Daily Fantasy Basketball (Fictional)
 

I need to find a way to play slower. I sim seasons, take over teams and I just can't really follow anything because I tend to get bored easily. I do want to play quickly because I like having seasons to look at, but doing a huge stat dump won't be interesting to anyone because you don't know the players or the league.

I'd love to find a way to get more immersed in knowing who the various guys are AND seeing what makes great teams great, because I think it's like "ok sure, Kansas or somebody won the national title. But who led them there? What was their season like? Without belaboring the storyline.

Here are the various games I'll employ from time to time:

Top Gun - Choose six tournament players and total their points.
Starting Five Pick 5 teams (one has to be a double-digit seed) and award points for seed times round in the NCAAs.

I figured these games will give me a chance to really see how teams are/do and give me a rooting interest as the years go on, while also being able to pick teams I like if I start to notice teams or whatever.

But those are tournament games. In the regular season, I'd like to do a mini-version of my real-life fantasy college basketball league. Except there is no one to play against and I didn't really want to manufacture a whole setup against "myself"

So instead, I'm going to do a "daily fantasy" league where I pick a (different) player in five games per week. If I beat the league best, I get to collect on a jackpot. The idea is to keep playing until I run out of money.

Might be lame, but it's a way for me to share boxscores with you of interesting teams around college basketball, without just doing a stat-dump of a program that isn't going to matter to anyone but me (and even that's a marginal thing.)

Each week I can play in a different buy-in type game, if I want. The biggest difference in playing this way is it's not DFS where I can affix a price onto a player because I'm not going to constantly generate price values on guys, so instead I have to just get $ for performance and hope I guess right, essentially.

If you have a better idea, share it.

So I'm starting in 2035-36. It's a continuation league from my other NCAA dynasty (Minnesota State) with the same teams, as well as some newer ones, but no fictional schools other than Minnesota State exist in this dynasty, though there are some D2 and D3 schools playing at the D1 level.

Daily Fantasy (DFS)
How this works is, each month I get 5 entries. With them, I pick a roster essentially of five guys picking one game for the month for each dude. (If some reason my guy I pick gets injured or doesn't start when I pick him, I can replace him so long as the month hasn't ended.)

Each monthly entry costs me $20.

Here's what I get depending on how much my "team" scores during that month. (Had to adjust these numbers based on the increased scoring bonuses that my fantasy league doesn't have.)

220 (or higher): $125
210-219: $100
200-209: $75
190-199: $50
180-189: $35
170-179: $25

Anything lower and I get nothing. In future months, I can play in higher stakes games for higher purses, but not until I have more money. I start with $100.

Scoring is based on a version of most daily fantasy situations:

November 2035 Roster
 

Given I do not really know this league well at all, despite being around it in a simulated fashion, I'll kind of have to shoot in the dark and hope for the best.

The other hitch is, to create some kinds of constraints is that each month, I can't use the same guys more than once. So I can only use a guy once for the entire year if I choose him, so I can't ride a horse that works for the whole year in each month or whatever.

Also have to hope the game I pick him is a good night, etc.

I'm going to sim the first week of the season, just so we can get a few guys with some stats and maybe use that as a benchmark to pick people.

Also, this first month, going to probably going with programs I feel like people will care about, as a way to maybe hook in people who don't share my obsession for mid-majors, haha.

Here's my first roster. These dudes have been putting up big numbers in the non-conference, so interested to see if they can keep it up for me.

Here we go.

November results
 

I simmed the month so I wouldn't be tempted to change my mind.

Here's how we did in November. I'll post each guy's box score, in part so you can see how my league plays these days. For a while, offense was kind of depressed in this league and so I kind of got tired of it and wanted to see a college league that reflected the "run & gun with five wing dudes" nature of basketball right now. So scoring is way up the past few years in my league, I basically wanted to get more 20+ PPG scorers in my league, because there weren't very many at all compared to real life.

Anyway...here's how we did.

Cummings Lee had a double-double against Rutgers which made me think he'd be a guy worth having. Instead, Colorado College gave Mississippi State all they could handle and he didn't factor like I'd hoped.


Aaron Evers of North Alabama is averaging a double-double. I thought Jackson State would be a walkover game and they'd have a big night. I was wrong.


Adam Akers is one of the best scoring players in the country. Not sure exactly why he came back for his senior year, but nonetheless, he's here and I thought he'd be able to help us with a huge night. They won big, but it wasn't a 30+ performance or anything.

November Results continued
 

Perry Harmon of Michigan was national freshman of the year. Figured he was the kind of guy to take in a game like this and he did not disappointed in his regular season debut, in a big televised national game against Georgetown.


