November 08 BRI

As of 3:00pm 11/29/08, BRI top 12 teams:

1. Oklahoma - 20 pts - pick 14 - Boaris

2. UNC - 16 pts - pick 1 - Jaybird

3. Syracuse - 14 pts - pick 34 - Babs

4. Duke - 13 pts - pick 6 - CEO

5. UCONN - 13 pts - pick 2 - HippieD

6. Xavier - 12 pts - pick 29 - Phunmunki

7. Clemson - 11 pts - pick 31 - Musash

8. Tennessee - 9 pts - pick - 7 - Musash

8. Pitt - 9 pts - pick - pick 11 - Boaris

8. UNLV - 9pts - pick 26 - HippieD

11. NotreDame - 8 pts - pick 13 - Gunz

11. George Mason - 8 pts - pick 47 - HippieD

11. UAB - 8 pts - pick 49 - Jaybird

11. Texas - 8 pts - pick - 9 - Progress

Week Three Turkey Tourneys

Sure, there are other games, but this week is really all about the tournaments.

Nine "in-season" tournaments are worth points this year. Some probably shouldn't be worth anything, some tournaments aren't counted, but whatever.

Status Report:
Coaches versus Cancer (4 pts.)
Duke (The CEO) wins it over Michigan, Southern Illinois (Gunz) and UCLA (Turtle).

Preseason NIT (4 pts.)
Semis Wed 11/26, finals Fri 11/28
#10 Purdue (Akaoni) faces off with Boston College (Gunz); Oklahoma (Boaris) takes on UAB (Jaybird).

Puerto Rico Tip-Off (3 pts)
Xavier (Phunmunki) took down Missouri, Virginia Tech (Boaris) and Memphis (Gunz) to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. USC (HippieD) lost in the first round to Seton Hall.

Paradise Jam (3 pts)
UCONN (HippieD) was too much for Wisconsin (Phunmunki) and Miami-FL (Notaturtle). San Diego (Jutdog) fell to Wisconsin.

Maui Invitational (3 pts)
North Carolina (Jaybird) faces Notre Dame (Gunz) in the final. Notre Dame beat Texas (ProgressMedia) who knocked off St. Joseph's (Boaris). North Carolina beat Oregon (Musashisan) who knocked off Alabama (Jaybird).

College Basketball Experience Classic (3 pts)
Syracuse (Babblemur) defeated Kansas (Jaybird) and Florida (Akaoni) to win the CBE. Kansas defeated Washington (Akaoni) in the semi round.

Anaheim / 76 Classic (3 pts) Nov. 27-30
St. Mary's (ProgressMedia) vs. UTEP (Notaturtle)
#19 Wake Forest (Jutdog) vs. Cal Fullerton
#14 Arizona State (Babblemur) vs Charlotte (Babblemur)
Baylor (Notaturtle) vs. Providence

Old Spice Classic (3 pts) Nov. 27-30
#12 Tennessee (Musashisan) vs. Siena (The CEO)
#21 Georgetown (Musashisan) vs. Wichita State
#5 Michigan State (Babblemur) vs. Maryland
#9 Gonzaga (Phunmunki) vs. Oklahoma State (HippieD)

Great Alaska Shootout (3 pts) Nov. 25-29
Portland State (Phunmunki) and San Diego State (Babblemur) are the only players with teams in this increasingly irrelevant tournament. They will have to win games against Hampton, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois, Seattle, Western Carolina, and Alaska Anchorage. This tournament is so bad that their website has been off line for the better part of a month, so who plays who and when must be pieced together with espn forensics. Portland State opens against Northern Illinois, San Diego State starts off against Western Carolina.

Week Two Recap: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Week Two is really like the first "real" week, and the pace setters were Phunmunki, Musashisan, The CEO and Boaris.

The Good:

Phunmunki, who celebrated her birthday on Sunday, brought in the most points this week carried by Xavier's remarkable championship in Puerto Rico. They beat a tough Missouri, then beat Boaris' Virginia Tech with a half court buzzer beater, followed by a close win over Gunz' Memphis to take the Puerto Rico Classic. Also for Phunmunki Wisconsin played themselves into the Paradise Jam Finals to be played Monday, and BYU went 3-0 in one of those Basketball Travelers things.

