One of my favorite sports is college basketball. One of my favorite teams from recent years is the 2015-16 Pepperdine Waves. In my first basketball simulation, I replayed Pepperdine’s West Coast Conference schedule from that year using three different game systems to see how it would turn out.
The 2015-16 Waves went 18-14 overall and finished in fourth place in the WCC with a 10-8 mark. They would play in the semifinals of the WCC Tournament and compete in the postseason CBI. Pepperdine went 3-3 against the WCC’s “Big Three” in the regular season, beating Saint Mary’s twice and BYU once. Stacy Davis became the program’s all-time leading scorer and Lamond Murray Jr. had a breakout season.
This was a little bit of a “What If” scenario for the Waves. A couple of key bench players were hurt and missed most of the WCC season. I made them available during the simulations.
Each of the 18 games were played three times. One was a cards-and-dice game called CB2K, made by ASG Games. I rolled the dice for both teams. The other two were on the computer. With Action! PC Basketball made by Dave Koch Sports, I let the computer simulate those games. Amazingly, someone created a working version of a DOS game I played 30+ years ago, Lance Haffner’s Courtside College Basketball. I played as Pepperdine vs. the computer on that platform.
The Waves ended up finishing better than real life in two of the simulations, going 13-5 in Action! PC and 11-7 in Courtside College Basketball. They matched their record of 10-8 in CB2K. See the season recap link for all the statistics.
This project ran from February through April of 2023.
12/21/2015 Pepperdine at Gonzaga
Real: [L] Gonzaga 99, Pepperdine 73 — 0-1
CB2K: [L] Gonzaga 85, Pepperdine 71 — 0-1
APC: [L] Gonzaga 100, Pepperdine 89 — 0-1
CCB: [L] Gonzaga 84, Pepperdine 68 — 0-1
12/23/2015 Pepperdine at Portland
Real: [L] Portland 87, Pepperdine 79 — 0-2
CB2K: [L] Portland 73, Pepperdine 51 — 0-2
APC: [W] Pepperdine 91, Portland 79 — 1-1
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 85, Portland 74 — 1-1
1/2/2016 Loyola Marymount at Pepperdine
Real: [W] Pepperdine 68, LMU 65 (OT) — 1-2
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 81, LMU 74 — 1-2
APC: [W] Pepperdine 89, LMU 88 — 2-1
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 91, LMU 90 — 2-1
1/7/2016 Pacific at Pepperdine
Real: [W] Pepperdine 81, Pacific 76 — 2-2
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 65, Pacific 48 — 2-2
APC: [W] Pepperdine 102, Pacific 100 — 3-1
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 69, Pacific 56 — 3-1
1/9/2016 Saint Mary’s at Pepperdine
Real: [W] Pepperdine 67, Saint Mary’s 64 — 3-2
CB2K: [L] Saint Mary’s 79, Pepperdine 71 — 2-3
APC: [W] Pepperdine 77, Saint Mary’s 69 — 4-1
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 84, Saint Mary’s 72 — 4-1
1/14/2016 Pepperdine at Santa Clara
Real: [L] Santa Clara 62, Pepperdine 60 — 3-3
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 77, Santa Clara 72 — 3-3
APC: [W] Pepperdine 61, Santa Clara 50 — 5-1
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 69, Santa Clara 64 — 5-1
1/16/2016 Pepperdine at San Francisco
Real: [W] Pepperdine 98, San Francisco 84 — 4-3
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 74, San Francisco 67 — 4-3
APC: [L] San Francisco 77, Pepperdine 74 — 5-2
CCB: [L] San Francisco 72, Pepperdine 69 — 5-2
1/21/2016 San Diego at Pepperdine
Real: [W] Pepperdine 76, San Diego 58 — 5-3
CB2K: [L] San Diego 78, Pepperdine 62 — 4-4
APC: [W] Pepperdine 101, San Diego 69 — 6-2
CCB: [L] San Diego 64, Pepperdine 56 — 5-3
1/23/2016 BYU at Pepperdine
Real: [W] Pepperdine 71, BYU 65 — 6-3
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 72, BYU 70 — 5-4
APC: [W] Pepperdine 76, BYU 71 — 7-2
CCB: [L] BYU 81, Pepperdine 64 — 5-4
1/28/2016 Pepperdine at San Diego
Real: [W] Pepperdine 75, San Diego 65 — 7-3
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 77, San Diego 54 — 6-4
APC: [W] Pepperdine 88, San Diego 74 — 8-2
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 71, San Diego 62 — 6-4
1/30/2016 Pepperdine at BYU
Real: [L] BYU 88, Pepperdine 77 — 7-4
CB2K: [L] BYU 84, Pepperdine 57 — 6-5
APC: [L] BYU 99, Pepperdine 94 — 8-3
CCB: [L] BYU 74, Pepperdine 59 — 6-5
2/4/2016 Portland at Pepperdine
Real: [L] Portland 73, Pepperdine 70 — 7-5
CB2K: [L] Portland 80, Pepperdine 77 (OT) — 6-6
APC: [W] Pepperdine 91, Portland 84 — 9-3
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 85, Portland 59 — 7-5
2/6/2016 Gonzaga at Pepperdine
Real: [L] Gonzaga 69, Pepperdine 66 — 7-6
CB2K: [L] Gonzaga 79, Pepperdine 60 — 6-7
APC: [W] Pepperdine 66, Gonzaga 48 — 10-3
CCB: [L] Gonzaga 97, Pepperdine 73 — 7-6
2/11/2016 Pepperdine at Saint Mary’s
Real: [W] Pepperdine 69, Saint Mary’s 63 — 8-6
CB2K: [L] Saint Mary’s 73, Pepperdine 70 — 6-8
APC: [L] Saint Mary’s 87, Pepperdine 85 (OT) — 10-4
CCB: [L] Saint Mary’s 87, Pepperdine 62 — 7-7
2/13/2016 Pepperdine at Pacific
Real: [W] Pepperdine 65, Pacific 63 (OT) — 9-6
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 75, Pacific 72 — 7-8
APC: [W] Pepperdine 72, Pacific 71 — 11-4
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 59, Pacific 47 — 8-7
2/18/2016 San Francisco at Pepperdine
Real: [L] San Francisco 82, Pepperdine 72 — 9-7
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 72, San Francisco 59 — 8-8
APC: [L] San Francisco 77, Pepperdine 70 — 11-5
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 63, San Francisco 51 — 9-7
2/20/2016 Santa Clara at Pepperdine
Real: [W] Pepperdine 88, Santa Clara 76 — 10-7
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 62, Santa Clara 58 — 9-8
APC: [W] Pepperdine 70, Santa Clara 67 — 12-5
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 84, Santa Clara 55 — 10-7
2/27/2016 Pepperdine at Loyola Marymount
Real: [L] Loyola Marymount 90, Pepperdine 83 (2OT) — 10-8
CB2K: [W] Pepperdine 67, Loyola Marymount 66 — 10-8
APC: [W] Pepperdine 97, Loyola Marymount 95 (OT) — 13-5
CCB: [W] Pepperdine 79, Loyola Marymount 66 — 11-7
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 