Introducing: the Coliseum Invitational

Today, I have decided to bring back something I used to do in earlier iterations of my sports blog: the simulated basketball tournament. I would randomly pick 32 teams I liked from the college basketball season and use WhatIfSports to see which team would come out on top. I'm now set to bring back those good ol' days with the Coliseum Invitational. 

This time around, I'm picking 31 schools that I have either been on the campuses of or know people that attend them. The 32nd team is the champion of the ILLHoops Tournament I ran to see which team from the state of Illinois would come out as the victor. In its inaugural edition, Southern Illinois will be the representative from the Land of Lincoln.

With the teams selected, I then used each school's RPI to match them up serpentine style into four regions.

The Field of 32 is as follows:

REGION 1

#1 Ohio State vs. #8 Howard

#2 Oregon vs. #7 Manhattan

#3 Cincinnati vs. #6 Southern Illinois

#4 Vanderbilt vs. #5 Dayton

REGION 2

#1 Syracuse vs. #8 Florida A&M

#2 Iowa State vs. #7 SMU

#3 Alabama vs. #6 Georgia Tech

#4 Nebraska vs. #5 USC

REGION 3

#1 UNLV vs. #8 Hofstra

#2 Temple vs. #7 Eastern Michigan

#3 Tennessee vs. #6 George Washington

#4 Stanford vs. #5 Princeton

REGION 4

#1 Creighton vs. #8 Jackson State

#2 Missouri vs. #7 Nebraska-Omaha

#3 Air Force vs. #6 Delaware

#4 Iowa vs. #5 Texas-Arlington

...and here is how the schedule will break down for the Invitational:

3/26: Regional Quarterfinals (Region 1 & Region 4)

3/27: Regional Quarterfinals (Region 2 & Region 3)

3/28: Regional Semifinals (Region 1 & Region 4)

3/29: Regional Semifinals (Region 2 & Region 3)

3/31: Regional Finals (All regions)

4/3: National Semifinals (Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO; Teams will be paired by RPI)

4/5: Coliseum Invitational Final (Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO)

You'd have to assume Ohio State and Syracuse are the favorites to take win it all, but in these types of tournaments, who knows. That's what so fun about it. I hope you enjoy the ride, and we will see who will be crown the Coliseum Invitational champion.