There's no real games, but you can still join the Hoops Insight NCAA Bracket Contest!
We might not have a real NCAA Tournament, but we can still have a bracket contest...so we're doing that here at Hoops Insight!
You probably have a lot of questions, like:
How are you doing this? Great question. I'll be simulating the tournament using Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology bracket and KenPom.com's team ratings.
How are you simulating the tournament? Another great question. For each game, I use each team's KenPom ratings to simulate their performance. For those who care, I use a normal distribution curve with the mean as the difference in the two team's ratings and standard deviation of 13. I tested this and found that this roughly replicates the historical chances of each seed matchup.
Will you simulate a bunch of times or just once? These are just fantastic questions. I will simulate once and those will be the results.
How will we know the results? I'm in awe of these questions, they are so good. I'll release the results of play in, 1st, and 2nd round games on Thursday night, Sweet 16 and Elite Eight on Friday night, and Final Four on Saturday night. I'll email results and post on Twitter about 9pm Eastern each of these nights along with standings each day.
What does it cost? Are there prizes? Wow, a two-pack of great questions. It costs zero to enter, although I will allow just one entry per email address. I will give out prizes to the top 3 finishers. It will be a shirt, hat, or some sort of item from their favorite teams. We'll work that out when we have winners.
How will you keep score? Great questions all over. I'll give out 1 point per correct pick in play in or 1st round, 2 for 2nd round, 3 for Sweet 16, 4 for Elite Eight, 5 for Final Four, and 8 for the correct champion.
How do I enter? The best question of all. You can download the Excel entry form from Google Drive here: Bracket Entry Form. Fill out your form and email to sean@hoopsinsight.com by 9pm Eastern on Wednesday night. If you want, you can download the official simulator with the seeds and ratings I'll be using from here: Official Hoops Insight NCAA Tournament Simulator.
If there are more questions I haven't thought of, send them to me at sean@hoopsinsight.com or @hoopsinsight on Twitter. I hope this brings a bit of fun to your week!
Thanks,
Sean Vinsel