Week 12 Winners & Losers

Week 12 was a roller coaster, with some big winners and some big losers.

Winners & Losers

Jutdog (+30, 12-4) was the big winner, as Seton Hall knocked off #9 Syracuse, BYU defended their home court against #4 San Diego State, and 5 more wins against other players catapulted him out of 10th place and into the running again (although only 8th place...).

Mooseye (+25, 11-4) was the other big winner, with New Mexico picking off #9 BYU, and 5 more wins against other players. Western Kentucky won two, keeping them from getting dropped, Wichita State swept 2 to keep them in the Missouri Valley hunt, and even lowly Wake Forest won a game before being dropped. Mooseye rose from 7th place a week ago to 4th place, just 25 back from the Mighty Gunz.

Other good scores for the week: Boaris is back with +22 off a 12-3 record, Gunz is firing again with +21 despite a 9-7 record, Jaybird picked up +20 off a 10-6 record, and Slake B started winning again picking up +20 off a 10-6 record.

The biggest loser this week was Akaoni, who could only get three of his teams to win a game, and one of them, Texas Tech, he dropped after a 2-0 performance. Villanova, Butler, Florida St, Northwestern, and Dayton all went win-less for the week, netting Akaoni a total of +7 off a depressing 5-9 week.

Teams of the Week

Louisville (Boaris) beat West Virginia (Mad Mader) and #5 UCONN (Mooseye) for 8 points, moving them into second place in the Big East, and moving Boaris from 9th place to 6th place on the leader board.

Georgetown (Gunz) beat St. Johns (Babblemur) and #8 Villanova (Akaoni) for 8 points, giving the Hoyas a winning record (5-4) in the Big East and Gunz some ammo for holding onto first place.

Standings After Week 12

* Current with all Jan 30 (Sunday) Games
* 1. Gunz 227 (113-55)
* 2. Mad Mader 206 (111-51)
* 3. Babblemur 205 (112-55)
* 4. Mooseye 202 (110-56)
* 5. McGrumps 199 (121-49)
* 6. Boaris 195 (114-48)
* 7. Jaybird 194 (113-53)
* 8. The CEO 193 (113-50)
* 9. Jutdog 188 (110-56)
* 10. Akaoni 187 (115-54)
* 11. Slake B 172 (98-64)
* 12. Some Guy in Illinois 161 (105-61)
* 13. Musashisan 146 (96-71)

Expanda Draft: the Rundown

At CEO's request, I thought I'd post the Expanda Draft picks on the front page.

1. Musashisan - Duquesne A10
2. SGII - Cincinnati Big East
3. Slake B - Cleveland State Horizon
4. Jutdog - Belmont Atl Sun
5. Boaris - Northern Colorado Big Sky
6. Jaybird - Valparaiso Horizon
7. Mooseye - Coastal Carolina Big South
8. The CEO - Bucknell Patriot
9. Akaoni - Colorado State Mountain West
10 McGrumps - Ball State MAC
11. Babblemur - Florida Atlantic Sun Belt
12. Mad Mader - Montana Big Sky
13. Gunz - Harvard Ivy

14. Gunz - Vermont American East
15. Mad Mader - Charleston Southern
16. Babblemur - Long Island NEC
17. McGrumps - Jackson State SWAC
18. Akaoni - Hofstra Colonial
19. The CEO - Buffalo MAC
20. Mooseye - Hampton MEAC
21. Jaybird - Austin Peay
22. Boaris - Bethune-Cookman
23. Jutdog - California
24. Slake B - Arkansas
25. SGII - McNeese State
26. Musashisan - Providence Big East

Add / Drop Round (Optional)

27. Musashisan - Drops Iowa, Adds South Carolina
28. SGII - PASS
29. Slake B - PASS
30. Jutdog - Drops Weber St, Adds Kent State
31. Boaris - Drops Loyola Marymount, Adds Nebraska
32. Jaybird - PASS
33. Mooseye - Drops Wake Forest, Adds Texas Southern
34. The CEO - Drops Satan Barbara, Adds Marshall
35. Akaoni - Drops Texas Tech, Adds Denver Sun Belt
36. McGrumps - PASS
37. Babblemur - PASS
38. Mad Mader - Drops St. Louis, Adds UMASS
39. Gunz - Drops Bradley, Adds Santa Clara

Let's Roll!