Musashisan drove into first place with 22 points, spread over his entire 8 team force. He also carries the best overall record at 24-2. Tennessee and Clemson took 4 pts each, Iowa, Florida State and St. Louis took 3 pts each.

The CEO was carried by Duke who won the Coaches Versus Cancer Classic, taking down Southern Ill (Gunz) and Michigan to do it. Siena's defeat of Cornell added some points and made up for Mid. Tenn. St and Mt. St. Mary's losses. The CEO finished the week in fourth place.

Boaris, who started the week in first, fell to second place. Pittsburgh and Oklahoma brought home some points, but frankly not a lot of games for Boaris this week. Virginia Tech got shot down in Puerto Rico, Kentucky got smeared by North Carolina, etc.

The Bad:

Gunz choked hard on a pretzel. He lost seven games, including every head to head game against another player he had, won eight games total for the week. Southern Illinois got the double smack down from Duke and UCLA. Memphis lost to Xavier in the Puerto Rico finals, BC lost to St. Louis, etc. Bad.

Jutdog held down last place all week, with the bottom half of his teams losing game after game. San Diego showed some promise, and Louisville, Wake, and OSU have barely started, but until something changes Jut holds onto Cellar Dweller for the Second Week Straight.

Babblemur, however, shouldn't be talkin, given a lackluster week against other players and no significant wins. Charlotte, San Diego State and Tulsa all failed to upset this week.

The Ugly:

• Green Bay (Jutdog) losing to Rollins (Div. II)
• Alabama State (Jaybird) three losses in one week
  
• Arkansas (Gunz) loss to Missouri State
• Morgan State (ProgressMedia) three losses in one week (plus 2 wins)
• Western Michigan (HippieD) still sucks from last week

Standings after week two (ending 11/23):

• 1. Musashisan (24-2) - 32
• 2. Boaris (19-5) - 31
• 3. Phunmunki (21-4) - 30
• 4. The CEO (20-4) - 28
• 5. HippieD (20-9) - 26
• 6. Akaoni (19-6) - 23
• 7. Jaybird (17-6) - 23
• 8. Notaturtle (15-7) - 21
• 9. Babblemur (16-5) - 20
• 10. ProgressMedia (16-8) - 20
• 11. Gunz (17-8) - 19
• 12. Jutdog (13-7) - 15

Lines for visual losers

Week Two - NIT, CVC, Puerto Rico and Paradise

Okay, the third week has better tournaments, but we got some tourney action this week that should be interesting.

Monday & Tuesday are the first rounds of the NIT, with the Final Four next week. Seeing action in the NIT are:
Boston College (Gunz) & Cornell (Jutdog) will meet Tues if both win on Monday
Purdue (Akaoni)
Oklahoma (Boaris) & Davidson (ProgressMedia) will meet Tues if both win on Monday
Arizona (ProgressMedia) & UAB (Jaybird) will meet Tues if both win on Monday

Coaches vs. Cancer (Nov. 20-21)
Duke (CEO) v. Southern Illinois (Gunz)
UCLA (Notaturtle) v. Michigan ( - )

Likely to be a UCLA v. Duke show down on Friday, don't miss that one.

Puerto Rico Tip-off (Nov. 20-23)
Virginia Tech (Boaris) & Xavier (Phunmunki) will face off Friday if both win on Thursday
Memphis (Gunz) & USC (HippieD) will face off Friday if both win on Thursday
Finale on Sunday

Paradise Jam (Nov 21-24)
Miami (FL) (Notaturtle) & UCONN (HippieD) will face off Saturday if both win on Friday
San Diego (Jutdog) & Wisconsin (Phunmunki) will face off Saturday if both win on Friday
Finale on Monday the 24th.

