THE FINAL WEEK

Our long nightmare is almost over, just in time for planting season for us farmers.

It is down to three potential winners, all in the Final Four

Semi-Finals on Saturday are worth 17 points (plus 2 for beating another player, 1 for the win):
North Carolina (Jaybird) vs Villanova (The CEO)
UCONN (HippieD) vs Michigan State (Babblemur)

Championship Game is worth 21 points (plus 2 for beating another player, 1 for the win)

Prognosis: If North Carolina, Michigan State or Villanova win the National Championship, Jaybird, Babs or The CEO, currently in 5th, 1st and 4th place, will win it all.

If UCONN wins the National Championship, HippieD will rise from 11th to 9th place, but who will finish in first then??? Jaybird or The CEO will pick up 20 points Saturday, putting them at either 452 or 453, still 2 points behind Babblemur. With neither having teams playing in the NIT, CBI, or CIT, that's it - if UCONN wins, Babblemur wins.

NIT - Butter Battle in a Bottle

Still points going on here - Semi Finals on Tuesday are worth 4 points (plus 2 for beating another player, 1 for the win):

San Diego State (Babblemur) vs Baylor (NotaTurtle)
Penn State (Musashisan) vs Notre Dame (Gunz)

Finals on Thursday are worth 7 points (plus the you know)

Commentary: If the CEO or Jaybird were just a little closer to Babs, the NIT may have become the decider in either putting Babblemur over the top or keeping them below the mark. Now it is for glory only.

CBI: Best 2 out of 3?

Whatever, I guess it is something different. Tonight UTEP (NotaTurtle) and Oregon St (Musashisan) play the first in a best of 3 game series for the CBI Title, worth nothing but the points they get playing each other.

CIT: [insert witty comment]

Tuesday is the finals of the CIT, with Old Dominion (Gunz) taking on Bradley for that single point that comes from a win. Combine that point with a Notre Dame NIT Champ and Gunz could move into seventh place leaping past ProgressMedia and Phunmunki.

Rule Change Vote

Below are 9 proposed changes to our scoring system. We will implement the 2 with the most votes for next year. Each player has 3 votes. Votes can be piled up onto one change (example all 3 of Bab’s votes go for C). Vote by commenting below. Add your name.

A. AP Top 25 win +1 pt. Currently, you receive +2 for a top 10 win. This change would keep the +2 over the top 10, but would add +1 to wins over AP 11-25.

B. Undefeated: +3 pts for an undefeated regular season conference. Currently, no points are allocated for successfully going undefeated in conference play. In 2009, this bonus would have only affected Gonzaga and Memphis. In 2007, Memphis, Cornell, and Davidson would have achieved this.

C. Preseason: Add an additional +1 pt to each pre-season tourney in which points are given. Early season tend to lack significant point action, and increasing preseason tourney values by 25-33% will add a little more early excitement.

D. CBI points: A team that reaches the CBI final receives +2. The team that wins the CBI received +4. In 2009, over ½ of the CBI teams were player teams. At current, no CBI games receive bonuses. Increasing the championship adds a little more significance.

E. NIT points: A team that reaches the Final 8 of the NIT receives +1. A team that reaches the NIT final 4 receives +3. A team that reaches the NIT championship game receives +5. The team that wins the NIT receives +7. At current, you receive +2 for the final 4, + 4 for making the final, and +7 for winning.

F. NCAA points: Add +1 additional point to winners of round 1, 2, and 3. Currently, a round 1 win is worth +2, a round 2 win is worth 5, a round 3 win is worth 8, with a round 4 win jumping up to 13.

G. Conf Grouping & Point Restructuring: Create 3 conference tiers: Major, Mid-Major, and Minor. Major conferences (6 confs) would not change. Mid-Major (9 confs) would consist of Atl 10, Mountain West, Miss Valley, CUSA, Horizon, WAC, West Coast, MAC, & CAA. Minor would consist of the rest (16 confs). Tier one reg season championship: 10 pts; Tier two reg season championship: 8 pts; Tier three reg season championship: 6 pts. A conf tourney champion would receive: 8, 6, and 4. At current, there is no mid-major tier, a team that wins a major conference regular season earns 7 points and a non-major conference regular season earns 6 points; A team that wins a major conference tournament earns 5 points and a non-major 4 points.