With four players in the books, we're at 133.4 points and need about 36 or so more to get anywhere in the money. A tall order, but Bobbie Siebert of Denver has had a monster start to the year including two 30+ games. Hopefully, he came through for us.


Seibert comes through as I'd hoped and it puts us in the money. I make $35 in November and make my money back plus some.

Not a bad start to this at all and I'm enjoying having some modest investment (figuratively) in the regular season games for once.

Now that I have a model for how this works...I could do the same format over an entire game night where I pick five players (2 G, 2 F and 1 FLEX) and could mix my NBA league into this format, which works better since there are games every night over there. I'd keep the same bank (currently at $115) and this idea here is that I'd just keep this dynasty going by trying to make quick bux in the different fantasy setups inventing other formats. (Your ideas are welcomed...now that you see a basic structure.)

All in all, it's just a way for me to get to know the league/players better.

Top 25 Poll (Major & Mid-Major) - Dec 9, 2035
 

December 9, 2035 POLLS

Going to attempt to play a DFS style. Same scoring format.

The different will be the mode of game I play. We'll call this format 250 or better. The goal isn't to lose all of my money this year, so I'm going to chill on the high octane playing until we work our way up.

PRIZES: $500 TOTAL PRIZE POOL


The trick is, you have to play with the day's slate of games which makes it trickier than if you're cherry-picking dudes. The rules of "not the same player twice in a season" for DFS Monthly fantasy does not apply for the daily games.

So my goal is to score 200 or more points to get "in the money." Here's the slate of games for Dec 3rd.



Here's my roster for 12/3. It's a grab bag of talent and no idea what'll work, but we'll see what happens.

12/3/35 - DFS Results
 

So yeah, that didn't go well. At all. Probably need to stay away from the big conference programs. Or something. No idea.

I'm contemplating playing multiple entries in a night to increase my odds of winning $ like a REEL SHARK playing DFS. I feel like playing this way feels just as random as real life playing in my fantasy league in real life where guys sometimes just don't show up despite having a few good games previously, etc. Also considering doing randomized point thresholds for winning jackpots, so that I can possibly get lucky on some nights, but that it can go both ways.

What I might also do -- though this would be tedious and ridic -- is for a night or two take a look at the scores and figure out the best performances of the night from that particular day, giving me a sense of what a good score is for this league and then use that as a benchmark. Right now, I'm mostly basing it on real life except RL DFS has bigger rosters than how I play.

Here's the games on the docket for today. I'm still feeling myself out with this...looking at high scoring teams or whatever.

I'd like to play higher stakes, tbh, but I should just be smart about this. Eventually, I'll pick better days for games when there's matchups/teams that I want to bet with rather than trying to play everyday or whatever.

Going to play an entry before bed.


I did a sample run of an earlier set of games this year just to get a sense of what a max/top score night would look like and that 220+ range is what I ran across, I'm sure a computer could synthesize an optimal lineup but besides that...I think it's hard to get to 200+ and 250+ would require an unotherworldly night from somebody.

Anyway, we'll see how my roster tonight goes for 12/4:

12/4/35 PLAYER TEAM
G Justin Winters CMU MICH
G Perry Harmon MICH CMU
FLEX Ben Krauss TXST CALBAP
F Marshaun Connelly CCNY COPPIN
F Otis Jackson-Wood GMU STFR(PA)

12/4: RESULTS
 

I provide the box scores so you can see how random games in my universe play out, as a contrast to maybe a different league since my FBCB.ini file is custom. Didn't come close to finishing in the money, though. Just a rough night.

Down to $75 after a respectable night, but didn't get two big games out of anybody which is what you need, so despite Otis Jackson-Wood's HUGE night, nobody else truly came to play.

If you ever stop by and want me to pick a guy from your favorite (or random) program on a night, do let me know and I'll do it or I'll do it on the day of their next game. This undertaking does surely help me know who plays on teams as I go through it.

I put down another $20 on a slate for the games on 12/5/35 and well..the result was similar. Can't quite score on a multiple slate of guys who have big nights to get me over the hump. But maybe as I know teams better, I can construct an evening that provides me with an advantage.

Going to sim into January now and hope conference play is kinder to me, before I run out of cash. Down to $55. Maybe after one more night attempting this, I'll just skip to the tournament and try to play a tournament game instead, at least now I have a DFS format to work with.

Actually had a solid night, but couldn't get into the money because 1) one of the guys underperformed as usual and 2) turnovers like whoa. So. many. turnovers.



