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)

Akaoni Destroys Christmas

In the seventh week Akaoni rose from his slumber and destroyed Christmas, earning in one week 25% of his total points for the season. How did this happen??? It started with a disappointing Northwestern loss to St. Johns (Babblemur) in the MSG Holiday Festival, but quickly turned around on Wednesday with teams going 7-0, followed by a 3-1 Thursday, his only loss to himself (Butler over Florida St). On X-Mas Eve Southern Miss dropped the Cancun Cup to Colorado State, but on X-Mas day Butler took the 4 point Hawaii Diamond Head and Florida State won the consolation game giving him a total of 26 points for the week on a 14-3 performance.

There was no change at the top of the leader board as Gunz (+11), Boaris (+13) and Mad Mader (+11) all maintained their top 3 spots. Mooseye tied up Mad Mader in points (114) to rise from 5th to 4th, McGrumps hanging on 1 point back in 5th thanks to a strong Richmond defeat of Seton Hall on Sunday.

The CEO and Babblemur moved from 7th and 9th to 6th and 7th off of strong performances this week. The CEO picked up 15 off big wins and a 7-1 record - Gonzaga over Xavier and Missouri over Illinois, plus a couple of wins out of Wash St in the Diamondhead. Babblemur grabbed 19 points off an 11-2 record led by St. Johns in the MSG Tournament.

Jaybird (+9) and Jutdog (+10) fell to 8th and 9th place respectively, 4-5 points behind Babblemur. Akaoni's huge week powered him out of 12th place and into 10th place just 4 points down from Jutdog. Some Guy in Illinois was bumped to 11th, Slake B's tough week (+5, 3-5) dropped him to 12th, and Musashisan's +12 moved him just 11 points away from getting off the floor.

Standings after Week Seven:

• 1. Gunz 139 (69-21)
• 2. Boaris 120 (71-23)
• 3. Mad Mader 114 (69-23)
• 4. Mooseye 114 (64-26)
• 5. McGrumps 113 (69-24)
• 6. The CEO 109 (65-24)
• 7. Babblemur 108 (67-26)
• 8. Jaybird 104 (67-27)
• 9. Jutdog 103 (63-30)
• 10. Akaoni 99 (69-23)
• 11. Some Guy in Illinois 89 (59-33)
• 12. Slake B 82 (52-35)
• 13. Musashisan 71 (57-36)

The Odds on Favorites

Approaching the final wire, who still has a shot at this?

At this point it may be down to 3 players: Akaoni, Boaris, and Jutdog. These three have a huge advantage going into the Sweet 16, and with just 20 points separating the three it is safe to say that they are neck and neck.

But don't count out yet those clinging to NCAA championship hopes: Babblemur, Gunz, Jaybird, The CEO and NotaTurtle. At this point I claim that these five are longshots but technically still in it.

The Leaders

Akaoni

Akaoni built a strong lead early this season and held it almost all the way through, but now he must pull off the big finish to claim the title. Syracuse is key to his success, and he may need them to win it all depending on what happens with Boaris and Jutdog's teams. Having Baylor and Washington in the Sweet 16 helps as both back ups in case Syracuse gets stunned by Butler or the following game. Baylor should pick up the win over St. Mary's, but Washington has a tough game against a very good West Virginia. I would put Akaoni's odds at 1:4 now, with a few extra points possible from Virginia Tech in the NIT and Charleston good for a point or two in the CBI.

Boaris

Boaris' stock went way down with Kansas on Saturday. His back up, Ohio State, are no slouches though, consider that they won the Big 10 regular season, the Big 10 Tournament, ranked 5th in the nation, and are now the top seed in the Midwest Bracket. The Buckeyes do not have an easy road to the Final Four though, facing a critical game with Tennessee on Friday and if they win, either Michigan State or Northern Iowa. St. Mary's, on the other hand, is a long shot against Baylor, and if they win, they face either Duke or Purdue. Louisiana Tech in the CIT is only good for a few points at best. Boaris' Championship hopes depend on Ohio State getting not only to the Final Four but the championship game. I would put his odds at 1:8.

Jutdog

Somehow this bastard managed to get 4 teams in the Sweet 16, in 3 of the 4 brackets to boot. This makes Jutdog a strong contender to win the championship based on numbers alone. His teams are no pushovers though, and if he makes enough noise this week he may not even need to win the championship. Kansas State has good odds against Xavier, and will likely face off with Syracuse on Saturday. Tennessee can match up with Ohio State and knock Boaris out with a win on Thursday. Conference underdogs Cornell are going to be everyone's favorite against Kentucky, but West Virginia is likely Jut's best bet to reach the Final Four. They face Akaoni's Washington on Thursday, and unless Cornell got lucky they have their toughest contest to date with Kentucky on Saturday. I put Jutdog at 1:4 odds to win the Babbleball championship at this point.

