1st Round Stanford SCU Denver UMD UCLA KU Pepperdine SDSU UNC Illinois G-town Baylor Marquette WVU Washington BYU Penn State BC UofM Portland Duke Tenn. Rutgers UVA FL Miami ND WF Ohio State TAMU TTU FSU 2nd Round Stanford UMD UCLA SDSU UNC G-town Marquette BYU PSU UP Duke UVA Miami ND OSU FSU 3rd Round Stanford UCLA UNC Marquette PSU Duke ND FSU Quarterfinals Stanford UNC PSU FSU College Cup Stanford over UNC PSU over FSU Stanford over PSU in the final
1st Round Stanford Long Beach St. Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky California San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Washington St. Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA California North Carolina Virginia Tech Marquette BYU Penn St. Michigan Duke Virginia UCF Wake Forest Texas A&M Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Wake Forest Florida St. Final Four UCLA North Carolina Penn St. Wake Forest Final UCLA Wake Forest National Champs Wake Forest
Round 1 Stanford the Beach Denver Maryland UCLA KY Pepp AssTicks UNC Mizzou Georgetown ASU Marquette WV Udub BYU PSU BC Central Michigan Portland Duke Miami [OH] Colgate Virginia Florida UCF ND WF tOSU TAMU TT FSU Round 2 Stanford Denver UCLA Pepp Mizzou Georgetown Marquette BYU PSU Central Michigan Duke Virginia UCF WF tOSU FSU Round 3 Stanford UCLA Mizzou Marquette PSU Virginia WF FSU QF Stanford Marquette PSU FSU Semis Stanford FSU National Champion - STANFORD
Public service reminder - Use the bracket app that GoCourage put in the original post. (Click on the big blue "Bracket"). If the link in the quote below doesn't work, go back to the original post at the start of the thread. note: the big blue "Bracket" in the quote seems to work but if it doesn't, go back to the first post in the thread. However, whatever you do Stimpy, do NOT press the RED BUTTON (the tantalizing shiny RED BUTTON) that will erase the entire History of the Universe!
1st Round Stanford SCU ColoradoUMD UCLA KU Pepperdine SDSU UNC MissouriVa. TechBaylor Marquette WVU Washington BYU Penn State BC UofM Portland Duke Miami (OH)Rutgers UVA FL UCFND WF Ohio State TAMU NTFSU 2nd Round Stanford UMD UCLA PepperdineUNC Va. TechW VaWashPSU UP Duke UVA UCFWFTAMUFSU 3rd Round Stanford PepperdineUNC W. Va.PSU UVAWFFSU Quarterfinals Stanford UNC PSU FSU College Cup UNC beats Stanford PSU beats FSU ChampionUNCDon't let me down girls.
1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky California San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Georgetown Baylor Marquette West Virginia Auburn BYU Penn St. Boston College Central Mich. Portland Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida Miami (FL) Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Stephen F. Austin Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland Kentucky San Diego St. North Carolina Baylor Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Florida Wake Forest Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Maryland San Diego St. North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Wake Forest Florida St. Final Four San Diego St. North Carolina Virginia Florida St. Final San Diego St. Florida St. National Champs Florida St.
1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Colorado Col. Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Miami (OH) Colgate Virginia Florida Miami (FL) Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Virginia Tech Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Miami (FL) Wake Forest Texas A Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Wake Forest Florida St. Final Four Stanford BYU Virginia Florida St. Final Stanford Virginia National Champs Virginia
1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA UT Martin Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Illinois Georgetown Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Georgetown Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia UCF Wake Forest Texas A&M Florida St. 3rd Round Maryland UCLA North Carolina Marquette Penn St. Virginia Wake Forest Florida St. Final Four Maryland North Carolina Virginia Florida St. Final North Carolina Virginia National Champs Virginia
1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Virginia Tech West Virginia BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Florida Wake Forest Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford San Diego St. North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Florida Florida St. Final Four Stanford BYU Penn St. Florida St. Final Stanford Penn St. National Champs Penn St.
