Fun and Tourney Games
Note: I messed up my "Secret Mid-Major/Celebrity Crush" analogy two posts ago, so I fixed it waaaaaay at the bottom. OK...on to the blog.
First, a reminder on the illegality of gambling:
"Danny is an employee of the club. He can't work AND play, especially in something as illegal as this!"
-Judge Smails
Bracket pools are great, because anyone who understands the concept of "seeding" can participate competitively. But I've come across several other cool games you can play amongst a small group.
One game I used to play requires a foursome. Everyone drafts one 1-seed, one 2-seed, etc., with each participant alternating first pick. At the end, each person has a list of 16 teams to root for. Set up a scoring system - we gave 1 point for each win. The most points wins.
Here's another one. Since high school, my brother has been a part of an annual competition that requires a bit more research. Here are the rules:
My brother called me up for some advice on picking his team. Unfortunately, I've never been lucky enough to be a part of this delectable competition, so I'm no expert on the strategy. However, I do know a tiny bit about the college basketball landscape. So, to help Dan out, and to give Sports Sauna readers some "players to watch," here is a prediction for the top 50 TOTAL scorers for the 2010 tournament.
A few notes...
1. Sherron Collins - 1-Kansas - 15.6
2. John Wall - 1-Kentucky - 16.9
3. Jon Scheyer - 1-Duke - 18.6
4. Evan Turner - 2-Ohio St - 20.3
5. Wes Johnson - 1-Syracuse - 16.0
To win Dan's game, you have to go with the best odds of playing the most games, so the best player on the best team has to be number one, followed by the best player on the best team on the opposite side of the bracket. Scheyer edges Turner only because Ohio State has to get through Kansas to play more than four games. Rounding out the top scorers from the 1-seeds is Wes, who finally looked healthy in his last game.
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6. Jacob Pullen - 2-Kansas St - 18.9
7. Da'Sean Butler - 2-West Virginia - 17.4
8. Scottie Reynolds - 2-Villanova - 18.5
9. Kyle Singler - 1-Duke - 17.6
10. DeMarcus Cousins - 1-Kentucky - 15.3
The rest of the best scorers from the 2-seeds are listed here, with Pullen's beard giving him the edge. It's hard to believe, but Kyle Singler has quietly become underrated over the last part of the season.
---------------------------------------------------------
11. Nolan Smith - 1-Duke - 17.3
12. Patrick Patterson - 1-Kentucky - 14.7
13. Xavier Henry - 1-Kansas - 13.6
14. LaceDarius Dunn - 3-Baylor - 19.4
15. Cole Aldrich - 1-Kansas - 11.2
Gotta keep picking the 1-seeds. It's so easy to look past Baylor. I mean, it's freakin' Baylor! But that South bracket is so weak... Also, without checking, I'm pretty sure LaceDarius is pronounced exactly like it looks.
---------------------------------------------------------
16. Denis Clemente - 2-Kansas St - 16.2
17. Marcus Morris - 1-Kansas - 12.3
18. William Buford - 2-Ohio St -14.5
19. Greivis Vasquez - 4-Maryland - 19.5
20. Andy Rautins - 1-Syracuse - 11.7
Greivis Vasquez may sound like a Hispanic character from Harry Potter, but he's actually a killer scorer from Venezuela. Meanwhile, if Syracuse goes on a run, that means Andy is hot. (No, not THAT kind of hot!)
---------------------------------------------------------
21. Kris Joseph - 1-Syracuse - 11.3
22. Austin Freeman - 3-Georgetown - 16.7
23. Darington Hobson - 3-New Mexico - 16.2
24. Greg Monroe - 3-Georgetown - 16.1
25. Ashton Gibbs - 3-Pittsburgh - 15.8
On the other hand, maybe KJ will key an SU run. Ostensibly he has the most to gain from the A-O injury, but on the other hand he was already averaging 27 minutes, third most on the team. If Georgetown was the 3-seed in any other bracket, I'd like their chances of making the final four a lot more. And no, Darington Hobson isn't a stud from a Jane Austen novel... he's a stud for New Mexico.
---------------------------------------------------------
26. Tweety Carter - 3-Baylor - 15.7
27. Corey Fischer - 2-Villanova - 13.7
28. Kevin Jones - 2-West Virginia - 13.5
29. Chris Wright - 3-Georgetown - 14.8
30. Rick Jackson - 1-Syracuse - 10.0
On the third hand, maybe Ricky will go nuts during an SU run. Maybe HE has the most to gain from A-O's injury. He was brilliant during the Georgetown-Providence-Villanova high point of the season.
