ORE
FILED UNDER:
The start of Western Illinois’ NCAA tournament run in Year 20, continued
We pick up with the Leathernecks facing No. 5 Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA tournament in our College Hoops 2K8 sim.
By Ricky O'Donnell Aug 17, 2020, 1:25pm EDT 12 Comments
Share this story
Welcome back to our simulated dynasty with the Western Illinois Leathernecks inCollege Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this project + spoiler-free links to previous seasons here. Check out the introduction to this series from early April for full context. As a reminder, I simulate every game in this series (even the ones we watch on Twitch) and only handle the recruiting and coaching strategies.
We pick up with Western Illinois in the first round of the 2027 NCAA tournament.Here’s a recap of everything that has happened so far this season:
Western Illinois entered the season seeking redemption after losing to Cal in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year. We began the new season rated as a 96 overall with three new starters. We went 3-6 against a difficult non-conference schedule before sweeping the Summit League and again capturing the conference tournament championship.
We enter the tournament as a No. 12 seed. Our opponent in the first round is No. 5 seed Minnesota.
We recruited for one scholarship and are in position to land five-star JUCO shooting guard Edwin Wolfe in the spring.
READ: Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027
Here’s a look at our roster heading into the 2027 NCAA tournament:
Not going to lie, there’s some real pressure heading into this tournament run in my 20th season as head coach at Western Illinois. We saw our season end in the Elite Eight in Year 16, Year 17, and Year 18. We lost in the first round last season. While I already have a strong case as the greatest mid-major coach in college basketball history, we all know this is a “what have you done for me lately” culture. It will be so hard to face the fanbase if we bow out early again.
Unfortunately, our shaky non-conference slate means we got a raw deal by the selection committee. It’s going to be a tough road through the bracket for us as a No. 12 seed, and it starts against a talented Minnesota team. Both teams enter the game rated as a 98 overall.
Minnesota is real good — you can check out the Golden Gophers’ roster here. Their senior shooting guard Carlos Klatsky is rated as a 95 overall — only four players are rated higher entering the tournament — and he’s matched up against our redshirt freshman Mathew Alloway. Their front court is stacked. Their five best players are either juniors or seniors. I am expecting this to be tough as hell.
The one thing giving me confidence is how we performed in the regular season against No. 1 Louisville in a game we watched together on Twitch. We gave the Cards all they could handle in a true road game before losing in the end. I love our inside-outside combination with senior small forward Wilky Henry and junior power forward Allan Cunningham. I trust our guards more than I did last year. While we have struggled in quick sim games, the pieces on this squad fit together better when we watch full games together on Twitch, I think. We need to take care of the ball, dominate the glass, and hopefully get a stellar performance from Henry as our go-to option on the perimeter.
We streamed this game on Twitch on Sunday night. As always, I’m not controlling Western Illinois; we’re watching a simulated game played by the computer. I’m not playing any of the games in this series, I only do the recruiting and set the coaching strategies. We did do something new this year, though: for the first time, I’m allowing myself to make in-game substitutions. Why not? There’s too much pressure to let poor rotation choices cost us.
The game should begin when you press play. Let’s go!
***
***
***
***
***
***
***
Win, 89-72! We’re onto the round of 32 where we will face No. 4 seed Ole Miss.
“SECOND HALF TEAM” has become a rallying cry for our Leathernecks during the Twitch chat, and it paid off once again. Thank the heavens, because that first half was tense. Our defense looked good, but Minnesota was still matching baskets with us the entire way. We couldn’t get anything going from three-point range early. I was wondering who was going to step up to be the hero, but instead the whole team pretty much raised its level of play in the second half.
A few shout-outs:
Wilky Henry was outstanding — he was up to 24 points on the night when we pulled the starters with about five minutes remaining. Henry didn’t do anything in our first round tournament loss to Cal last year (7 points in 33 minutes), so it was great to see him splashing threes and using his size (6’8, 240+ pounds) to bully people at the rim. That is exactly the type of performance we need out of him to keep winning.
Allan Cunningham is simply an all-time Stream Team performer. Dude is so big (6’11, 290 pounds) but still so graceful, and has three-point touch to match. For all the praise we give Ham — read our beat writer Matthew Morrow on Cunningham coming into the season — we often overlook his passing ability. Not anymore: Ham was dropping dimes like a vintage Chris Webber in this one, beating constant double-teams in the second half by kicking out to open shooters. Beautiful stuff.
Our center Pat Giddens has been generally maligned by the fanbase for being too short (6’9) and too overweight (close to 300 pounds), but he’s also the highest rated junior in the NCAA tournament. I was waiting for his production to match his ratings, and it finally happened. Giddens looks formidable offensively and held his own protecting the rim. Good stuff — we need more of that is we want to keep winning.