The Long Shots

Gunz

Gunz is 8 points below Babs, but in much better shape, because he has Duke instead of Butler, and Rhode Island instead of UAB. Gunz needs Rhode Island to roll some more games in the NIT, but like Babs, he needs Duke in the Final Four, in the Championship game, and likely needs them to win it all. Duke faces a tough Purdue on Friday, and if they win they take on either Boaris' St. Mary's or Akaoni's Baylor. Like Babs, Gunz needs The CEO to get into the Final Four out of the Midwest Region, and Jaybird's Kentucky from the East, again to deny the Top 3 players more points. Gunz should be rooting for Phunmunki's Xavier to mess things up for Jut and Akaoni as well in the West. Gunz has the benefit of Duke being a strong choice to win the National Championship, which greatly helps his cause, but he needs Akaoni, Boaris and Jut to lose some big games along the way. Odds for Gunz: 1:12

Jaybird

Same situation for Jaybird, but it is Kentucky that holds the cards for reigning Babbleball Champ Jaybird. Kentucky is a damn good team to have holding the cards however, #1 seed for good reason, and West Virginia is about the only real challenge to keep them out of the Final Four. With Kansas out, Kentucky has become that much closer to sailing in for a National Championship. Jaybird also will pick up needed points along the way from Nevada and Dayton in the NIT, but its all about Kentucky winning and Boaris, Akaoni and Jut losing big games. Odds for Jaybird: 1:16

Babblemur

The CEO put the dagger in Babblemur's chances when Michigan State took down Maryland. Left now with Butler in the Sweet 16, and UAB in the NIT, it doesn't look good for Babs. If UAB were to somehow win the NIT, that's a total of about 20-25 points. But to win the Babbleball championship Butler is going to have to go all the way, National Champions. He would have to destroy Akaoni's dreams by knocking off Syracuse on Thursday, defeat Jut's Kansas State on Saturday, and still hope to meet up with one of The CEO's teams in the Final Four, Gunz's Duke, and Jaybird's Kentucky, just to stop Boaris, Akaoni, and Jut from picking up more points. Odds for Babblemur: 1:50

The CEO

The good news is two teams in the Sweet 16. The bad news is they play each other on Friday. The good news is The CEO will have one team for sure in the Elite 8, and their opponent will either be #2 seed Ohio State (Boaris) or #6 seed Tennessee (Jutdog). It goes without saying that The CEO needs to put either Northern Iowa or Michigan State in the Final Four. They also need to see Boaris, Jutdog, and Akaoni kept out of the Final Four. And if one gets in, The CEO needs to beat them. Cincinnati in the NIT could bring critical points to keep the CEO competitive, Pacific is good for 1-3 points at best in the CIT. Odds for The CEO: 1:75

NotaTurtle

Purdue and UCONN remain for the one who is not a turtle. UCONN may be favorites to win the NIT for 25 points when it is all said and done, and if Purdue wins the National Championship that is another 68 points. Can 93 points win it for NAT? He's 78 points down... He needs a perfect storm. He needs: 1. Win the NIT, 2. Purdue to win the National Championship, AND: 3. Butler over Akaoni's Syracuse, AND 4. Xavier over Jut's K-State, AND 5. Kentucky in the Final Four, AND 6. St. Mary's over Akaoni's Baylor OR West Virginia over over Akaoni's Washington. So yes, it is possible, NotaTurtle, but highly improbable. Odds for NotaTurtle: 1:200.

Out

Phunmunki - down to Xavier in the sweet 16. If the X were to win the National Championship, they would pick up 68 points along the way. Unfortunately she is 130 points out from first place right now. She's out.

Some Guy in Illinois - With two teams in the NIT and one in the CIT, the best he can do for the remainder of the season is 39 points, a far cry from the 160 he needs to vie for the championship. He's out.

Looking at Next Year's BabbleImprovements

Time to start considering rule improvements, if any, to the league. I'll start by offering a few reflections on a few changes from the past two years:

Wins over AP top 10 teams (rule implemented two seasons ago): Akaoni dominated this field this field this year, capturing twice as many points (24) as other players, except for his fellow Iowan Turtle (16). This added significant interest to games against top teams, and appropriately rewarded teams for these big wins. I think this is a great addition to the league.

Undefeated regular season conference play: Only Babs snagged this 3 point bonus with Butler going undefeated. This is a nice perk that adds a little interest as conference play concludes, and appropriately rewards a team that acheives this significantly challenging feat. I would not be opposed to making this a 4 point bonus for next year.


Some early thoughts on potential improvements to the league:

This year's MWC and Atl10 proved to be significant players, with a combined 7 teams making the NCAA cut. The Atl10 also had three 20+ win teams that didn't make the cut in Rhode Island, Dayton, and St Louis. Meanwhile, the Pac10 obviously had a down year, with only two squads making the cut. Even the Big 10 only had 5, with Minnesota just making the chopping block. This leads me to again offer the following simple creation of a three tier conference system that I believe more appropriately reflects the state of college basketball:

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).

~ Regular Season Champ Points: Tier one reg season championship: 10 pts; Tier two reg season championship: 8 pts; Tier three reg season championship: 6 pts.

~ Conference Tourney Champ Points: 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.


Additional potential changes:

Last years rule change discussion happened here.

Restructure NCAA Tourney Points:

~ Reduce the point reward for "making the NCAA" from 4pts to 3 pts. For many teams, there is already a significant boost from winning their league tourney.
~ Increase round 1 win from 2pts to 3 pts
~ Reduce round 3 win from 8 pts to 7 pts
~ Reduce round 4 win from 12 pts to 10 pts
~ Reduce Final Four win from 16 pts to 13 pts
~ Reduce Final win from 20pts to 17 pts.

This basically gives the NCAA winner 55 pts, plus 3 for making the tourney, plus 6 for each win, and plus a few 2's for wins vs other players. It is only a slight reduction of 8 total points, but I believe produces a more even and balanced point system. As our initial point system (and this proposal) was arbitrary, this is obviously wide open to discussion.

And finally: I thought the league was a bit more entertaining with 12 players as opposed to this year's 10. Even with the increased number of picks a round, we still saw numerous quality selections throughout ( SEE HERE ). Jaybird still pulled it off with the #1 and #24 picks, but Babs stormed into 2nd with the 10th and 15th picks. Overall I felt that this season's picks were much more informed and researched.

