FBCB Fantasy Player Dynasty- Season 3 (2018-2019)
 

Let's take a look at how our season 2 recruits teams did in the 2017-2018 season:

SF Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- The Bulldogs finished 24-9 overall, 10-6 in the SEC. They got a bid to the NCAA Tournament but lost in the First Round.

SF Will Brown (Kansas)- The Jayhakws finished 33-6 overall, and 13-3 in the Big 12. They made it all the way to the NCAA Final Four before losing.

C Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- The Wildcats finished 31-4 overall, and 17-1 in the Pac 12. Tough luck in the NCAA Tournament though, as they lost in the Sweet Sixteen.

PG Benton Gale (Florida)- The Gators finished 25-11 overall, and just 9-7 in the SEC. A far cry from the first season in which they won the NCAA Tournament. Season 2 saw them make a miracle run though, as they were able to get all the way to the NCAA Elite Eight.

SG Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- Pretty identical to Season 1 for the Cardinals, they finished 23-10 overall, and 11-7 in the Big East. Just like in Season 1, they lost in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.

Here's a look at the 4 members of our Season 3 recruiting class, in order of national rank:

September 2018

C Sophus Abel- Texas is now the top school for Sophus, while Marquette replaces Michigan State in his top 5. The Longhorns are the only ones that have offered.

SG Barrett Hays- Barrett's list is down to 3: Florida, Syracuse, and Mississippi State. Florida and Syracuse have offered.

SF Cori O'Neill- Marquette, Michigan State, and Kansas are the top 3 for Cori, and all have offered.

C Matthew Ginsberg- The only change in Matthew's top 5 is that Villanova has replaced Syracuse. Georgetown and Pittsburgh have offered.

October 2018

C Sophus Abel- No real changes for Sophus, as Marquette has thrown an offer towards him, but nothing new to report.

SG Barrett Hays- No change for Barrett, it's still between Florida, Syracuse, and Mississippi State.

SF Cori O'Neill- It's a battle between Marquette and Michigan State, as both have offered. No other school is currently in the mix.

C Matthew Ginsberg- Georgetown and Pitt are still Matthew's top 2 choices, and have offered. Syracuse, Louisville, and Michigan State round out the top 5.

November 2018

C Sophus Abel- Still no changes for Sophus, who is really thinking about his decision.

SG Barrett Hays- Barrett made the decision to go to Florida, as he'll join Benton Gale there for what could be a dynamite guard combo.

SF Cori O'Neill- Cori signed with Marquette, passing up the offer from the more prestigious Michigan State. He'll join Dean Hoo there next season.

C Matthew Ginsberg- Matthew decided to sign with Georgetown, as it's been said Pittsburgh was really never in the mix. That'll make 5 Big East schools next season that have recruits. Wow! I was really hoping for a better mix of conferences, but so be it.

Not sure what happened, but I goofed somewhere in the recruiting for Season 2.

Will Brown actually signed with Duke, not Kansas. So Kansas is out, Duke is in. The Blue Devils finished 35-3 last season, 15-1 in the ACC. They lost in the NCAA Elite Eight.

It's time to look into where our 11 active players will fare on their teams depth chart next season. Last time we did this, I decided to only show what the status was after training camps, because before training camps really doesn't matter. So let's take a look first at our 3 players that have used their redshirt season:

PF Tim Sheppard (Michigan State) -- Tim is projected 11th on the depth chart, behind a stacked frontcourt. He probably won't see a lot of playing time this season unless it's mop-up duty, but the redshirt is not an option.

C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh) -- Jace will play this season, no doubt. He's projected 6th on the depth chart. Sixth Man role for Jace.

PG Dean Hoo (Marquette) -- Dean is projected to be the starting PG, so the redshirt season seemed to really do him good.

Now, 8 players have the option to redshirt. We'll start with the ones that played last year.

PG David Ginsberg (Syracuse) -- David is projected to be the starting PG, so I see no reason to redshirt him, but it's up to you DavidCorperial.

SG Al Mighty (Texas) -- Al is projected to be the starting SG, so probably not a redshirt option, but it's your choice thealmighty.

SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford) -- Rob is projected to be the starting SF. Again, probably not gonna redshirt, but the final call goes to Coffee Warlord.

Now for our 5 incoming freshmen:

SF Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State) -- Deacon is listed 8th on the depth chart. He's expected to get plenty of PT, but you never know. What do you think ntndeacon.

SF Will Brown (Duke) -- Will is in a tough spot, as he's been suspended for the first semester of the season. We'll have to revisit Will when he's eligible and see if he's still allowed to redshirt. As it stands right now, Will is ineligible to play.

C Kuji Chagulia (Arizona) -- Kuji is projected 6th on the depth chart and should get lots of PT. What say you bbgunn?

PG Benton Gale (Florida) -- Benton is projected to be the starting PG, but he will be splitting time with several other players. He'll get his minutes for sure, just maybe not as many as a starter would normally get. What do you think breeze?

SG Jaybard Riley (Louisville) -- Jaybard is projected 6th on the depth chart with lots of PT coming his way. What do you think Neuqua?

As soon as everybody makes their decisions, I will get this going.

Let's play!

Redshirt? Rob? Never!

Playing again, fan.

(So clever)

Kuji's playin'!

Of course I'm playing.

Starter you say? Can you also say future superstar?

Guess I'll keep everyone's seat warm and Gatorade cold.

Gale can play...if he's getting minutes no reason to red shirt.

Jaybard will play.

So everybody is playing, except for Will Brown who is academically ineligible, at least for now. That will really hurt him right off the bat, but hopefully he can make it up later.

Here's a look at the preseason polls for the 2018-2019 season:



Sweet action! All 11 of our current players have their teams in the Preseason Top 25. Should be a fun season.

Nov. 11-18, 2018

Not sure what's happened, but this will be an 8 day week as there were games scheduled on Sunday, Nov. 11th. Last season there wasn't. I checked, and the polls didn't change at all after those games on the 11th. Anyways, just 14 games to cover, looks to be all season tournament games.

SO PG David Ginsberg (#9 Syracuse)

11/17/18- Legends Invitational First Round vs. (4) Drake (W 92-73), 22 mins played, 12 points, 5 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = 29 fantasy points.
11/18/18- Legends Invitational Championship vs. (3) Michigan (W 71-53), 25 mins played, 11 points, 4 FGM, 3 3PM, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover = 27.5 fantasy points.

56.5 fantasy points/47 mins played = 1.202 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#3 Texas)

11/15/18- Preseason NIT First Round vs. (16) Sacred Heart (W 82-38), 31 mins played, 20 points, 9 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 37.5 fantasy points.
11/17/18- Preseason NIT Quarterfinals vs. (8) Missouri State (W 89-64, 32 mins played, 22 points, 10 FGM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, POTG = 50 fantasy points.