WAIT.
Hold everything.
Baylor has players named LaceDarius and Tweety?!? With 70s ABA names like those, they're making a run in this tournament. In fact, check out the other guys I just found on their roster...
(WARNING: excessive use of parentheses ahead!!)
(Note: I did little to no research on these guys, other than looking at the roster)
Ekpe Udoh (Nigerian center (even though he was born in OK))
Quincy Acy (perfect name for a glue guy)
Josh Lomers (backup white center (if Lomers is black, I'm going to be really disappointed))
A.J. Walton (token son of Bill Walton (if A.J. isn't related to Bill Walton, I'm going to be really disappointed))
Nolan Dennis (token guy with two first names a la Kris Joseph and Xavier Henry)
Dragan Sekelja (token Croatian center who they realized was a stiff AFTER they gave him a scholarship (Baylor should go see...How to Tame Your DRAGAN!!!))
AND the bench warming, walk-on odd couple... Oscar and Mr. Crump!
Wow. Needless to say, I am now rooting for Baylor.
---------------------------------------------------------
31. Luke Harangody - 6-Notre Dame - 22.4
32. Kalin Lucas - 5-Michigan St - 14.9
33. Eric Bledsoe - 1-Kentucky - 10.8
34. Donald Sloan - 5-Texas A&M - 18.2
35. Gordon Hayward - 5-Butler - 15.4
Notre Dame sure looked good down the stretch. They were all over the place this season. I could see them getting knocked off by Old Dominion. I could see them in the Final Four. Kalin Lucas could benefit from playing for the best tournament coach... maybe ever?? Tom Izzo has made the Sweet 16 eight times, and the final four five times. Hayward, just a sophomore, is going to win a handful of tourney games before his college career is done.
---------------------------------------------------------
36. Jimmer Fredette - 7-BYU - 21.7
37. Jordan Crawford - 6-Xavier - 19.7
38. Lazar Hayward - 6-Marquette - 18.1
39. Kevin Anderson - 7-Richmond - 17.8
40. Quincy Poindexter - 11-Washington - 19.8
Jimmer (let's all agree to call him by his sweet first name) scored 49 against Arizona and 45 against TCU this season. Lazar (let's all agree to call him by his sweet first name) has helped the Golden Eagles go 3-1 in OT games this season. And Quincy Poindexter (let's all agree to call him by his sweet full name) may play in the CRAP-10, but that doesn't mean Washington can't play to its potential and reach the Sweet 16 out of a weak pod.
---------------------------------------------------------
41. Xavier Silas - 9-Northern Iowa - 19.7
42. Ryan Wittman - 12-Cornell - 17.5
43. Jerome Randle - 8-California - 18.7
44. Tre'Von Willis - 8-UNLV - 17.3
45. Damion James - 8-Texas - 18.0
Northern Iowa is my super-duper, "Merlin approved," (I think Davs, who gets that joke, is the only one still reading a this point. Hi Davs! Miss you!) dark horse. The Missouri Valley Conference plays some good basketball, and NIU is good enough to play Kansas close on a neutral court. Cornell is Jay Bilas's super-duper, "Merlin approved," dark horse, and Wittman is their best player. By the way, anybody remember the origin of the term "dark horse?" I think I've read stories that say it comes from horse racing. Still, is anyone else afraid it has some horrible racial connotation? I mean, would you be comfortable saying, "Barack Obama was a dark horse Presidential candidate?" Me neither. Oh, you said "Yes I would be comfortable." Sorry, I mis-heard you.
---------------------------------------------------------
46. Jahmar Young - 12-New Mexico St - 20.5
47. Jonathan Gibson - 12-New Mexico St - 17.5
48. Randy Culpepper - 12-UTEP - 18.0
49. Aubrey Coleman - 13-Houston - 25.6
50. Anthony Johnson - 14-Montana - 19.6
Sweet sassy molassy, New Mexico State has TWO guys who score 17+ points per game? AND they've got the infamous 12-seed? Okay, I'm picking them to win a game in the rest of my brackets.