Anyway, we're down to $35. Rather than lose my shirt in the NCAA tournament, we're going to "make" some money by doing a NCAA tournament recap where I do a tournament preview of all of the teams in the tournament (like this one) as another way for us to get better acquainted with the teams and help play better, as a result.

Next season, I'm probably going to attempt some NBA daily fantasy instead of college just to see if I can do better in that league where players are more consistent and I'm not subject to coach whims and randomness.

2035-36 NCAA TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
 

Here's the 68-team preview of the 2035-36 NCAA tournament.

Since 2024, we've seen a run of major conference teams winning the national title. We'll see if this year will result in another big program adding a banner to their rafters.

PAST CHAMPIONS (1940-2034)



68. UC Irvine (Big West) (16, West): The Anteaters weren't supposed to win a game in their own conference tournament, much less win the whole thing as a 9-seed and yet, here they are dancing. They're capable of scoring in buckets, they've put up 100+ this year in three regular season games including the Big West tournament domination over UC-Davis.


67. Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun) (16, East): #DunkCity is back in the tournament for the first time in 18 years and they're doing so playing in the First Four after losing 20 games during the regular season. Junior center Domingo Buckner is averaging 18.6 PPG and is the team leader in scoring and rebounding. If they're going to advance to date with top-seed Maryland in the next round, they'll need him to dominate.

66. Florida International (Conference USA) (16, East) This program has been starved for a post-season appearance, much less a trip to the Big Dance. This is the Panthers first NCAA bid since 1994 and their first time in any post-season tournament since a 2013 loss in the CIT Finals. It's been a LONG time. The cruel irony is that unlike this year, last year's team actually finished with a winning record; but did not get any post-season bid, so this year's team winning the Conference USA title to get here is poetic justice for those returning players who missed out last year. They don't have a dominant player and might end up struggling against the 20-loss FGCU team they're pitted against in an all-Florida battle for a trip to the main draw.

65. Delaware State (America East) (16, West) Delaware State is back in the tournament after a 14-year absence and only winning 2 games last year. The regular season and tournament champs of the America East feature a balanced attack with 4 players scoring in double digits. Center Adam Albrecht is averaging a double double (12.1 PPG/11.2 RPG) and could be an X-Factor against UC Irvine. The winner gets a date with Arizona.

64. Eastern Oregon (Frontier) (15, West) The Mountaineers are only in their 2nd season as a full D1 program and they're in the tournament, thanks to playing in the newly sprouted Frontier Conference. They are the 2nd-slowest pace team in the Frontier Conference, alas...don't expect fireworks from them or an especially long stay in the tournament.

63. Charleston Southern (Big South) (15, East) Their leading scorer Elbert Dunham is out for the year after an injury in the conference tournament semi-final. Still, they got here and with a deep rotation and averaging 78.6 PPG as a team, they know how to turn up the heat.

62. St. Bonaventure (A10) (15, West) - The Bonnies are coached by the son of Billy Latta, who I think played in the NBA. (Not sure why I created his son...) This is their 3rd NCAA appearance since 2000 and they're short-staffed with three of their best players nursing some kind of injury. It'll be tough sledding against a high-octane Wake Forest club average 100 PPG.

61. Utah State (WAC) (15, Midwest) - The Aggies are up against a Pepperdine team in the first round that didn't lose a conference game all year. But they beat #20 Rice in the WAC Finals to get here, so they've got giant killing aspirations. Their goal is to slow the game down considerably.

Going to do the other matchups by region, just because it's hard to do them since it's not a unified bracket in-game.

EAST REGION
Brown (Ivy) (14-seed) - This Brown team is dangerous, they've got four scorers averaging double-digit points this year. Could be a potential upset candidate if the stars align right.

Siena (MAAC) (13-seed) - The Saints are led by guard Bryon Qualls (18.8 PPG) and forward Alex Ledesma (17.2 PPG/9.0 RPG), a potent duo that notched non-conference wins against both Georgetown and Virginia in the regular season.

Maryland (Big Ten) (1-seed) - The Terps are the 12th best scoring team in the nation. Their deep rotation make them a real threat to go all the way, but their road will depend on whether their high-flying offense can stay hot through the sweet 16.

2035-36 NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET
 

Here's the entire tournament bracket.

Was looking at various bracket games and ways to play. I've decided on the Bill James method for this year. You pick one team of each seed line and get points (per win) for as far as they advance.


I'm trying to figure out a benchmark of the highest total points someone could score in this game (realistically) as a way to figure out a prize pool, etc.

Going to use real life NCAA tournament results to come up with some kind of average number and then go from there.

Seems the max score you could get in this game is 9000 points with a perfect bracket and a 16/15/14/13 in the Final Four with a 16-seed winning it all.