Week 16 BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

What a week! Kansas falls! Kentucky falls! Purdue falls! Damn - will Syracuse be #1??? It might be fitting for first place Akaoni to actually have the #1 team in the nation as we enter the last week of regular season play.

Ten conferences dished out points for regular season champs, Week 17 will see 12 more plus some conference tournaments getting underway - points shall be flying from the left and from the right and the leader board shall shake. For now, Akaoni holds onto a 45+ point lead, Boaris and Gunz are locked up in second place, and Babblemur is climbing up to bite the butt of Jaybird's hold on 4th. Jutdog & NotaTurtle both had stellar weeks, and The CEO is launching his comeback. Can Phunmunki and Some Guy in Illinois finish week 17 in the running or on the out...

Conference Points Distributed for Week 16:

• Atlantic Sun - Jacksonville (Babblemur) finished in a four way tie for first place, but split their contests with each of their challengers, giving them a share of the conference regular season. +6 for Babblemur
• Big South - Coastal Carolina (Akaoni) finished 2 games up over rival Radford (Jutdog) to win the Big South. +6 for Akaoni
• Colonial - Old Dominion (Gunz) finished strong to win the Colonial outright over a late stumbling Northeastern (Jaybird) and never quite there William & Mary (Babs). +6 for Gunz
• Horizon - Butler (Babblemur) met pre-season expectations and easily won the Horizon, and went undefeated in the process, earning an extra +3 points. Wright St (SGII) had no chance. +9 for Babblemur
• MAAC - Siena (Boaris) also met pre-season expectations and handily won the MAAC, their only loss in conference to the Purple Eagles of Niagara (Phunmunki). +6 for Boaris
• Missouri Valley (MVC) - Northern Iowa (The CEO) dominated a weakened MVC to lock the MVC down weeks ago. +6 to The CEO
  
• NEC - Quinnipiac (Phunmunki) had to work for it, but defeated Robert Morris to win the Northeastern Conference. +6 for Phunmunki
  
• Ohio Valley (OVC) - Murray St (Jaybird) lost this week to rival Morehead St, ruining their undefeated conference record, but they still won the OVC. +6 for Jaybird
  
• Southern (SoCon) - Charleston (Akaoni) lost to Wofford on Thursday, costing them the regular season champs for the SoCon. Jutdog's Western Carolina's five losses in February lost it for them. No Points for the SoCon.
  
• Summit - Oakland (The CEO) clinched the Summit weeks ago, finishing with a 17-1 record. Nicely done. +6 for The CEO
  
• Sun Belt - Western Kentucky (Jaybird) couldn't pull it off, while Middle Tennessee, Troy, and North Texas finished a game up on the Hilltoppers. No points for the Sun Belt.
  
• West Coast (WCC) - Gonzaga (NotaTurtle) at 12-2 beat out St. Mary's (Boaris) 11-3 and Portland (Babs) 10-4 to win the West Coast Conference, as usual. +6 for NotaTurtle

There are 5 conferences with no player-teams involved, so we will ignore them: America East, Big Sky, Patriot, Southland, and the SWAC.

Points for the Week (not including conference winners above):
Jutdog +31
Akaoni +27
Babblemur +27
Boaris +25
NotaTurtle +24
Gunz +21
Some Guy in IL +20
The CEO +19
Jaybird +18
Phunmunki +15

Standings after Week 16

• 1. Akaoni - 345 (177-66)
• 2. Boaris - 297 (179-65)
• 3. Gunz - 297 (169-77)
• 4. Jaybird - 292 (171-73)
• 5. Babblemur - 289 (174-68)
• 6. Jutdog - 275 (168-69)
• 7. NotaTurtle - 275 (149-89)
• 8. The CEO - 265 (159-83)
• 9. Phunmunki - 246 (149-89)
• 10. Some Guy in Illinois - 225 (157-90)

Friday Lunch Talk

Akaoni - Best (but not really)

Akaoni is at it again, 8-1 for the week bringing home the bacon, but can he win any conferences? His best teams (which are really damn good) are NOT in first place in their conferences, Texas is 2 games back from Kansas, Syracuse is a half game back from Villanova... How can he keep winning game after game and still not be winning conferences? Lucky bastard I say.

The REALLY exciting race

As I update the leaderboard every day, the "race" that has been fascinating me the most is the race for SECOND PLACE. Boaris, Gunz, and until recently Jaybird have been jockeying back and forth between 2nd and 4th, with every day one leaping the other. Jaybird finally tanked two weeks ago and is struggling this week, but Gunz and Boaris are neck and neck and keeping pace just 20 or so points behind Akaoni.

Wednesday Gunz went 3-2 for 5 points to pull ahead of Boaris (2-2 for 4 pts). Last night Boaris nailed 5 points (3-0) tying up Gunz (2-0 for 4 pts). On Saturday they have two head to head games against each other:

• Miss St (Gunz) vs. Florida (Boaris) in the SEC. Both teams are 16-6 with 3 losses a piece in conference.
  
• BYU (Boaris) vs. UNLV (Gunz) in the Mountain West. UNLV at 18-4 has managed to stay just a game behind red hot BYU (22-2), and BYU won the last meeting, but this one is in Vegas.
  

PAC 10

We now have a four way tie for first place - at 6-4! Including Arizona (Turtle), UCLA (Gunz), California (Babs) and Arizona St (Illinois Guy). Seriously, WTF? Some are suggesting that the Pac 10 could be a single bid conference this year. I'm guessing two bids - who ever wins the tournament, and who ever finishes with the best conference record.