Finally, I totally screwed up the "Secret Mid-Major/Celebrity Crush" analogy I made on Sunday's post. Western Kentucky won a game in the tournament last year, and made the Sweet 16 the year before! Denise Richards peaked in 1999 as Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough, unless you count her 2003 cameo in Love Actually. So here is my revised list...
Gonzaga is OBVIOUSLY Mila Kunis
The Zags made their first remarkable tournament run in the 1998-99 season...the same season That 70s Show came on the air! Since then, just when you think they're going away, Gonzaga and Family Guy come back stronger than ever. Gonzaga's and Mila's profiles have consistently risen, to the point where the Zags are perennially in the top-25 and Mila is getting the big bucks to play opposite Denzel Washington.
Butler is kinda Isla Fischer
The Bulldogs ALMOST broke out in a memorable first round game against the tournament's runner-up, Florida in 2000 while Isla was trying to break out on some random Australian TV shows and movies. Then in 2003 and 2007, Butler crashed the Sweet 16. In between, in 2005, Isla hit the big time in Wedding Crashers. Since then, both have risen towards elite status.
Western Kentucky is definitely Marisa Tomei
Their best moments are surprisingly few and far between over a long period...
1993: The Hilltoppers made the Sweet 16 the same month that Marisa won Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny.
1995: The Hilltoppers play to their 8-seed, winning only one game, then start regularly missing the tournament. Marisa is parlaying her Oscar into a string of forgettable films.
2001-03: Starts off promising for both, but in 3 tourney bids, WKU wins 0 games. In the Bedroom came out in 2001, and Marisa was brilliant in it, getting her second Oscar nomination, but she followed it up with... nothing much.
2008-09: Back to the Sweet 16 for the Hilltoppers in 2008, and another tourney win in 09. Back to the Oscars in 09 for Marisa with The Wrestler from 2008.
First, a reminder on the illegality of gambling:
"Danny is an employee of the club. He can't work AND play, especially in something as illegal as this!"
-Judge Smails
Bracket pools are great, because anyone who understands the concept of "seeding" can participate competitively. But I've come across several other cool games you can play amongst a small group.
One game I used to play requires a foursome. Everyone drafts one 1-seed, one 2-seed, etc., with each participant alternating first pick. At the end, each person has a list of 16 teams to root for. Set up a scoring system - we gave 1 point for each win. The most points wins.
Here's another one. Since high school, my brother has been a part of an annual competition that requires a bit more research. Here are the rules:
- Five participants draft 10 INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS.
- Total points scored by your team of players over the course of the tournament wins.
- Everyone has to draft one player from a team seeded 12 or worse.
My brother called me up for some advice on picking his team. Unfortunately, I've never been lucky enough to be a part of this delectable competition, so I'm no expert on the strategy. However, I do know a tiny bit about the college basketball landscape. So, to help Dan out, and to give Sports Sauna readers some "players to watch," here is a prediction for the top 50 TOTAL scorers for the 2010 tournament.
A few notes...
- Among the 5o players mentioned below are all of the top scorers coming into the tournament who play for teams that could realistically win at least a game, so this list doubles as a nice "players to watch" cheat sheet for the casual fan. No, I refuse to put Vermont's Marqus Blakely on this list.
- Seed, team, and points per game are noted.
- I was going to do this as a mock draft, but I decided that was too complicated so I've just rated them in order of players I would target if I was in Dan's league. Still, to make this an interesting read, I've broken it down into 10 groups of five and added informative and mildly entertaining comments after each bunch.
1. Sherron Collins - 1-Kansas - 15.6
2. John Wall - 1-Kentucky - 16.9
3. Jon Scheyer - 1-Duke - 18.6
4. Evan Turner - 2-Ohio St - 20.3
5. Wes Johnson - 1-Syracuse - 16.0
To win Dan's game, you have to go with the best odds of playing the most games, so the best player on the best team has to be number one, followed by the best player on the best team on the opposite side of the bracket. Scheyer edges Turner only because Ohio State has to get through Kansas to play more than four games. Rounding out the top scorers from the 1-seeds is Wes, who finally looked healthy in his last game.
---------------------------------------------------------
6. Jacob Pullen - 2-Kansas St - 18.9
7. Da'Sean Butler - 2-West Virginia - 17.4
8. Scottie Reynolds - 2-Villanova - 18.5
9. Kyle Singler - 1-Duke - 17.6
10. DeMarcus Cousins - 1-Kentucky - 15.3
The rest of the best scorers from the 2-seeds are listed here, with Pullen's beard giving him the edge. It's hard to believe, but Kyle Singler has quietly become underrated over the last part of the season.
