Mooseye Wins, but Mid-Majors are the Real Winners

League Rookie MOOSEYE has unofficially secured the 2010-2011 Babblemur B-Ball Championship despite losing 2 of 3 over the weekend. Mooseye has a 42 point lead over second place Gunz.

Gunz' unlikely heroes VCU, if they beat Butler and go on to beat Kentucky for the National Championship, would pick up 37 points, plus with Santa Clara in the CIT finale another one point, not enough to overcome the difference.

Currently in 3rd place, McGrumps has Kentucky in the Final Four, 62 points out of first, but just 20 points behind Gunz. We have a battle for second place. Babblemur, in 5th now, has Colorado in the NIT but winning it all will not put him in contention for 2nd. Akaoni was redeemed with Butler in the final four but 136 points out of first place is too much. Currently in 9th place he could finish as high as 6th.

This year will mark the first time the (invisible) Trophy goes to the state of Iowa, where it rightfully belongs given the strong tradition of 6 on 6 high school girls basketball in the cornfield state. When informed of his victory, Mooseye said, "I won? Where's my money?"

Last year's winner Jutdog, upon losing his last team on Sunday, said "Fuckin' mother fucker I needed second place in this bitch dammit." Jut intends to now just enjoy the rest of the games instead of stressing out about his teams. He had no comment as to whether he would compete next year after this year's crushing defeat.

But it ain't over yet! We got championship games this week! Lets go!

CIT Championship Game (Wednesday)

Santa Clara (Gunz) vs. Iona (_)

Gunz has a shot at ONE POINT if he can win this nail biter.

CBI Three Game Finale (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

Oregon (Slake B) vs. Creighton (Jaybird)

Each win here is 3 points, so a 3-0 sweep could net one of these losers 9 points.

NIT Final Four (Tuesday)

Wichita St (Mooseye) vs. Washington St (The CEO)
Colorado (Babblemur) vs. Alabama (Musashisan)

The semis are worth an additional +4, winning the NIT Crown is worth another +7. One of these four players will go home with +17, one will get +7, and nothing for the two losers on Tuesday. If Alabama wins this game Musashisan will compete again next year (with Alabama as his first round pick).

NCAA Final Four (Saturday)

Butler (Akaoni) vs. VCU (Gunz)
UCONN (Mooseye) vs. Kentucky (McGrumps)

Is the story here the absence of Kansas, Ohio State, Duke and Pittsburgh? Or the rise of two strong mid-majors to turn the basketball world on its head? Is this a boon or blow to the expanded tournament field given that VCU started off in a "play in" game?

No, the story is that the Saturday games are worth +14 on top of the 3 points for the win, and the Monday Championship game is worth +17 on top of the 3 points for the win. One of these lucky bastards will go home with +37, one with +17, and two get NOTHING.

No, Mooseye already won the Contest, so this is about redemption and good basketball.

Kentucky, bad boys in blue, one and done rookies, taking on UCONN, who won five games in five days to win the Big East Tournament. Butler, who rocked the brackets last year only to lose to Duke in the Championship, against VCU, you know, they are in the same conference as George Mason. No matter who wins on Saturday, Monday April 4th is going to be a hell of a good game.

Standings after Week 20:

• Current with all Mar 27 (Sunday) Games
• 1. Mooseye 522 (199-102)
• 2. Gunz 480 (191-107)
• 3. McGrumps 460 (206-94)
• *4. Jutdog 460 (199-97)
• 5. Babblemur 434 (192-99)
• *6. Boaris 412 (194-92)
• *7. Mad Mader 407 (185-104)
• 8. Jaybird 402 (190-103)
• 9. Akaoni 386 (181-109)
• 10. The CEO 369 (188-101)
• 11. Slake B 364 (169-116)
• *12. Some Guy in Illinois 352 (176-111)
• 13. Musashisan 263 (148-137)

crazy

now - this is impressive! Other than overestimating UL, and underestimating Arizona and Marquette, this bracket is near perfect!

DWTS: Race for the Mirror Ball

Welcome to the official Dancing With the Stars thread. With the constant pandering of the new team of judges to the lousy crop of contestants this year I simply can't stand to watch American Idol any more. Dancing With the Stars however continues to deliver with train wreck moments on the floor from semi-washed up stars followed inappropriate sexual innuendo and your occasional funny comment from the judges. And the show doesn't take itself all that seriously (most of the time).