Reader Abby blessed us with clips from the win. My favorites: this three-pointer from Silky Wilky:
Manual subs! Featuring a Cunningham steal and finish:
Nice block by backup center Kevin Brazzle + a knockdown jumper from freshman guard Mathew Alloway:
Bring on Ole Miss.
No. 12 Western Illinois vs. No. 4 Ole Miss, round of 32, 2027 NCAA tournament
Another tough matchup for our Leathernecks. Ole Miss enters the game as a 99 overall, which is one point higher than us. They have five players rated in the 90s, though most of their talent is in the backcourt and on the wing rather than in the front court. Here’s a look at the roster:
We need Cunningham and Giddens to eat inside. Waiting for us in the Sweet 16 would be a matchup with top-seeded Dayton, who are led by junior big man Matt Boswell, the player we created for the first-ever winner of our bracket contest. That would be such a fun game.
We also streamed this game on Twitch on Sunday night. Again: we’re watching a simulated game, I’m not controlling the teams. The game should start when you press play. If not, go to the 1-hour, 11-minute mark on the video below. Click through if you want to see the Twitch chat’s running commentary.
LET’S GO!
***
***
***
***
***
***
Win, 116-85! We’re going to the Sweet 16! Here are the tempo-free team stats from @akulawolf:
@SBN_Ricky not sure it's possible to be much better than this offensivelypic.twitter.com/zRvek6XJfz
— Steven (@akulawolf) August 17, 2020
We just witnessed the best NCAA tournament performance in program history. Wilky Henry, have yourself a day!
Here’s what I wrote about Henry at the start of the season: “Henry needs to be a superstar this year for this team to play up to its potential.” It happened in an epic way, and we’re going to the Sweet 16 because of it. Henry was absolutely unconscious, pouring in 46 points on 10-of-16 shooting from three-point range. He shattered the program’s previous tournament scoring record of 34 points set by Kim Kone in Year 17.
Honestly, it felt like he could have scored 60 easily. We pulled the starters with 9:35 seconds left as we were up 22 points. I tried to manually sub Henry back in to get 50, but the game took him out right away. LOL. Still an unreal performance either way.
Seriously, man: 46 points on 27 shots in 26 minutes. We might never see a performance like that again in Leathernecks history. Let’s go the clips from reader Abby, starting with a three and then a dunk from Wilky:
More Wilky:
Nice pass from Wilky to point guard Tron Whaley:
Silky Wilky forever. We’re going to need him to keep going, because we’re moving onto the Sweet 16 to face No. 1 seed Dayton.
No. 12 Western Illinois vs. No. 1 Dayton, Sweet 16, 2027 NCAA tournament
Dayton enters the game as a 97 overall — we’re a 98 overall. This is how the two teams matchup:
Here’s a look at Dayton’s roster led by one-time bracket contest winner, studio host, and created baller Matt Boswell. This is going to be an all-out battle. And we’re going to watch the simulated game together on Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. Please join us.
Here’s how to watch Western Illinois vs. Dayton in the Sweet 16:
Game: No. 12 seed Western Illinois vs. No. 1 seed Dayton, Sweet 16, 2027 NCAA tournament
How to watch: My Twitch channel
Date: Tuesday, Aug. 18
Tip-off time: 8:30 p.m. ET // 7:30 p.m. CT. The stream will start a little earlier.
If we win: Elite Eight game against the winner of No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 6 Pitt will follow immediately after.
Put Lakers vs. Blazers on one screen and the Leathernecks on the other. This is going to be a blast. A few links before I get out of here:
Join the Leathernecks Reddit for continued discussion on the team. We also have a fan-started Twitter account (with spoilers of Twitch streams before the recap goes out) and Instagrampage you can follow.
Reader Evan’s Leathernecks recruiting database now includes size progression over time. He wrote about it on Reddit, but it’s wild seeing some of these changes. For example: Wilky Henry has gained three inches and 43 pounds since he committed. I hope no one gives him a PED test before the Sweet 16.
We had 130 entries in the bracket contest this year. Hell yeah. Check outSean’s Blog Team app for the current standings, which works on desktop and mobile.
WESTERN ILLINOIS VS. DAYTON
SWEET 16
I’LL SEE YOU THERE
GO ‘NECKS.
Would you like email updates for this series? If so, add your email to this Google Form.
NEXT UP IN MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Our simulated video game basketball team attempts a historic comeback in the NCAA tournament
Howard is the HBCU becoming college basketball’s offseason champs
We got the greatest simulated video game ending ever with our upstart college basketball team
Sponsored Content