CONFERENCES

If it were all over today, who would be winning the conferences?

1. The CEO (37 pts) - Big 10, Big West, MEAC, MVC, OVC, Summit,
   
2. Boaris (31 pts) - Big 12, MAAC, MWC, WCC(tie), WAC(tie),
   
3. Babblemur (26 pts) - SEC(tie), Pac 10(tie), Atl Sun, Horizon,
   
4. Gunz (20 pts) - ACC, Pac 10(tie), Colonial
5. NotaTurtle (19 pts) - Pac 10(tie), CUSA(tie), WCC(tie)
6. Phunmunki (13 pts) Big East, Atl 10,
   
7. Jaybird (13 pts) - SEC(tie), Colonial(tie)
8. Some Guy in Illinois (13 pts) - Pac 10(tie), CUSA(tie)
9. Akaoni (12 pts) - Big South, SoCon
10. Jutdog (12 pts) - Ivy, WAC(tie)

FYI - if the CEO had those 37 points now he would be in second place.

NINETY SIX

Lastly, what do you think about a 96 Team Tournament???

May Week Eleven Be The One In Which Akaoni Loses More Than He Wins

Week Ten Recap:

Team bringing in the most points:

• Ohio State (Boaris) who joined others in beating up Purdue (NotaTurtle) for five points, and came in Saturday to take out Wisconsin (Gunz) for a total of 8.

Teams bringing in the least points (Zero):

• Notre Dame (Babblemur) lost their only game last week to Cincinnati (The CEO)
• Seton Hall (Boaris) lost their only game last week to Georgetown (Jaybird)
• UCLA (Gunz) lost their only game last week to USC
• Oklahoma St (Gunz) lost both their games against Oklahoma (The CEO) who appears to now have their shit together, and Baylor (Akaoni)
• Minnesota (Jutdog) tanked this week losing two to Michigan St (The CEO) and Indiana
• Boston College (Jutdog) fell to both Duke (Gunz) and Maryland (Babblemur)
• Purdue (NotaTurtle) got a dose of Big Ten reality losing to Ohio St (Boaris) and Northwestern (Jaybird)
• UCONN (NotaTurtle) took damage from Pitt (Akaoni) and Michigan (Phunmunki)
• Penn State (NotaTurtle) proved to be a poor pick, losing to Illinois (Akaoni) and Iowa (and is now tied with Jacksonville with 8 points for the year)
• Texas A&M (Phunmunki) lost two tough games against Kansas St (Jutdog) and Texas (Akaoni)
• Niagara (Phunmunki) has a rocky road in the MAAC, losing to St. Peters and Iona.
  
• Alabama (Phunmunki) was starting to look like a good pick, but fell this week to Vanderbilt (Babblemur) and Arkansas (The CEO)
• North Carolina (Some Guy in Illinois) lost two this week, to Clemson (The CEO) and Georgia Tech (NotaTurtle)
• Louisville (Some Guy in Illinois) was starting to look like bad asses, but just not as good as Villanova (Phunmunki) and Pitt (Akaoni)
• Wright St (Some Guy in Illinois) have written themselves out of contention for the Horizon League, losing to Green Bay and Milwaukee.

Big Winners:

• Akaoni extended his lead to 30 points after nailing 28 this week, going 12-4. Pittsburgh has joined Texas and Syracuse in the AP Top 10 after big wins over UCONN (Turtle) and Louisville (SGII).
  
• The CEO may have put up his strongest performance to date, going 13-3 for 27 points, vaulting from 9th place to 5th place. Oklahoma is finally playing like anticipated, Arkansas actually won a game, and Northern Iowa continues its almost undefeated season.
  

Big Losers:

• Some Guy in Illinois couldn't keep it together this week, going 8-8 for a mere 10 points. His top 2 teams couldn't pull off a single win, but on the bright side Arizona St and Tulsa are starting to looking like conference contenders...
  
• NotaTurtle's Purdue led his week of hell by dropping two (and dropping out of the Top 10), but the rest followed suit and his teams finished 7-9 for 11 points. Everyone took a hit except Memphis and Gonzaga, who could emerge as life savers for this squad.

Standings after Week 10:

• 1. AKaoni - 194 (110-25)
• 2. Jaybird - 164 (103-32)
• 3. Gunz - 162 (104-37)
• 4. Boaris - 160 (106-32)
• 5. The CEO - 147 (99-40)
• 6. Jutdog - 142 (95-37)
• 7. NotaTurtle - 141 (87-48)
• 8. Babblemur - 139 (93-42)
• 9. Phunmunki - 134 (89-46)
• 10. Some Guy in Illinois - 132 (98-45)

Slow and Steady Wins the Race...?

At this point in the season, every player is looking at 15-20 games a week, many of them against other players, with 25-30 points possible. Lets face it - those who win the big games are going to win the big points.

Take last week for example. Babblemur's teams went 14-5, most wins of anyone. Value = 14 points. Sure, only three games against other players, but all losses.

On the other hand, NotaTurtle suffered 8 losses last week, with only 11 wins, but led the league in scoring last week with 23 points. 5 points for knocking off West Virginia, 3 each for four other wins over other players, and this despite 6 losses to other players!

The top 3 players last week were:
NotaTurtle (23) who rose from the bottom dwellers to the playas division.
Gunz (22) who went 5-1 against other players, 12-4 over all, and passed Boaris to move from 4th place to 3rd in the standings.
Akaoni (21) who claims it was a "miserable week" - he went 11-5, 5-2 against other players.