Parity Marks Week Eleven

The mandatory weekly update - Week Eleven

No standouts this week. Every player picked up between 12 and 19 points, between 6 and 11 wins, between 4 and 10 losses. The CEO topped all in most wins and fewest losses.

Rundown:

• The CEO +19 (11-4) - Vandy wins in and out of conference against Ole Miss and St. Mary's
  
• Akaoni +19 (9-7) - Villanova's win over Syracuse atones for the loss to UCONN
• Mad Mader +18 (10-4) - Syracuse drops two, are they still final four material?
  
• Gunz +18 (8-7) - Duke is back on track (unlike Clemson, Stanford and Bradley = 0-6)
• Slake B +17 (9-5) - Ohio State and Xavier picking up the slack
• Some Guy in Illinois +17 (9-7) - Washington earning their first round draft status
• Jaybird +17 (7-6) - Arizona & Temple stumble, Pitt and UTEP rumble
• Jutdog +16 (8-7) - Two big wins for Texas, BYU ready for the Aztecs this week
• Mooseye +16 (8-8) - at least UCONN is still kicking ass
• Boaris +15 (7-7) - K-State bombs, Utah State looks fine
• Babblemur +15 (7-8) - Takes a beating but still beating most of you
• McGrumps +14 (10-7) - Damn, what happened to Quinnipeac?
  
• Musashisan +12 (6-10) - Bright sides: Northern Iowa and Alabama; Dark sides: everyone else

Standings after Week Eleven:

• Current with all Jan 23 (Sunday) Games
• 1. Gunz 206 (104-48)
• 2. Mad Mader 189 (106-42)
• 3. Babblemur 189 (104-47)
• 4. McGrumps 180 (112-44)
• 5. Akaoni 180 (110-45)
• 6. The CEO 179 (105-44)
• 7. Mooseye 177 (99-52)
• 8. Jaybird 174 (103-47)
• 9. Boaris 173 (102-45)
• 10. Jutdog 158 (98-52)
• 11. Slake B 152 (88-58)
• 12. Some Guy in Illinois 151 (97-55)
• 13. Musashisan 133 (89-63)

A Collection of Trivial Pieces of Information

If Conference Points were distributed Today:

McGrumps (WCC, CUSA, Summit) = 20
Mooseye (Big12, SEC) = 18
Jaybird (BigEast, CUSA) = 16
Slake B (Big10, A10) = 16
Musashisan (SEC, BigWest) = 15
Boaris (CUSA, WAC) = 14
Babblemur (MWC, AmEast) = 13
Jutdog (Big12) = 9
Akaoni (ACC) = 9
Some Guy in IL (Pac10) = 9
Gunz (CAA) = 7
CEO (MAAC) = 6
Mad Mader ( zip ) = 0

Team Parity Award

McGrumps is STILL the only player whose entire squad has 10 wins or more. Next closest: Babblemur & Akaoni each have one team two wins away (could be a long wait for Ohio and Texas Tech...)