I'll recap each of the dancers below.

Contenders & Pretenders

Honestly at this point some of you can't win. And frankly, we have a few Contenders and a handful of Pretenders, clinging to a glimmer of hope.

Lets go straight to the numbers. In the NCAA Tournament, given that every game is now a player-vs-player (and including those points below), this is how many points are at stake:

• National Champion: +62
• Runner Up: +42
• Final Four Losers (x2): +25
• Elite Eight Losers (x6): +11
• The rest of the sweet 16 (x8): +0

Already you can see your magic number after Sunday - if you only have one team in the sweet 16, 62 more points is what you have left.

But we could be close enough now that the NIT may come into play. There are 11 teams still alive in the NIT, 5 have already reached the (nit)elite 8. This is how the potential for points breaks down depending on if a team has already reached the (nit)elite 8:

• NIT Champ: 22 or 25
• NIT runnerup: 12 or 15
• NIT Final 4 (x2): 5 or 8
• NIT Elite 8 (x6): 0 or 3

CBI & CIT? Forget it. Worth no more than 2-3 points total, if it comes down to one of these games I will be shocked.

So now lets break down the players into three categories: Contenders, Pretenders, & Done

Done:

Musashisan - at over 200 points down with no NCAA teams left, Musashisan is unfortunately beyond done. True, he has four teams still alive, including Miami and Alabama in the NIT, UNI in the CIT and Duquesne in the CBI, but he has no more than 30-35 potential points left. Michigan State, his only NCAA Tourney team, finished as his highest scoring team with 43 points, but Alabama with 40 could meet or pass that.

Some Guy in Illinois - with the Illinois loss on Sunday SGII lost his last team in post season play, freezing him at 352 points and securing 12th place for the season. With four teams advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament SGII was looking like he could rise to the level of Contender, but as all four fell over the weekend, it all ended. With 68 points, first round pick Washington was his leading scorer.

Boaris - With a league leading eight teams in the Big Dance, Kansas State's loss eliminated the last of the Mighty Boaris' teams from competition, freezing him at 412 points, in 6th place and dropping. Louisville's fall to Morehead State on Thursday was probably the nail in his coffin, but early falls by Tennessee, UAB, UNLV, Northern Colorado and Princeton didn't help.

The CEO - The CEO's last NCAA team Gonzaga fell on Saturday, ending any chance he has. At 361 points, over 100 out from first place, with only Washington St (possible +25) in the NIT and Buffalo (possible +3?) in the CBI The CEO can finally inscribe his tombstone. Gonzaga at 65 total was his top team.

Mad Mader - With Syracuse and Notre Dame's losses on Sunday Mad Mader, who has been competitive all year in his rookie season, is officially out of contention for the Championship. With 3 teams in the second round he had a chance, but no longer. Only Charleston (potential +22) remains alive in competition. With 74 points Notre Dame was the Mader's lead team, Syracuse close behind at 69.

Pretenders:

Slake B - Ohio State is probably the favorites to win the National Championship. Unfortunately, that is the only Sweet 16 team Slake has. Points out of first: -110. Point potential: +62. But wait - what about Oregon in the CBI? Sorry, not getting 40 points out of the CBI. Slake is as good as done, but has the potential to influence a lot of other potentials as Ohio State marches to the Final Four (Kentucky, Marquette, North Carolina are in the same bracket...)

Jaybird - Pittsburgh OUT! Temple OUT! Only Arizona remains alive in the NCAA, with the potential for +62 if they win the next four and become National Champions. Wait, Jaybird is -81 points out of first place! Can Creighton in the CBI make up the difference? No. Jaybird is done. But Arizona will get the pleasure of trying to deny points to their following Sweet 16 bracket-buddies: Duke, UCONN, San Diego State.

Akaoni - 109 points out of first place, Akaoni stunned the field by putting TWO teams into the Sweet 16 with #8 seed Butler's upset over #1 seed Pitt and #10 seed Florida State's win over #2 seed Notre Dame. Does Akaoni have a chance? If one of these two teams wins it all (+60) and the other makes it to the Final Four (+25) he still sits 24 points behind. But wait! Northwestern is in the Elite 8 of the NIT, where a Title could net +25, and throw in Missouri State in the NIT where another +15 is possible... and Akaoni is technically still in the game!