Least amount of points earned: Some Guy in Illinois, who lost all three games against other players (including a loss to UCLA) but went 10-6 overall for...10 points.

Best W-L record of the week: Jutdog, turned in an 11-3 performance for 17 pts, his only losses to #4 Purdue, New Mexico St, and Maine.

* * *

If we assume that 20+ points is a "good week", and 10 points is about as bad as one can get, any movement on the leader board will involve a slow and steady series of good weeks, average (15) at worst, while other teams turn in a slow and steady series of bad weeks. Am I just trying to make the case that I can catch Akaoni? Sure! But I would have to have 5 good weeks of 20+ points per week while he would need 5 bad weeks. (Note: There are only about 9 more weeks of the regular season...)

So what this is really saying is that while slow and steady wins the race, time is running out for the sleeping rabbits who aren't knocking down the big games. That includes Babblemur, Some Guy in Illinois, Phunmunki, and The CEO.

* * *

Week Nine Preview

Best chance anyone has to knock of a Top Ten Team:
Wisconsin (Gunz) vs. Purdue (Turtle) on Saturday - Purdue is going to a tough road game in Mad-town, where the Badgers knocked off Top 10 Duke earlier (as well as Ohio State and Marquette).

Potentially fun games to watch:
Tuesday: #2 Texas (Akaoni) vs. Arkansas (CEO) - this one is at Arkansas, and I just have a feeling that the Razorbacks just might come out to play ball.
Wednesday: #1 Kansas (Boaris) vs. Cornell (Jutdog) - lets just all admit that Cornell has been playing some pretty good ball this year. Beating Kansas at Kansas? I'm just expecting a fun game!
Friday: Butler (Babs) vs. Wright St (Some Guy) - this is the first of the two match ups between the only two player owned Horizon League teams. OK it might not be fun to watch, but if you do you might see why Butler was ranked in the top 12 in pre-season polls...
Saturday: Gonzaga (Turtle) vs. Portland (Babblemur) - first of two matchups between two very good WAC teams. Gonzaga: beat Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma, & Cincinnati. Portland: beat Minnesota, UCLA, and Oregon.
Saturday: Illinois St (Gunz) vs. UNI (CEO) - Showdown for the Missouri Valley, both teams have exceeded expectations so far...
Saturday: Siena (Boaris) vs. Niagara (Phun) - Showdown for the ______ Conference, Siena comes very highly recommended, Niagara comes with a cool nickname, the Purple Eagles.
Sunday: #1 Kansas (Boaris) vs. Tennessee (Jut) - Gotta love inter-conference play! Tennessee better be packing heat for this game! Ha ha ha!

* * *

Standings after Week Eight

# 1. AKaoni - 147 (87-18)
# 2. Jaybird - 126 (81-22)
# 3. Gunz - 124 (84-25)
# 4. Boaris - 122 (84-24)
# 5. Jutdog - 113 (78-24)
# 6. NotaTurtle - 111 (73-32)
# 7. The CEO - 104 (76-32)
# 8. Some Guy in Illinois - 102 (78-33)
# 9. Phunmunki - 101 (70-34)
# 10. Babblemur - 100 (70-35)

All Struggle To Keep Up With Akaoni's Aggressive Pace

Week Seven sucked like others as Akaoni, playing a wee 8 games, managed to sweep up 15 points thanks to the Texas win over Michigan St along with two other PVP wins. Illinois' loss to Missouri was his only weakness.

Jaybird went 10-1 for 14 points to hold onto second place, 3rd place Boaris went 9-4 for 13 points, 4th place Gunz 10-1 for 10 points, and Jut went 10-2 for 14 points to hang onto 5th.

Some Guy in Illinois shot out of the basement off the Missouri win over Illinois and 8 other wins to take 13 points and 6th place. The rest of us just pissed the week away.

Standings after Week Seven:
# 1. AKaoni - 126 (76-13)
# 2. Jaybird - 113 (72-18)
# 3. Boaris - 108 (72-18)
# 4. Gunz - 102 (72-21)
# 5. Jutdog - 96 (67-21)
# 6. Some Guy in Illinois - 92 (68-27)
# 7. NotaTurtle - 88 (62-24)
# 8. Phunmunki - 88 (61-28)
# 9. Babblemur - 86 (56-30)
# 10. The CEO - 85 (65-28)

What will Week Eight have in store for us? Who knows, Jut hasn't updated the schedule yet. I guess we'll see!

Gunz Shoots, Gunz Scores (Akaoni Still Leads)

Akaoni Akaoni Akaoni! What about Gunz???

Granted - Akaoni's Texas knocked in 5 points for beating North Carolina, hit 17 points off of 11-2 play, extended his lead from 8 points to 12, and held onto the number one spot for the umpteenth week in a row, but Week Six went to GUNZ.

Gunz shot up the leader board with 20 points, going 12-2 and climbing solidly into fourth place, challenging 2nd place Jaybird and 3rd place Boaris and leaving the rest of us in the dust. Mississippi State nailed 6 points off wins over Wright St. and Houston. Duke put down Gonzaga, and Old Dominion upset Georgetown. Even UCLA won a game, and UNLV won three.

The Bottom Six players got all jumbled up into a virtual tie as Some Guy in Illinois picked up 14 points to stay in last place but just a point back from Babs, the CEO, and NotaTurtle at 80, with Jutdog and Phunmunki lurking slightly further ahead at 82.

Phunmunki gets the dubious distinction of the worst week, going just 6-4 for 6 points, losing big games to Kansas, Kansas St, Butler, and Illinois-Chicago.