Other GREAT games this week:

• Monday, Boaris' Pittsburgh takes on Gunz Miami-Ohio, maybe for first place. Pitt will likely still be a top 10 team, meaning Gunz could take home 5 points if they pull off the upset.
• Tuesday, North Carolina (Jaybird) v. Kentucky (Boaris) - Kentucky already tasted defeat, can they taste victory? 5 points if they do.
  
• Saturday, Cornell (Jutdog) v. Siena (The CEO) - Aren't you just curious how good these two teams might actually be since they are virtual locks to win their respective conferences?
  

Week One Recap: Gunz a blazzin'

Gunz and Boaris defied pre-season polls and leaped to the front of the standings in the first week led largely by the fact that their teams played a lot of games. But not only that, they won games.

Gunz went 9-1, with all eight of his teams scoring a victory, and his only loss was Miami-Ohio to #5 UCLA, and they stayed in the whole game. Old Dominion picked off Babblemur's Charlotte and Southern Illinois played their way into the Coaches vs. Cancer finals next week. Gunz finished with 11 points.

Boaris had the highest pick team picked off when Kentucky fell to VMI, and St. Joseph's dropped one to Holy Cross, but his Oklahoma team beat down Progress's American U., and Butler beat Akaoni's Drake, giving him 11 points all in all next to Gunz.

Two players managed to remain undefeated, both Iowans. Musashisan went 8-0 and took 10 points led by Clemson's sweep in the Charleston Classic, taking out Jut's Temple in the final game. NotaTurtle went 5-0 including UCLA beating off Miami-Ohio to head to the Coaches Cancer Classic finals.

The CEO and Babblemur finished the week with 8 points a piece. The CEO was 8-1 led by Duke's three wins. Babblemur went 6-1, with Creighton knocking off New Mexico (Akaoni), but Charlotte falling to Old Dominion (Gunz).

HippieD became the first punching bag as their eighth pick Western Michigan got beat up 3 games straight in the Charleston Classic, including an embarassing loss to Div. II SIU-Edwardsville, costing HippieD 2 points. He finished with 7 thanks to wins by George Mason over Vermont (Phun) and UNLV over San Diego (Jut).

Phunmunki, Jutdog, Jaybird and Akaoni all finished the week with 6 points a piece. Three lost every head-to-head match up they had, while Jaybird faced no one. ProgressMedia brought up the rear with 5 points.

CORRECTION: JUTDOG FINISHED WITH ONLY 3 POINTS, LAST PLACE. PROGRESS MEDIA IS NOT THE WORST TEAM, JUTDOG IS.

Head to Head Matchups:
Thursday Nov. 13
#4 UCLA (Turtle) defeats Miami-Ohio (Gunz)

Friday Nov. 14
Oklahoma (Boaris) defeats American (Progress)

Saturday Nov. 15
Illinois St. (Progress) defeats Wright St. (Akaoni)
George Mason (HippieD) defeats Vermont (P-munk)
UNLV (HippieD) defeats San Diego (Jutdog)
Butler (Boaris) defeats Drake (Akaoni)

Sunday Nov. 16
Creighton (Babs) defeats New Mexico (Akaoni)
Old Dominion (Gunz) defeats Charlotte (Babs)
Clemson (Musa) defeats Temple (Jutdog)

Babblemur Bulletin Week 1 preview

The first few weeks of college basketball are like light appetizers for the meal to come. This year is no different. A scattering of games before us before things begin to pick up for real on Friday Nov. 14. The CEO, as he predicted, took the lead on the first day with a Duke thumping of Presbyterian as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer event, that will later see Southern Illinois (Gunz), Miami Ohio (Gunz), Northeastern (Jaybird) and UCLA (Notaturtle) in play for this four point tourney. Congratulations, CEO, you are winning 1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.

But coming up this first week we have some head to head match ups that may set the tone for the contest, especially for Akaoni who has 3 head to head games already and Boaris, Babblemur, HippieD, and ProgressMedia, who have 2 each. Of the seven head to head games this week, each are early first tests for a number of mid-major picks with Oklahoma the only major conference team to face some stiff competition from mid-major favorite American. The best two games on the board (in my opinion) are Jutdog's San Diego, the ugly step-sister of the WCC, facing off with the touted UNLV of HippieD; Also New Mexico (Akaoni) vs. Creighton (Babblemur) is a great showcase that could set the tone between these two player nemeses.