Given the engine in FBCB, this is obviously a lot more likely than in real life, hah.

I'm down to $35, I'm going to spend all of that and participate in a bracket pool that has a jackpot that'll let random.org decide.

The prize jackpot breakdown will go like this:

Since I'm playing against myself and I don't want to multiple ballots, I'm going to use random.org to determine the final scores, this is all before I started compiling my own roster or anything, so I have no idea what the final result will be for me.

I'll round the random.org figures up since everything in this game is scored in 10s and we'll generate 31 scores, with the idea that if I finish below 30th, I'll be out of the money anyway.

JACKPOT PURSE: $30,000

Here's the scores from the other players this year generated from random.org based on a range of 1500-7720. It's 35 scores, so I've got to finish in the Top 30 to get "in the money"

Here's are my picks for the 2035 Bracketless game:

1) Texas: I felt like Texas coach Ezra Stockton Jr., would channel the legacy of his all-time title winning dad (6 titles) into a deep run with this team. They were 29-4 in the regular season and this is the best team he's had there. It was a tough pick, because it's tough to bet against CCNY during the tournament no matter what. But went with my gut on Texas.

2) West Virginia: Saw them some in the regular season. Gil Brackett, their center is a bonafide star and they've just got a really deep roster all the way through the bench. Another team that I feel like has a long tournament run in them.

3) Texas Tech: 3-seeds were another tough choice for me. But the Red Raiders have two 18 PPG scorers in Shermell Abney and Gary Forster. Only losing two games in the Pac-16 makes me think they're battle tested.

4) Virginia Tech: Another team with two potent scorers that I saw during the regular season. They only went 8-7 in ACC play, which should worry me, but I decided it was their turn and went with them.

5) Boise State: This is not a confident pick, but I did it based on their defense stats. 3rd least points allowed in the nation.

6) SMU: They won 4 games against Top 50 opponents this year and are Top 10 in defense rebounding nationally.

7) Clemson: 7th in the nation in points allowed. Figured it might bode well.

8) Alabama: They're coming off a Final Four. Felt it was too dangerous to pick against them. Classic underseeding at 24-9 this year.

9) Minnesota State: If you read my previous dynasty, you'd know this is a homer pick. It will likely backfire, they're not the team I knew 20 years ago.

10) La Salle: See my earlier review of this team. I feel like they have some horses to luck into a run.

11) North Dakota: If they can overcome a tough Seton Hall team in the 1st round, I think this team could surprise. They've got both solid defense and a Top 100 offense.

12) Oklahoma State: A First Four team that won their initial game and are coming off back to back Sweet 16 appearances, I felt like it was a safe bet in a not-so-safe seed line.

13) Milwaukee: PG combo Adam Glass and Tracy Dion average over 40 PPG together.

14) Brown: See my earlier review. I feel like despite the Ivy tag, they're a better team that you'd expect.

15) Utah State: This is a tough line, but I felt like Utah State was the most complete 15-seed in the tournament. They also have two players from Helensburgh on their roster (See my Cities Skylines dynasty for more...) and four guys scoring in double-digits.

16) FIU: None of the 16-seeds inspired much confidence in me this year. But FIU seemed to have the most favorable matchup of any of the others.

2035-36 TOURNAMENT RESULTS
 

It was a very chalky year in the end. West Virginia claims their first-ever national title.

I ended up in 23rd place, good for $75. Enough to get me back playing again next year.

2036-37 TOURNAMENT

I didn't play at all this year, just watched. But naturally, because I didn't play, it was a year where all four of the Final Four seeds were double-digit seeds.

Clemson (24-11) was a Sweet 16 team last year. The program has won a national title (1987) and last appeared in the title game 12 years ago.

Loyola Marymount (24-13) is making their first tournament appearance in four years. This is their first-ever appearance beyond the Sweet 16.

George Mason (28-9) is in their first-ever Final Four. This is their 1st tournament appearance in 4 years.

Texas (24-11) lost in the Elite 8 last year. Their last Final Four appearance was back in 2026, when they won their 2nd straight national title.

The last team to win a national title with double-digit losses was Boston College in 2031.

Loyola Marymount caps an unlikely win in the national title game, becoming the first west coast team to win a national title in 22 years. (UCLA, 2014)

Gonna play NBA DFS this season, because my NBA year is a year behind my college league, it'll be 2036-37, so the season I just simmed with the college league. I'm playing with Draft Kings scoring, so we'll have an 8-player roster and the scoring goes:


So far, only committing to trying this once unless it's more fun than tedious since I can't really automate much. I'll do my own roster and then each day generate the "most perfect lineup" for the day and see how close I get.

