March Randomness: The Site Selection Spectacular!
This year, I'm picking an NCAA men's basketball tournament randomly based on the past performance of how the various seeds have advanced. Since this has nothing to do with who the actual teams are, there's no reason to wait until after the teams have been invited to the tournament, and so I'll play this game over the course of the week leading up to the tournament. Woohoo!
However, before we get to the games, we have to start with where these games will be played. And how better to choose the locations of a random tournament than to select them randomly! So, I consulted a random number generator and had it give me a sequence of random five digit numbers, and then I plugged these into a ZIP code lookup. If it was not a valid ZIP code in the US, I went to the next number. If it was a valid ZIP code, the city would host a tournement site. With a couple of caveats. I reserved the option to skip a city of fewer than 10,000 people if I wanted to. Also, a few were skipped to spread the locations around the country. And there were a couple of times when the ZIP code was a suburb or small town, and I moved to a neighboring larger city.
And now without further ado, I am pleased to announce the host of my random tournament's Final Four--Montgomery, Alabama! The Dunn-Oliver Acadome (or possibly the Dr. Joe L. Reed Acadome, depending on whether the renaming legislation passes) on the campus of Alabama State University is proud to host the Final Four. (NCAA rules prohibit a team from playing on their home court in the tournament, and so in the event that the ASU Hornets make it to Final Four, it will be moved to the Tyne-Davis Gymnasium at Faulkner University.)
Let the March to Montgomery begin!
The four regional finals were also selected. The West Regional Finals will be in Bellingham, Washington, at the Sam Carver Gymnasium at Western Washington University. The East Regional Finals will be at the gym at Ella T. Grasso Southern Technical High School in Groton, Connecticut. The South Regional Finals will be at Soddy-Daisy High School in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee. And the exciting news is that for the first time, the NCAA Tournament will head north to Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska! The home of the preseason Great Alaska Shootout now hosts the postseason North Regional Finals!
The four 1 seeds are ranked from 1 to 4 and assigned to regions so that in the Final Four, 1 would play 4, and 2 would play 3 if they all advanced. I will assign the overall 1 seed to the Anchorage region, and denote it as the A1 seed, and I will also give all the other seeds in that region an "A-" prefix. Similarly, the second overall 1 will be B1 and play in the Bellingham region. The third C1 will play in the Groton, Connecticut, region, and the fourth D1 will play in the Soddy-Daisy region.
There is also plenty of excitement in the hosts of the opening round games! They are:
1. Moline, Illinois, at the historic Wharton Field House. Built in 1928, it hosted the NBA's Tri-Cities Blackhawks from 1946-1951. It is currently the home of the Moline High School Maroons.
2. Scottsville, Michigan, at the rec center at West Shore Community College!
3. Rockingham, North Carolina. For the first time, NCAA tournament games will be played outdoors at the Rockingham Motor Speedway! It's games are Friday-Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
4. Newark, Delaware, at the University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center
5. Butte, Montana. It will be the most exciting event at the Butte Civic Center since the 2007 funeral of hometown boy Evel Knievel!
6. Clearwater, Florida, (where Evel Knievel died, ah, the insane random connection!) at St. Petersburg College.
7. Fresno, California, at the Save Mart Center at Frenso State University.
8. And not to be outdone, we will honor our troops serving abroad by sending eight teams from the Anchorage region to Ramstein Air Base in Germany! (ZIP codes of the form 09xxx are reserved for military bases in Europe, Canada, Africa, and the Middle East.)
Best of luck to all the teams!
However, before we get to the games, we have to start with where these games will be played. And how better to choose the locations of a random tournament than to select them randomly! So, I consulted a random number generator and had it give me a sequence of random five digit numbers, and then I plugged these into a ZIP code lookup. If it was not a valid ZIP code in the US, I went to the next number. If it was a valid ZIP code, the city would host a tournement site. With a couple of caveats. I reserved the option to skip a city of fewer than 10,000 people if I wanted to. Also, a few were skipped to spread the locations around the country. And there were a couple of times when the ZIP code was a suburb or small town, and I moved to a neighboring larger city.
And now without further ado, I am pleased to announce the host of my random tournament's Final Four--Montgomery, Alabama! The Dunn-Oliver Acadome (or possibly the Dr. Joe L. Reed Acadome, depending on whether the renaming legislation passes) on the campus of Alabama State University is proud to host the Final Four. (NCAA rules prohibit a team from playing on their home court in the tournament, and so in the event that the ASU Hornets make it to Final Four, it will be moved to the Tyne-Davis Gymnasium at Faulkner University.)
Let the March to Montgomery begin!
The four regional finals were also selected. The West Regional Finals will be in Bellingham, Washington, at the Sam Carver Gymnasium at Western Washington University. The East Regional Finals will be at the gym at Ella T. Grasso Southern Technical High School in Groton, Connecticut. The South Regional Finals will be at Soddy-Daisy High School in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee. And the exciting news is that for the first time, the NCAA Tournament will head north to Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska! The home of the preseason Great Alaska Shootout now hosts the postseason North Regional Finals!
The four 1 seeds are ranked from 1 to 4 and assigned to regions so that in the Final Four, 1 would play 4, and 2 would play 3 if they all advanced. I will assign the overall 1 seed to the Anchorage region, and denote it as the A1 seed, and I will also give all the other seeds in that region an "A-" prefix. Similarly, the second overall 1 will be B1 and play in the Bellingham region. The third C1 will play in the Groton, Connecticut, region, and the fourth D1 will play in the Soddy-Daisy region.
There is also plenty of excitement in the hosts of the opening round games! They are:
1. Moline, Illinois, at the historic Wharton Field House. Built in 1928, it hosted the NBA's Tri-Cities Blackhawks from 1946-1951. It is currently the home of the Moline High School Maroons.
2. Scottsville, Michigan, at the rec center at West Shore Community College!
3. Rockingham, North Carolina. For the first time, NCAA tournament games will be played outdoors at the Rockingham Motor Speedway! It's games are Friday-Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
4. Newark, Delaware, at the University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center
5. Butte, Montana. It will be the most exciting event at the Butte Civic Center since the 2007 funeral of hometown boy Evel Knievel!
6. Clearwater, Florida, (where Evel Knievel died, ah, the insane random connection!) at St. Petersburg College.
7. Fresno, California, at the Save Mart Center at Frenso State University.
8. And not to be outdone, we will honor our troops serving abroad by sending eight teams from the Anchorage region to Ramstein Air Base in Germany! (ZIP codes of the form 09xxx are reserved for military bases in Europe, Canada, Africa, and the Middle East.)
Best of luck to all the teams!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home