gonzaga by Ohio State (95)

2 SEEDS
- Tennessee by Oklahoma (95)
- Michigan State by Georgia (93)
- Kentucky by Washington (93)
- Michigan by Michigan* (95)

3 SEEDS
- Houston by Oregon (91)
- Texas Tech by Texas (91)
- LSU by LSU* (91)
- Purdue by Stanford (91)

4 SEEDS
- Kansas by USC (91)
- Florida State by Florida (90)
- Kansas State by Texas A&M (91)
- Virginia Tech by West Virginia (91)

5 SEEDS
- Marquette by Penn State (90)
- Auburn by Auburn* (90)
- Wisconsin by Miami (90)
- Mississippi State by Mississippi State* (90)

6 SEEDS
- Villanova by Boston College (88)
- Maryland by Tennesse (90)
- Buffalo by South Carolina (90)
- Iowa State by Iowa State* (90)

7 SEEDS
- Louisville by Arizona State (88)
- Nevada by Michigan State (88)
- Cincinnati by Kentucky (88)
- Wofford by NC State (88)

8 SEEDS
- VCU by Kansas State (88)
- Syracuse by Syracuse* (86)
- Ole Miss by Ole Miss* (88)
- Utah State by Utah (90)

9 SEEDS
- Washington by Washington State (86)
- UCF by UCF* (88)
- Baylor by Baylor* (86)
- Oklahoma by Oklahoma State (88)

10 SEEDS
- Iowa by Iowa* (86)
- Seton Hall by Boise State (86)
- Minnesota by Nebraska (86)
- Florida by UCLA (88)

11 SEEDS
- Ohio State by Purdue (86)
- Belmont by Vanderbilt (86)
- Temple by Maryland (84)
- Saint Mary's by Cal (86)
- Arizona State by Arizona (88)
- Saint John's by Cincinnati (81)

12 SEEDS
- Murray State by Wisconsin (86)
- Oregon by Florida State (84)
- New Mexico State by Texas Tech (86)
- Liberty by TCU (86)

13 SEEDS
- UC Irvine by New Mexico State (79)
- Vermont by Buffalo (75)
- Saint Louis by Indiana (79)
- Northeastern by Rutgers (79)

14 SEEDS
- Yale by UMASS (77)
- Old Dominion by Old Dominion* (75)
- Georgia State by Georgia State* (72)
- Northern Kentucky by Western Kentucky (72)

15 SEEDS
- Montana by Kent State (74)
- Colgate by Southern Miss (72)
- Bradley by South Alabama (72)
- Abilene Christian by New Mexico (70)

16 SEEDS
- Gardner-Webb by San Jose State (70)
- Iona by Louisiana (70)
- Prairie View by Texas State (70)
- Fairleigh Dickinson by UTEP (70)
- North Dakota State by Rice (67)
- NC Central by Idaho (67)

* represents pair.
Please note the teams were solely matched based off given criteria, not performance in 2018 FBS season.

GOOGLE SHEETS LINK: HERE

[huskerfan01]

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Time for me to put on my best Andy Katz shoe or try out my Jay Bilas impression. I will go in-depth on each region giving my predictions for who will come out on top. Following the regional breakdown, I will award my nominees for the favorite, Final Four, Cinderella, and the best potential upsets. First Four games should be simmed tonight/tomorrow in time for the real-life March Madness to begin. Here we go!

EAST

Spoiler

The Duke Blue Devils claimed the #1 overall seed in the tournament, granting them the Alabama Crimson Tide. While the Bama-Clemson debate ensued, Bama got the nod as Duke is a blueblood in CBB and their program history is more similar to Bama. With UCF as the 9 seed in this region, we could very well see the anticipated Bama-UCF matchup in the R32. The 5-12 matchup will be interesting with Mississippi State and TCU squaring off and West Virginia vs Indiana in the 4-13 matchup. The bottom half of this bracket is extremely strong with LSU, UGA, Tennessee, and Nebraska all represented. Vandy and Maryland will have a play-in game where the winner gets Tennessee for a chance to face LSU. I fully expect UGA or LSU to handle their business and meet in the S16 with a trip to meet Bama in the Regional Finals on the line. Duke (Bama) is my pick to win the East.

WEST

Spoiler

The highly sought after 4th one seed was granted to Ohio State. Simply because I felt Oklahoma at a 2 seed in Notre Dame's region evened out the competition. The most anticipated 5-12 matchup in the bracket pits Penn State vs Wisconsin as the Marquette/Murray State game. The winner will advance to likely take on a 4th seeded Florida team. In the bottom half of the bracket for the West, a potential 7-2 matchup in the R32 would feature Michigan-Michigan State. UCLA at a 10-seed could cause mayhem and make a run to the Elite 8. Nonetheless, the B1G dominates this region with 5 teams represented. Michigan* is my pick to win the West.

SOUTH

Spoiler

Notre Dame arguably has the easiest potential path to the Elite 8. Ole Miss-Okie State at the 8-9 doesn't pose a threat to the Irish. Another must see 5-12 matchup in Miami-Florida State could produce a Cinderella team with the winner likely facing Texas A&M in the R32. Oklahoma has a 2-seed should cakewalk their way to an Elite 8 matchup with Notre Dame barring any upsets from Stanford, Kentucky, or Iowa. Tennessee (Oklahoma) is my pick to win the South.

MIDWEST

Spoiler

Clemson should have no trouble with their region this year. Utah-Washington State will square up in the 8-9 matchup with Auburn-Texas Tech and USC-Rutgers at the 5-12 and 4-13 matchups, respectively. Washington is, in my opinion, the weakest two seed in the tournament. Iowa State-Purdue battle in the 6-11 which I actually pick Purdue to make a good run this year as the underdog. However, Oregon's offense is godly in simulation games which could be deadly for their competition. A Pac-12 matchup in Oregon-Washington in the S16 is expected. Yet, North Carolina (Clemson) is far and away the best team in this region and is my pick to win the Midwest

Final Four prediction: Duke (Bama) vs Michigan and Tennessee (Oklahoma) vs North Carolina (Clemson)
Favorite: Duke (Alabama)
Best Potential R64 Upset: Wisconsin over Penn. State
Cinderella: 7-seed Michigan State
Double-Digit Cinderella: 11-seed Purdue

[huskerfan01]

COMMUNITY INTERACTION

Before I begin simming games and due to the gambling nature that March Madness brings. I wanted to bring a few concepts to the table to get everyone involved rather than me sim games and you guys read on it.

1) Bracket Contest
- Your typical March Madness bracket contest where everyone fills out their projected brackets. This would be a free contest with no prizes given away. I will compose a Google form and keep track of round-by-round picks if interested.

2) Sports Book
- Everyone will be given a $5,000 bankroll to begin the tournament with. Of course, this is virtual currency and no real money or prizes are involved. I will set up straight lines, O/U, Team O/U, and Parlays. Unfortunately, due to time constraints and such, no prop bets or 2nd half totals will be in play. Maybe for the Final Four, we can open it up, but again this is just for fun.

3) Fantasy Football
- IF and a big IF at that, we can find a decent amount of teams, we can hold a draft before the tournament with normal fantasy scoring/rules. I am planning on keeping a stats book regardless and posting to the Google sheet to keep everyone informed and to compile All-Region, All-Tournament teams. We hold a draft at the start of the tournament, and after each round, we keep X amount of players and hold another draft.

If these sound fun or of interest to you, please let me know either on this thread or via DM. I think this could be a big project that the entire community could get behind. Hope you all enjoy!

[xVVIllx]

Wtf is this?