Before I do that, I'm going to -- for my own purposes -- look at the Attribute Report and get a sense of the best leagues in the world in a kind of order and talk about what kind of players are in each.

I'm mostly curious for the college league purposes -- especially given how extensive both universes are -- where players end up, because I actually do a have a decent amount of mobility between my leagues, because my FBCB.ini file generates better players than a default league (part of why I find online leagues based on the kind of boring..) so there are legitimately good players who just never do much in the NBA in my setup, rather than a deal where you can clearly see a difference between NBA players are the rest.

2036-37 PRO BASKETBALL BEST LEAGUES IN THE WORLD
I've gotten pretty good at rigging this over the years in-game, by rigidly controlling salary caps and keeping auto-inflation off, so that there isn't a lot of deviation. As a result, you see lots of dudes who go over to Greece or somewhere at the end of their careers, whereas the biggest NBA feeders tend to be Russia or China, when there are underclassmen who develop late.

USBL doesn't send anyone to the NBA, I'm not entirely sure anyone from the USBL has ever played in the NBA for more than a few games, though I'm going to look.


1. NBA (USA) (106.1)

2. CBA (China) (83.6)
China is as close to the D-League as we have, except way better. You routinely see dudes come over here for a few years, develop and then come back to the States as real contributors. Since FBPB doesn't have any foreigner limits, my foreign leagues are essentially giant leagues of Americans but I'm good with it, since they all come from my FBCB classes (though I do let the game generate foreign draft classes so there are at least a semblance of foreign names besides the ones I add because I like realism-ish.)

But anyway, China is legitimately the 2nd best league in the world since I added it to this save, mostly because of the salaries. Their cap is set to $10m. Besides the NBA finishing school aspect of the league, it's the sort of place where a dude who was a 4-year player in college and started, can elevate his game and get paid better than anywhere else besides the NBA.

Looking around the league, it's a lot of fun looking at these guys because there are so many dudes that really came up from the bottom to get that six-figure payday after years of toiling in the lower leagues. Here's an example.



So a three-star guy who didn't start in college, spends a few years in the USBL and shines, gets plugged into Israel and then gets a deal in China first as a benchwarmer and then as a starter. Neat story, right?

There aren't a ton of older dudes in the CBA from what I could tell, at least not as leaders in the league anyway. It's a young players league with a lot of these middle-class "glue" guys who really make up the league outside of the fringe NBA dudes getting million dollar checks for playing here over sticking around the NBA for less money as probable non-starters.

China is a massively offense-driven league. Teams average 101.2 PPG.

RPBL (Russia) (78.8)
Russia has an $8m cap. Whereas China is a high-octane offense league, Russia isn't that at all. Teams here only average 78.3 PPG, so it's not a league where dudes can show up and dominate for whatever reason. Russia also tends to sign guys to longer-term contracts where they stay there for longer as opposed to 2-3 year stints or even shorter than we see from guys who go to China.


From what I can tell, if you kill it in Russia your next stop is probably China or maybe Spain. I don't see very many guys who go straight from Russia back to the NBA, in part, because it seems like all they'll end up doing is sitting on the bench. Example is former Russian league MVP Mason King. He's making $2m a year, but he's not getting any minutes on a very bad Knicks team and he had to go through Spain before he got his NBA deal again.

ACB (Spain) (77.4)
Spain's salary cap is at $6.5 million. Average scoring is 83.6 PPG, my take anecdotally is that Spain seems to do a great job of putting tweeners to work. They also seem to be willing to pay for American bigs and unlike China, this is a veteran league with guys who have years of NBA experience throughout.

So it's a grown-folks league but with better NBA guys, so I can see why guys end up passing through here at the end of their careers or at some mid-point en route back to the States. They can pay their feature players at the same level of a China or Russia, they just rely on them to do more. So a guy would opt for Spain and making good money and getting to play, over being the 9th or 10th guy on an NBA roster.

Serie A (Italy) (76.4)
Italy's salary cap is $5.5 million, but unlike the other leagues, only one team is over the cap here. So they just don't get to spend it, probably because their intended dudes are on the bottom of NBA rosters, playing in Spain, China or Russia. Which is interesting. So who plays in Italia?

It's a lot of guards who are productive players, but aren't really good enough to hack it in the NBA. It's also a lot of NBA veteran bigs who come over here at various stages of their career, but for the most part, the highest paid players on teams over here are guys who have paid their dues in other Euro leagues (or possibly, China) and then get paid #1 dude cash to come play in Italy where they'll start and probably dominate.