Giant Killer Award

Mooseye has logged in the most wins over Top 10 teams to date with 5, mostly due to surprising UCONN:

• #8 UCONN (Mooseye) defeats #7 Villanova (Akaoni)
• Charlotte (Mooseye) defeats #7 Tennessee (Boaris)
• Florida (Mooseye) defeats #6 Kansas State (Boaris)
• UCONN (Mooseye) defeats #2 Michigan St (Musa)
• UCONN (Mooseye) defeats #9 Kentucky (McGrumps)

The Babbleball Top 10 Rankings:

1. Duke (Gunz) 48 pts
2. Pittsburgh (Jaybird) 41 pts
3. Syracuse (Mad Mader) 41 pts
4. Notre Dame (Mad Mader) 37 pts
5. San Diego St (Babs) 35 pts
6. Ohio St (Slake B) 35 pts
7. Tennessee (Boaris) 35 pts
8. Minnesota (CEO) 34 pts
9. Kansas (Mooseye) 34 pts
10. Georgetown (Gunz) and UCONN (Mooseye) 33 pts

Best 8th round pick so far:

Quinnipeac by McGrumps, with 16 points off a 12-6 record, 2 wins over other players.

Gunz Versus The World

Gunz has been in first place most of the season. He leads the league in points off other players with 84 (next closest is 70 to put it in perspective). So who has he been thumping on, and who gives him fits? Below is Gunz' W/L record against the other 12 players, in order of dominance:

• vs. McGrumps: 4-1
• vs. Slake B: 3-1
• vs. Musashisan: 6-2
• vs. The CEO: 5-2
  
• vs. Some Guy in IL: 7-3
• vs. Boaris: 6-3
• vs. Jutdog: 4-2
• vs. Mad Mader: 3-3
• vs. Mooseye: 1-1
• vs. Akaoni: 2-4
• vs. Babblemur: 1-3
• vs. Jaybird: 1-4
  

Rare Video of Lord Jut's first Basketball game as a little boy

Akaoni Blazes Week TEN

In another brutal week five top 10 teams fell, every player lost at least 4 games, top to bottom league parity tightened by five points as first place Boaris was held to +13 points while last place Musashisan picked up +18, only 67 points separate first from last.

Akaoni had the big week in points, scoring 27 off an 11-5 week, including Florida State knocking off #1 Duke and NC State, Villanova sweeping Louisville and Maryland, and Missouri State continuing their undefeated conference record in the Missouri Valley. His hot performance shot him up from 9th place to 5th place and just 27 back from first place.

Slake B brought in +24 points thanks to West Virginia's pop of Top 10 Purdue, as well as Ohio State and Xavier sweeping the week. Wright State won a big one against Butler, and Oregon beat USC before falling to UCLA. Slake slipped past Some Guy in Illinois on the leader board.

Some Guy in Illinois had the fewest points for the week, a measly +10 off an 8-8 record. He was 1-8 against other players, Illinois dropped two, NC State dropped two, Ole Miss dropped two, and SGII dropped back to 12th place.

The CEO and Jaybird turned in the best records for the week at 11-4. Gonzaga, Minnesota, Wofford and Santa Barbara all went undefeated for the week for The CEO. Pitt, Arizona, UTEP, Miss St and Morgan St. all went undefeated for Jaybird.

Gunz and Boaris were the only two players with losing records for the week. Gunz went 7-8 with 6 of his teams taking hits this week. Boaris needed a strong Saturday to make up for a 1-5 start for the week, finishing 6-7.

Week 11 looks to be loaded for points as Top 10's square off and conference play heats up.

Standings after Week 10

• Current with all Jan 16 (Sunday) Games
• 1. Gunz 188 (96-41)
• 2. Babblemur 174 (97-39)
• 3. Mad Mader 171 (96-38)
• 4. McGrumps 166 (102-37)
• 5. Akaoni 161 (101-38)
• 6. Mooseye 161 (91-44)
• 7. The CEO 160 (94-40)
• 8. Boaris 158 (95-38)
• 9. Jaybird 157 (96-41)
• 10. Jutdog 142 (90-45)
• 11. Slake B 135 (79-53)
• 12. Some Guy in Illinois 134 (88-48)
• 13. Musashisan 121 (83-53)

The Expanda-Draft Cometh

The Expanda-Draft aspect of this contest was put in for several reasons - to allow players to pick up teams that surprised everyone and are marching towards an NCAA birth, to add the possibility of "tweaking" your squad to improve your chances - especially for those bottom dwellers, and to give players a chance to pick up mid and low major conference teams that look like they are going to stomp their way into the Big Dance.

