NCAA EXCEL SIMULATION PROJECT – SPRING SEMESTER – 2018 - AHS

SET UP INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Go to Mr. Scheel’s teacher web page. Under the COURSE MATERIALS section, download the file entitled 2018 NCAA Simulation. It is recommended you first SAVE the file, then OPEN it.
  1. You should see the main page tab entitled “2018”. Every time you push the F9 button, it plays out the entire tournament. There are other tabs for the Sweet Sixteen, Final Four, and Head to Head. Use the appropriate tab for each prescribed task.
  1. If your Excel file develops a fault in it at any point and is not working properly, simply re-download the file as in step A and start again.
  1. You can adjust the “Zoom” level to see more or less of the spreadsheet.

SIMULATION TASKS

For each task, you will be recording data. You have to do each task multiple times (recommended 30 minimum for each), enough to get an accurate feel with what is happening with the results.

  1. Go to the 2018 tab. Focus on cell AP2. Push F9 multiple times and keep a tally sheet of what school wins and how often. Describe in a paragraph what trends you are seeing in the results.
  1. Go to the 2018 tab. Focus on cells AD2, AD18, AD34, and AD50. Push F9 multiple times, each time recording the four schools get to the final four. Get a tally count for each of the 4 cells and describe in a paragraph what trends you see in the results.
  1. Go to the Sweet Sixteen tab. Type in the names and ratings of the teams that you think will make it to the Sweet Sixteen. Focus on cell AD2. Push F9 multiple times and keep a tally sheet of what school wins and how often. Describe in a paragraph what trends you see in the results.
  1. Go to the 2018 tab. Focus on cell L8. Push F9 multiple times. Keep a tally of the results. What percent of the time should Arizona beat Buffalo?
  1. Go to the 2018 tab. Focus on cell J8. Push F9 multiple times and record how many games Arizona wins each time (i.e. how many cells to the right did they advance?). Calculate the mean number of games won. How many times did they make it to the Final Four? (to make it to the Final Four you have to win 4 games)
  1. Go to the 2018 tab. Focus on cell L58. Push F9 multiple times and record each time whether ASU or TCU ends up in that cell. How unlikely is it that ASU will beat TCU? Describe your results in a sentence.
  1. Go to the 2018 tab. Focus on cell J34. Push F9 multiple times and record how many games Villanova wins each time (i.e. how many cells to the right did they advance?). Calculate the mean number of games won. How many times did they make it to the Final Four? (to make it to the Final Four you have to win 4 games)
  1. Go to the Final 4 tab. Type in the four teams that you think will make it to the Final Four. Enter their names under school. Get their OFF and DEF ratings from the main 2018 tab and enter those in. Push F9 multiple times and record who the Champion was each time. Describe your results in a paragraph.
  1. Go to the Head to Head tab. Matchup Arizona vs ASU. Push F9 multiple times. What were your results? Matchup Arizona vs Duke. Push F9 multiple times. What were your results? Compare/contrast the two results.
  1. Go to the Head to Head tab. Matchup two teams of your choosing. Push F9 multiple times. What percent of the time should each team win? Push F9 more times and re-calculate the percent. Did it change? Discuss your findings in a sentence or more?
  1. EXTRA CREDIT: Explore a scenario or two of your own choosing from any of the 4 spreadsheet tabs. Define what the scenario is, record your results (you may choose how many trials, minimum of 30 each suggested) and interpret your results in a paragraph or more.
  1. EXTRA CREDIT: Open the 1972 NCAA Simulation or 2018 NCAA Women’s Tournament Files. See #11 for instructions.