H. Trades: Players can trade draft order spots with certain restrictions. Each player must have a draft pick in every round, and each draft order trade must include 2 rounds for each player. For example, Turtle may trade his 3rd pick and 22nd pick for Gunz’s 12th and 13th pick. Selected teams may not be traded.

I. Bad: A loss by an AP top 25 team to an unrated team by over 35 points results in –5 pts.

Week Twenty Preview

After nineteen weeks there are still nine players that can potentially win this contest, and only 26 points separates 6th place from 1st place. All games this last week were both critical and brutal as any loss eliminates that team from any future points.

Going into Week 20, who is left in play and what do they have to do:

NCAA Tourney (16 teams)
Midwest
Louisville (Jutdog) plays Arizona (Progress Media)
Michigan St (Babblemur) plays Kansas (Jaybird)
West
UCONN (HippieD) plays Purdue (Akaoni)
Memphis (Gunz) plays Missouri (Gunz)
East
Pittsburgh (Boaris) plays Xavier (Phunmunki)
Duke (The CEO) plays Villanova (The CEO)
South
North Carolina (Jaybird) plays Gonzaga (Phunmunki)
Oklahoma (Boaris) plays Syracuse (Babblemur)

NIT (9 teams left)
San Diego St (Babblemur) plays winner of St. Mary's (Progress) and Davidson (Progress)
Baylor (NotaTurtle) plays Auburn
Notre Dame (Gunz) plays winner of Creighton (Babs) & Kentucky (Boaris)
Florida (Akaoni) plays Penn St (Musashisan)

CBI (6 teams left)
Northeastern (Jaybird) plays UTEP (Turtle)
Richmond (HippieD) plays Charleston
Stanford (Boaris) plays Wichita St
Vermont (Phunmunki) plays Oregon St (Musashisan)

CIT (2 teams left)
Belmont (Phunmunki) plays Old Dominion (Gunz)
James Madison v. Liberty
Oakland v. Bradley
Idaho v. Pacific

Next NCAA Tourney rounds games are worth 8 points on top of the 1 point win and 2 points against other players (11 total). The sat-sun games will be worth 13 points plus the 1 point win and 2 points against other players (16 total). This weeks games are critical for everyone.

The Good, Bad, and the Babblemur

So, with only a few weeks left to go, and several rounds of tourney action underway, and several lame posts from Iowa, I thought its a good time to recap our picks. We'll finish the year with a final BRI, but for now, here is how our draft can be scored (Starred* teams still alive):

Round 1.

Winners:
1. Jutdog (Louisville* with 87 pts),
2. CEO (Duke* with 80 pts),
3. Jaybird (UNC* with 80 pts),
Honorable Mention: Babs with Michigan St* - 72 pts and Boaris with Pitt - 74 pts.

Losers:
1. Musas (Tennessee with 48 pts)
2. ProgressMeds (Texas with 53 pts)


Round 2

Winners:
1. Boaris (Oklahoma* with 70 pts)
2. Jutdog (Wake Forest with 63 pts)
3. Babs (Zona St* with 61 pts)

Losers:
1. Musash (Georgetown with 34pts)
2. ProgressMeds (Davidson with 36 pts)
3. Gunz (Notre Dame with 39 pts)
4. Notaturtle (Miami with 34 pts)


Round 3

Winners:
1. Phunmunki (Xavier* with 67 pts)
2. Jaybird (Kansas* with 65 pts)
3. Babs (Syracuse* with 59 pts)

Losers:
1. HippieD (UNLV with 37 pts)
2. Notaturtle (Baylor* with 38 pts)
3. ProgressMeds (St Marys* with 37 pts)


Round 4

Winners:
1. Akaoni (Washington* with 71 pts)
2. CEO (LSU* with 66 pts)
Honorable Mention: Babs and Creighton* with 51 pts and Jutdog and Temple with 50 pts

Losers:
1. Musash (Iowa with 19 pts)
2. Turtle (Kent St with 24 pts)
3. HippieD (George Mason with 30 pts)