Babblemur - Purdue's loss leaves Babs relying only on San Diego State in the NCAA (potental +62), Colorado in the NIT (potential +22) and Ohio in the CIT (potential +2 or +3 at best). At 41 points behind, Babblemur "technically" is still in it, but would need to see Mooseye lose at least 2 games in the first round of the sweet 16, and see a lot of other contender teams lose as well. Is it possible? Yes. Will it happen?

Contenders:

Mooseye - Mooseye has taken 3 of his 4 NCAA teams into the Sweet 16, and not just any 3 teams but #1 seed Kansas in the Southwest, #2 seed Florida in the Southeast, and #3 seed UCONN in the West. He enters the week with a 17 point lead, 3 strong teams in the NCAA, plus Wichita State and New Mexico alive in the NIT, not a bad pair of teams. At this point, Mooseye is in the driver's seat.

Gunz - Gunz was on top of the leaderboard for most of the season until a rocky trip through Championship Week knocked him off the top of the mountain. Now, with Duke, Wisconsin, and Virginia Commonwealth in the Sweet 16, Gunz is not only back in it, but in prime position to win it. At only 17 points behind Mooseye, Gunz and Mooseye don't have a single potential matchup until the Elite 8, at which point all six of their teams could be facing off. We got game here!

Jutdog - Jut lost Texas on Sunday but is sitting in third place, 21 points down, with two tough teams in the Sweet 16 with #2 seed North Carolina and #3 seed BYU. Every game counts now, but particularly BYU's next game against Mooseye's Florida, where a loss could end Jut's chances. North Carolina draws 11 seed Marquette but sees 1 seed Ohio State on the horizon. If it gets close we have to watch Kent State (potential +22) in the NIT and Rhode Island in the CBI.

McGrumps - Rising from the depths of the leader board, McGrumps has made a statement by putting three teams (Kentucky, Richmond, Marquette) into the Sweet 16, rising from 6th place to 4th just 35 points out of first place. Unfortunately it gets hard now, as Kentucky faces Ohio State, Marquette takes on North Carolina, and Richmond gets Kansas. McGrumps needs to get at least one of these teams into the Final Four to stay a contender.

Weekly Recap:

• Gunz +57 (9-4)
• Mooseye +53 (9-3)
• Jutdog +51 (9-4)
• McGrumps +49 (7-5)
• Akaoni +39 (7-4)
• Babs +30 (6-4)
• Jaybird +29 (5-5)
• SGII +28 (4-7)
• Mad Mader +26 (6-7)
• Slake B +25 (5-4)
• The CEO +17 (5-7)
• Musashisan +10 (4-2)
• Boaris +5 (1-10)
  

Standings after week 19:

• Current with all Mar 20 (Sunday) Games
• 1. Mooseye 470 (194-99)
• 2. Gunz 453 (185-104)
• 3. Jutdog 449 (198-93)
• 4. McGrumps 435 (204-92)
• 5. Babblemur 429 (191-97)
• 6. Boaris 412 (194-92)
• 7. Mad Mader 407 (185-103)
• 8. Jaybird 389 (187-102)
• 9. The CEO 361 (186-100)
• 10. Akaoni 361 (179-106)
• 11. Slake B 360 (167-115)
• 12. Some Guy in Illinois 352 (176-111)
• 13. Musashisan 254 (145-134)

Elimination Postation

Let the End of Seasons Begin! Here is the list of who is Finished - growing daily now! Last updated through games on 3/19/11.
Red = half of teams gone.
Blue = two or less teams left!
ORANGE = ELIMINATED.

Akaoni:
~ Villanova (pick 6 ) - 42 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to George Mason
~ Dayton (pick 47) - 42 pts. Lost opening round of NIT
~ Southern Miss (pick 73) - 27 pts
~ Texas Tech (pick 99) - 13 pts
~ Hofstra (expandadraft) - 7 pts. Lost opening round of CIT
~ Colorado St (expandadraft) - 6 pts. Lost in opening round of NIT
~ Denver (expandadraft) - 4 pts

Babs:
~ Georgia (pick 29) - 46 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Washington
~ St Johns (pick 50) - 59 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Zaga
~ USC (pick 81) - 50 pts. Lost play-in NCAA game to VCU
~ Maine (pick 102) - 16 pts
~ Long Island (expandadraft) - 26 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to UNC
~ Florida Atlantic (expandadraft) - 13 pts. Lost opening round of NIT