Week Seven looks to be Merry as teams pack games in on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the feature game undoubtedly Tuesday's #2 Texas (Akaoni) vs. #9 Michigan St (The CEO). Tuesday's Nevada-BYU game is a classic mid-major matchup that happens to be between our #2 and #3 players Jaybird and Boaris. Wednesday's Illinois (Akaoni) - Missouri (Some Guy) game is a great annual smashup and worth watching - can Akaoni be knocked off his pedestal?

And lets try not to forget the forgettable "Hawaii Diamond Head Classic", a two point tournament that turned out to have only two player teams in it: UNLV (Gunz) and St. Mary's (Boaris). This starts Tuesday, semis on Wednesday and finals on X-mas.

Standings after Week Six:

# 1. AKaoni - 111 (69-12)
# 2. Jaybird - 99 (62-17)
# 3. Boaris - 95 (63-14)
# 4. Gunz - 92 (62-20)
# 5. Jutdog - 82 (57-19)
# 6. Phunmunki - 82 (55-27)
# 7. The CEO - 80 (60-25)
# 8. NotaTurtle - 80 (54-22)
# 9. Babblemur - 80 (50-27)
# 10. Some Guy in Illinois - 79 (59-24)

Akaoni Expands Lead Going Into Slow Finals Week

Akaoni's stranglehold on first place was threatened briefly but last week he expanded his lead to 9 points led by Syracuse's win over #10 Florida. Akaoni picked up 19 points off of 9 wins with only 2 losses.

Jaybird pulled from fourth to second place going undefeated (10-0) and picking up 20 points let by Georgetown's wins over Butler and Washington. Boaris was bumped down to 3rd place. Phunmunki actually returned a losing record last week (6-7) but still climbed from fifth place to fourth thanks to big wins by Xavier and Niagara.

The CEO climbed out of the cellar and into 8th place off 16 points from 11 wins to just 2 losses.

Week Six is a slow week as most schools are in Finals Week. Nonetheless there are a lot of potential points and movement on the Leader Board, especially on Saturday when 75% of the teams will see some action. Notable games:

Wednesday: South Carolina (Akaoni) vs. Richmond (Babblemur) - is South Carolina worth their weight? Can Richmond knock off another big school team?

Saturday: #2 Texas (Akaoni) faces #10 North Carolina (Some Guy) in the "Must See" game of the week.

Saturday: #1 Kansas (Boaris) faces Phunmunki's scrappy Michigan Wolverines.

Saturday: #7 Duke (Gunz) takes on a persistent Gonzaga (NotaTurtle).

Standings after Week 5:

# 1. AKaoni - 94 (60-10)
# 2. Jaybird - 86 (51-15)
# 3. Boaris - 85 (55-11)
# 4. Phunmunki - 76 (49-23)
# 5. Jutdog - 73 (50-17)
# 6. Gunz - 72 (50-18)
# 7. NotaTurtle - 72 (48-19)
# 8. The CEO - 71 (51-22)
# 9. Babblemur - 69 (45-24)
# 10. Some Guy in Illinois - 65 (49-21)

Akaoni Hangs On, Boaris & Phunmunki Rising

Akaoni managed to hang on to the number one spot for the fourth straight week off of a 11-2 record and 18 points for the week. Illinois and Baylor had big wins, while Texas and Syracuse maintained their undefeated records. Week 5 will pit Illinois vs. Vanderbilt, Syracuse vs. Florida, and Washington vs. Georgetown for some tough battles.

Meanwhile Boaris pulled from fourth place to second off 21 points, only Siena and BYU losing games. With five head to head matchups in week 5 (including Florida vs. Akaoni's Syracuse) Boaris could be making a play for the #1 spot.

Phunmunki made the biggest jump from 8th place to 5th place off 13 wins for 19 points, her only two losses to Boston College and Purdue. Week 5 will be a challenge though as Xavier faces Kansas St and Cincinnati, Alabama takes on Purdue and the Purple Eagles face red hot Illinois St.

Gunz pulled down the fewest points of the week (11) dropping from 2nd place to 3rd, while Babblemur had the crappiest record as his merry band of losers went 9-6 (Portland 0-2, Jacksonville 0-2, California lost to New Mexico, Maryland lost to Villanova). Babs fell from 5th to 7th but remains two points up on rival Jutdog.

Some Guy in Illinois (+17 pts) and The CEO (+14 pts) both turned it up but still hold down the Cellar in the #9 and #10 spots.

Week 5 Games of the Week:
W: Kentucky (Jaybird) vs. UCONN (Turtle)
W: Kansas (Boaris) vs. Radford (Jut)
TH: Syracuse (Akaoni) vs. Florida (Boaris) TWO OF THE HOTTEST TEAMS RIGHT NOW
SA: Ohio St (Boaris) vs. Butler (Babs)
SA: Washington (Akaoni) vs. Georgetown (Jaybird)

After Week Four Standings:

* 1. AKaoni - 75 (51-8)
* 2. Boaris - 73 (47-8)
* 3. Gunz - 67 (45-13)
* 4. Jaybird - 66 (41-15)
* 5. Phunmunki - 66 (43-16)
* 6. NotaTurtle - 63 (41-15)
* 7. Babblemur - 62 (40-19)
* 8. Jutdog - 61 (42-14)
* 9. Some Guy in Illinois - 60 (44-16)
* 10. The CEO - 55 (39-20)

TEAM WITH MOST POINTS: Syracuse (Akaoni) 18 points

Week Three Bloodbath

When most of the games are tournaments, you can assume that there are going to be a lot of losses. After all, only one team can go undefeated in an 8 team tournament. But the points were piled on this week, shaking up the leader board and leading some people to wonder just what the hell they were thinking when they drafted _____ .