1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Colorado Col. Maryland UCLA UT Martin Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Illinois Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M North Texas Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Baylor Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia UCF Wake Forest Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford San Diego St. North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Wake Forest Florida St. Final Four Stanford North Carolina Virginia Florida St. Final Stanford Virginia National Champs Stanford
1st RoundStanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky California San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette Princeton Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Colgate Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Stephen F. Austin Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Baylor Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Florida Notre Dame Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina BYU Penn St. Duke Florida Florida St. Final Four Stanford North Carolina Duke Florida St. Final Stanford Florida St. National Champs Stanford
I'm gonna be Uber-embarrassed for a long time if the Heels go all the way this year. Its been a great year for the ACC this season, and I gotta go with the mo? 1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Colorado Col. Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Virginia Tech Arizona St. Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Colgate Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M North Texas Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Virginia Tech Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Tennessee Virginia UCF Wake Forest Texas A&M Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia UCF Florida St. Final Four Stanford BYU Virginia Florida St. Final Stanford Virginia National Champs Virginia
1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Georgetown Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Hofstra Michigan Portland Duke Miami, Ohio Colgate Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Denver UCLA Pepperdine North Carolina Baylor Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Florida Notre Dame Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina Marquette Penn St. Duke Florida Ohio St. Final Four UCLA North Carolina Duke Florida Final UCLA Florida National Champs UCLA
First round pick distribution for the 34 entries so far. Stanford...........100%..34....0.....0%....Idaho St. Santa Clara.........85%..29....5....15%....Long Beach St. Denver..............79%..27....7....21%....Colorado Col. Stony Brook..........0%..0....34...100%....Maryland UCLA................97%..33....1.....3%....Wisconsin UT Martin...........18%..6....28....82%....Kentucky Pepperdine..........68%..23...11....32%....California Cal St. Northridge...0%..0....34...100%....San Diego St. North Carolina.....100%..34....0.....0%....Radford Illinois............41%..14...20....59%....Missouri Georgetown..........59%..20...14....41%....Virginia Tech Arizona St...........9%..3....31....91%....Baylor Marquette..........100%..34....0.....0%....Illinois State Princeton...........18%..6....28....82%....West Virginia Washington..........85%..29....5....15%....Auburn Utah St..............0%..0....34...100%....BYU Penn St............100%..34....0.....0%....LIU Brooklyn Hofstra..............9%..3....31....91%....Boston College Michigan............88%..30....4....12%....Central Mich. Washington St........6%..2....32....94%....Portland Duke...............100%..34....0.....0%....Loyola Maryland Miami (OH)..........24%..8....26....76%....Tennessee Colgate.............21%..7....27....79%....Rutgers La Salle.............0%..0....34...100%....Virginia Florida............100%..34....0.....0%....Fla. Gulf Coast Miami (FL)..........26%..9....25....74%....UCF Notre Dame..........97%..33....1.....3%....Milwaukee Ga. Southern.........0%..0....34...100%....Wake Forest Ohio St............100%..34....0.....0%....Oakland Stephen F. Austin...15%..5....29....85%....Texas A&M Texas Tech..........85%..28....5....15%....North Texas Mississippi Val......0%..0....34...100%....Florida St.
WOW, I only picked three games that are in the minority on here. I picked Cal over Pepperdine, Virginia Tech over Georgetown, and Illinois over Missouri, as the only games that are considered in the minority here. Maybe next year we can set a point value to each match-up (for picking the winning team, and the score). Sort of like how each state is worth so many electoral votes during the presidential election. For example, picking the winner and score of the Stanford vs. Idaho State match is only worth 4 electoral votes. Since that is an easy game to pick in terms of who wins, and all you need to do is guess the score (and most likely Idaho State would have zero goals). And let's say picking the winner of the Georgetown vs. Virginia Tech match is worth 15 electoral votes, since it can go either way, and who knows what the score will be. By the time you get to the college cup, you earn more electoral votes for each team picked and predicting the correct score, since it's further into the tournament in the later rounds, and so on. Maybe the maximum total of electoral votes you can earn by the end of the tournament is 538 electoral votes (but that would be impossible to earn them all, unless you had a sports almanac published in the year 2050 looking back on the current year). Winning a match and score that you predicted, it feels so powerful, kinda like winning a state. Since there are 63 matches in the NCAA tournament that are played, this is perfect, since there are 63 states in the U.S. (if you include Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Bahamas, and the rest, etc). Rombauma vs. Obaumney - 2012 Rombauma vs. Obaumney - 2012
Earlier I posted a bracket that follows the bastardized Massey ratings converted into an Elo/Albyn Jones scale and using a homefield advantage of 60 rating points. If GoCourage is game, I'll enter a version of that bracket that reflects how I might try to win the contest if I were a "bettin' man", making a small number of changes in a gamble to try to "beat" the Massey/Elo "predictions". Maybe it can be entered under the name "Bettin' Kolabear" or Kolabear (betting) or something like that. If GoCourage prefers not to that's okay, too. I can always add comments to report on how this bracket does and point out the strategy involved, in which I intend to point out the limits of what an Elo system should or shouldn't be expected to do as far as prediction goes. This bracket varies from the Elo-ish Massey/AJ bracket I submitted earlier in these 6 predicted results: unseeded Miami (FL) to the 2nd Round in place of unseeded UCF unseeded Virginia Tech to the 3rd round in place of #4 seed Baylor unseeded Texas A&M to the 3rd round in place of #4 seed Ohio State #3 seed UCLA to the quarterfinals in place of #2 seed SDSU #2 seed Virginia to the Final Four in place of #1 seed Penn State #2 seed Virginia to the Championship game in place of #1 seed Florida State In a sense the other big gamble, besides Virginia, is to "stick with the system" and pick BYU to advance to the Final Four instead of North Carolina. North Carolina is a very reasonable gamble to advance further than what the Massey/Elo-ish bracket shows and I'm guessing a lot of the other BigSoccer experts here will go with North Carolina. 1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida Miami (FL) Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Virginia Tech Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Florida Wake Forest Texas A&M Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Florida Florida St. Final Four Stanford BYU Virginia Florida St. Final Stanford Virginia National Champs Stanford
1st Round Stanford Long Beach St. Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Illinois Virginia Tech Arizona St. Marquette Princeton Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Miami (OH) Rutgers Virginia Florida Miami (FL) Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Stephen F. Austin Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Virginia Tech Marquette BYU Boston College Portland Duke Virginia Florida Wake Forest Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford San Diego St. North Carolina BYU Portland Virginia Florida Florida St. Final Four Stanford BYU Portland Florida St. Final Stanford Florida St. National Champs Florida St.