87.5 fantasy points/63 mins played = 1.389 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (#15 Stanford)

11/11/18- Coaches Invitational First Round vs. (12) Austin Peay (W 69-48), 28 mins played, 7 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 foul = 19.5 fantasy points.
11/12/18- Coaches Invitational Quarterfinal vs. (4) North Carolina (L 78-73), 30 mins played, 13 points, 5 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 27.5 fantasy points.

47 fantasy points/58 mins played = .810 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#14 Michigan State)

11/18/18- Paradise Shootout First Round vs. (8) College of Charleston (W 91-81), 6 mins played, 1 rebound, 1 block = 5 fantasy points.

5 fantasy points/6 mins played = .833 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (#21 Pittsburgh)

11/13/18- GDS Classic First Round vs. (16) South Carolina State (W 76-41), 15 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal = 16 fantasy points.
11/15/18- GDS Classic Quarterfinal vs. (9) Chattanooga (W 74-49), 14 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover = 13 fantasy points.

29 fantasy points/29 mins played = 1.000 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#5 Marquette)

11/18/18- Paradise Shootout First Round vs. (6) Miami (OH) (W 72-44), 14 mins played, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4 fouls = 7 fantasy points.

7 fantasy points/14 mins played = .500 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#13 Mississippi State)

11/18/18- Philadelphia Invitational First Round vs. (6) Minnesota (W 78-72), 12 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls = 10.5 fantasy points.

10.5 fantasy points/12 mins played = .875 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#16 Arizona)

11/18/18- Philadelphia Invitational First Round vs. (7) Hawaii (W 72-55), 21 mins played, 7 points, 3 FGM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 17 fantasy points.

17 fantasy points/21 mins played = .810 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#23 Florida)

11/18/18 vs. Oregon (W 85-63), 28 mins played, 21 points, 7 FGM, 5 3PM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, POTG = 47.5 fantasy points.

47.5 fantasy points/28 mins played = 1.696 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#2 Louisville)

No games this week for Jaybard or the Cardinals.

FR SF Will Brown (#8 Duke)- suspended

11/18/18- Philadelphia Invitational First Round vs. (8) Green Bay (W 71-44).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas) - 1.389
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse) - 1.202
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford) - .810

Al picks up right where he left off last year, winning the first weekly fantasy ranking battle for his sophomore class, including a POTG award.

Freshmen

#1- Benton Gale (Florida) - 1.696
#2- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh) - 1.000
#3- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State) - 0.875
#4- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State) - 0.833
#5- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona) - 0.810
#6- Dean Hoo (Marquette) - 0.500

What a start to Benton's career, as he came close to doubling the next closest in the freshman class this week. The POTG sealed the deal, but even without that, he would have been fine. It appears he is going to be a shooting PG, and not so much a passing PG. That's ok, whatever works.

Overall Weekly Winner

Benton Gale (Florida) - 1.696

A great accomplishment for Benton to come in and beat out Al Mighty, who pretty much controlled the scene last season. We could have quite a battle on our hands.

Now a look at the top 25 going into the week of Nov. 19-25:

Nov. 19-25, 2018

18 games on the schedule this week, and 2 of them are head to head games. Both are team head to head, but just 1 is a player head to head. Let's cover those first.

11/20/18- Philadelphia Invitational Semifinal -- (3) #11 Mississippi state (Deacon Palmer) vs. (2) #14 Arizona (Kuji Chagulia) -- A tight one throughout, but Mississippi State made 9 more three pointers than Arizona, enabling them to get the win and sending them into the championship game of the Philadelphia Invitational. Arizona will play for 3rd.

Final Score: (3) #11 Mississippi State- 86, (2) #14 Arizona- 78

Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State) - 5 mins played, 1 foul = -1 fantasy points.
Kuji Chagulia (Arizona) - 12 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 2 rebounds, 3 fouls = 7 fantasy points.

So Deacon wins the team head to head battle, but Kuji wins the player head to head battle.

11/22/18- Philadelphia Invitational Championship -- (3) #11 Mississippi State (Deacon Palmer) vs. (1) #9 Duke (Will Brown) -- Not much of a championship game, as the Blue Devils lead by 31 at halftime, shooting 53.5% for the game while holding Miss. State to just 37.1%. The result was an easy win in the Philadelphia Invitational Championship for Duke.

Final Score: (1) #9 Duke- 102, (3) #11 Mississippi State- 69

Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State) - 13 mins played, 13 points, 5 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 turnovers, 1 foul = 16.5 fantasy points.
Will Brown (Duke) - academically ineligible.

So Will Brown gets a team head to head win, but no player head to head with him being ineligible.

Now for the rest of the weekly recap:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#7 Syracuse)

11/25/18 vs. Iona (W 94-71), 24 mins played, 12 points, 4 FGM, 3 3PM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls, POTG = 52.5 fantasy points.

52.5 fantasy points/24 mins played = 2.188 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#2 Texas)

11/24/18- Preseason NIT Semifinal vs. (4) #4 UCLA (L 109-102, OT), 23 mins played, 10 points, 5 FGM, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, fouled out = 8 fantasy points.

8 fantasy points/23 mins played = .348 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

11/25/18 at San Jose State (W 67-57), 30 mins played, 7 points, 3 FGM, 1 FTM, 7 rebounds, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls = 16 fantasy points.

16 fantasy points/30 mins played = .533 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#12 Michigan State)

11/20/18- Paradise Shootout Semifinal vs. (4) #8 Creighton (W 82-73), 7 mins played, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal = 12 fantasy points.
11/22/18- Paradise Shootout Championship vs. (2) #10 Maryland (W 94-71), 9 mins played, 3 rebounds, 1 block = 9 fantasy points.
11/25/18 at Butler (L 70-65), 2 mins played, 2 rebounds = 4 fantasy points.

25 fantasy points/18 mins played = 1.389 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (#16 Pittsburgh)

11/22/18- GDS Classic Semifinal vs. (4) N.C. State (W 77-71), 17 mins played, 4 points, 1 FGM, 2 FTM, 8 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 19 fantasy points.
11/23/18- GDS Classic Championship vs. (3) Kent State (L 87-85), 17 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 FTM, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, 4 fouls = 15 fantasy points.

34 fantasy points/34 mins played = 1.000 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#6 Marquette)

11/20/18- Paradise Shootout Semifinal vs. (2) #10 Maryland (L 108-100), 31 mins played, 19 points, 6 FGM, 5 3PM, 2 FTM, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 turnovers, 1 foul = 49.5 fantasy points.
11/22/18- Paradise Shootout 3rd Place Game vs. (4) #8 Creighton (W 101-90), 30 mins played, 17 points, 4 FGM, 4 3PM, 5 FTM, 1 rebound, 8 assists, 4 steals, 4 turnovers, 1 foul = 48 fantasy points.

97.5 fantasy points/61 mins played = 1.598 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#11 Mississippi State)

11/20/18- Philadelphia Invitational Semifinal vs. (2) #14 Arizona- head to head game, highlighted above.
11/22/18- Philadelphia Invitational Championship vs. (1) #9 Duke- head to head game, highlighted above.
11/25/18 at UL Monroe (W 82-72), 6 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers = 2 fantasy points.