As we think about our draft options, consider these point rules:

- A team that wins a major conference (6) regular season earns 9 points
- A team that wins a mid-major conference (9) regular season earns 7 points
- A team that wins a non-major conference regular season earns 6 points
- A team that wins a major conference (6) tournament earns 7 points
- A team that wins a mid-major conference (9) tournament earns 5 points
- A team that wins a non-major conference (16) tournament earns 4 points
- A team that completes the regular conference season undefeated earns +3 points.

This is where a non-major team can be worth drafting - they win a dozen games (12 points) plus win their conference (6 pts) and tournament (4 pts). Plus keep in mind...

- Each team that makes the NCAA tourney receives 3 points

So while picking up a major conference team like Cincy or Virginia has the advantage of possible points against Duke or Pittsburgh, they may not see any of the points above.


RULES OF THE INTERIM DRAFT & RELEASE

- The last week of January, each player must draft 2 additional teams.

- Draft order will utilize snake method, with pick 1 going to last place point earner

- A voluntary third round will take place following the 2-round draft, in which one team from the original roster can be dropped and a new team picked up. All existing points from original team will remain. Order will continue snake method from round 2.

- Points will begin to be earned by the new teams on February 2, and new points will no longer be added for the discarded team effective February 2.


The draft order is set following the last game on: Sunday, January 23, 2011. Due to the number of picks, we'll be looking to get going right away Monday Jan 24. Current Draft Order if it happened today:

1. Musashisan 113 (79-49)
2. Slake B 116 (72-48)
3. Some Guy in Illinois 125 (81-43)
4. Jutdog 131 (83-40)
5. Jaybird 142 (89-39)
6.....


Top Major and Mid-Major Teams on the Radar:

1. Cincinnatti (16-1)
2. Virginia (10-6 every game is head to head)
3. Nebraska (13-3)
4. UCF (14-1)
5. Hostra (5-0 conf with 3 other players in)
6. Arkansas (11-4)
7. Boise St (4-0 conf)
8. Cleveland State (15-3)
9. Colorado St (11-5)
10. Tulane (12-4)
11. Marshall (12-4)
12. James Madison (13-3)
13. Iowa St (13-4)
14. George Washington (3-0 conf play; 10-5)
15. Duquense (2-0 conf play; 10-5)
16. Portland (12-4)

Babblemur on Top of Bloody Week Nine

Week Nine was bloody. Every player but one lost at least 5 games, and every player but two won no more than 10 games. Three top 10 teams were beat, and upsets struck everywhere. The point spread though was not as wide, the lowest was +12 (The CEO), the highest was Babblemur (+25). Everyone else took in between +14 and +20.

Gunz held onto first place for the 8th consecutive week. Although he struggled with a 9-7 record he still brought in +19 points off big wins by Clemson and Oklahoma State and consistent winning by Duke. Georgetown is a big concern now after losses to St. Johns and West Virginia. Bradley dropped three straight.

McGrumps held onto second place off a 12-5 record for +18, but Kentucky's loss to Georgia and Boston College's loss to Harvard sting. Richmond, St. Mary's and Oakland all brought home the bacon.

Babblemur rose from 6th place to 3rd place after winning 9 of 12 games for +25. The high points is credited to Georgia upsetting #10 Kentucky and Colorado upsetting #9 Missouri. Purdue picked up 6 points off wins over Penn St and Iowa, San Diego State won two straight to remain undefeated, St. John's picked off Georgetown, and USC nailed UCLA. Ohio however lost against Miami (OH) which is a bad sign, and Maine lost one they should have won.

The rest of the upper echelon include Mad Mader (+19, 7-5), Mooseye (+15, 9-7) and Boaris (+15, 9-5).