11/14 - American U. (ProgressMedia) v. Oklahoma (Boaris)
11/15 - George Mason (HippieD) v. Vermont (Phunmunki)
11/15 - San Diego (Jutdog) v. UNLV (HippieD)
11/15 - Illinois State (ProgressMedia) v. Wright State (Akaoni)
11/15 - Butler (Boaris) v. Drake (Akaoni)
11/16 - New Mexico (Akaoni) v. Creighton (Babblemur)
11/16 - Old Dominion (Gunz) v. Charlotte (Babblemur)

However every player has games this week, and each game is worth one point per win, as long as it is against a Division I opponent. Many of these early games are against Div. II patsies, which give no points for winning but count for minus 2 for losing. Careful, Southern Illinois! Watch out, Ohio State!

There is one tournament that isn't worth any bonus points, partially because it is a new 'in-season' tournament, and partially because Jutgod doesn't seem to appreciate these early season showdowns as much as I do. If he did he would have advocated more points for the winners, and recognized showdowns like the Charleston Classic taking place this weekend in the city I just visited, Charleston, SC. This puppy will feature Western Michigan (HippieD), Temple (Jutdog), and Clemson (Musashisan) in an 8 team tourney starting Friday.

But I like to focus on the "positive", so given this weeks games, this is what each player could potentially take in as points:

Akaoni: 16 (3 head to head games)
Babblemur: 11 (2 h2h)
Boaris: 12 (2 h2h)
Gunz: 14 (1 h2h with a possible Miami-ohio vs. UCLA showdown on the 13th)
HippieD: 16 (2 h2h with potentially more with Western Michigan in the Charleston Classic)
Jaybird: 8 (slow start for the pre-season favorite)
Jutdog: 11 (depends on how Temple does in the Charleston Classic)
Musashisan: 12 (depends on how Clemson does in the Charleston Classic)
Notaturtle: 7 (keepin' a low profile for the first week, but we get a sneak peak at UCLA)
Phunmunki: 9 (Vermont's big first test against George Mason)
ProgressMedia: 8 (2 h2h, American and Illinois State put to early tests on this mid-major heavy squad)
The CEO: 9 (Duke put to an early test)

So while The CEO is leading on day one by one point, don't be surprised to see Akaoni or HippieD out in front by next Monday morning!

Keep up with the game status here:
http://www.geocities.com/babblemurbball/

Our Official Spreadsheet of Basketball Love here


Scoreboard (ESPN) here:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/scoreboard?confId=50

08/09 Pre-Season Poll

The season starts tomorrow! Here's the Babblemur Pre-Season Poll:

Rank / Player / (1st place votes)

1. Jaybird (2)
2. Jutdog (1)
3. Notaturtle (1)
4. Babblemur
5. The CEO
6. ProgressMedia
7. Phunmunki (1)
8. Akaoni
9. Boaris
10. HippieD
11. Gunz
12. Musashisan

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Worst Picks / # of votes:

Iowa - Musashisan (3)
Boston College - Gunz (2)
Richmond - HippieD (1)
Kentucky -Boaris (1)
George Mason - HippieD (1)
Texas A&M - Akaoni (1)
Stanford - Boaris (1)
New Mexico - Akaoni (1)
Purdue - Akaoni (1)
Florida St - Musashisan (1)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Best Picks / # of votes

West Virginia - Babblemur (2)
Marquette - Jaybird (2)
Vermont - Phunmunki (1)
Stephen F. Austin - Jutdog (1)
UAB - Jaybird (1)
San Diego - Jutdog (1)
Charlotte - Babblemur (1)
Mississippi - Notaturtle (1)
Baylor - Notaturtle (1)
North Carolina - Jaybird (1)
St Marys - Jaybird (1)

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Check Draft HERE

Check THE SPREADSHEET Here