This is really the creature I first thought up in these terms, and is in a very real sense a tip of the hat to the "256 team NCAA tournament" crowd. If you read about the New Jersey Gauntlet as I describe it, you have some idea what the characteristics of the beast are: 8 rounds, 256 teams, the final tally of teams with each number of wins follows a binomial distribution (i.e. one team with eight wins, 8 with seven, 28 with six, etc), and, to the extent that there are no upsets, any two teams that play each other have exactly the same record in games outside that matchup, e.g. the four seed and the eleven seed play in the first round, the four seed wins, and each team goes 6-1 in the ensuing seven games. Thus each team plays teams at about its own level.

The pairings that I believe are correct are posted elsewhere because they're huge. I will note that this is more than anything a stunt to give the tournament selection committee a chance to see teams play eight games against competition at their own level; for the first seed to actually beat all eight of its top competitors would be a hell of a feat, for which, when I first thought this up, I appropriated the term "running the gauntlet"; hence my terminology for the event. I would follow this up with a more standard postseason, perhaps guaranteeing any team with six wins a spot in the championship tournament, with seeding based on performance, etc, by The Committee, which will select teams with five wins to fill the available slots.

If the one seed actually does "run the gauntlet", it might be worth cancelling the postseason and just letting them take home the crown and our awe.