There was no change on the leader board for the bottom seven. The CEO lost ground off a 10-5 record for +12, Jaybird gained some off 10-5 record for +18. Akaoni went 11-8 for +17, Jutdog went 10-5 for +14, and Some Guy in Illinois went 10-5 for +16. Slake B turned up the volume with 20 points thanks to a strong week for Ohio State, West Virginia, Wright State and Miami (OH). Musashisan is keeping pace with +19 off a 9-7 record.

Looking Forward to Week Ten

Ran out of time. Sorry.


Standings after Week Nine

• Current with all Jan 9 (Sunday) Games
• 1. Gunz 175 (89-33)
• 2. McGrumps 151 (93-32)
• 3. Babblemur 151 (88-32)
• 4. Mad Mader 149 (86-32)
• 5. Mooseye 148 (82-38)
• 6. Boaris 146 (89-31)
• 7. The CEO 137 (83-36)
• 8. Jaybird 136 (85-37)
• 9. Akaoni 134 (90-33)
• 10. Jutdog 126 (80-40)
• 11. Some Guy in Illinois 124 (80-40)
• 12. Slake B 111 (69-48)
• 13. Musashisan 103 (73-48)

Ugly Saturday

A Recap (and new thread) of our Saturday:

Mad Mader (5-0) +13
Babblemur (4-1) +12
McGrumps (6-2) +8
Jutdog (5-2) +7
Gunz (3-1) +7
Musashisan (3-3) +7
Boaris (4-2) +6
SGII (4-3) +6
Mooseye (2-3) +6
Slake B (3-1) +5
Jaybird (2-3) +4
The CEO (2-4) +4
Akaoni (0-3) +0

January 8th is also the birthday of David Bowie and Elvis Presley, both of whom I appreciate and love very much. Therefore the video below kind of sucks, but isn't far off of accurate.

McGrumps Wins Week Eight

Week Eight started many teams into conference play, the bread and butter of the schedules, and the beginning of the march to March Madness. (Shitty intro, but I had nothing else here.)

Last Week the Iowa Boys were big winners: McGrumps pulled in 20, Mooseye 19, and Akaoni 18. Some Guy in Illinois hit 19 to creep to within 4 points of Lord Jut, and Babblemur hit 18 to climb past the CEO. Our Leader board:

1. Gunz held his first place position off 17 points led by 4 for Duke and 4 for VCU who won back to back games. Gunz' lead has slipped to 23 points and he has a tough week ahead as Oklahoma State, Stanford, and Clemson have tough conference schedules. Duke and Georgetown however are likely to earn 6 points a piece in Week 9.

2. McGrumps rose from 5th to 2nd place off 20 points, going 12-3 for the week. Kentucky, Memphis, St. Mary's and Oakland had a solid week, Richmond bumped Wake, and St. Mary's took down short staffed Miss St. For McGrumps to make ground on Gunz he will need Memphis to take down Tennessee on Wednesday and Marquette to win a tough one against Pittsburgh on Saturday.

3. Mooseye rose from 4th to 3rd going 9-5 for 19 points. Those points came off 5 wins against other players, but 4 losses to other players were a lost opportunity to pass McGrumps. Charlotte came through against Georgia Tech, Florida won a big one against hot Xavier, but Wake and Western Kentucky are looking weak. This coming week Wichita State has a chance to prove themselves with 3 conference games, Florida faces Rhode Island and Ole Miss for 6 possible points, and UCONN has two big games against Texas and Notre Dame.

4. Boaris continued his downward descent, this week more to the lack of games against other players as he went 9-3 for 11 points. Tennessee continued to look weak in a blowout loss to Charleston, but everyone else held their own. Boaris has a BIG Wednesday where he could redeem himself - Tennessee vs. Memphis, UNLV vs. BYU, Louisville vs. Seton Hall, UAB vs. Duke, and Loyola Marymount vs. St. Mary's, for a potential 17 point day.