Here's a guy who spent years in Finland, before getting the seven-figure check from an Italian team. Another USBL alum, too. I love that having so many leagues means dudes get to develop and can extend their careers. If I only had one league, most of these guys would never be heard from again.




I'll profile the other leagues later.


PROA (France) (71.6)
GBL (Greece) (71.6)
LNB (Argentina) (71.5)
ABL (Australia) (69.3)
ISL (Israel) (69.2)
BPL (England) (66.3)
PRL (Puerto Rico) (65.8)
BBL (Germany) (64.2)
CBL (Canada) (62.8)
USBL (USA) (61.6)
FIN (Finland) (60.6)

France (71.6) - The French league is mostly comprised of sub-NBA dudes. The few guys who have NBA experience here are actually over-the-hill veteran types who come here to get a last big contract (usually around $1m) before they end their careers. It's also a solid league for upwardly mobile guys, but you don't see as many guys who come to France as a finishing school for the bigger leagues. There are some middle-class guys who get to start here who'd probably ride the end of the pine in the NBA, but there just aren't as many as in the upper tier leagues. France has a $3.5m salary cap.

Greece (71.6) - Greece has a $3m salary cap. The league is legitimately worst from a depth perspective than say, China, Russia or even Italy. France is on par, but because of the slightly smaller cap, I feel like Greece is a good league for journeyman players.

Here's a good example of a dude. Glover Oburne is a former All-American in high school, Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin and was a two-time NBA Rookie Game participant. But after four years as a NBA starter, he left for China, then Italy and now at 31, he's playing in Greece. He's very Josh Childress or somebody like that who left the NBA for more money.

Argentina - Argentina's salary cap is just over a $1m. It's a journeyman's league with very few NBA alums who make it here. No big surprise, really. The highest paid player in the league went from Canada to the USBL to Argentina mid-career.


Israel - Average scoring here is 72.6 PPG, the league salary cap is just under $2m. Despite the cash, the league tends to get scraps relative to the other leagues. There are an odd few -- mostly big men -- NBA alums usually on the far downslope of their careers.

But that's about it. The league is a mix of younger guys a few years into their career and the rest are people who are journeyman types.

The lower leagues are where all of those guys who played at lower level schools end up after graduation. They sometimes graduate between those leagues, but it's a lot of bouncing around.

In doing this exercise, I realized we didn't have a league anywhere in the six-figure salary range, it drops off from Israel down to the Puerto Rican League which is just under 100k in salary cap.

I think we'll elevate the cap in the German league next year to compensate and over time, talent there should get better.

It's past the halfway mark of the 2036-37 NBA season. I went back and looked at a schedule to try to assemble the best DFS lineup of the day.

Here's the "perfect" lineup for 2/28/37

2/23

Did another sample night of perfect lineup scoring for DFS (423 points) so I think 400+ is where perfect is most nights.

As silly as it is, I'm actually semi-enjoying this idea of simming NBA days and just figuring out the best lineup. It serves my purposes of "immersion" or whatever and getting more familiar with the NBA league, if nothing else.

Meanwhile, in the college league, I'll probably keep doing the Bracketless game.

2037-38 TOURNAMENT/BRACKETLESS
 

Here's the 2037-38 NCAA tournament brackets.

Bracketless 2037-38 - Tournament Picks
 

Here's the tournament bids breakdown by conference:


Here are my tournament picks for the Bracketless game:

1 - Penn State (26-6, Big Ten) Looking at this year's field, I have a hard time picking a top seed that'll survive their draw just because of how strong some of the lower seeds are, at least historically. But this Penn State team is among the top scoring in the country (88.5 PPG, 8th in the nation) and went 7-3 against Top 50 teams. Plus, that program has come so close a bunch of times over the past two decades and I feel like at some point, they're just due to break through.

1 - UConn (28-6, ACC) - I originally picked Penn State in this spot, but then I took a closer look at UConn. They haven't won a national title since 1995, so this isn't the UConn you're accustomed to, but they had a dominant year in a Top 5 conference and a whopping 10-1 against Top 50 teams. They're the 12th best scoring team in the country (86.9 PPG) and the consensus #1 team in the country in both poll and RPI. The tournament isn't always kind to these types of teams, but given I haven't really picked anyone in the top half of their bracket, I feel like if a top seed is going to make it to the Final Four, why not these guys? Their first-year head coach Alejandro Gibbs took Marquette to the Elite 8 three years ago, so he knows how to win.

2 - Mississippi Valley State (32-0, Heritage) This upstate program had a massive turnaround making the tournament last year for the first time since 1986. They're back again and are easily the top defensive team in the country, allowing opponents only 56.1 PPG.

