Below is our Model 284 consensus bracket for the 2021 NCAA Tournament. As you will see from our Game-by-Game Predictions and Tournament Simulation results, our bracket does not necessarily advance our model’s predicted winner for every single game. Rather, we use a combination of (1) our model’s individual game predictions, (2) our tournament simulation results, (3) injuries / other factors not captured by our models, and (4) consideration of public picks – to make sure we are differentiating our bracket enough from the most popular choices. For those interested, here is a bracket filled out purely using raw model output. Continue reading Model 284 Bracket | March Madness 2021
Category Archives: Basketball
Tournament Simulation | March Madness 2021
The article below shows how our models view this year’s tournament field from a simulation perspective. Each table shows the % chance that each team advances to a given round of the tournament (e.g., in the first table, Gonzaga has a 92.5% chance of advancing to the 2nd round). These figures are calculated based on 1,000 simulations of this year’s tournament, which were performed using win probability and spread predictions from our models. See our related posts for our Full 2021 Tournament Bracket and our Game-by-Game Predictions. Continue reading Tournament Simulation | March Madness 2021
2021 Model 284 March Madness Pool
Can you beat the Model? Enter a March Madness bracket into the group Model 284 for a chance to take on The Model.
2020 Peak NBA Statline Projection Model
Peak NBA Statline Projection (PNSP) is a model used to project NBA success for college and International basketball players. PNSP considers each player’s individual and team statistics, physical measurements, high school scouting ranking, and age/experience. The PNSP model returns a single rating value from 0 to 100, with higher values indicating a “better” NBA prospect. We provide a detailed article outlining how PNSP is formulated here, and PNSP rankings from previous years can be found here. Below are a few highlights for the 2020 NBA Draft Class, and a listing of each player’s PNSP.
2019 NBA Draft Prospect Sentiment Analysis
If you are a frequent reader of Model 284, you can recall we did a sentiment analysis on 2018 NBA Draft Prospects based on scouting reports at The Stepian and NBADraft.com. For those that are unaware, sentiment is a form of NLP (Natural Language Processing) or more formally defined as “the process of computationally identifying and categorizing opinions expressed in a piece of text, especially in order to determine whether the writer’s attitude towards a particular topic, product, etc., is positive, negative, or neutral.” Using Professor Bing Liu’s graded sentiment dictionary, we can analyze text to and identify who is more positively written about. For more information, please read our My Model Monday series article.
2019 Similarity Score Tool
Select any 2019 NBA Draft prospect from the drop-down menu below to view their top 10 most similar college basketball players, as measured by our Similarity Score model. Similarity Scores provide insight into how a player will translate to the NBA based on how their historical comparisons have performed in the NBA. This model considers a player’s college production, physical measurements, and age/experience to generate their most similar historical players. For more background on the calculation of the similarity scores, see this article. This model is one of three pieces that we use to evaluate the NBA potential of college players, with the other two being PNSP and NBA Role Probability Model.
Continue reading 2019 Similarity Score Tool
2019 NBA Role Probability Model
The NBA Role Probability Model predicts the likelihood that a given college basketball player becomes an All-Star, starter, bench player, or does not make it in the NBA. The model considers individual box score statistics, team-level statistics (e.g. strength of schedule), physical measurements, high school scouting rank, position, and age/experience to predict the probability of a player landing each NBA role. For more detail on how this model is formulated, see this article. The Role Probability model is one of three pieces that we use to evaluate the NBA potential of college and international players, with the other two being PNSP and Similarity Scores. In the table below, you can find the model’s predicted probabilities for each 2019 prospect landing in a given role in the NBA.
Continue reading 2019 NBA Role Probability Model
2019 Peak NBA Statline Projection Model
Peak NBA Statline Projection (PNSP) is a model used to project NBA success for college and International basketball players. PNSP considers each player’s individual and team statistics, physical measurements, high school scouting ranking, and age/experience. The PNSP model returns a single rating value from 0 to 100, with higher values indicating a “better” NBA prospect. We provide a detailed article outlining how PNSP is formulated here, and PNSP rankings from previous years can be found here. Below are a few highlights for the 2019 NBA Draft Class, and a listing of each player’s PNSP.
2019 NBA Bracket and Simulation
2019 NBA Playoffs Bracket and Simulation
Below is our projected bracket and simulation results for the 2019 NBA playoffs. These probabilities were generated from a combination of models that are trained on data from the regular season. Continue reading 2019 NBA Bracket and Simulation
Game Predictions | March Madness 2019
The tables below provide our predictions for all games in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The tables will be updated after each round of the tournament, with new games/predictions added as they become available. A brief description of how to interpret the predictions is provided above each table, and a summary of the historical accuracy of each model is provided at the end of the post.
Continue reading Game Predictions | March Madness 2019