17.5 fantasy points/24 mins played = .729 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#14 Arizona)

11/20/18- Philadelphia Invitational Semifinal vs. (3) #11 Mississippi State- head to head game, highlighted above.
11/22/18- Philadelphia Invitational 3rd Place Game vs. (5) Texas Tech (W 72-70), 20 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 7 fantasy points.
11/25/18 vs. Cornell (W 75-59), 17 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 5 fantasy points.

19 fantasy points/49 mins played = .388 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#21 Florida)

11/20/18 vs. Jacksonville (W 89-47), 19 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls = 12 fantasy points.

12 fantasy points/19 mins played = .632 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#3 Louisville)

11/19/18 at Eastern Kentucky (L 96-89), 24 mins played, 12 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 32 fantasy points.

32 fantasy points/24 mins played = 1.333 for the week

FR SF Will Brown (#9 Duke)- suspended

11/20/18- Philadelphia Invitational Semifinal vs. (5) Texas Tech (W 98-66).
11/22/18- Philadelphia Invitational Championship vs. (3) #11 Mississippi State- head to head game, highlighted above.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 2.188
#2- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .533
#3- Al Mighty (Texas)- .348

What a week for David Ginsberg. He only had 1 game, but he dominated, coming within 1 assist shy of a double-double. He could have done without the POTG award, as he won this weekly class battle going away.

Freshmen

#1- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.598
#2- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1.389
#3- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.333
#4- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 1.000
#5- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- .729
#6- Benton Gale (Florida)- .632
#7- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .388

A pretty good battle among the freshmen, but Dean got the job done, as he used scoring, 3 point shooting, and assists. I wouldn't be surprised to see him have multiple POTG awards before the season is over, even if he didn't get any this week.

Overall Weekly Winner

David Ginsberg (Syracuse) - 2.188

I'm pretty sure David gave us our 2+ fantasy ranking of this entire dynasty. Of course, the POTG really helped. He also won this going away.

Here's a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Nov. 26-Dec. 2:

Here we go with the stupid-ass fouling problem again.

Now that's some nice games from the Hooster!

Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 2018

18 games on the schedule this week, no head to head games. Let's get to it.

SO PG David Ginsberg (#5 Syracuse)

11/28/18 vs. Liberty (W 76-30), 25 mins played, 12 points, 4 FGM, 4 3PM, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = 45 fantasy points.
11/30/18 at Indiana (W 80-76), 29 mins played, 14 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 4 FTM, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 27 fantasy points.

72 fantasy points/54 mins played = 1.333 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#13 Texas)

12/2/18 vs. Oregon State (W 88-61), 31 mins played, 15 points, 7 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls = 34.5 fantasy points.

34.5 fantasy points/31 mins played = 1.113 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

11/27/18 at Maryland Eastern Shore (W 89-50), 24 mins played, 27 points, 8 FGM, 3 3PM, 8 FTM, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, POTG = 46.5 fantasy points.

46.5 fantasy points/24 mins played = 1.938 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#23 Michigan State)

11/27/18 vs. Eastern Michigan (W 98-46), 3 mins played, 4 points, 1 FGM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound = 6 fantasy points.
11/29/18 vs. DePaul (W 87-77), 4 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 3 rebounds = 8 fantasy points.

14 fantasy points/7 mins played = 2.000 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

11/27/18 at Creighton (L 88-68), 17 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 2 assists, 4 fouls = 6 fantasy points.
12/1/18 at Temple (L 76-73), 17 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 FTM, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 14 fantasy points.

20 fantasy points/34 mins played = .588 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#16 Marquette)

11/26/18 vs. North Carolina Central (W 82-23), 32 mins played, 9 points, 3 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 28.5 fantasy points.

28.5 fantasy points/32 mins played = .891 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#19 Mississippi State)

11/27/18 at Southeastern Louisiana (W 110-78), 8 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 4.5 fantasy points.
11/30/18 at Tennessee-Martin (W 87-52), 8 mins played, 7 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 1 block, 4 fouls = 8.5 fantasy points.
12/2/18 vs. Chattanooga (W 89-56), 12 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 assists, 2 steals = 15.5 fantasy points.

28.5 fantasy points/28 mins played = 1.018 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#25 Arizona)

12/2/18 vs. #15 Notre Dame (W 64-57), 7 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds = 9 fantasy points.

9 fantasy points/7 mins played = 1.286 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#10 Florida)

11/29/18 at Bethune-Cookman (W 76-46), 27 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul = 22 fantasy points.
12/2/18 vs. North Florida (W 81-50), 27 mins played, 16 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 6 FTM, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 fouls = 39 fantasy points.

61 fantasy points/54 mins played = 1.130 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#17 Louisville)

11/29/18 vs. IUPUI (W 95-52), 27 mins played, 17 points, 6 FGM, 1 3PM, 4 FTM, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 35.5 fantasy points.
12/2/18 vs. Morehead State (W 106-50), 28 mins played, 18 points, 5 FGM, 3 3PM, 5 FTM, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls = 41.5 fantasy points.

75 fantasy points/55 mins played = 1.364 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#4 Duke)- suspended

11/30/18 vs. Austin Peay (W 100-79).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- 1.938
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.333
#3- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.113

Rob won this one easily, thanks to his first POTG award. There's a trend among the sophomores, each of the 3 has won a weekly award this season, and they've all had a POTG. Interesting stuff.

Freshmen

#1- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 2.000
#2- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.364
#3- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.286
#4- Benton Gale (Florida)- 1.130
#5- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.018
#6- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .891
#7- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .588

Almost seems unfair that a guy listed 11th on his teams depth chart could win the weekly ranking contest for the freshman class, but that's exactly what happened here. Tim took advantage of his limited minutes to win easily. #2-#5 was a nice, close affair, just as we like it.

Overall Weekly Winner

Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 2.000

If winning a weekly class ranking contest seems unfair, then Tim being the weekly overall winner really seems unfair. It was close though, but Tim narrowly edged out Rob. Again, it's all about taking advantage of your minutes played. 4 points in 3 minutes of action will do that, and so will 3 rebounds in 4 minutes of action.

Here's a look at the national top 25 heading into the week of Dec. 3-9:

Monthly (Nov. 11-Dec. 2) Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.448
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.111
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .978

Congrats to David, who picks up his first monthly award win for the sophomore class. He was 3 only 1 of our 3 sophomores who had 1.000+ weeks in all 3 weeks.

Freshmen

#1- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1.419
#2- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.354
#3- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.243
#4- Benton Gale (Florida)- 1.193
#5- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- .883
#6- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .856
#7- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .584

A narrow victory for Tim, as the rest of the freshmen continue to be amazed at his ability to take care of business while averaging 4-5 minutes a game. Jaybard could have either been hurt or helped by having that additional week of stats, as his Cardinals had no games in the first week of the season. Again, pretty close, with 4 freshmen fighting for the top spot. Kuji is going to have to pick it up to get himself back in the mix for December.