These are based on the "Improved" RPI, taking into account that a home team will perform as though its rating were 0.007 higher and an away team as though its rating were 0.007 lower. But for home field advantage, Cal would be favored slightly over Pepperdine in the first round, Tennessee would be favored very slightly over Duke in the second round. The quarter-final matchup of Penn State and Virginia is the closest quarter-final in absolute ratings (Penn State .6669 to Virginia .6636, but Penn State has home field advantage, which would change the effective ratings to Penn State .6739 v Virginia .6566). As a note, both San Diego State and BYU have higher ratings than either of the projected "other side of the bracket" semi-finalists. Counting UCLA, the left side of the bracket has four of the five highest rated teams. 1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Baylor Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Florida Wake Forest Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford San Diego St. North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Florida Florida St. Final Four Stanford BYU Penn St. Florida St. Final Stanford Florida St. National Champs Stanford
Chalk, chalk, and more chalk: 1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky California San Diego St. North Carolina Illinois Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida Miami (FL) Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA California North Carolina Virginia Tech West Virginia BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Florida Wake Forest Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Wake Forest Florida St. Final Four Stanford BYU Virginia Florida St. Final Stanford Virginia National Champs Stanford
If I'm not mistaken, cpthomas' bracket based on RPI is the same as the one I entered based on Massey/Elo/Albyn Jones. However, it's interesting to note that this is only because of the self-fulfilling aspect of the Committee's selections and its use of the RPI. For instance, Penn State is only favored over Virginia (using the Massey/ Elo-ish rating) in a projected quarterfinal match because Penn State, as a #1 seed, would have the homefield advantage.
Here we go, hoping for another respectable finish this year: 1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Illinois Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Colgate Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Virginia Tech Marquette BYU Penn St. Portland Duke Virginia Florida Wake Forest Ohio St. Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford San Diego St. North Carolina BYU Penn St. Virginia Florida Ohio St. Final Four Stanford North Carolina Penn St. Florida Final Stanford Penn St. National Champs Stanford
1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA UT Martin Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Illinois Virginia Tech Baylor Marquette West Virginia Auburn BYU Penn St. Boston College Central Mich. Portland Duke Miami (OH) Colgate Virginia Florida UCF Milwaukee Wake Forest Oakland Stephen F. Austin Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA San Diego St. North Carolina Virginia Tech West Virginia Auburn Penn St. Central Mich. Duke Virginia Florida Milwaukee Stephen F. Austin Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina West Virginia Penn St. Virginia Florida Florida St. Final Four Stanford North Carolina Penn St. Florida Final Stanford Florida National Champs Stanford
First Round Stanford SCU Colorado College UMD UCLA UK Cal SDSU UNC Ill. Baylor Marq. WVU Washington BYU PSU BC UM Portland Duke Tenn. Rutgers UVa UF Miami ND WFU OSU TAMU TT FSU Second Round Stan UMD UCLA Cal UNC Baylor WVU BYU PSU Port Duke UVa UF ND TAMU FSU Third Round Stan UCLA UNC BYU PSU UVa ND FSU Final Four UCLA BYU UVa FSU Championship Game UVa over UCLA
1st Round Stanford Santa Clara Denver Maryland UCLA Kentucky Pepperdine San Diego St. North Carolina Missouri Georgetown Baylor Marquette West Virginia Washington BYU Penn St. Boston College Michigan Portland Duke Tennessee Rutgers Virginia Florida UCF Notre Dame Wake Forest Ohio St. Texas A&M Texas Tech Florida St. 2nd Round Stanford Maryland UCLA Pepperdine North Carolina Baylor Marquette BYU Boston College Portland Duke Virginia Florida Wake Forest Texas A&M Florida St. 3rd Round Stanford UCLA North Carolina Marquette Portland Virginia Florida Florida St. Final Four Stanford North Carolina Virginia Florida St. Final Stanford Virginia National Champs Stanford