Boaris: (FINAL SCORE: 412)
~ Kansas St (pick 5) - 49 pts. Lost 2nd round of NCAA to Wisconsin
~ Tennessee (pick 22) - 55 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Michigan
~ Utah St (Pick 31) - 54 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Kansas St
~ Louisville (pick 57) - 62 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Morehead St
~ UAB (pick 74) - 40 pts. Lost play-in NCAA game to Clemson
~ Loyola Marymount (pick 93) - 9 pts
~ Princeton (pick 100) - 43 pts. Lost in opening round of NCAA to Kentucky
~ N. Colorado (expandadraft) - 27 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to San Diego St
~ Bethane-Cookman (expandadraft) -16 pts. Lost opening round of NIT
~ Nebraska (expandadraft) - 12 pts. Lost opening round of NIT

CEO: (No NCAA Teams)
~ Gonzaga (pick 8) - 65 pts. Lost 2nd round of NCAA to BYU
~ Missouri (pick 19) - 40 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Cincy
~ Minnesota (pick 34) - 39 pts
~ Vanderbilt (pick 45) - 52 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Richmond
~ Wofford (pick 71) - 34 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to BYU
~ UC Santa Barbara (pick 86) - 13 pts
~ Bucknell (expandadraft) - 23 pts. Lost in opening round of NCAA to UCONN
~ Marshall (expandadraft) - 9 pts. Lost opening round of CIT

GUNZ:
~ Georgetown (pick 25) - 57 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to VCU
~ Stanford (pick 77) - 25 pts
~ Bradley (pick 103) - 14 pts
~ Harvard (expandadraft) - 18 pts. Lost opening round of NIT
~ Vermont (expandadraft) - 14 pts. Lost opening round of NIT

Jaybird: (Only NCAA team left is Arizona)
~ Pitt (pick 7) - 79 pts. Lost 2nd round of NCAA to Butler
~ Temple (pick 20) - 59 pts. Lost 2nd round of NCAA to San Diego St
~ UTEP (pick 46) - 40 pts. Lost opening round of NIT
~ Mississippi St (pick 59) - 33 pts
~ Morgan St (pick 72) - 23 pts
~ Georgia Tech (pick 98) - 23 pts
~ Valporaiso (expandadraft) - 15 pts. Lost opening round of CIT
~ Austin Peay (expandadraft) - 6 pts. Lost opening round of CIT

Jutdog:
~ Old D (pick 44) - 57 pts. Lost in opening round of NCAA to Butler
~ Seton Hall (pick 61) - 25 pts
~ Weber St (pick 87) - 8 pts
~ Detroit (pick 96) - 22 pts
~ Belmont (expandadraft) - 23 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Wisconsin
~ California (expandadraft) - 16 pts. Lost 2nd round of NIT

MadMader:
~ Texas A&M (pick 39) - 42 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Florida St
~ UCLA (pick 40) - 58 pts. Lost 2nd round of NCAA to Florida
~ St Louis (pick 66) - 6 pts
~ Penn St (pick 91) - 44 pts. Lost in opening round of NCAA to Temple
~ North Texas (pick 92) - 28 pts
~ Montana (expandadraft) - 7 pts. Lost opening round of CBI
~ UMASS (expandadraft) - 4 pts

McGrumps:
~ Memphis (pick 16) - 51 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Arizona
~ St. Marys (pick 63) - 48 pts. Lost opening round of NIT
~ Oakland (pick 68) - 43 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Texas
~ Boston College (pick 89) - 37 pts. Lost in 2nd round of NIT
~ Quinnipiac (pick 94) - 26pts. Lost opening round of CIT
~ Ball St (expandadraft) - 10 pts
~ Jackson St (expandadraft) - 5 pts

Mooseye:
~ Wake Forest (pick 69) - 10 pts
~ Charlotte (pick 88) - 20 pts
~ Western Kentucky (pick 95) - 18 pts
~ Texas Southern (expandadraft) - 17 pts. Lost opening round of NIT
~ Coastal Carolina (expandadraft) - 14 pts
~ Hampton (expandadraft) - 16 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Duke

Musashisan: (NO NCAA TEAMS LEFT)
~ Michigan St (pick 1) - 43 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to UCLA
~ Baylor (pick 27) - 31 pts
~ Arizona St (pick 52) - 24 pts
~ Long Beach St (pick 79) - 31 pts
~ Iowa (pick 104) - 8 pts
~ South Carolina (expandadraft) - 4 pts
~ Providence (expandadraft) - 2 pts