Overall Monthly Fantasy Winner

David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.448

Another close one, but David again took advantage of all 3 weeks of November being 1.000 or better, while Tim had a week that was just under 1.000. Looks like we could have some fierce battles all season long. Strap in folks, it could be a fun ride.

Way to take advantage of your chances when you're not keeping those seats warm, Tim!

Dec. 3-9, 2018

16 games on the schedule this week, with no head to head games. Let's get started.

SO PG David Ginsberg (#5 Syracuse)

12/8/18 vs. Hampton (W 88-49), 26 mins played, 13 points, 5 FGM, 4 3PM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, POTG, 57 fantasy points.

57 fantasy points/26 mins played = 2.192 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#10 Texas)

12/5/18 vs. Northern Iowa (W 70-65), 28 mins played, 19 points, 6 FGM, 1 3PM, 6 FTM, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 turnovers, 4 fouls = 21.5 fantasy points.
12/7/18 vs. Northwestern State (W 65-37), 31 mins played, 12 points, 4 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 FTM, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 fouls = 36.5 fantasy points.

58 fantasy points/59 mins played = .983 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

12/6/18 at UC Davis (W 71-68, OT), 21 mins played, 5 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls = 12.5 fantasy points.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#17 Michigan State)

12/6/18 vs. Detroit (W 97-55), 9 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 4 fantasy points.

4 fantasy points/9 mins played = .444 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

12/3/18 vs. Oregon (W 83-74), 11 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 16 fantasy points.
12/8/18 at #21 Vanderbilt (W 83-57), 18 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 18 fantasy points.

34 fantasy points/29 mins played = 1.172 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#15 Marquette)

12/4/18 at #7 Kansas (L 92-80), 27 mins played, 16 points, 6 FGM, 4 3PM, 1 rebound, 4 turnovers, 1 foul = 19 fantasy points.
12/7/18 vs. Northwestern (W 83-45), 29 mins played, 12 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 fouls, POTG = 52 fantasy points.

71 fantasy points/56 mins played = 1.268 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#12 Mississippi State)

12/9/18 vs. Arkansas-Little Rock (W 84-56), 7 mins played, 4 points, 1 FGM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 1 turnover = 4 fantasy points.

4 fantasy points/7 mins played = .571 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)

12/8/18 vs. North Texas (W 89-54), 15 mins played, 4 points, 1 FGM, 2 3PM, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 2 turnovers = 18 fantasy points.

18 fantasy points/15 mins played = 1.200 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#9 Florida)

12/5/18 vs. Iona (W 72-58), 30 mins played, 10 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls = 21 fantasy points.

21 fantasy points/30 mins played = .700 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#14 Louisville)

12/7/18 vs. Purdue (W 100-92), 23 mins played, 13 points, 3 FGM, 1 3PM, 6 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 18.5 fantasy points.
12/9/18 at Liberty (W 72-47), 30 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls = 27 fantasy points.

45.5 fantasy points/53 mins played = .858 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#3 Duke)- suspended

12/6/18 vs. Campbell (W 85-39).
12/8/18 at Maryland-East Shore (W 84-49).


Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 2.192
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- .983
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .591

Doesn't get much easier than this for David. Even combining Al and Rob's scores wouldn't be good enough. The fact that he had no turnovers and no fouls, and also hit 4 three pointers made a big difference in his POTG award this week.

Freshmen

#1- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.268
#2- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.200
#3- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 1.172
#4- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .858
#5- Benton Gale (Florida)- .700
#6- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- .571
#7- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .444

A very close one here, the difference was that Dean got a POTG award in 1 of his 2 games this week. If not for that, he could have potentially dropped to 2nd, maybe even 3rd. As it stands, he collects his 2nd weekly fantasy win for the freshman class. Tim on the other hand, well he didn't take advantage of his minutes this week.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

Something I'm going to start doing is ranking everyone, regardless of class, so everybody knows where they stand overall.

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 2.192
#2- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.268
#3- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.200
#4- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 1.172
#5- Al Mighty (Texas)- .983
#6- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .858
#7- Benton Gale (Florida)- .700
#8- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .591
#9- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- .571
#10- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .444

Again, an easy win for David, who picks up his 5th Overall Weekly Fantasy win overall. A look at Al, who dominated the freshman scene last year, shows he has some work to do this season.

Here's a look at the national top 25 heading into the week of Dec. 10-16:

Dec. 10-16, 2018

15 games on the schedule this week, with no head to head games. Let's get to it.

SO PG David Ginsberg (#5 Syracuse)

12/11/18 at UNLV (W 90-43), 25 mins played, 10 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4 fouls = 24 fantasy points.

24 fantasy points/25 mins played = .960 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#8 Texas)

12/11/18 at North Texas (W 88-58), 32 mins played, 28 points, 9 FGM, 2 3PM, 8 FTM, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, POTG = 55 fantasy points.
12/13/18 vs. UL Monroe (W 66-39), 19 mins played, 12 points, 5 FGM, 2 FTM, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 4 fouls = 12 fantasy points.

67 fantasy points/51 mins played = 1.314 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

12/11/18 vs. SMU (L 58-54), 30 mins played, 10 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls = 23 fantasy points.
12/14/18 vs. Missouri State (L 75-65), 29 mins played, 9 points, 3 FGM, 3 FTM, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 18 fantasy points.

41 fantasy points/59 mins played = .695 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#17 Michigan State)

No games this week for Tim and the Spartans.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

12/12/18 vs. Niagara (W 71-40), 15 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 FTM, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals = 18 fantasy points.
12/15/18 vs. Northwestern State (W 77-61), 18 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks = 17 fantasy points.

35 fantasy points/33 mins played = 1.061 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (Marquette)

12/14/18 vs. Minnesota (W 65-52), 30 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 13.5 fantasy points.
12/16/18 at South Dakota State (W 108-50), 27 mins played, 15 points, 5 FGM, 3 3PM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 3 fouls = 40.5 fantasy points.

54 fantasy points/57 mins played = .947 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#13 Mississippi State)

No games this week for Deacon or the Bulldogs.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#16 Arizona)

12/11/18 vs. Alcorn State (W 77-55), 14 mins played, 8 points, 3 FGM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 1 block, 2 fouls = 11 fantasy points.
12/14/18 vs. Maryland-East Shore (W 87-43), 16 mins played, 8 points, 3 FGM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 2 turnovers = 13 fantasy points.

24 fantasy points/30 mins played = .800 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#9 Florida)

12/11/18 at Mississippi Valley State (W 98-55), 28 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls = 17.5 fantasy points.
12/14/18 vs. Charleston Southern (W 75-33), 23 mins played, 10 points, 3 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 FTM, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 22.5 fantasy points.

