Since there is going to be no NCAA tournament this year, I decided to do a simulation of the NCAA tournament based upon my final projected bracket for the season (http://rfsbracketscience.blogspot.com/p/current-projected-bracket.html). Rather than simply do a quick W/L simulation I decided I wanted to go a little more in-depth with it. I adjusted the depth charts for the teams based on minutes played in recent games and used some online software to project the outcomes along with play-by-play. Here I will include the results of the games along w/ a brief recap. This will be broken up into different segments and will likely be posted over the course of several days (as there is no way I'm going to do this all in 1 sitting).

To get things started we have the games in the "first four":

16 Boston University 77
16 Robert Morris 82 OT

Very exciting first game of the tourney. This was a back and forth game and was tied at halftime. Boston U was up 6 with under 2 minutes left. Robert Morris scored a layup to cut it to 4. They then forced a TO and made a 3 point shot to cut it to 1. They then stole a pass but missed a shot with 13 seconds left. Boston U made 2 FTs to go up by 3 with just 8 seconds left. Robert Morris knocked down 3 point shot from the wing at buzzer to send it to OT. Robert Morris outscores Boston U 11-6 in OT to win the game. Player of the game is AJ Bramah with 22 points and 16 rebounds

11 Wichita St 58
11 Richmond 68

Close first half, Wichita lead most of it but Richmond goes on run to take 5 point lead at halftime. Richmond then takes control int he 2nd half pushing the lead to as much as 18. Wichita St makes a run but can't get closer than 7 and ultimately loses by 10 point margin. Player of the game is Jacob Gilyard with 14 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals.

16 Prairie View 53
16 NC Central 59

This is kind of a crummy game where neither team plays well. There is a 3 minute scoring drought to end 1st half with NC Central up by 1. Second half is back and forth with another 2 1/2 minute scoring drought halfway through with the score tied at 39. NC Central eventually pulls away and wins by 6. Their star player sat on the bench much of the game in foul trouble scoring just 7 points on 3-10 shooting. Player of the game is Deven Palmer with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

11 Xavier 76
11 Stanford 80

Game is close for much of 1st half, but Xavier closes the half on 12-2 run to take 39-28 lead at halftime. Stanford slowly whittles down the lead and pulls ahead by 1 with 10 minutes left to go. The game continues to go back and forth with several lead changes. Stanford gets a little bit of a late margin and then makes its free throws down the stretch to pull out the 4 point win. Co-players of the game are Oscar da Silva with 24 points and 8 rebounds and Tyrell Terry with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists.