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)
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. 
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. 
