Alright folks, sat down this morning buzzing about the WV Boys Basketball scene. Heard rumors flying about potential matchups next year, figured I’d take a crack at predicting that 2025 tournament schedule myself. Didn’t have some fancy database, just my laptop, a cold coffee, and way too many browser tabs open.
Digging Up the Raw Bits
First step? Found last year’s tournament results scattered across different school athletic sites. Man, what a pain! Copied and pasted all the regional champs and runner-ups into one messy spreadsheet. Had schools listed different ways on different sites – sometimes nicknames, sometimes full names – had to straighten that out first.
Next, started tracing where teams from Region 1 usually land in the state bracket versus Region 2 and so on. Looked at recent history, like back to 2022 even. Noticed some teams always seem to climb high if they get past the first round. Others… well, tend to fizzle fast against certain opponents. Wrote little notes next to each team in my sheet: “Tough defense, struggles against fast breaks” or “Strong shooters, depth weak in playoffs”. Pure gut feeling stuff based on random game reports I could find.
Building the Beast (The Schedule Guesses)
Okay, time to connect the dots. Took last year’s bracket format – you know, how it splits the state? – and started slotting in my predictions for the 2025 regional winners. Based purely on where kids graduate and who’s got strong juniors now.
Made a bunch of assumptions:
- Assuming Team A from the North cruises through its section again.
- Figured that upset team from the South last year won’t repeat – they lost their star point guard.
- Put Team B on the opposite side of the bracket from Team C ’cause those two meeting early would be nuts.
- Took a guess on seedings based on regular season rumors about strength.
Ended up scribbling it out on paper first – seriously, actual pen and paper! Lines everywhere. Took that chaos and finally typed it up into a semi-clean list, week by week, pretending I knew the tournament dates.
Predicting the Actual Game Outcomes
This is where it got dicey. Had my hypothetical bracket built. Then forced myself to pick winners. Game by game. Round by round.
- Opener: Went with the higher seed but noted a potential close call.
- Quarters: Picked two “safe” favorites to advance, one slight upset based on history, and one total coin flip game.
- Semis: Dream matchup one side, defensive slog the other.
- Final: Chalk pick for state champ, against a gritty, defensive-minded challenger. Imagined it being close.
Honestly? Felt weird picking scores, so just predicted winners per round. Some picks felt solid, others I knew were blind guesses. Like betting on the weather next month!
The Final Stretch
Stared at this mess I created – my “2025 Schedule & Predictions”. It looks legit… until you remember it’s based on rumors and guesswork! Double-checked I hadn’t accidentally put rivals together too early or forgotten a powerhouse. Finally slapped a title on it and called it done.
My big takeaway? Predicting sports seasons way ahead is fun but wild. You miss so many variables – transfers, injuries, unexpected breakouts. This whole sheet is gonna look hilarious next year when half the things end up dead wrong! But hey, that’s part of the game. Just wanted to map it out and see what could happen. What do you think will go down differently?