Tag: BracketMaster

Tournament Update Schedule

Today, Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 12:50 EDT, we released the first ‘over-the-air’ database update to Bracket Master.  Download this by going to the app’s Settings Page and clicking on the ‘Check Now for Update’ button.  This updates the projected tournament bracket and includes team statistics for games through Wednesday.  As of this morning the following automatic qualifiers are now in the big dance: Stetson, Montana State, Longwood, College of Charleston, Oakland Michigan, Drake, Wagner, Morehead State, Colgate, Samford, McNeese State, and South Dakota State, James Madison, and Saint Mary’s.

Bracket Master will get another data update after the tournament selection show on Sunday night, followed by a full app update on Monday morning.

The Monday update will include a new feature: the ability to tag your favorite teams and have them appear at the top of the Teams front page listing.  Monday will also include the final regular season statistics and assorted functionality improvements.

As the tournament progresses, we plan to put out data updates the morning after the completion of each round.

Enjoy the tournament, everyone!  It should be a wild one.

Super Scorers

The 2019 season has seen two players reach an elite NCAA milestone by scoring 3,000 points in a career.  Chris Clemons of Campbell University and Mike Daum of South Dakota State join just eight others to have accomplished the lofty feat.  BracketMaster projects South Dakota State (23-7/13-2) to receive the automatic bid for the Summit League into the NCAA Tournament, seeded as #13.  Campbell (17-11/10-4) is currently projected to miss the field as they sit in 2nd place in the Big South Conference, one game behind Radford, who we have earning the berth with a #13 seed.

It looks unlikely that either the Big South (Conference SRS at 21st of 32) or the Summit League (SRS 25th of 32) will receive a tournament bid outside of their automatic berths, so for the Camels and Jackrabbits it’s going to come down to their respective conference championship tournaments.

South Dakota State has made the NCAA Tournament the last three years, but has never won a tourney game.  Campbell has only made the NCAAs once, in 1992.  We’d love to see these two electrifying scorers, Daum and Clemons, in the field of 68 on college basketball’s biggest stage.

Update:

Both of these Super Scorers missed the tournament for their senior season, despite winning their conference’s regular season title.  South Dakota State lost in the Summit Conference Tournament quarterfinals to Western Illinois.  Campbell lost the Big South Conference Tournament final to Gardner-Webb.  The Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs will make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.  Campbell and South Dakota State will have their seasons continue in the NIT.

Where the Inconceivable is Customary

Perhaps the greatest aspect of March Madness is the improbable upset.    Here are a few examples for you to investigate from within BracketMaster.

  • The 1953 Lebanon Valley College Flying Dutchman reached the Sweet Sixteen.  They are the smallest school by enrollment (425 students) to ever advance that far.  LVC currently competes in Division III and were the 1994 Division III Men’s Basketball Champions.
  • Williams College is another very small school (current enrollment: 2,100) that appeared in the NCAA Tournament just one time.  The 1955 Ephs lost in the first round, but have since established themselves as a fine athletics program, winning the 2003 Division III Men’s Basketball Championship.
  • A #11 Seed is the lowest seed to ever reach the Final Four, and it has happened four times:
    • Still fresh in our memory, last year’s Loyola University of Chicago Ramblers advanced out of a busted-bracket South Region to earn their trip to San Antonio.
    • The 2011 Virginia Commonwealth Rams upset #1 seed Kansas to reach the Final Four in Houston.
    • The 2006 George Mason Patriots downed #1 Connecticut to emerge from the East Region.
    • The 1986 LSU Tigers are the only #11 seed to have beaten their region’s #1, #2, and #3 seeds in the same tournament.

Future Development

Your continued support of BracketMaster will encourage us toward making it even better.  Below are some of the ideas we have for future enhancements.

  • “Create your own Bracket” is a much requested feature that we are investigating.  The mobile interface makes it a challenge to efficiently enter teams, but we are looking into possibilities.
  • Add Conference Record by Round.  For example, the Big East is 9-4 in Final Round games.  This data can be obtained using the Game Search Page, but it might be useful to provide a dedicated space for it.
  • Analysis of winning percentage based on the teams’ distance traveled.  Update: As of release 1.2.7, travel distance is considered in the calculation of Scrutinous Odds used for that auto-pick method and for the simulation engine.  Game travel distance is displayed on the Team Comparison Page, shown when you tap on a team on the Picks Page.
  • Additional team ratings and statistics.  Update: In release 1.2.1, all division 1 team seasons since 1998 were added.  Previously, we only included team seasons of schools that made the tournament.  Additionally, Strength of Schedule (SoS), and the Bart Torvik Power Rating were added to the team pages.
  • Separate the Conference Teams Page into sections for current and past members.  Update: Added in release 1.2.1.  Also added the conference record for all their tournament seasons.
  • Present a search function to view a list of games that meet certain criteria.  For example, all games between #8 and #9 seeds, games between Big Ten and ACC teams, etc.  Update: Added in release 1.2.3.  A consolidated results option may be implemented in the future.
  • Furnish a dark themed interface and allow users to select their preferred theme.
  • Possibly provide a font size adjustment setting.
  • Possibly offer a paid ad-free version.
  • Possibly support other languages (with assistance from the community).
  • Build an app focused on the Women’s National Collegiate Championship.

We’d love to hear your thoughts as well — the best way for you to provide this feedback is on our Request a Feature community forum.  If you would like to monetarily support our future development you can contribute through our About page.  Thank you!