40 fantasy points/51 mins played = .784 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#12 Louisville)

12/15/18 vs. Robert Morris (W 92-43), 21 mins played, 7 points, 3 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 23.5 fantasy points.

23.5 fantasy points/21 mins played = 1.119 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#3 Duke)- suspended

12/10/18 vs. Hampton (W 92-71).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.314
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .960
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .695

Pretty easy one for Al Mighty, who picked up another POTG award, his 2nd in 5 weeks this season, and 5th overall. Rob had just an awful shooting night against SMU: 4-17 from the field and 2-11 from three point range. He wasn't much better against Missouri State as he was 3-10 from the field and 3-8 from the line. Ouch!

Freshmen

#1- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.119
#2- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 1.061
#3- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .947
#4- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .800
#5- Benton Gale (Florida)- .784

Congrats to Jaybard, who picks up his first weekly win of the freshman class. It wasn't easy, as Jace pushed him a bit. Jace just needed to get a few more points and the award for the week would have been his.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.314
#2- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.119
#3- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 1.061
#4- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .960
#5- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .947
#6- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .800
#7- Benton Gale (Florida)- .784
#8- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .695

Close one for Al, who picks up his first overall weekly ranking win as a sophomore. You can go back to his POTG, as that is what did it.

Now a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Dec. 17-23:

Dec. 17-23, 2018

We have a bit heavier schedule this week: 19 games overall, with 2 of those being head to head games. Duke is involved in one of them, and with Will Brown suspended, only 1 of the 2 games will be a player head to head game.

12/20/18- #17 Michigan State (Tim Sheppard) @ #13 Texas (Al Mighty) -- A pretty easy one for the Longhorns here, as they led by 21 at halftime and rolled to victory, as Al Mighty picks up the team head to head win here.

Final Score: #13 Texas- 97, #17 Michigan State- 82

Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 8 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 3 rebounds, 1 assist = 10 fantasy points. 1.250 for the game.
Al Mighty (Texas)- 32 mins played, 21 points, 9 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls = 42.5 fantasy points. 1.328 for the game.

So Al also wins the player head to head for this game. A note, instead of just using total fantasy points for the game to decide player head to head, a much more fair way is to do it just like I do the monthly and weekly rankings: fantasy points for the game/mins played for the game. By just doing fantasy points only, a guy who plays 32 mins should get more points than a guy who plays 8 mins, almost every time.

12/23/18- #17 Michigan State (Tim Sheppard) @ #3 Duke (Will Brown) -- A high scoring affair here, big time shootout. The difference was at the foul line, where the Spartans made 21 free throws and Duke made just 7, as Michigan State recovers to get a win, giving Tim the team head to head win here.

Final Score: #17 Michigan State- 101, #3 Duke- 96

Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1 min played, 1 rebound, 1 turnover = 0 fantasy points.
Will Brown (Duke)- suspended.

Now for the rest of the weekly recap:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#5 Syracuse)

12/22/18 vs. Niagara (W 75-31), 25 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 rebounds, 1 assist = 13.5 fantasy points.

13.5 fantasy points/25 mins played = .540 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#13 Texas)

12/18/18 vs. Oral Roberts (W 72-48), 32 mins played, 14 points, 6 FGM, 2 3PM, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 fouls = 33 fantasy points.
12/20/18 vs. #17 Michigan State- head to head game, featured above.

75.5 fantasy points/64 mins played = 1.180 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

12/17/18 vs. St. John's (W 102-93), 25 mins played, 16 points, 5 FGM, 4 3PM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 steals, 1 turnover, fouled out = 29 fantasy points.
12/20/18 vs. Santa Clara (L 89-77), 18 mins played, 13 points, 5 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4 fouls = 14.5 fantasy points.

43.5 fantasy points/43 mins played = 1.012 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#17 Michigan State)

12/20/18 at #13 Texas- head to head game, highlighted above.
12/23/18 at #3 Duke- head to head game, highlighted above.

10 fantasy points/9 mins played = 1.111 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

12/17/18 at Youngstown State (W 81-62), 17 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 2 fantasy points.
12/19/18 vs. Michigan (W 68-52), 15 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 2 fantasy points.

4 fantasy points/32 mins played = .1250 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#24 Marquette)

12/16/18 at South Dakota State (W 108-50), 27 mins played, 15 points, 5 FGM, 3 3PM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 3 fouls = 40.5 fantasy points.
12/22/18 vs. IPFW (W 76-41), 29 mins played, 10 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls = 20 fantasy points.

60.5 fantasy points/56 mins played = 1.080 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#12 Mississippi State)

12/18/18 vs. Austin Peay (W 92-76), 5 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 rebound = 7.5 fantasy points.
12/20/18 vs. Murray State (W 95-72), 5 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 1 rebound = 4 fantasy points.

11.5 fantasy points/10 mins played = 1.150 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#16 Arizona)

12/17/18 at #21 Illinois (W 88-66), 16 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, 3 turnovers = 8 fantasy points.
12/23/18 vs. Sacred Heart (W 92-44), 15 mins played, 16 points, 7 FGM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 1 foul, POTG = 43 fantasy points.

51 fantasy points/31 mins played = 1.645 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#9 Florida)

12/18/18 vs. Florida Gulf Coast (W 94-59), 21 mins played, 17 points, 7 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds = 26 fantasy points.

26 fantasy points/21 mins played = 1.238 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#11 Louisville)

12/17/18 vs. Murray State (W 92-50), 21 mins played, 10 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 4 fouls = 20 fantasy points.
12/21/18 at Longwood (W 88-53), 23 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = 5 fantasy points.
12/23/18 at California (W 87-60), 26 mins played, 14 points, 4 FGM, 1 3PM, 5 FTM, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls = 25.5 fantasy points.

50.5 fantasy points/70 mins played = .721 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#3 Duke)- suspended

12/19/18 vs. Georgia State (W 89-56).
12/23/18 vs. #17 Michigan State- head to head game, featured above.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.180
#2- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- 1.012
#3- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .540

Al gets the win over Rob, and the big difference was fouls. Rob fouled out of 1 game and had 4 fouls in another. The fouling out especially cost him valuable points.

Freshmen

#1- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.645
#2- Benton Gale (Florida)- 1.238
#3- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.150
#4- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1.111
#5- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.080
#6- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .721
#7- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .125

This freshman race is fun to watch. 5 of our 7 eligible freshmen have won a weekly fantasy contest for the freshman class, and Will Brown, our 8th freshman, comes off academic suspension in about a week or so. Kuji gets his first weekly fantasy win, and his first POTG award. Meanwhile, on the flip side, I'm not sure if we've had a worse score for the week than Jace Hunter and his .125. The poor guy just could NOT get it going this week. I'm sure he'll bounce back.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.645
#2- Benton Gale (Florida)- 1.238
#3- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.180
#4- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.150
#5- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1.111
#6- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.080
#7- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- 1.012
#8- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .721
#9- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .540
#10- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .125

Outstanding week for Kuji, who gets a POTG award, a weekly fantasy win for the freshman class, and a the weekly fantasy overall win for the week. The theme seems to be if you get a POTG award during a week, you're a pretty good candidate to win a weekly fantasy award, either for your class, overall, or both. And how about the logjam between spots 3-7? Not a lot of separation there. That's what we like: good, hard competition.

