BSD Bracket Challenge: First Round

This is March, and even though the actual NCAA Tournament was cancelled, we still have the College Hoops 2k8 simulated tournament to fill time until we have some more sports related topics to talk about. If you are really desperate to watch some basketball related content, the team over at r/CollegeBasketball on Reddit is also simulating the 2020 tournament, except they are live streaming the full length games on Youtube.

I honestly thought that by this time Wake Forest would have made an announcement one way or the other on the status of Head Coach Danny Manning, and we would talking about that. Obviously that has not happened yet. Again, since all spring sports including spring football are cancelled, this is pretty much just a fun way to kill time until the Athletic Department makes a decision. So check out these first round games (they can try to call it the “Second Round” all they want, the First Four are play-in games, and the round of 64 is the first round of the tournament... I will die on this hill), and let’s pretend they actually happened.

Midwest Region

Well this region was pretty straightforward—the only “upset” was Marquette over Houston, but the 8-9 upset hardly counts.

East Region

No big upsets in the East either, but State... what are you doing? 36 points in 20 minutes? 11 points in the first half? Come on guys. That definitely qualifies as some grade A NC State S**t.

West Region

Now this region had more of the madness that makes March Madness so much fun. You know there had to be at least one 5-12 upset—there always is. But then we get the 14 seed New Mexico State taking down the 4 seed Oregon and the 14 seed Eastern Washington with a big win over the 3 seed Seton Hall. That is more like it.

South Region

Our guy Pat Kelsey gave Baylor everything they could handle but came up just short of being the second 16 seed to beat a 1. Unfortunately, Virginia went down to Cincinnati, but they failed to reach 60 points, so at least we know The Simulation is properly calibrated. And of course we got another big upset with Bradley taking down Michigan State.

Well, that’s it for an exciting round 1 of the simulated NCAA Tournament. The second round results will likely come on Monday, barring any other news. You can check your score here if you made a bracket.

Notable Performances from Round 1:

• Markus Howard (Marquette): 27 points, 8 assists
• Tyrese Maxey (Kentucky): 31 points, 5 assists
• Lamar Stevens (Penn State): 27 points, 9 rebounds
• Trent Forrest (FSU): 15 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assist
• Ryan Woolridge (Gonzaga): 11 points, 10 assists