My worry with them is that they don't really put up a ton of points and their regular season schedule is hot garbage including OOC which only included one Top 50 game. That said, I feel like you shouldn't bet against an undefeated team this time of year and perhaps this is the year they're able to ride the wave all the way to the Final Four. The forward duo is Andre Kidwell (15.8 PPG) and Quinton Knowles (14.3 PPG) will have to show up to give them any real chance.

3 - Tulane (25-8, Big 12) I don't know if Tulane is the safe choice here, but I'm picking them anyway. Their leading scorer - Alberto Ashcraft (16.1 PPG) gives me confidence, they have a solid bench core and I think their road to a deep tournament run looks more clear to me than any of the other 3-seeds. The Green Wave were 7-4 against Top 50 teams in the regular season and are 14th in the nation in scoring defense (69.4 PPG).

4 - City College of New York (27-7, Big East) I don't think you should bet against the best program of all-time, especially when they're 16 years removed from their last national title. They're due a championship and despite their dismal record against the Top 50 this year (3-5), they're the 5th best scoring team in the country (89.6 PPG) and I don't think anyone in their half of the bracket can really take them down. Lastly, this is a team that lost in the Elite 8 last year, so it makes me think they've still got battle tested guys on their roster who are committed to unfinished business in this year's tournament.

5 - Baylor (24-8, Big 12) This was a tough decision between Baylor or Texas A&M, but I went with the top scoring team in the nation (91 PPG). Their head coach Austin Braswell Jr. is in his first year with the team after six years at Kansas State and I think he will help them improve on last year's first round exit. Junior forward Andrew Cade averages 15 PPG and 6.3 RPG.

6 - Kansas (23-10, Big Ten) I think this is a classic underseed job. The Jayhawks went 9-6 in the B1G this year, they're the 7th best scoring team in the country, their chronic problem was their ability to be very Jekyll and Hyde on any given night. They lost to 4 teams in the Top 50, but on any given night, they can blow you out of the gym. Sophomore guard Adam Blackwell (18.5 PPG) and sophomore forward Donnell Fair (15.4 PPG, 4.2 RPG) are the best 1-2 combo in the nation, so I just have to put my money on these guys.

7 - Wofford (30-4, Southern) This team is scary good. Sure, they play in a junk conference but they're Top 20 in the nation in scoring (85.6 PPG) and Top 30 in scoring defense (70.5 PPG allowed) and I haven't seen any team that mirrors that so far. Short of a few missteps, they're the kind of upstart that I feel like if the stars align right could end up going far.

8 - Loyola Marymount (25-6, West Coast) I originally picked Penn State, who these guys would meet in the 2nd round meaning somebody would go home. But seeing this team here made me change my mind preemptively. But I just have a hard time going against the defending champs who surely got seeded here because they're in a junk conference. They're a top 30 team in both offense and defense, and four of their leading scorers are in double-digit point figures. This team is experienced, has five seniors and two juniors and I just don't see any reason to bet against them.

9 - San Diego (23-8, West Coast) Five scorers on this team in double digits for the season including senior guard Mac Leake (14.5 PPG). Another reason to like them in addition to their high scoring offense (90.3 PPG), is the fact that they have six seniors on this roster. I knew nothing about them until just now, but the WCC has played above its weight lately and was a five-bid league this year.

10 - Northern Iowa (26-7, Summit) Another senior-laden team that's balanced on both offense and defense. Their star is senior forward Alex Betts who is the team's leading scorer (16.4 PPG) and second-leading rebounder (6.0 RPG).

11 - Seattle (23-11, West Coast) Teams at this seed line are always flawed. But this Redhawks team beat Loyola Marymount twice and Oregon in their season opener. They're one of the Top 25 ball distributing teams in the country (19.8 APG) and they shoot 40% from the three point line.

12 - Rice (25-7, WAC) Led by senior PG Jeremy Nielsen (16.3 PPG, 4.8 APG), I chose this team mostly because they didn't class with many of my other picks in their immediate bracket. Plus, that St. John's team they face in the first round looks like prime upset material.

13 - IPFW (26-6, Horizon) The Mastadons are the 5th best defensive team in the country. Senior guard Ramiro Vega is their offensive engine (17.8 PPG) and his ability to take over games coupled with lock-down defense makes me think they have an outside chance at surprising folks.

14 - Wyoming (22-13, Frontier) This is a pure homer pick. This is Wyoming's first tournament appearance in 42 years. The Pokes are led by first-year head coach 28-year old Quinton Akers, who will surely get lots of calls after this season is over. They won 20 games last year though, so this isn't a total worst to first, situation.