---------------------------------------------------------
11. Nolan Smith - 1-Duke - 17.3
12. Patrick Patterson - 1-Kentucky - 14.7
13. Xavier Henry - 1-Kansas - 13.6
14. LaceDarius Dunn - 3-Baylor - 19.4
15. Cole Aldrich - 1-Kansas - 11.2
Gotta keep picking the 1-seeds. It's so easy to look past Baylor. I mean, it's freakin' Baylor! But that South bracket is so weak... Also, without checking, I'm pretty sure LaceDarius is pronounced exactly like it looks.
---------------------------------------------------------
16. Denis Clemente - 2-Kansas St - 16.2
17. Marcus Morris - 1-Kansas - 12.3
18. William Buford - 2-Ohio St -14.5
19. Greivis Vasquez - 4-Maryland - 19.5
20. Andy Rautins - 1-Syracuse - 11.7
Greivis Vasquez may sound like a Hispanic character from Harry Potter, but he's actually a killer scorer from Venezuela. Meanwhile, if Syracuse goes on a run, that means Andy is hot. (No, not THAT kind of hot!)
---------------------------------------------------------
21. Kris Joseph - 1-Syracuse - 11.3
22. Austin Freeman - 3-Georgetown - 16.7
23. Darington Hobson - 3-New Mexico - 16.2
24. Greg Monroe - 3-Georgetown - 16.1
25. Ashton Gibbs - 3-Pittsburgh - 15.8
On the other hand, maybe KJ will key an SU run. Ostensibly he has the most to gain from the A-O injury, but on the other hand he was already averaging 27 minutes, third most on the team. If Georgetown was the 3-seed in any other bracket, I'd like their chances of making the final four a lot more. And no, Darington Hobson isn't a stud from a Jane Austen novel... he's a stud for New Mexico.
---------------------------------------------------------
26. Tweety Carter - 3-Baylor - 15.7
27. Corey Fischer - 2-Villanova - 13.7
28. Kevin Jones - 2-West Virginia - 13.5
29. Chris Wright - 3-Georgetown - 14.8
30. Rick Jackson - 1-Syracuse - 10.0
On the third hand, maybe Ricky will go nuts during an SU run. Maybe HE has the most to gain from A-O's injury. He was brilliant during the Georgetown-Providence-Villanova high point of the season.
WAIT.
Hold everything.
Baylor has players named LaceDarius and Tweety?!? With 70s ABA names like those, they're making a run in this tournament. In fact, check out the other guys I just found on their roster...
(WARNING: excessive use of parentheses ahead!!)
(Note: I did little to no research on these guys, other than looking at the roster)
Ekpe Udoh (Nigerian center (even though he was born in OK))
Quincy Acy (perfect name for a glue guy)
Josh Lomers (backup white center (if Lomers is black, I'm going to be really disappointed))
A.J. Walton (token son of Bill Walton (if A.J. isn't related to Bill Walton, I'm going to be really disappointed))
Nolan Dennis (token guy with two first names a la Kris Joseph and Xavier Henry)
Dragan Sekelja (token Croatian center who they realized was a stiff AFTER they gave him a scholarship (Baylor should go see...How to Tame Your DRAGAN!!!))
AND the bench warming, walk-on odd couple... Oscar and Mr. Crump!
Wow. Needless to say, I am now rooting for Baylor.
---------------------------------------------------------
31. Luke Harangody - 6-Notre Dame - 22.4
32. Kalin Lucas - 5-Michigan St - 14.9
33. Eric Bledsoe - 1-Kentucky - 10.8
34. Donald Sloan - 5-Texas A&M - 18.2
35. Gordon Hayward - 5-Butler - 15.4
Notre Dame sure looked good down the stretch. They were all over the place this season. I could see them getting knocked off by Old Dominion. I could see them in the Final Four. Kalin Lucas could benefit from playing for the best tournament coach... maybe ever?? Tom Izzo has made the Sweet 16 eight times, and the final four five times. Hayward, just a sophomore, is going to win a handful of tourney games before his college career is done.
