Is Duke the smallest starting territory? Are there any teams with no counties due to their proximity to multiple other local schools?
We did this last year (although due to scheduling issues I likely will not be able to do game-by-game updates this season). The more detailed explanation is in last year's thread, but the general principle is that each county in the country is assigned to the 68 NCAA tournament teams by geographic proximity (distance from home arena to geographic center of the county) and then the map consolidates as the games are played (winning team takes losing team's land). Here's the starting map for 2019. Duke has the smallest area by population and third smallest (ahead of only Iona and St. John's) by land area and number of counties - only means there's a lot of land out there for the taking.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Is Duke the smallest starting territory? Are there any teams with no counties due to their proximity to multiple other local schools?
Is St. Mary's really closer to Hawaii than UC Irvine? Seems counter-intuitive.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
PVAMU/Houston also feels strange to me. I suspect it would make more sense if I bothered to understand great circle distance (which is used to calculate who "owns" each county) fully which is probably the cause for the "weirdness".
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Iona, Seton Hall, St. John's and Fairleigh Dickinson are all extremely close together, with Yale not too far away either, but there are a lot of people in that small area. But I don't think they are in as close proximity as Duke, UNC and NCCU. Duke will multiply its footprint many times over with a win in the first round.
Hah! California, an athletically oriented state with a population of 40 million and a gross domestic product bigger than all but four countries, is represented in the NCAAs by the Anteaters and the Gaels.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
I'm surprised the NCCU gets more territory than Duke. But, if they are taking area away from unc, I'm ok with that.
I'm surprised the cheats don't own at least some property in the 48169 zip code.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
By being ever so slightly more southeast in Durham County, NCCU gets all the land in that direction that would otherwise have been Duke's. One or two counties might have been UNC's but for the Eagles being included, but for the most part we lost counties to them (and we can get them back Friday).
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.