15 - Jacksonville (22-11, Atlantic Sun) The Dolphins are the 4th best offensive rebounding team in the country.

16 - Charleston Southern (16-16, Big South) The Bucs are missing their star point guard Elbert Dunham (15.0 PPG) so I don't think they have a prayer, but the other sixteen seeds include a William & Mary team that went 3-10 in the AAC and a University of Denver club that went 14-21 (3-13 in the WCC) but not only won the WCC tournament somehow, but also won their opening round game to advance to the round of 64.

So I somehow managed in the midst of the chaos of this year's tournament to pick two Final Four teams, but I only finished with 40 more points than last year because I struck out so much on teams that didn't get out of the first round.

This year's jackpot was over $80k, so I ended up making $203 for finishing in the exact same spot as I did last year - 24th.

Alabama beat Seattle for the national title, it's Bama's first title since 2023, further cementing the legacy of head coach Billy Freeman Jr., who took this job 16 years ago and transformed the program into a perennial contender. He's now got two national titles to his credit.


FINAL FOUR: 1) UConn 1) Alabama 11) Seattle 11) Richmond

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO...
This past season, an underclassmen was named National Player of the Year. It made me want to go back and look to see the last time a Freshman or Sophomore won that award. The last time was 2025 when Colorado State sophomore Ohan Palmer claimed the award.

I wondered what ever happened to him. Turns out, he was the 1st overall pick of 2027, is a 7x All-Star and delivered on all of that promise he had way back then. Not bad!

Actually not a high scoring night despite the monster 65 point game from Bruce Crider, just over 400 points as the perfect lineup for March 5th.

Legitimately sick today and home, so not being able to do much else other than sleep, will probably be burning off a few seasons today or finding a game within a game within a game to get semi-immersed into.

Here's the brackets for the 2038-39 TOURNAMENT. Might just play FOFC favorites Top Gun and Pick Five for this tourney rather than my Bracketless game.


2038-39 NCAA TOURNAMENT

Played all of the games this year:

Pick 5:

7) Wyoming
3) Penn State
11) Kentucky
3) Colorado
4) Oklahoma State

My final score was a mere 55 points. Only PSU, UK and OK State advanced beyond the first round. Scored the most on Kentucky who only went two rounds as an 11-seed.

Top Gun:
Potty Johnson of Ole Miss is the only guy I have left heading into the Final Four. My total score of 266 is pretty good, but would not win me the FOFC version of the game at any point, though if Johnson gets two more games and can get me over 300, it'd be a solid showing. Still, this is the best I've done in the game real or fictional. Helps when you don't have to compete against others in a draft, obviously.

Bracketless:

1) Alabama
2) Pepperdine
3) Georgia Tech
4) UConn
5) Santa Clara
6) CCNY
7) Wyoming
8) Montana
9) Albany
10) Temple
11) Rhode Island
12) Fordham
13) Drexel
14) UAB
15) Iona
16) Sam Houston State

I got seven teams out of the first round, not an abysmal showing, but pretty close. Heading into the Final Four, I have one team (Pepperdine) and my total score is only 1540, lower than I've logged either of the past two years by far.

I was bad at picking low seeds to advance, mostly. Also I've learned in three years of playing this game, the best thing is to pick as many teams that'll survive through the weekend as possible if you want to notch a lot of points, getting a perfect two-day score would get you 5600 points. Take out the 15 and 16 seeds and you're still flying high, but I tend to maximize for upsets rather than picking a more event bracketless.

Ole Miss wins their first national title, after knocking off Ohio State.


FINAL FOUR: 1) Ole Miss 2) Pepperdine 5) La Salle 5) Ohio State

Going to change the underclassman declare early rule to juniors/seniors after using 2-and-done for a while. My reasoning is, I'd like to see how the balance of power shifts if guys have to spend three years in college. I feel like we see them so briefly and then they're gone before they come into their own.

Plus it'll slow the talent flow to the pros slightly so the classes aren't so top heavy with underclassmen. We'll see how it goes, of course.

Top 50 scorers all-time. All this list does is make you wonder how good Aaron Chambers really was.

Turns out, besides one All-Star appearance, Aaron Chambers, 5th leading scorer of all time in college history, ended up not being that great.

I rebuilt the first and last name file for North Americans again, because the game one never did it for me & the most recent one I was using was based on real life names but the frequencies were screwy and a lot of the names were out dated.

On my first glance, my new one should save me from having to spend 1+ renaming dudes into something semi-plausible.

Today's the 5th anniversary of Linsanity going HAM against the Lakers. I wonder who our Linsanity would be in this league.