---------------------------------------------------------
36. Jimmer Fredette - 7-BYU - 21.7
37. Jordan Crawford - 6-Xavier - 19.7
38. Lazar Hayward - 6-Marquette - 18.1
39. Kevin Anderson - 7-Richmond - 17.8
40. Quincy Poindexter - 11-Washington - 19.8
Jimmer (let's all agree to call him by his sweet first name) scored 49 against Arizona and 45 against TCU this season. Lazar (let's all agree to call him by his sweet first name) has helped the Golden Eagles go 3-1 in OT games this season. And Quincy Poindexter (let's all agree to call him by his sweet full name) may play in the CRAP-10, but that doesn't mean Washington can't play to its potential and reach the Sweet 16 out of a weak pod.
---------------------------------------------------------
41. Xavier Silas - 9-Northern Iowa - 19.7
42. Ryan Wittman - 12-Cornell - 17.5
43. Jerome Randle - 8-California - 18.7
44. Tre'Von Willis - 8-UNLV - 17.3
45. Damion James - 8-Texas - 18.0
Northern Iowa is my super-duper, "Merlin approved," (I think Davs, who gets that joke, is the only one still reading a this point. Hi Davs! Miss you!) dark horse. The Missouri Valley Conference plays some good basketball, and NIU is good enough to play Kansas close on a neutral court. Cornell is Jay Bilas's super-duper, "Merlin approved," dark horse, and Wittman is their best player. By the way, anybody remember the origin of the term "dark horse?" I think I've read stories that say it comes from horse racing. Still, is anyone else afraid it has some horrible racial connotation? I mean, would you be comfortable saying, "Barack Obama was a dark horse Presidential candidate?" Me neither. Oh, you said "Yes I would be comfortable." Sorry, I mis-heard you.
---------------------------------------------------------
46. Jahmar Young - 12-New Mexico St - 20.5
47. Jonathan Gibson - 12-New Mexico St - 17.5
48. Randy Culpepper - 12-UTEP - 18.0
49. Aubrey Coleman - 13-Houston - 25.6
50. Anthony Johnson - 14-Montana - 19.6
Sweet sassy molassy, New Mexico State has TWO guys who score 17+ points per game? AND they've got the infamous 12-seed? Okay, I'm picking them to win a game in the rest of my brackets.
Finally, I totally screwed up the "Secret Mid-Major/Celebrity Crush" analogy I made on Sunday's post. Western Kentucky won a game in the tournament last year, and made the Sweet 16 the year before! Denise Richards peaked in 1999 as Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough, unless you count her 2003 cameo in Love Actually. So here is my revised list...
Gonzaga is OBVIOUSLY Mila Kunis
The Zags made their first remarkable tournament run in the 1998-99 season...the same season That 70s Show came on the air! Since then, just when you think they're going away, Gonzaga and Family Guy come back stronger than ever. Gonzaga's and Mila's profiles have consistently risen, to the point where the Zags are perennially in the top-25 and Mila is getting the big bucks to play opposite Denzel Washington.
Butler is kinda Isla Fischer
The Bulldogs ALMOST broke out in a memorable first round game against the tournament's runner-up, Florida in 2000 while Isla was trying to break out on some random Australian TV shows and movies. Then in 2003 and 2007, Butler crashed the Sweet 16. In between, in 2005, Isla hit the big time in Wedding Crashers. Since then, both have risen towards elite status.
Western Kentucky is definitely Marisa Tomei
Their best moments are surprisingly few and far between over a long period...
1993: The Hilltoppers made the Sweet 16 the same month that Marisa won Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny.
1995: The Hilltoppers play to their 8-seed, winning only one game, then start regularly missing the tournament. Marisa is parlaying her Oscar into a string of forgettable films.
2001-03: Starts off promising for both, but in 3 tourney bids, WKU wins 0 games. In the Bedroom came out in 2001, and Marisa was brilliant in it, getting her second Oscar nomination, but she followed it up with... nothing much.
2008-09: Back to the Sweet 16 for the Hilltoppers in 2008, and another tourney win in 09. Back to the Oscars in 09 for Marisa with The Wrestler from 2008.
Labels: ncaa tournament
posted by Prof. A at 9:53 PM
1 Comments:
hi paul! miss you too!
i asked merlin what he thought about syracuse's chances this year. he said, "you will get a phone call about this!" i think i had him in the wrong mode....
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