A recap of the "point worthy" tournaments and who took home the booty:

a. Coaches Vs Cancer = 2 pts Syracuse (Akaoni) won this last week.
b. NIT Preseason = 4 Duke (Gunz) knocks out UCONN to take the big one.
c. College Ball Experience Classic = 2 Texas (Akaoni) beat Pitt (Akaoni) to take this yawner.
d. Maui Invitational = 3 Gonzaga (NotaTurtle) rose up to win this over Cincinnati (The CEO), Wisconsin and Colorado in a fantastic 3 game tourney. Zags are back in the game!
e. 76 / Anaheim Classic = 3 West Virginia (Jutdog) knocked off the great looking Portland Pilots.
f. Old Spice Classic = 3 Florida St (Jaybird) took out Alabama and Marquette to take the Old Spice.
g. Puerto Rico Tipoff = 3 Villanova (Phumnunki) beat George Mason, Dayton and Ole Miss to take Puerto Rico
h. Paradise Jam = 3 Purdue (NotaTurtle) knocked off Tennessee (Jutdog) in a thriller to take the VI.
i. Hawaiian Diamond Head = 2 (not til December)
j. Charleston Classic = 2 Miami beat South Carolina to win Charleston, no points for anyone!
k. Cancun Challenge = 2 Kentucky (Jaybird) faced little threat in Cleveland St and Stanford to win Cancun
l. Chicago Invitational = 2 Northwestern (Jaybird) beat down Notre Dame and Iowa State to take Chicago.

And a SHOUT OUT to the Richmond Spiders (Babblemur) who knocked off Miss St and Missouri to win the South Padre Invitational, worth no points!

While Akaoni managed to hold onto the number one spot for another week, Gunz won week three by picking up 30 points due to Duke's NIT win, Wisconsin's 2-1 run in Maui, UNLV's big win over Louisville Saturday and Illinois State's four wins. NotaTurtle brought home 27 points, and Boaris and Jaybird banged in 26 a piece. Some Guy in Illinois was the Big Loser this week, picking up only 13 points and falling from 2nd to 9th place.

Standings after Week Three:

# 1. AKaoni - 57 (39-6)
# 2. Gunz - 56 (36-9)
# 3. Jaybird - 53 (32-11)
# 4. Boaris - 52 (34-6)
# 5. Babblemur - 49 (31-13)
# 6. NotaTurtle - 47 (31-11)
# 7. Jutdog - 47 (32-12)
# 8. Phunmunki - 47 (30-14)
# 9. Some Guy in Illinois - 43 (33-12)
# 10. The CEO - 41 (29-16)

Week Two Recap

Winners:

Akaoni - who has managed to go (almost) undefeated! With an amazing 25-1 record, Syracuse's surprising win of the Coaches Versus Cancer Tourney over powerhouses California and North Carolina, he deserves the first place position.

Phunmunki - went 15-2, led by Villanova stomping through the Puerto Rico Tip-off over Dayton and Mississippi, bouncing back from a lackluster 5-4 start.

Some Guy in Illinois - sure, Mississippi lost the Puerto Rico, and North Carolina lost the CVC, but a 16-2 record this week shot him up into second place. Nice job!

Losers:

The CEO - five losses, three against other players, dropped The CEO into last place. Oklahoma's loss to VCU is a bad sign, UNI, Oakland, San Diego St, and Arkansas are showing signs of dragging The CEO down. Can Michigan State carry him through...

NotaTurtle - okay some of his six losses were underdog fights that he wasn't likely to win anyway, but still, pretty sucky.

Jutdog - no excuses here - six losses are medals of "crap" around the neck of this squad. Utah State dropped two games, Kansas State fell to Mississippi, and Boston College's loss to St. Joes is inexcusable (unlike Cornell and Radford's losses, which are natural.)

Standings:

# 1. AKaoni - 35 (25-1)
# 2. Some Guy in Illinois - 30 (24-4)
# 3. Boaris - 28 (20-4)
# 4. Phunmunki - 27 (20-6)
# 5. Jaybird - 27 (19-7)
# 6. Gunz - 26 (20-2)
# 7. Babblemur - 26 (20-4)
# 8. Jutdog - 23 (19-6)
# 9. NotaTurtle - 20 (20-6)
# 10. The CEO - 18 (16-6)

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

Boaris Cracks, Musa Blast Off, Aka Rising

Points are stacking up as we approacheth the end of regular season and beginning of tournaments, and the big winners last week were...

1. MUSASHISAN! That's right, cellar dweller Musa nailed 36 points to shoot from last to 10th place, and that was without any of the four conference champs dolled out to others. How did he achieve this amazing feat? Lowly Oregon St beat California and Stanford (Boaris)... Lowly St. Louis beat St. Joes (Boaris) & Dayton (Akaoni)... Florida St beat Miami (Turtle) and Virginia Tech (Boaris)... Iowa over Michigan (Akaoni), Wash St over UCLA (Turtle), Penn St over Illinois, even Western Kentucky beat conference rival Arkansas Little Rock (Progress) to lead to the only decent week Musashisan has had all year. Congrats!

2. AKAONI! No conference champs here, he took 34 points the hard way: Purdue over Mich St (Babs), Texas A&M over Texas (Progress), Florida over Alabama and Vandy, Drake over UNI and Austin Peay... Akaoni is likely the one player that doesn't stand a chance of winning a conference so he needs the points. These 34 points put him just 7 points behind first place Boaris, who turned in a second slumpy week of play.