Round 5

Winners:
1. CEO (VCU with 52 pts)
2. Babs (West Virginia with 51 pts)

Losers:
1. HippieD (Murray St with 17 pts)
2. Jutdog (San Diego - dropped - 16pts through Feb draft)
3. Phunmunki (Nevada with 26 pts)
4. Gunz (Arkansas with 26 pts)


Rounds 6-8

Winners:
1. Akaoni with Dayton* - 53 pts
2. Boairs with Mississippi St - 53 pts (last round pick)
3. Boaris with Butler - 52 pts
4. Turtle with Cal St Northridge - 42 pts
5. ProgressMeds with Illinois St - 39 pts (last round pick)
6. Phunmunki with Vermont* - 32 pts (last round pick)

Losers:
1. The CEO with Midd Tenn St - 16 pts
2. HippieD with Western Mich - 8 pts
3. Musash with Oregon - 8 pts, dropped for expansion draft
4. Babs wtih Charlotte - 11 pts, dropped for expansion draft
5. The CEO with Boston - 19 pts
6. The CEO with Mount St Marys - 21 pts

Presidential Bracket

Obama, hoops fan that he is, has released his NCAA bracket on the White House website.

For anyone needing any executive guidence, here's the bracket.

Also...Open Thread.

Update: More on the Prez picks HERE

Tournament Time!

Who got burned? Who got the sweet seeds? The CEO said it best - we all got burned.

What that means is that there is actually some parity going into the NCAA Tournament, and earlier projections of Jutdog sweeping this contest can now be retracted.

The Top 6 (Bottom 6 coming later)

Jutdog goes into the tournament with a 28 point lead but can he hang on? His best four teams (Louisville, Wake Forest, Ohio State, Utah) are all in the top half of the Midwest bracket, meaning no more than 2 Sweet 16 teams for Jut, and only one Elite 8 at most. SF Austin, Cornell and Temple all drew tough match ups and won't last long although Temple might give Arizona State a run if not an upset. In the NIT, Rhode Island got a good draw but Weber St faces top seed San Diego State for a quick defeat.

Akaoni can complain about 3 of his 5 teams being in the same bracket as well, one that will likely see UCONN emerge into the Elite 8 so a tough row for Washington, Purdue, and Texas A&M. Dayton could give West Virginia fits, and Akaoni needs Michigan to upset Clemson and Oklahoma in the South. Prospects are dim for Akaoni. However he does have three teams in the NIT (Florida, New Mexico, South Carolina) with Florida a clear favorite to make it far.

Babblemur only got four teams in, but they are good teams with pretty good seedings. Michigan State & West Virginia will have some tough games to get to the Sweet 16 but face each other if they do. Arizona State & Syracuse will face off in the second round assuming they beat up Jut's teams in the first. Either can hold their own against Oklahoma. Overall weak prospects for Babs given that only 3 teams can reach the Sweet 16, and might not make it much further. However with a league leading 4 teams in the NIT (San Diego St, Tulsa, Creighton, Jacksonville) he could get an edge with the bonus points.

Boaris got himself back on track with a good week and four teams in the NCAA. Top seed Pitt is a Final Four favorite in the East, Oklahoma a 2 seed in the South will have to fight their way to the Elite 8. Butler got a good draw against LSU and could face UNC in round 2. Miss St faces Washington and ought to be eliminated but they could win this one. Pitt & Oklahoma have the potential to catapult Boaris back into first place and contend for the championship. 3 NIT teams (Kentucky, Providence, V-Tech) might help.

Jaybird has a chance as long as North Carolina stays alive. UNC got a good draw and should easily handle LSU, Illinois, or Gonzaga should they match up, and Oklahoma might be all that stands between UNC and the Final Four. Marquette's recent decline will probably continue with an early out, if not against Utah St then Missouri. One round one win to count on is the North Dakota St-Kansas game, Jaybird will win even when he loses. Kansas will face tough competition to get out of that bracket alive. Kansas-West Virginia could be a great game to watch. Lets not forget Alabama State in the "play-in" game - if they win (2 points) they face Louisville. Could they...? Nah.

