It's a mad(ness) world

It's NCAA Tourney time and, in my world, it's basically an unofficial holiday...that lasts three weeks. Unfortunately, when it comes to my brackets, the season hasn't been full of cheer this time around.

Don't get me wrong. The games have been great and it has been one of the most enjoyable tournaments in recent memory. The power teams don't seem as dominant as in past years and squads from smaller conferences have elevated their level of play. We have truly reached a point when anybody can beat anybody on a given night.

But there is always a pride factor in being able to predict (ok, "guess" might be a better word) which teams will win. The state of equality that is rooting itself in the NCAA is really messing with the ability to be accurate. In fact, my bracket sheet was a mess after the first day. Now it has more red slash marks than a Dan Quayle spelling test.

Being that my method didn't work this year, I figured I would try something else as we approach the Sweet 16 games. I'm using a video game to predict the outcomes. I decided to simulate the remainder of the tournament using College Hoops 2K8 on the Xbox 360. Obviously this is just something for the purpose of having fun and I wouldn't count on things turning out this way, but you never know. Anyway, here's the way things worked out:


SWEET 16

EAST
North Carolina 93, Washington State 63
Tennessee 100, Louisville 79

MIDWEST
Kansas 90, Villanova 59
Wisconsin 78, Davidson 69

SOUTH
Memphis 85, Michigan State 83
Stanford 86, Texas 56

WEST
UCLA 88, Western Kentucky 81
Xavier 88, West Virginia 82



ELITE 8

EAST
North Carolina 81, Tennessee 66

MIDWEST
Kansas 76, Wisconsin 62

SOUTH
Memphis 79, Stanford 76

WEST
UCLA 69, Xavier 66



FINAL 4

Kansas 105, North Carolina 75
Memphis 88, UCLA 67



CHAMPIONSHIP

Kansas 87, Memphis 79

Key performances:

KANSAS
Darrell Arthur - 11 pts., 7 reb., 2 blk.
Brandon Rush - 16 pts., 5 reb.
Russell Robinson - 13 pts., 6 reb., 5 asst., 3 stl.
Sherron Collins - 9 pts., 9 asst.

MEMPHIS
Derrick Rose - 16 pts., 10 asst., 2 stl.
Robert Dozier - 13 pts., 9 reb.
Joey Dorsey - 13 pts., 13 reb., 4 blk.


So there you have it. According to the simulation on College Hoops 2K8 (from 2K Sports), the Kansas Jayhawks are going to be the 2008 NCAA Champs. The key for Coach Bill Self's squad was Darrell Arthur. The sophomore forward averaged 23.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks over the final four games. That's quite a performance!

Well, take it for what it is - a video game simulation of 15 games. I definitely can't say I buy into all the results, especially when considering some of the scores. But, after the bracket trouble I have had, who am I to argue?