5. Mad Mader dropped from 3rd to 5th despite going 10-4 for 16 points. It is only going to get tougher for his teams now, Penn State faces Purdue and Michigan State next week, St. Louis is looking at Dayton and Temple, Notre Dame has UCONN and St. Johns.

6. Babblemur went 12-3 for 18 points to leap frog past the CEO, Purdue, St. Johns, Georgia and Colorado all went 2-0, but Ohio and Maine both lost winnable games. Babblemur only has 13 games next week with some very tough matchups (Georgia vs. Kentucky, St. Johns vs. Georgetown and Notre Dame, Colorado vs. Missouri).

7. The CEO won 8 games for 16 points but lost 7 with Washington State dropping two to USC and UCLA and Wofford losing back to back to VCU and Cornell. Fortunately for the CEO Gonzaga began earning their first round draft status with 3 wins. The CEO only has three games against other players but all of their games are winnable. If he goes 15-0 he is looking at 23 points next week.

8. Jaybird picked up 14 points to stay in 8th place. Going 2-4 against other players won't move him up the leader board. Georgia Tech's loss to Charlotte hurt, but Mississippi State's internal fighting is going to hurt the most in the long run. Jaybird has a lot of point opportunities this coming week, but can he win more than 3 of his 9 games against other players?

9. Akaoni climbed to 9th place pulling 5 points ahead of struggling Lord Jut off of a 10-2 record for 18 points. His mid majors Missouri State, Southern Miss and Dayton are bringing home the bacon, and Akaoni proved he can win against other players by going 4-2 in that category. Week 9 will be critical as Butler has 3 conference games including red hot Cleveland State, Northwestern has 3 conference games including Illinois and Michigan St, and Missouri State has 3 conference games including Creighton and Wichita State.

10. Jutdog went 7-5 for 9 points, but frankly he didn't have a lot of point opportunities this week. That's why Weber State's two losses to Montana schools hurt. He could turn it around in Week 9 though with Texas playing UCONN on Saturday, BYU facing UNLV, Seton Hall has two tough games against Louisville and Syracuse, and Rhode Island is looking at Florida and Xavier. If he tanks this week, look for hot SGII to pass him on the leader board.

11. Some Guy in Illinois is hot, going 11-2 for 19 points. His meat and potatoes are in conference play as Washington swept USC and UCLA and Illinois swept Iowa and Wisconsin. If he keeps winning in Week 9 he will be moving up the leader board. NC State has a winnable game against Wake on Saturday, Tulsa faces conference rival UTEP on Tuesday, and George Mason has 3 conference games including a tough Old Dominion on Saturday.

12. Slake B's losing streak continued going 7-8 for 9 points. West Virginia lost 2 conference games, Oregon lost 2, Miami Ohio lost 2, but on the bright side Ohio State is hot, Wright State went 2-0, and next week Slake has 8 games against other players for a lot of point opportunities.

13. Musashisan continues to raise the basement floor, going 7-5 for 13 points, only 7 down from Slake. Michigan State excels in Big 10 play and has a couple of good games this week. Baylor, Miami, Arizona State and Alabama could all score big this week, and Long Beach St is looking like winners after going 2-0 last week.

Standings after Week 8:

• Current with all Jan 2 (Sunday) Games
• 1. Gunz 156 (80-26)
• 2. McGrumps 133 (81-27)
• 3. Mooseye 133 (73-31)
• 4. Boaris 131 (80-26)
• 5. Mad Mader 130 (79-27)
• 6. Babblemur 126 (79-29)
• 7. The CEO 125 (73-31)
• 8. Jaybird 118 (75-32)
• 9. Akaoni 117 (79-25)
• 10. Jutdog 112 (70-35)
• 11. Some Guy in Illinois 108 (70-35)
• 12. Slake B 91 (59-43)
• 13. Musashisan 84 (64-41)