Slake B: (Only NCAA team left is Ohio State)
~ West Virginia (pick 23) - 50 pts. Lost in 2nd round of NCAA to Kentucky
~ Xavier (pick 30) - 60 pts. Lost opening round of NCAA to Marquette
~ Maryland (pick 49) - 35 pts
~ Cornell (pick 56) - 12 pts
~ Wright St (pick 75) - 23 pts
~ Miami OH (pick 101) - 21 pts. Lost opening round of CBI
~ Cleveland St (expanadraft) - 18 pts
~ Arkansas (expanadraft) - 6 pts

SGII:
~ NC State (pick 38) - 23 pts
~ Murray St (pick 41) - 33 pts. Lost opening round of NIT
~ Old Miss (pick 34) - 38 pts. Lost opening round of NIT
~ New Mexico St (pick 67) - 14 pts
~ Tulsa (pick 90) - 33 pts
~ Cincy (expandadraft) - 27 pts. Lost 2nd round of NCAA to UCONN
~ McNeese St (expandadraft) - 14 pts. Lost opening round of NIT

NCAA Scoring and Chatter

Number of bids in the NCAA Tournament (57 of 68):

• 8 = Boaris
  
• 6 = Babblemur
• 5 = The CEO, Gunz, Jutdog, Mad Mader, McGrumps,
  
• 4 = Mooseye, SGII,
  
• 3 = Akaoni, Jaybird, Slake B,
  
• 1 = Musashisan

Scoring rules for the NCAA Tournament:

- Each team that makes the NCAA tourney receives 3 points
- Each team earns 2 points for a NCAA tourney play-in game win*
- Each team earns 4 points for a NCAA tourney round 1 win*
- Each team earns 6 points for a NCAA tourney round 2 win*
- Each team earns 8 points for a NCAA tourney round 3 win*
- Each team earns 11 points for a NCAA tourney round 4 win*
- Each team earns 14 points for reaching the NCAA final*
- The team that wins the NCAA tourney earns 17 points.*

- * Each post-season win over another player will also include +2 points

Unrelated Bracket Group

Per request, a "Group" on ESPN for anyone interested:

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/group?groupID=67117

NIT

Check out the NIT bracket here.

What do we know? All but 3 or 4 of the 32 teams are BabblePlayer squads, making this tourney a game changer for our league.

In total, this year's NIT is probably worth around 100 pts, unless UW Milwaukee or another non-player team takes it all.

- A team that makes the post-season NIT final 4 receives 2 points*
- A team that makes the post-season NIT championship receives 4 points*
- The team that wins the post-season NIT championship receives 7 points*
- * Each post-season win over another player will also include +2 points

Champion Week (18) Recap

McGrumps started the week in 8th place. 17 wins later he added +75 to his score, won three conference championships and put five teams in the Big Dance. Now he is in 6th place, but just 31 points out of first place.

Mooseye started the week in fourth place, then he won the MEAC, the Big 12, and the Big East, but only Florida was given an at large bid. Nonetheless, Mooseye holds first place with a 10 point lead and a number one seed.

Boaris was bitching and moaning about Tennessee while in 5th place last Monday. Despite a lack-luster performance during championship week he got two automatic bids and six at-large bids to put a league leading 8 teams in the Big Dance. All in all he added +62 points for the week and put himself in second place.

These three were the big winners of Championship Week, but lets not discount the valiant efforts of Babblemur (+47 and the MWC Title), Gunz (+43 and the ACC Title), The CEO (+42 and the Patriot League Title), Jutdog (+41 and the Colonial Title), and Mad Mader (+41 with five at-large bids).

However there is a thumping in the basement, and with some strong flagship teams leading them in the Big Dance it is time to pay more attention to Slake B (+32 and Ohio St) and SGII (+36 and Washington). On the other hand, I think we can wish a fond farewell to the hopes of Akaoni (+26 with 3 NCAA bids) and Musashisan (+15 with one NCAA bid.)