The CEO got six good teams into the Tournament, which gives him more room for more points but will any of them reach the Final Four? Duke & Villanova got good draws but will have to face off in the Sweet 16 if they both make it. VCU gets to wear down UCLA before Villanova (likely) takes them on. LSU got burned and not only face a scrappy Butler team in round one but take on North Carolina in round two if they beat Butler. Siena drew Ohio State, and even if they win they face Louisville. Northern Iowa drew Purdue as a 12 seed, and could surprise some people and wind up in the Sweet 16. The CEO has a shot if Duke or Villanova get to the Final Four and he gets some wins from Siena & UNI.

By the way, join the Babblemur Group on ESPN with your tournament predictions!

The Bottom Six

The Bottom Six have a much taller order to win it all, with Progress Media and Phunmunki starting 70 points down and last place HippieD over 130 points down. Are they out? Consider this - The NCAA Champion will likely finish with 78 points, the runner up will finish with 55. Making it to the Sweet 16 alone is worth 11 points (I'm including 2 points for each round assuming it is against another player's team). So do they have a chance?

Progress Media has six teams in but none of them are stellar. He will need a series of upsets to wrack up points: Utah State over Marquette is doable but Morgan St, E. Tenn St. and American have tough draws and little hope. Texas and Arizona are the best PM has, and Texas would face Duke in round 2 and Arizona has to fight past Utah and Wake to be competitive. Progress is done.

Phunmunki has seven teams in and several of them are certainly Sweet 16 material but Final Four? 4 seeds Gonzaga and Xavier will have to earn their way to the Elite 8 and at least one must make the Final Four to give Phun a shot. California & Maryland are both good teams but face off in round one with the winner taking on Memphis. If California or Maryland can take the West Phun will be competing for the top.

Gunz has 1 great team (Memphis) and 3 pretty good ones (Missouri, Minnesota, Boston College) and he needs all four in the Sweet 16. Memphis is favored and has a chip on their shoulder, Missouri is hot but will face Memphis in the regionals if they get past Marquette. Boston College could upset Michigan State in round 2 and run deep, Minnesota however will be lucky to beat Texas in the first round.

NotaTurtle needs UCLA & Illinois in the final four. UCLA has tough match ups against potentially Villanova and Duke. Illinois got a good draw if they can get past the Hilltoppers and take down Gonzaga. Northridge vs Memphis = upset? Cleveland St vs Wake Forest = blowout. Baylor and Miami should go far in the NIT.

Musashisan needs a miracle, and they don't have one. 9 seed Tennessee faces Pitt in round 2, 5 seed Florida St could fall to Pitt as well in round 3 if they get that far. Western Kentucky will be trying to repeat last year's amazing run (and could do it), and 7 seed Clemson could make it into the Elite 8 but it won't be easy. NIT teams Penn St and Wash St should fall fast.

HippieD is in the dubious position of having one of the best teams (UCONN) and the worst position (last place). UCONN could easily win the national championship, netting HippieD 78 points and still fall far short of first place. With only USC and Oklahoma St joining UCONN in the Big Dance, it isn't looking good. USC could make a good run, they are capable of beating both Boston College and Michigan St, and if they make it that far they could beat West Virginia or Kansas as well. Louisville? Doubt it. HippieD has the potential to win both the NCAA Tourney and the NIT Tourney and still lose.

By the way, join the Babblemur Group on ESPN with your tournament predictions!

Power Weekend Points Galore

POWER WEEKEND POINTS GALORE

6 Major Conferences: 30 points
9 Other Conferences: 36 points
15 More Automatic bids: 60 points

And Selection Sunday will result in 34 At-Large bids: 136 points

Who's still in the running for those Conference bids this weekend? Most players have just one or two teams left on the point hunt with the exception of NotaTurtle (3 teams) Babblemur (4 teams) and Jutdog (5 teams). First place Babblemur faces second place Jutdog in three huge games on Saturday that could determine the point spread going into the tournament.