In fact, lets take a closer look at Boaris' week, since he is the team to beat: Oklahoma lost to Texas, Kentucky lost to Vandy, Virginia Tech dropped two games, Stanford lost to both Oregon and Oregon St which is really sucky, Butler lost to Milwaukee, St. Joes lost two straight in the A-10, Miss St fell to Alabama, Providence dropped two in the Big East, and Austin Peay lost to Drake in the Bracket Buster. Boaris' 6-13 record would make even last place NotaTurtle cringe (Turtle went 10-9 last week). But... can anyone beat Pitt?

The rest of us:
Phunmunki - 30 points to jump from 9th to 6th place
The CEO - 28 points to climb to 5th place
ProgressMedia - 26 points moves into 7th place
Jutdog Millionaire - 23 points
Jaybird - 22 points
Notaturtle - 20 points
HippieD - 18 points falls into 11th place
Babblemur - 17 points falls from 2nd to 3rd place
Boaris - 16 points to show signs of weakness and vulnerability
Gunz - 11 points to drop from 5th place to 9th place

Team of the Week: Morgan State (ProgressMedia) who won 3 games this week to seal the conference championship of the MEAC, nice job!

Conference Champs:
So far 4 conference championship points have been doled out so far. Champs get 7 points for Majors, 6 for Minors. We have:
Big Sky - Weber St (Jutdog)
MAAC - Siena (The CEO)
MEAC - Morgan St (Progress Media)
West Coast - Gonzaga (Phunmunki)

This week we will likely see a dozen or more conferences sealed up, which is a lot of bonus points flying around. Look for the leader board to shake up even more.

Akaoni, Gunz and Jutdog

Week Eight went to Akaoni (23 pts), Gunz (22 pts) and Jutdog (22 pts), who outpaced the competition to move up in the charts. Phunmunki took the biggest hit, taking in only 12 points.

Akaoni got a good performance from Washington, which beat both Morgan St. and Wash St., as well as Dayton over George Mason, Drake over Southern Ill, and Wright St. over Cleveland St. in some Hot Horizon Action. Going 13-2 for the week, Akaoni further pulled ahead of the pack and solidly into third place, closing in on Boaris (17 pts) and Babblemur (15 pts).

Gunz had a huge boost from the Boston College upset of #1 North Carolina, netting 5 pts, but lets not forget Boston College also took down Sacred Heart and San Fancisco earlier in the week, making Boston College the Team of the Week. But wait! There's more! Gunz also had Arkansas knock off #4 Oklahoma on Tuesday! Gunz is the Official Giant Killer, logging his third and fourth defeats of Top 10 Teams, twice as much as any other player. (Minnesota beat #9 Louisville in Week 7, and Notre Dame beat #6 Texas in Maui...)

Jutdog took 22 points mostly off of 6 wins against other players (out of 8), including Cornell over Boston U., San Diego over Miss St., Green Bay over W. Mich, Ohio St. over Iowa, Wake over BYU, and Louisville over Kentucky. He took advantage of other players chumps. He continues to move up in the charts, moving into a tie with Musashisan.

The Standings can be broken into:

• the Top Dogs (Babblemur, Boaris, and Akaoni) who are within 10 points of each other but 12 points ahead of any others;
• the Pack (Gunz, ProgressMedia, Musashisan, Jutdog, The CEO), who are all within 10 points of fourth place;
  
• the Suckers (HippieD, Jaybird, Phunmunki, NotaTurtle), who are struggling to keep up with the pack.
  

Week Nine has some great games, and Saturday could really shake up the score board. In the Big East Notre Dame knocked of #9 Georgetown tonight, and on Tues. West Virginia plays #5 UCONN. Some intra-league matchups are up including Arkansas vs. #7 Texas, Davidson vs. #2 Duke, and Kansas vs. #8 Michigan St. Michigan St. also faces Ohio St., and on Sunday #3 Duke and #4 Wake Forest get it on.

Week Five: Jutdog, Progress, Akaoni

Week five was a slow week due to finals, but three players managed to really ramp it up despite this and make some waves in the standings.

Jutdog launched out of the basement and into 7th place with a 23 point week, including 15 points on Saturday alone. His teams went 10-2, and was led by strong Player vs. Player (PVP) games all around but particularly Stephen F. Austin which won back to back games against Jaybird's North Dakota State and Akaoni's Drake to take 6 points. Temple's big upset over top 10 Tennessee may have been sweeter though, giving the owls 5 points for that single win.

ProgressMedia however had almost as impressive a week as Jutdog with 22 points, going undefeated in 10 games, 5 of which were against other players. The final game Sunday was Arizona's upset of #4 Gonzaga for five points, which followed a Wednesday win over San Diego State (Babs). Progress Media jumped into 3rd place with this strong performance.

Akaoni tried to stay under the radar with a good performance this week, bringing in 20 points off of 12-3 play, including 4-3 play against other players. While it could have been a much better week it was enough to put him soldly in 4th place. New Mexico led for Akaoni with 6 points off of wins over San Diego (Jut) and Mississippi (Turtle).

The rest of the field for week five: Phunmunki 15, Babblemur 13, Gunz, Musa & the CEO 10 a piece, Boaris 9, Notaturtle 6, Jaybird 4 and HippieD 2.

Upset of the Week: Temple (Jut) over Tennessee (Musa) and Arizona (PM) over Gonzaga (Phunmunki).

Team of the Week: Arizona (Progress Media) with 8 points off of wins over #4 Gonzaga and San Diego State (Babs).

Sucker of the Week: HippieD, went 2-3 for 2 points.