Now a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Dec. 24-30 (which will also end the month of December, as I'll include Dec. 31 in the month of January. Just makes more sense to me, but if anybody has a differing opinion let me know).

Dec. 24-30, 2018

Short week here being the holiday week, only 13 games and no head to head games. We'll get through this quick:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#5 Syracuse)

12/24/18 at Hartford (W 73-48), 15 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 6.5 fantasy points.
12/28/18 at California (W 80-55), 24 mins played, 14 points, 4 FGM, 3 3PM, 3 FTM, 1 rebound, 7 assists, 2 fouls, POTG = 45.5 fantasy points.

52 fantasy points/39 mins played = 1.333 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#10 Texas)

12/25/18 at Arkansas State (W 98-58), 25 mins played, 11 points, 4 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 26.5 fantasy points.
12/30/18 at Texas A&M-CC (W 82-57), 23 mins played, 11 points, 4 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = 20.5 fantasy points.

47 fantasy points/48 mins played = .979 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

12/28/18 at Cal Poly (W 77-55), 11 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 1 assist, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = -2 fantasy points.

-2 fantasy points/11 mins played = -.182 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#23 Michigan State)

12/29/18 vs. #22 Iowa (W 80-71), 8 mins played, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal = 9 fantasy points.

9 fantasy points/8 mins played = 1.125 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

No games this week for Jace or the Panthers, who go into the holiday break feeling pretty good about things.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#21 Marquette)

12/27/18 at Northern Illinois (W 107-82), 23 mins played, 17 points, 6 FGM, 4 3PM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 steals, 4 fouls = 40 fantasy points.

40 fantasy points/23 mins played = 1.739 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#13 Mississippi State)

12/27/18 vs. Robert Morris (W 86-65), 3 mins played, 2 assists, 1 foul = 3 fantasy points.
12/30/18 vs. Northwestern State (W 96-50), 14 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 rebounds, 2 assists = 15.5 fantasy points.

18.5 fantasy points/17 mins played = 1.088 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#15 Arizona)

12/25/18 at #6 Kansas (L 82-72), 13 mins played, 8 points, 3 FGM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block = 15 fantasy points.

15 fantasy points/13 mins played = 1.154 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#9 Florida)

12/24/18 at North Carolina A&T (W 77-74), 23 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 10 fantasy points.
12/27/18 at Alcorn State (W 98-48), 27 mins played, 12 points, 5 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover = 21 fantasy points.

31 fantasy points/50 mins played = .620 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#8 Louisville)

No games this week for Jaybard or the Cardinals.

FR SF Will Brown (#12 Duke)- suspended

12/29/18 at Georgetown (L 76-50).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.333
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- .979
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- -.182

Once again, it goes back to winning a POTG award during the week. David did, and that was enough to get him another weekly fantasy contest win for the sophomore class. If Al would have limited the fouls and turnovers, and scored some more points, it might have been a different story. Rob ends up with a negative fantasy ranking for the week, and is just having a heck of a time getting it together.

Freshmen

#1- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.739
#2- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.154
#3- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1.125
#4- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.088
#5- Benton Gale (Florida)- .620

Dean is starting to run away a little bit with the weekly fantasy contest wins for freshmen. This is his 3rd, and nobody else has more than 1. He had a monster game, doing a little bit of everything, and probably would have added a POTG and 10 points to that, if not for one of his teammates getting a double-double. Again, a logjam in the middle, which I like to see.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.739
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.333
#3- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.154
#4- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1.125
#5- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.088
#6- Al Mighty (Texas)- .979
#7- Benton Gale (Florida)- .620
#8- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- -.182

During his other 2 weekly fantasy wins for the freshmen class, he was outshined by David Ginsberg for the overall winner. This time, Dean gets the nod, earning his first weekly fantasy overall contest. And he didn't even have a POTG award to do it. Congrats to him.

I have decided not to do the monthly fantasy ranking contest yet, because well, I don't want to do a monthly contest when the month of December isn't even over! So I'll add all of next week to the equation, meaning the month of December will actually be Dec. 3-Jan. 6.

Now a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Dec. 30-Jan. 6:

Dean Hoo beginning to show how to take over games !

Dec. 31, 2018-Jan. 6, 2019

18 games on the schedule this week and no head to head games. Let's get to it:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#5 Syracuse)

1/4/19 at Gonzaga (W 79-54), 25 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 2 turnovers = 6 fantasy points.

6 fantasy points/25 mins played = .240 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#6 Texas)

1/5/19 at Rice (W 97-80), 33 mins played, 16 points, 6 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 33 fantasy points.

33 fantasy points/33 mins played = 1.000 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

1/3/19 vs. Oregon (W 84-82, OT), 8 mins played, 4 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 1 turnover = 4.5 fantasy points.
1/5/19 vs. Oregon State (W 77-64), 1 min played.

4.5 fantasy points/9 mins played = .500 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#21 Michigan State)

1/2/19 at Purdue (L 115-105), 3 mins played, 1 rebound, 1 block = 5 fantasy points.
1/5/19 at Michigan (W 93-67), 6 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 FTM, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 foul = 15 fantasy points.

20 fantasy points/9 mins played = 2.222 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

1/4/19 vs. #4 Wisconsin (W 76-73), 14 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover = 11 fantasy points.

11 fantasy points/14 mins played = .786 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (Marquette)

1/1/19 vs. Chicago State (W 71-58), 20 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = 2.5 fantasy points.
1/8/19 vs. Central Arkansas (W 74-38), 27 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 6 fantasy points.

8.5 fantasy points/47 mins played = .181 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#8 Mississippi State)

1/5/19 vs. Southern Miss (W 75-52), 5 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers = 10 fantasy points.

10 fantasy points/5 mins played = 2.000 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#25 Arizona)

1/3/19 vs. USC (W 76-62), 9 mins played, 1 point, 1 FTM, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 foul = 6 fantasy points.
1/5/19 vs. #1 UCLA (L 73-65), 15 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 4 rebounds, 1 block = 13 fantasy points.

19 fantasy points/24 mins played = .792 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#7 Florida)

1/1/19 vs. #2 Kansas (L 78-57), 18 mins played, 2 points, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 3 fantasy points.
1/5/19 vs. Maryland-East Shore (W 67-46), 24 mins played, 2 points, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 9 fantasy points.

12 fantasy points/42 mins played = .286 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#12 Louisville)

12/31/18 vs. East Tennessee State (W 80-51), 22 mins played, 8 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 23 fantasy points.
1/2/19 vs. Ohio (W 82-71), 26 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 15.5 fantasy points.