The rundown:

ACC
North Carolina (Jaybird) vs Florida St (Musashisan)
Duke (The CEO) vs Maryland (Phunmunki)

Big Ten
Michigan St (Babblemur) vs Ohio St (Jutdog)
Purdue (Akaoni) vs Illinois (Notaturtle)

SEC
LSU (The CEO) vs Mississippi State (Boaris)
Tennessee (Musashisan) vs Auburn

Big East
Louisville (Jutdog) vs Syracuse (Babblemur)

Big 12
Baylor (Notaturtle) vs Missouri (Gunz)

Pac 10
Arizona State (Babblemur) vs USC (HippieD)

Conference USA
Memphis (Gunz) vs Tulsa (Babblemur)

Mountain West
Utah (Jutdog) vs San Diego St (Babblemur)

WAC
Utah St (Progress Media) vs Nevada (Phunmunki)

The following conferences have players playing against non-player teams for championships (& eight points):

Atlantic 10: Temple (Jutdog) vs Duquesne
Big West: Northdridge (Notaturtle) vs Pacific
MAC: Buffalo (Jaybird) vs Akron
MEAC: Morgan St (Progress Media) vs Norfolk St
SWAC: Alabama St (Jaybird) vs Jackson St
Southland: Stephen F. Austin (Jutdog) vs. San Antonio

March 23 2009 BRI

Babblemur Rating Index - the authority on who gets into the NCAA tourney....


1. UNC, 70 pts, pick 1, Jaybird

2. PITT, 65 pts, pick 11, Boaris

3. Louisville, 64 pts, pick 4, Jutdog

4. Washington, 63 pts, pick 41, Akaoni

5. Oklahoma, 61 pts, pick 14, Boaris

6. Michigan St, 60 pts, pick 10, Babs

7. Wake Forest, 59 pts, pick 21, Jutdog

7. Duke, 59 pts, pick 6, CEO

9. Kansas, 58 pts, pick 25, Jaybird

9. Gonzaga, 58 pts, pick 5, Phunmunki

9. UCONN, 58 pts, pick 2, HippieD

12. Xavier, 57 pts, pick 29, Phunmunki

13. LSU, 54 pts, pick 43, CEO

14. VCU, 52 pts, pick 52, CEO

15. Creighton, 50 pts, pick 39, Babs

15. UCLA, 50 pts, pick 3, Notaturtle

17. Butler, 48 pts, pick 62, Boaris

17. Memphis, 48 pts, pick 12, Gunz

19. Arizona St, 46 pts, pick 15, Babs

20. Villanova, 45 pts, pick 19, CEO

3 teams tied with 44 pts.

Tight Race & Higher Stakes

Its getting down to the wire and the leader board is tightening just as each game seems to be worth so much more than a point!

Conference Champs

All the regular season champs have been determined, and those points have catapulted Jaybird, Jutdog, CEO and ProgressMedia into contention with Top Dogs Akaoni, Babblemur & Boaris. Jaybird took in 32 points off 5 conferences, Jut 31 off 5 conferences, The CEO took in 25 from 4, ProgressMedia took in 24 from 4. The other 11 conferences were split among the others.

Now just 25 points separates 6th place from 1st place, while almost 100 points separates 12th place from 1st place.

Losers

Now a tribute to the little teams that sucked just enough to not win their conference tournaments so far and thus will likely be going to the NIT, if that:

Drake (Akaoni); Wright St (Akaoni); Creighton (Babs); VMI (Babs); Jacksonville (Babs); Austin Peay (Boaris); Southern Ill (Gunz); Old Dominion (Gunz); Murray St (HippieD); Northeastern (Jaybird); Green Bay (Jutdog); Milwaukee (Turtle); Belmont (Phun); Vermont (Phun); Davidson (Progress); Illinois St (Progress); Mid Tenn St (CEO); Oral Roberts (CEO);

It was fun, losers, although Creighton & Davidson might still be on the "at large" bubble and many of these guys will wind up in the NIT.

Bubble Teams

If you ain't sure, you are on the bubble. These teams need a good couple of wins during championship week to be considered for the NCAA Tourney. Who do you think should be in? I've added teams as "Locks" if they have already secured an automatic bid.

