WSJ - No more Blind Bracket, instead Madness Machine

[IU Hoosier41 14,491]

I miss the blind bracket.  My bracket actually normally did pretty damn good.   Let's see how this one goes this year.  Post your brackets!

 

http://graphics.wsj.com/ncaa-madness-machine/

 

 

The NCAA tournament is the one sporting event, other than Olympic figure skating, in which fan interest greatly outweighs fan knowledge. Millions of Americans will enter a bracket in their office pools this week despite not having watched any college basketball this season. This leads to the inevitable questions: Is North Carolina still good? Why is Northern Iowa ranked so high? What’s a Wofford?

So The Wall Street Journal built a new tool to fix this old problem: the Madness Machine.

The Madness Machine uses data on all 68 tournament teams and generates a customized bracket in a matter of seconds based on your own personal settings for tournament. Do you value offense or defense? Do you prefer size or shooting? Do you think the ability to make free throws is actually important? Each result is a product of thousands of computer simulations, so the top team on paper doesn’t always win, kind of like the actual tournament. Also, if you like predicting chaos, you can adjust the Madness Meter to create more upsets.

The Machine strips away intangibles and only looks at statistics. So it doesn’t loveKentucky as much as you do. The Wildcats still win about 25% of the simulations, regardless of your settings. This makes them the Machine’s most common champion. In Las Vegas, though, undefeated Kentucky is about even money to win it all. The reason that The Machine is slightly skeptical of the 34-0 team: Kentucky’s defensive rebounding percentage ranks 206th in the country, behind schools like James Madison and Houston Baptist, because Kentucky’s obsession with blocks leaves them vulnerable on the boards.

The Machine, of course, is subject to personal preference. Villanova is likely to win if you crank up the importance of 3-point shooting. If it is steals that you prize, VCU might make your Final Four as a No. 7 seed, a result that would be the most surprising thing to happen in the NCAA tournament since the Rams made the Final Four as a No. 11 seed in 2011.

[Walking Boot of Doom 18,170]

I miss the blind bracket.  My bracket actually normally did pretty damn good.   Let's see how this one goes this year.  Post your brackets!

 

http://graphics.wsj.com/ncaa-madness-machine/

Just ran it. IU beats Kentucky in the Elite Eight and loses to Wisconsin in the Final Four. Take it to the bank. Madness Meter was at about 25%....

[swatford 1,235]

Boom: http://graphics.wsj.com/ncaa-madness-machine/DZFCABCMEKGIABCDLFJIABCDEFGIABCDEFGIAECGALCJADFBAEFBECAJABEBCJBBS_BM_JM_J

 

Only took about 5 minutes of tinkering. Start moving those banners over for another one!

[IUHoosier5 2,148]

Villanova is picked a lot for me...

[LIHoosier 27,823]

Boom: http://graphics.wsj.com/ncaa-madness-machine/DZFCABCMEKGIABCDLFJIABCDEFGIABCDEFGIAECGALCJADFBAEFBECAJABEBCJBBS_BM_JM_J

 

Only took about 5 minutes of tinkering. Start moving those banners over for another one!

Just got it too. http://graphics.wsj.com/ncaa-madness-machine/EZFBABCDEFJHABCDEKJHABCMLFJIABCDEFJIAEFBADCJALFJAEFJEBAJAJAJBJAJS_AM_JM_J

Beating Wichita, Kansas, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Ohio St, and Duke.

[Dalton26 17,208]

I got a different team everyone time except once. The team that popped up twice was Gonzaga.

[Dalton26 17,208]

I keep trying it and can't get Indiana past KU but Northern Iowa makes the final four almost every time.

[FortWayneHoosier 6,944]

i was gonna make a thread but i guess ill post this here, this what i used this year for mine

 

http://pregame.com/pregame-forums/f/6/p/1195883/2326776.aspx

[IU Hoosier41 14,491]

Haha I haven't gotten Indiana to win the first game in the 15x I've tried it!

[BlueDevil 9,556]

Haha I haven't gotten Indiana to win the first game in the 15x I've tried it!

You turn the defense slider all the way to 0?

[biteoftheapple 4,115]

Dukies are my big winner

[HoosierReb01 7,591]

Set my preferences, and ran it about 40 times. UK wins about 20-25% of the time. Wisky was second place. All over the place after that. 

[Naturalhoosier 15,478]

I've got OSU winning.  That's a fun little doo-dad.  Never seen that before!