38.5 fantasy points/48 mins played = .802 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#22 Duke)

12/31/18 vs. Longwood (W 78-59), DNP (Suspension)
1/2/19 vs. #11 Auburn (L 83-75), DNP (Coaches Decision)

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.000
#2- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .500
#3- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .240

Almost by default, Al got the win for the sophomore class this week. David had just an awful week, and Rob was hampered by a broken finger that he suffered early in the game against Oregon, which explains his lack of minutes this week. He's DTD and should be getting better minutes next week.

Freshmen

#1- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 2.222
#2- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 2.000
#3- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .802
#4- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .792
#5- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .786
#6- Benton Gale (Florida)- .286
#7- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .181

Tim (and Deacon) for that matter, continue to prove that you don't have to be a starter to have good fantasy games. Both come off the bench, and both had games this week in which they really took advantage of their minutes. This time it was Tim on top, but this might be the first week ever that we've had multiple guys with a 2.0 or better fantasy ranking for the week. Impressive.

Not so impressive were Benton and Dean. Benton was 0-14 from the field this week, while Dean was hurt by the turnover and foul bug.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 2.222
#2- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 2.000
#3- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.000
#4- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .802
#5- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .792
#6- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .786
#7- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .500
#8- Benton Gale (Florida)- .286
#9- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .240
#10- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .181

The freshman class continues to impress, as they've won 6 of the 8 weekly fantasy overall contests this season. Again it was Tim and Deacon leading the way with minimal minutes.

I will have the monthly fantasy rankings up for the week of Dec. 3-Jan. 6 a little later today, but here is a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Jan. 7-13:

Monthly (Dec. 3-Jan. 6) Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.100
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.089
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .696

A tight race here, as usually the person that wins the most weekly fantasy rankings wins the monthly race. This was the case here, but it was really, really close. Despite David having the best week of all for the sophomore class, he also had 2 weeks that were really bad, while Al was pretty consistent around that 1.000 margin, so he gets his first monthly win for the sophomore class.

Freshmen

#1- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1.229
#2- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.128
#3- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.124
#4- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .979
#5- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .823
#6- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .778
#7- Benton Gale (Florida)- .670

The second monthly win for Tim for the freshman class, and he's 2 for 2 in his young career. He can thank that week of Dec. 31-Jan. 6, as he scored the highest fantasy point average of anybody so far this season. It was still a close race though, as Deacon and Kuji also had fantasy averages over 1.000 for the month.

Monthly (Dec. 3-Jan. 6) Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 1.229
#2- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.128
#3- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.124
#4- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.100
#5- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.089
#6- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .979
#7- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .823
#8- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .778
#9- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .710
#10- Benton Gale (Florida)- .670

Tim, taking advantage of his minutes, picks up his first monthly win overall. It seems like the freshman class is doing much better than the sophomore class so far this season. The sophomores have been pretty inconsistent. Well, Al has been consistent, but not quite as good as last season. Still plenty of time to go though.

Now that Will Brown is off academic suspension, he still has a decision to make. Does he want to redshirt or not? He is listed 8th on the depth chart, but he is behind a big group of SF and SG, so it's questionable that he'll get a lot of PT. However, he could prove to be a force off the bench like Tim Sheppard and Deacon Palmer have been, in limited minutes.

So it's really a tough call, I'd probably redshirt him, but it's up to you vex. I'll hold off on simming the next week until I hear from you. Thanks.

Poor me is like the bust of this gang.

I have not heard from vex yet, so I've sent him another PM. I'd like to get back going on this very soon, so vex, if you're out there, give me a shout, let me know if you want your player Will Brown to redshirt or not. Otherwise, I'll take a chance and play him. Thanks.

So I've heard back from vex, he's decided to redshirt Will Brown. Unfortunately I'm on way out of town until Saturday, so I'll try to have the next report up on Sunday. Sorry for making you guys wait so long.

Jan. 7-13, 2019

20 games on the schedule this week, and 1 of those is a head to head game, so let's go to the Big East.

1/9/19- #4 Syracuse (David Ginsberg) @ Pittsburgh (Jace Hunter) -- Free throws was the difference in this one, as Pitt made 15 free throws with Syracuse making only 3. Aside from that, the teams were about even. It came down to fouls and free throws.

Final Score: Pittsburgh- 63, #4 Syracuse- 52

David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 11 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 rebound, 4 assists, Fouled Out = 5.5 fantasy points (.500 for the game).
Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 16 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 foul = 10 fantasy points (.625 for the game).

So Jace Hunter picks up both his first team and player head to head win overall.

Now to the rest of the weekly recap:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#4 Syracuse)

1/9/19 at Pittsburgh- head to head game, highlighted above.
1/12/19 vs. Rutgers (W 73-40), 25 mins played, 10 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 18 fantasy points.

23.5 fantasy points/36 mins played = .653 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#5 Texas)

1/8/19 at SMU (W 70-56), 25 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = 7.5 fantasy points.
1/12/19 vs. #2 Kansas (W 82-74), 35 mins played, 19 points, 9 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls = 28.5 fantasy points.

36 fantasy points/60 mins played = .600 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

1/10/19 at Washington State (W 93-80), 20 mins played, 12 points, 4 FGM, 3 3PM, 1 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, Fouled out = 13.5 fantasy points.
1/12/19 at Washington (W 74-50), 26 mins played, 9 points, 4 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers = 30.5 fantasy points.

44 fantasy points/46 mins played = .957 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)

1/9/19 vs. Minnesota (W 98-66), 6 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 3 fantasy points.
1/12/19 at Penn State (W 93-64), 6 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 1 rebound = 4 fantasy points.

7 fantasy points/12 mins played = .583 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

1/9/19 vs. #4 Syracuse- head to head game, featured above.
1/12/19 vs. Seton Hall (W 63-61), 20 mins played, 2 points, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = -1 fantasy points.

9 fantasy points/36 mins played = .278 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#20 Marquette)

1/9/19 at Seton Hall (W 70-55), 31 mins played, 8 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 18 fantasy points.
1/12/19 vs. #18 West Virginia (W 68-60), 31 mins played, 8 points, 3 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers, 4 fouls = 9.5 fantasy points.

27.5 fantasy points/62 mins played = .444 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#10 Mississippi State)

1/8/19 vs. Alabama A&M (W 78-42), 4 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 4 rebounds = 10 fantasy points.
1/12/19 vs. South Carolina (W 89-81), 2 mins played, 1 foul = -1 fantasy points.

9 fantasy points/6 mins played = 1.500 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)

1/10/19 at Oregon State (W 82-61), 9 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 fouls = 5 fantasy points.
1/12/19 at Oregon (W 76-69), 11 mins played, 1 rebound, 1 foul = 1 fantasy point.

6 fantasy points/20 mins played = .300 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#15 Florida)

1/9/19 vs. Utah Valley (W 99-60), 25 mins played, 9 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 4 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 3 steals, 2 fouls = 24.5 fantasy points.