• Akaoni
• Locks: (4) Purdue, Florida, Texas A&M, Washington,
  
• Bubble: (4) New Mexico, Dayton, Michigan, South Carolina
  
• Jutdog
• Locks: (4) Louisville, Wake Forest, Cornell, Utah,
  
• Bubble: (3) Ohio St, Temple, Rhode Island,
  
• Babblemur
• Locks: (4) Michigan St, Arizona St, Syracuse, West Virginia,
  
• Bubble: (2) Creighton, San Diego St,
  
• Boaris
• Locks: (2) Pittsburgh, Oklahoma,
  
• Bubble: (3) Virginia Tech, Butler, Providence,
  
• The CEO
  
• Locks: (4) Duke, Villanova, LSU, UNI
  
• Bubble: (1) Siena,
  
• Jaybird
• Locks: (3) North Carolina, Marquette, Kansas,
  
• Bubble: none
  
• Progress Media
  
• Locks: (2) Texas, E. Tenn St.
  
• Bubble: (4) Davidson, St. Mary's, Arizona, Utah St,
  
• Phunmunki
  
• Locks: (4) Gonzaga, Xavier, BYU, California,
  
• Bubble: (2) Wisconsin, Maryland,
  
• Gunz
  
• Locks: (2) Memphis, Missouri
  
• Bubble: (2) Boston College, Minnesota,
  
• NotaTurtle
  
• Locks: (2) UCLA, Illinois,
  
• Bubble: (1) Miami,
  
• Musashisan
  
• Locks: (3) Tennessee, Clemson, Florida State,
  
• Bubble: (1) Penn State,
  
• HippieD
  
• Locks: (1) UCONN,
  
• Bubble: (2) UNLV, Oklahoma St,
  

Conference Showdowns

Things are heating up as we approach 11 days from Selection Sunday. Conference championships are on the line, and the leader board is tightening.

ACC: It all comes down now to Sunday's North Carolina-Duke game. If North Carolina wins, they win sole possession of the ACC championship, and Jaybird picks up 7 points. If Duke wins, they share the championship (they will have split their 2 meetings) and both Jaybird and The CEO will get 7 points each.

Big 12: Missouri's (Gunz) huge win over Oklahoma (Boaris) could have given Kansas (Jaybird) the conference championship but Kansas fell to Texas Tech, meaning that Kansas must beat Texas on Saturday to become sole Big 12 Champ, or both Missouri and Oklahoma must lose. If Kansas loses and Missouri wins, Gunz and Jaybird will both get the 7 points. If Kansas loses and Oklahoma wins, Boaris gets nothing because Oklahoma lost to both Missouri and Kansas in their only games against each other.

Big East: The Big East has come down to UCONN (HippieD), Pittsburgh (Boaris) and Lousiville (Jutdog). Pitt & Louisville both won Wednesday night, putting the pressure on UCONN to win their final game on Saturday against Pittsburgh in order to take the Big East championship (and 7 points for HippieD). If Pitt beats UCONN, and Louisville beats West Virginia, Louisville will get sole possession of the Big East. If Pitt beats UCONN and Louisville falls to West Virginia, we have a three way tie, and all three (HippieD, Jaybird, & Boaris) will get 7 points each. Pitt will have beaten Louisville twice, but Louisville beat UCONN in their only matchup, and UCONN beat Pitt in their only match up.

Pac 10: This is Washington (Akaoni) to win or lose. If Washington beats Wash St on Saturday they get the sole championship in the Pac 10 (and Akaoni gets 7 points). If Wash loses, UCLA (NotaTurtle) could share that championship but only if they sweep both Oregon & Oregon St this week. They face Oregon St on Thursday, and a loss gives Akaoni the title.

Mountain West: It is a horse race. BYU (Phunmunki), Utah (Jutdog) and New Mexico (Akaoni) are all 11-4, with one game remaining. San Diego St (Babs) is 10-5, with one game remaining. None of them play each other in their final game, so whichever teams win on Saturday will get the 6 points for the MWC. If all three lose, and San Diego St wins, Babs will get 6 points along with the other three.

