The Stat Geek Idol Sweet 16 Entries Are In: Let The Judging Begin!
- 0 comments - > Stat Geek Idol, NCAA Basketball, NCAA Tournament - posted by Stat Geek Idol on March 21, 2012
The NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 tips off Thursday, but our Stat Geek Idol Sweet 16 is already underway.
To refresh your memory, we issued a call to all college basketball stat heads to show off their chops in a blogging and analysis contest. We received 64 first round entries, and trimmed those to 19 (we couldn’t pick just 16) by the time the actual Round of 64 was over. We’ve been publishing them throughout the past week, and you can find a full list of their winning submissions in our last Stat Geek Idol announcement post.
In the meantime, the Sweet 16 have been furiously click-clacking on their laptops, pulling new posts together for this next round. We’ve read a few of the submissions, and we’re pretty excited — all the contestants have seriously stepped up their game.
Their great new stuff is being packaged and shipped off to be judged by our celebrity panel (see “Sweet 16 Judges” below). Those fine fellows will be in charge of narrowing the field to a Final Four, who will then write one final piece each, to be read by the championship round judges: Mark Cuban, Daryl Morey, Dean Oliver, Ken Pomeroy, and Jeff Ma.
At stake for the overall winner? $1000 and some pocket protectors.
The Sweet 16 (+2)
Here’s the full list of advancing contestants who submitted posts for this round. As we publish their entries, we’ll add links here, so you can access all this great writing from one place.
Adrian Atkinson: Defense Wins Championships? No, Offense And Balance Do
Bill Bihn: There’s Nothing Worse Than A Chalky Aftertaste: Big Favorites Relax After Halftime
C.J. Moore: Brick & Immortal: Kansas Survives Purdue Despite Putrid Shooting
Gregory Matthews: Measuring The Madness: 2012 Tournament Off To Craziest Start Ever
Howard Hamilton: Tempo And Efficiency, Before And During the NCAA Tournament
Jack Moore: Lehigh, Duke, And The Equalizing Power Of Free Throws
Jay Cipoletti: Turnovers: Do You Want Them Dead or Live?
Jeff Haley: Can The Kentucky Wildcats Be Beaten By The Fast Break?
John Ezekowitz: Predicting NBA Draft Position From College Performance
Jordan Sperber: Video Charting Wisconsin’s Swing Offense
Kenneth Deakins: Basketball, Probability, And Quantum Mechanics
Kevin Buikema: The Pod System: For Once The NCAA Got Something Right
Kevin Myhre: NCAA Tournament “Overachieving” & The Rise Of The Mid-Major
Martin Manley: What The Heck Are “Seed Gifts” And Why Is Kansas Smiling?
Michael Lopez: When Is A Win More Than A Win? Using Round of 64 Games To Predict Tournament Success
Nathan Walker: Coaches Love Blocks: How Statistics Determine Player Minutes
Travis Gerke: Putting The ‘College’ Back In College Basketball: Can Academics Inform The Bracket?
Tyler Williams: Breaking Down Match Ups: Sweet Sixteen Game Simulations
Sweet 16 Judges
And here’s the list of judges that are lending their time to help with this round contest. Thanks a ton, guys!
We’ll be publishing the Sweet 16 entries over the next few days, as the judges deliberate. The Final Four will be announced this weekend, so stay tuned!
