Alternate NCAA Gambling: The Individual Points Game

It's that time of year again. Time for me to watch jealously as my brother Dan competes in his delightful individual players scoring pool. Here are the rules:

1. Five participants draft 11 INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS.
2. Total points scored by your team of players over the course of the tournament wins.
3. In the 11th round, everyone has to draft one player from a double-digit seeded team
   

There's different strategies here. Some like to pound the best per-game scorers. Others like to ride the high seeds, hoping for more games. This year the play-in games added an interesting twist to the "double-digit" pick, since theoretically a double-digit seed has about 50/50 odds of getting a second game.

Round 1

Nolan Smith	Duke	Jon
Jimmer Fredette	BYU	Aaron
Ben Hansbrough	Notre Dame	Ryan
Jared Sullinger	Ohio St	Dan
Marcus Morris	Kansas	Jamie

The Ben Hansbrough pick is a head-scratcher, but otherwise you have to go best 1-seed players here. I think the Jimmer pick is dicey this year. BYU won't sneak up on anyone, although their path to the regional finals isn't too tough.

Round 2

Kyle Singler	Duke	Jamie
Ashton Gibbs	Pitt	Dan
Kris Joseph	Syracuse	Ryan
Kemba Walker	UConn	Aaron
Markieff Morris	Kansas	Jon

Ryan continues to pick drunkenly. With none of the 1-seed scorers, Aaron is gambling on a wide-open tournament.

Round 3

Harrison Barnes	UNC	Jon
Jujuan Johnson	Purdue	Aaron
Brandon Knight	Kentucky	Ryan
Kawhi Leonard	SD State	Dan
Bradley Wanamaker	Pitt	Jamie

Jamie is trying to grab 1-seed guys, but Wanamaker is a stretch here.

Round 4

Tim Abromaitis	Notre Dame	Jamie
William Buford	Ohio St	Dan
E'Twaun Moore	Purdue	Ryan
Jordan Hamilton	Texas	Aaron
Jon Diebler	Ohio St	Jon

Dan puts all his eggs in the Buckeye basket with Sullinger-Buford.

Round 5

Erving Walker	Florida	Jon
David Lighty	Ohio St	Aaron
Jon Leuer	Wisconsin	Ryan
Tyrel Reed	Kansas	Dan
Tyler Zeller	UNC	Jamie

Aaron grabs his first 1-seed player - the fourth Ohio State player taken.

Round 6

Jordan Taylor	Wisconsin	Jamie
Kenny Boynton	Florida	Dan
Jacob Pullen	Kansas St	Ryan
Terrence Jones	Kentucky	Aaron
Gilbert Brown	Pittsburgh	Jon

By this point the strategies are clear. Dan and Jon are going with the top seeds. Aaron is going with the top scorers. Jamie is finding a balance. Ryan is apparently insane. (That said...fear the beard.)

Round 7

Carleton Scott	Notre Dame	Jon
Tyshawn Taylor	Kansas	Aaron
Malcolm Thomas	SD State	Ryan
Preston Knowles	Louisville	Dan
Scoop Jardine	Syracuse	Jamie

Jon is digging deep into the 1- and 2-seed rosters. He's yet to take a player from a lower-seeded team. Unless they get bonus points for threes inside of 20 seconds left, the Scoop pick is a bit optimistic from Villanova grad Jamie.

Round 8

Jeremy Lamb	Uconn	Jamie
Rick Jackson	Syracuse	Dan
Dwight Hardy	St. John's	Ryan
Brandon Triche	Syracuse	Aaron
Derrick Williams	Arizona	Jon

All the relevant Orange players are gone now. Jon breaks with his strategy to take Williams off 5-seed Arizona.

Round 9

Seth Curry	Duke	Jon
Kalin Lucas	Michigan St	Aaron
Mason Plumlee	Duke	Ryan
Jackson Emery	BYU	Dan
Tristan Thompson	Texas	Jamie

Duke ties Ohio State for most players chosen. Will Kyrie Irving play? He could cut into Seth Curry's minutes, and steal points from other Blue Devils. Aaron gambles on a Tom Izzo run from a 10-seed. Dan grabs the other Cougar in the tournament. Interestingly, no one took Brandon Davies, who leads BYU in scoring.

Round 10

Kyle Kuric	Louisville	Jamie
Alex Oriakhi	UConn	Dan
John Henson	UNC	Ryan
John Jenkins	Vanderbilt	Aaron
Tu Holloway	Xavier	Jon

Jenkins (19.5 ppg) and Holloway (20.2 ppg) are potential stars in this tournament. It would have been a shame if no one had rolled the dice with them.

Round 11

Marcus Denmon	Missouri	Jon
Taylor Battle	Penn State	Aaron
Justin Harper	Richmond	Ryan
Jamarr Sanders	UAB	Dan
Demontez Stitt	Clemson	Jamie

Everyone has to take a double-digit seed here. Dan and Jamie are in direct competition in Tuesday night's play-in game. I would have also considered Nikola Vucevic, playing for USC in the other play-in game Wednesday. Of the other three, Harper scores 17.9 per game for Richmond; they're a 12-seed but I think their Princeton-style offense could be dangerous.