MAC: Buffalo (Jaybird) not only needs to win both of their final two games, but they need Bowling Green to lose at least one of their final games. If they finish tied as they are now, Buffalo won't get squat because they lost twice to Bowling Green this year. Buffalo plays Kent St (Turtle) on Thursday and Miami (OH) (Gunz) on Sunday. Technically both Miami (OH) and Kent St. are still in the running, but Buffalo would have to lose their final games to put them into play.

Ivy: Cornell (Jutdog) is taking their time securing these 6 points, plus the 4 points for an automatic bid into the NCAA Tourney. They have 2 games left.

Big West: Cal Northridge (NotaTurtle) has a one came lead with two games remaining. They are on the road in both games, and will need to win at least one to get these 6 points.

I predict Jaybird scoring points for the ACC, Big 12, and MAC. Jutdog is going to get the Big East and Ivy. Akaoni will get the Pac 10, Turtle the Big West, and the Mountain West will give 6 to Jut, Phunmunki & Akaoni.

Two Week Countdown

Week 16 saw some points pile up, a brief new "leader" on the leader board, not much change in the leader board order but some big jumps for players winning conferences.

RECAP

The Top 3 (Boaris 310, Akaoni 308, Babblemur 307) tightened up as Boaris' slump continued as he was held to 23 points. Akaoni had enough (28) to catch up and finish one back, and Babblemur's 38 points was the second highest of the week to close in on the other two.

The CEO was the big winner of the week though with 42 points. He was led by LSU defeating Florida and Kentucky to take the SEC champs, and Duke beating Maryland and Virginia Tech to stay one game behind UNC in the ACC. Also Northern Iowa beat Illinois St and Evansville to share the MVC champs, and VCU won the Colonial. This was enough points to vault him into a tie with Brother Jut at 291 points. Jutdog's 26 points was respectable but gained him no ground.

Jaybird also took in 38 points with Kansas & Alabama winning big games and taking two low major conferences. North Carolina and Kansas are both in position to win 7 points a piece for the ACC and Big 12 if they can hang on this week. Marquette however is entering a losing streak after whats-his-name got injured. Jaybird moved from 8th to 6th place.

ProgressMedia's 32 points kept him in 7th, Phunmunki's 25 dropped her to 8th, Gunz took 30 to stay in 9th place, Musashisan 29 to stay in 10th place, HippieD took 20 and NotaTurtle took 16.

WEEK SEVENTEEN

We have 11 more conference champs potentially in the making this week, including the big ones: ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10. That is an additional 71 points that will be out by the end of the week. Some conferences are all ready to start conference tournaments, so by next Sunday we might have points for that on top of the one's still playing regular season ball.

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK (Part 1)

These conferences start their tournaments this week. Every team now has a chance to fight their way into the Big Dance, as well as pick up the 5 points for winning a Major Conference Tourney, or 4 points for all other Conference Tournies.

• Big South (March 3, 5, 7) - VMI
  
• Horizon (March 3, 6-7, 10) - Butler, Green Bay, Cleveland St, Wright St, Milwaukee
  
• OVC (March 3, 6-7) - Murray St.,
  
• Atlantic Sun (March 4-7) - Jacksonville, E. Tenn. St., Belmont
  
• Patriot (March 4, 8, 13) - American, Holy Cross
  
• Sun Belt (March 4, 8-10) - Western Kentucky, Arkansas-Little Rock
  
• Missouri Valley (March 5-8) - Creighton, UNI, Illinois St., Southern Ill, Drake
  
• NEC (March 5, 8, 11) - Robert Morris, Mt. St. Mary's
  
• Southern (March 5-9) - Davidson,
  
• America East (March 6-8, 14) - Vermont, Boston
  
• Colonial (March 6-9) - VCU, George Mason, Old Dominion, Northeastern
  
• MAAC (March 6-9) - Siena
  
• West Coast (March 6-9) - Gonzaga, St. Mary's
  
• Big Sky (March 7, 10-11) - Weber St., Portland St.,
  
• Summit (March 7-10) - North Dakota St., Oral Roberts,
  

SQUIGLY CHART

This is just since Jan 1 2009, gives a little more je ne sais quoi. Click image to embiggen it.



There you are.

Please be patient as we update the schedule from here on out daily based on who wins and loses conference tourney games.