Standings after Week 18:

• Current with all Mar 13 (Sunday) Games
• 1. Mooseye 417 (185-96)
• 2. Boaris 407 (193-82)
• 4. Babblemur 399 (185-91)
• 3. Jutdog 398 (189-89)
• 5. Gunz 396 (176-100)
• 6. McGrumps 386 (197-87)
• 7. Mad Mader 381 (179-96)
• 8. Jaybird 360 (182-97)
• 9. The CEO 344 (181-93)
• 10. Slake B 335 (162-111)
• 11. Some Guy in Illinois 324 (172-104)
• 12. Akaoni 322 (172-102)
• 13. Musashisan 244 (141-132)

Number of Bids to the NCAA Tournament:

• 8 = Boaris
  
• 6 = Babblemur
• 5 = The CEO, Gunz, Jutdog, Mad Mader, McGrumps,
  
• 4 = Mooseye, SGII,
  
• 3 = Akaoni, Jaybird, Slake B,
  
• 1 = Musashisan
  

Number of Bids to the NIT:

• 4 = Akaoni, Mooseye,
  
• 3 = Gunz, Musashisan, SGII,
  
• 2 = Babblemur, Boaris, CEO, Jut, Mad Mader, McGrumps,
  
• 1 = Jaybird, Slake B,
  

What do you think? Like your seeds? Are you screwed?

Per request, a "Group" on ESPN for anyone interested:

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/group?groupID=67117

Mooseye Dominates Saturday Tourneys

Mooseye was the clear winner on Saturday, going 4-0 and winning the MEAC for +7, Kansas won the Big 12 for +10, and UCONN took 5 games to win the Big East for +10. This resulted in a 41 point DAY for Mooseye, catapulting him into a 22 point first place lead. On top of that, Florida made it to the SEC final today that could further pad his position.


Jutdog dropped 3 games, with only North Carolina advancing to an opportunity for a major conference tournament championship. He fell from first place to third place, as Boaris grabbed the Ivy League automatic bid and Utah State took the WAC for a total of 15 points.

Babblemur dropped to fourth place despite 13 points for San Diego State's affirming and dominating victory over BYU and Jutdog. Gunz held onto the fifth place spot despite Clemson and Harvard losses, but he has Duke facing off for the ACC title today.

Mad Mader got knocked out of the ACC race, but Penn State has risen to the Big Ten final today against Ohio State. Mader holds onto 6th place, 48 points out of first, down but not out.

McGrumps did his best to stay in contention by winning Conference USA and advancing Richmond and Kentucky into Sunday's tournament finales. The 17 points pushed him ahead of Jaybird, who followed a 4-0 Friday with an 0-4 Saturday. The CEO also had a goose egg on Saturday, while Akaoni in 10th place got Dayton into the Sunday A-10 final.

Some Guy in Illinois won the Pac-10 with Washington to pull within a point of 11th place Slake B, who is feeding off Ohio State and looking good for taking the Big 10 today. Musashisan lost 3 games to secure last place.

Four More Tournaments

The last four tournaments are today, giving seven players one last crack and a point boost before the NCAA Tournament kicks off.

SEC
Florida (Mooseye) vs. Kentucky (McGrumps)
Mooseye could really pad his lead going into the Big Dance with a win of the SEC, but McGrumps needs those points badly to remain competitive. At 55 points down, a win by Kentucky would narrow that deficit to 42 and threaten for 5th place.

Atlantic 10
Richmond (McGrumps) vs. Dayton (Akaoni)
McGrumps is the only player with two teams alive today, and a win over slumping Akaoni would add another 11 points to the day, which combined with a Kentucky win would put McG just 31 points down. For Akaoni the 11 points at best will keep him at pace with Slake B.

ACC
North Carolina (Jut) vs. Duke (Gunz)
Jutdog fell 25 points out of first yesterday, Gunz sits 43 points out. This clash of Top 10 teams guarantees the winner a 15 point return, critical for entering the Tournament competitively.

Big 10
Ohio St (Slake) vs. Penn St (Mad Mader)
Mad Mader has the odds stacked against him this game, but Penn State may have proven they are Tourney-worthy after their Big 10 run.

Selection Sunday

Tournament selection begins tonight - every team that receives a bid to the NCAA Tournament will get +3 points.

Saturday Smackdown

Friday was a HUGE day that paid off for some and sunk the rest. Almost every game was a head to head match up, and for Jutdog (4-1), Jaybird (4-1), Mooseye (4-2), and McGrumps (4-3) it paid off.

And for Babblemur (1-4), Some Guy in Illinois (1-4), Slake (1-3), and Akaoni (1-2) dreams were dashed like whiskey across the bar.

