What’s happening? No. 10 seed Western Illinois is facing No. 7 seed Louisville in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA tournament in our ‘College Hoops 2K8’ sim. We’re going to watch the simulated game and live stream it on Twitch tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Where can I watch? My Twitch channel
Do I need to sign up for anything? No. You only have to create a free Twitch account if you want to comment in the live chat feature, which is always poppin’.
IF WE WIN: We face the winner of No. 2 seed Dayton vs. No. 15 seed UC Riverside in the round of 32 tonight. We will sim and watch the round of 32 game shortly after the buzzer in the first round should we defeat Louisville.
So no one is controlling the teams? That’s correct. I only do the recruiting and set the coaching strategies for Western Illinois. We are watching a simulated game.
I’m on Twitch now so come hang out.
Read all about this season with the Leathernecks: Western Illinois, Year 16, 2022-2023.
ALSO SIGN UP FOR THE BRACKET CONTEST
Yes, we’re running a bracket contest this season. CLICK HERE TO GET THE APP. It was created by Sean Vinsel of Hoops Insight — it works on both desktop and mobile.
We’re going to cut off entries when we tip at 8:30 p.m. ET unless people need a little more time. Here’s a look at the full bracket:
I took a picture of the roster for every team in the tournament field.
Find the rosters for the left side of the bracket (the East and West regionals) here
Find the rosters for the right side of the bracket (the South and Midwest regionals) here
How the bracket contest works
We’re using ‘standard’ scoring: you get one point for correctly picking a team in the first round, two points for correctly picking a team in the second round, four points for correctly picking a team in the Sweet 16, eight points for correctly picking a team in the Elite Eight, 16 points for correctly picking a team in the Final Four, 32 points for correctly picking the national champion.
What does the winner get?
The winner gets to create themselves or a character as a recruit for next season. They also get to pick the opponent we will open the season with next year. We will again plan on streaming the season opener for Year 17 just like we did for this year.
Maybe your created player signs with the Leathernecks. Maybe they sign elsewhere and we follow their career at another school from afar. Either way, it should be a fun, new interactive element to our dynasty.
I’ll be doing a pre-game press conference as soon as you get this email, so come hang out with me on Twitch.
Here’s a look at the Western Illinois roster heading into the NCAA tournament:
The biggest storyline from this season has been the historic performance of senior center Roberto ‘Jorts’ Djordjevic. Jorts broke the program’s single-season scoring record by averaging 25.9 points per game this season and also broke the all-time scoring record by becoming the first Leatherneck to ever score more than 2,000 points in his career. The reigning Summit League Player of the Year is a dynamic offensive threat at 7’1 who excels at finishing inside and can also stretch the defense with his jump shot.
Senior small forward Garik Frye (93 overall) and junior French shooting guard Kim Kone (89 overall) are our two top threats on the perimeter. Frye is a shaky three-point shooter but elite defender and great finisher. Kone is a natural 6’7 point guard who brings size, shooting, and playmaking as he slides to the two.
Our opponent is the No. 7 seed Louisville Cardinals. Here’s a look at Louisville’s roster:
Here’s how the two teams stack up:
IF we beat Louisville, we’ll stream the round of 32 game tonight (likely against No. 2 seed Dayton), too. If we win that game as well, the Sweet 16 stream will be Tuesday night at the same time.
If we lose tonight, we will sim through the NCAA tournament and determine the winner of the bracket pool. I will have to enter all of the winning teams on the app so I ask for your patience should that happen.
Western Illinois history
The Leathernecks have won two national championships in the first 15 years under Coach Rick. We claimed our first national title in 2015 and our second in 2020. We have advanced past the first weekend of the tournament four times in program history.
Last season we lost in the Sweet 16 to Texas, then saw our best players turn pro early. The season before that (Year 14) we blew an 18-point lead to Indiana in the first round of the tournament and lost.
I’m on Twitch now. Click here to join.
This is my first stream since becoming a TWITCH AFFILIATE. I’m still not entirely sure what that means but it sounds cool. Come hang out. Play our bracket contest — and get the app!
This is going to be a really fun night.
Wow - Jorts is the top ranked Centre in the tournament along with Green from Utah and Graves from Clemson. Hopefully we can ride that advantage.
Also, what is going on with Clemson and Alabama. Both teams are stacked.