Others still cling to home like McGrumps who lost the MAC and SWAC but put three teams into games today, and Musashisan who could give three teams auto-bids this weekend with Michigan State, Alabama and Long Beach State.

Mad Mader lost both his Big East games (Syracuse and Notre Dame) but has the unlikely duo of Virginia Tech and Penn State in the Semis.

Gunz lost the Big 10 last night but went double down for the ACC with Duke and Clemson facing Mad Mader and Jut today.

The CEO lost teams earlier in the week but is still gaining points thanks to Vanderbilt and Bucknell's victory in the Patriot League.

Boaris lost three tourney games but has Louisville in the Big East Finale, Utah State prepared to take the WAC, and Princeton facing off with Harvard for the Ivy auto-bid.

___________

Saturday Smackdown

This is the day that Lord Jut could take an insurmountable lead.

Championships on the Line:

Big 12 (7 points +3 for the auto-bid)
#10 Texas (Jut) vs. #2 Kansas (Mooseye)
This is a big one for both Jut and fourth place Mooseye, who is just 13 points down.

Mountain West (5 points +3 for the auto-bid)
#8 BYU (Jut) vs. #7 San Diego St (Babblemur)
Babblemur's last team playing this week, with smack talk all year about these two teams. Aztecs need payback for two losses, Jimmer needs a date.

Pac 10 (7 points +3 for the auto-bid)
Arizona (Jaybird) vs. Washington (Some Guy in Illinois)
A must win for SGII to avoid being written off.

Big East (7 points +3 for the auto-bid)
UCONN (Mooseye) vs. Louisville (Boaris)
A great match up pitting second place Boaris against fourth place Mooseye for a pile of points.

Ivy (+3 for the auto-bid)
Princeton (Boaris) vs. Harvard (Gunz)
Fifth place Gunz needs another auto-bid to keep up with the pack, Duke can't carry Gunz anymore.

WAC (5 points +3 for the auto-bid)
Utah State (Boaris) vs. Boise St (_)
Second place Boaris needs these uncontested points.

Conference USA (5 points +3 for the auto-bid)
Memphis (McGrumps) vs. UTEP (Jaybird)
Jaybird is contesting four conference championships at this point, McGrumps is contesting three.

Southland (4 points +3 for the auto-bid)
McNeese St (SGII) vs. Texas San Antonio (_)
SGII should lock up these easy points.

Big West (4 points +3 for the auto-bid)
Long Beach St (Musashisan) vs. UC Santa Barbara (_)
Come on, Musa.

MEAC (4 points +3 for the auto-bid)
Hampton (Mooseye) vs. Morgan St (Jaybird)
The Hampton pick totally redeems itself with a win here.

MAC (5 points +3 for the auto-bid)
Kent State (Jut) vs. Akron (_)
Easy points for Lord Jut

Big Ten
Michigan St (Musa) vs. Penn St (Mad Mader)
Ohio St (Slake B) vs. Michigan (_)
No Illinois, no Purdue, no Wisconsin... -yawn-

ACC
North Carolina (Jut) vs. Clemson (Gunz)
Duke (Gunz) vs. Virginia Tech (Mad Mader)
Heading for a big Sunday showdown.

Charts & Graphs

Lunch Break Charts and Graphs

of a most trivial nature

Who is bringing home the bacon so far this week?




OK so you are losing, but are you gaining ground?



Who gets to try and take down Lord Jut today?

Top Teams heading into the Beast of the Season

1. Duke with 74 (Gunz) - pick 2
2. Kansas with 72 (Mooseye) - pick 10
2. Ohio State also with 72 (Slake B) - pick 4
4. Pittsburgh with 71 (Jaybird) - pick 7
5. North Carolina with 65 (Jutdog) - pick 9
5. Florida with 65 (Mooseye) - pick 17

7. Notre Dame with 63 (Mad Mader) - pick 65
8. Arizona with 62 (Jaybird) - pick 33
9. BYU with 60 (Jutdog) - pick 35
10. Gonzaga with 58 (CEO) - pick 8
10. Syracuse with 58 (MadMader) - pick 13

12. Purdue with 57 (Babs) - pick 3
12. Old Dominion with 57 (Jutdog) - pick 44
12. Xavier with 57 (Slake B) - pick 30
15. Butler with 55 (Akaoni) - pick 21
15. St. John's with 55 (Babs) - pick 50

Absent from this list:

Pick 1: Mich St

Pick 5: Kansas St

Pick 11: Kentucky

Pick 12: Washington

Week 17: Jutdog, Jaybird, Boaris, Mooseye and Slake Win Big

As the regular season (mostly) came to a close on Sunday, conference champ points and a few conference tournaments were doled out and the Leader Board was shaken up and stirred. It was a big time week for five players, and a pile of shit for the other 8. Lets recap:

Conference Champs

Mooseye came on strong winning two Major conferences (SEC and Big 12), and thanks to the expanda-draft two minors (BigSouth and SWAC) for 30 points. Jutdog was right behind him also with four conferences: ACC, Mountain West, MAC, and the Atlantic Sun for 29 points. Boaris was the only other player to win four conferences (WAC, CUSA, Big Sky, MEAC) and could make it five with the Ivy. He picked up 26 points for his efforts.

Slake B took 3 conferences (Big10, A-10, Horizon) for 23 points, the CEO took 3 conferences (WCC, MAAC, and Patriot) for 19 points, and Some Guy in Illinois took 3 (Colonial, OVC, Southland) for 19 points. The rest of us had 2 conferences or less, with special notice going to Jaybird who won two majors (Big East and Pac 10) for 18 points.

Who's Dancing and Who Isn't

Belmont (Jutdog) is the only player team that has made it to the Dance so far. Other conference winners have choked in their tournaments leaving their futures in the hands of the Tourneygods, including Missouri St (Akaoni), Florida Atlantic (Babs), Fairfield (The CEO), Vermont (Gunz), Coastal Carolina (Mooseye), Cleveland State (Slake), and Murray State (SGII). Unlike George Mason (SGII), most of these teams will NOT get an at-large bid, despite some impressive seasons. The NIT will be a full boat.

Player Performance Ratings

Here's how everyone did this last week. Note that with all of the conference champ points added in points were quite inflated, but not also that those with the best W-L records were the recipients of those points...

1. Jutdog +61 (15-5)
2. Jaybird +52 (16-5)
3. Boaris +48 (15-4)
4. Mooseye +44 (14-7)
5. Slake B +42 (12-9)
6. SGII +26 (10-9)
7. McGrumps +22 (12-7)
8. Mad Mader +21 (11-7)
9. Gunz +19 (11-8)
10. Babs +18 (10-8)
11. Akaoni +15 (7-11)
12. The CEO +14 (10-10)
13. Musashisan +14 (8-10)

Week 18 Preview

This week is all about winning. The only games scheduled are tournament games, and if you lose, you don't play anymore games and can't get any more points for the week. Duh, right? Consider that almost all of the Major conference teams are player owned - that means possibly 2-4 games this week per team, almost all against other players, with big points for surviving undefeated, plus guarantees for the Big Dance. Here's the points that are important this week:

- 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

Wait! There's more!

- Each team that makes the NCAA tourney receives 3 points

So Six teams will run the Majors and bring in 10 points each, plus a likely 9 more from 3 wins over other players. The 9 Mid-Majors will have 9 teams bringing home 8 points each plus wins against others. Remaining Minors will bring home 7 points.

Then on Sunday, as the NCAA Selection is announced, all at-large teams selected for the Big Dancey Dance will have their +3 points added up as well.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN! TREMBLE IN FEAR & HOPE!

Standings After Week 17

• Current with all Mar 6 (Sunday) Games
• 1. Jutdog 357 (179-82)
• 2. Gunz 353 (171-93)
• 3. Babblemur 352 (175-85)
• 4. Mooseye 346 (170-92)
• 5. Boaris 345 (182-75)
• 6. Mad Mader 340 (169-86)
• 7. Jaybird 336 (175-90)
• 8. McGrumps 311 (180-82)
• 9. Slake B 303 (156-105)
• 10. The CEO 302 (173-87)
• 11. Akaoni 296 (166-96)
• 12. Some Guy in Illinois 288 (163-97)
• 13. Musashisan 229 (135-123)

Open Thread for Sunday Trash Talk

Austin Peay and Murray State blew it in the OVC.

Fairfield just bombed out in the MAAC.

Coastal Carolina Caves in the whatever conference.

BYU wins with Virgins.

George Mason loses first in 18 games to VCU in Colonial

Boston College downed by Wake?

Tennessee sucks to Kentucky

Minnesota can't beat anyone

And Jut's in first place???? WTF???????????