24.5 fantasy points/25 mins played = .980 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#6 Louisville)

1/9/19 at Georgetown (L 86-71), 19 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 foul = 22.5 fantasy points.
1/12/19 vs. Providence (W 48-28), 21 mins played, 10 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 foul = 20 fantasy points.

42.5 fantasy points/40 mins = 1.063 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (Duke)- redshirting

1/7/19 vs. Alabama State (W 91-59).
1/12/19 vs. Utah Valley (W 73-62).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .957
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .659
#3- Al Mighty (Texas)- .600

Rob returns nicely from his broken finger to pick up his 2nd weekly fantasy win as a sophomore. David really hurt himself by fouling out against Pitt, while Al struggled with turnovers and fouls as well.

Freshmen

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.500
#2- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.063
#3- Benton Gale (Florida)- .980
#4- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .583
#5- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .444
#6- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .300
#7- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .250

Although Deacon only played 10 minutes this week, his 4 rebounds against Alabama State was enough to take home his first weekly fantasy win for the freshman class. It's good, because he did absolutely nothing but commit a foul the next game against South Carolina. Jaybard was our only other player with a 1.000 or better, and Jace had his highlight of the week with his head to head victories over Syracuse and David Ginsberg. Aside from that, he and Kuji were not very good.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.500
#2- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.063
#3- Benton Gale (Florida)- .980
#4- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .957
#5- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .659
#6- Al Mighty (Texas)- .600
#7- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .583
#8- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .444
#9- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .300
#10- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .250

Pretty crazy week, with our 3 sophomores sandwiched right in the middle of the freshman class. That freshman class had the top 3 for the week, and the bottom 4. Again, they continue to dominate the top though, as Deacon gets his first weekly fantasy win overall.

Now a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Jan. 14-20:

Jan. 14-20, 2019

20 games on the schedule this week, with 1 of those being a head to head game. Let's get to it:

1/19/19- Pittsburgh (Jace Hunter) @ #8 Syracuse (David Ginsberg) -- Tight game in the first half, as Pitt actually led at halftime. Syracuse was able to pull away a bit in the second half, and they did it with a 48-36 rebounding edge. Stats were pretty even, but Cuse made just a couple more shots and a couple more free throws.

Final Score: #8 Syracuse- 82, Pittsburgh- 74

Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 21 mins, 6 points, 3 FGM, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 fouls = 12 fantasy points. .571 for the game.
David Ginsberg (#8 Syracuse)- 24 mins played, 10 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 10 assists, 4 fouls, Double-Double = 45.5 fantasy points. 1.896 for the game.

So David wins both the team and player head to head, and he won the player head to head very convincingly, with the double-double helping.

Now, onto the rest of the weekly recap:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#8 Syracuse)

1/16/19 vs. Georgetown (L 72-50), 27 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 17.5 fantasy points.
1/19/19 vs. Pittsburgh- head to head game, featured above.

63 fantasy points/51 mins played = 1.236 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#3 Texas)

1/16/19 at Kansas State (W 93-90), 35 mins played, 31 points, 11 FGM, 3 3PM, 6 FTM, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4 fouls = 41.5 fantasy points.
1/19/19 at #7 Oklahoma (L 67-61), 34 mins played, 27 points, 10 FGM, 1 3PM, 6 FTM, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls = 32.5 fantasy points.

74 fantasy points/69 mins played = 1.072 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

1/19/19 at California (W 71-52), 25 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 fouls = 24.5 fantasy points.

24.5 fantasy points/25 mins played = .980 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#24 Michigan State)

1/16/19 at Indiana (W 79-60), 4 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 1 rebound, 1 steal = 7 fantasy points.
1/19/19 vs. #16 Illinois (L 77-50), 7 mins played, 1 point, 1 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 fouls = 1 fantasy point.

8 fantasy points/11 mins played = .727 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

1/16/19 at Providence (W 50-42), 12 mins played, 1 block = 3 fantasy points.
1/19/19 at #8 Syracuse- head to head game, featured above.

15 fantasy points/33 mins played = .455 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#13 Marquette)

1/16/19 vs. #2 Villanova (L 81-73), 32 mins played, 11 points, 4 FGM, 3 3PM, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 35.5 fantasy points.
1/19/19 vs. Rutgers (W 83-55), 26 mins played, 12 points, 5 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 fouls = 28 fantasy points.

63.5 fantasy points/58 mins played = 1.095 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#6 Mississippi State)

1/15/19 at #5 Kentucky (W 92-78), 3 mins played, 1 rebound = 2 fantasy points.
1/19/19 vs. #17 Auburn (L 96-90), 3 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 1 assist = 4 fantasy points.

6 fantasy points/6 mins played = 1.000 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#23 Arizona)

1/17/19 vs. Washington State (W 80-65), 22 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 1 block, 1 turnover = 9 fantasy points.
1/19/19 vs. Washington (W 91-61), 11 mins played, 4 points, 1 FGM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 1 foul = 10 fantasy points.

19 fantasy points/33 mins played = .576 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#10 Florida)

1/15/19 at #19 Vanderbilt (W 81-58), 21 mins played, 11 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 3 FTM, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3 fouls = 36 fantasy points.
1/19/19 vs. LSU (W 73-47), 23 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 FTM, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 fouls = 15 fantasy points.

51 fantasy points/44 mins played = 1.159 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#12 Louisville)

1/16/19 at Seton Hall (W 75-67), 14 mins played, 11 points, 4 FGM, 3 3PM, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 15.5 fantasy points.
1/19/19 at Providence (W 92-59), 25 mins played, 12 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 4 FTM, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls = 10 fantasy points.

25.5 fantasy points/39 mins played = .654 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (Duke)- redshirting

1/16/19 at Maryland (W 86-78).
1/19/19 vs. Wake Forest (W 87-66).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.236
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.072
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .980

The sophomore class had a strong week, but David's double-double put him over the top. Al once again struggled with foul trouble a bit, and Rob had just 1 game this week.

Freshmen

#1- Benton Gale (Florida)- 1.159
#2- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.095
#3- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.000
#4- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .727
#5- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .654
#6- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .576
#7- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .455

A close race for the freshmen class, but Benton gets his 2nd weekly win for the freshman class. His game at Vanderbilt was the difference, with the three pointer and the assists. Jace continues to be the only player not to win a weekly award yet, and in fact was in last place this week, so he definitely needs to step it up.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.236
#2- Benton Gale (Florida)- 1.159
#3- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.095
#4- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.072
#5- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.000
#6- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .980
#7- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .727
#8- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .654
#9- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .576
#10- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .455

Very close one, but David gets his 6th weekly fantasy win overall. Again, we go back to the double-double, but this is what I like to see. Tough competition all the way around.

Here's a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Jan. 21-27:

Jan. 21-27, 2019

20 games on the schedule this week, and 1 head to head game in the Pac 12, so we'll get right to it:

1/26/19- #13 Arizona (Kuji Chagulia) @ Stanford (Rob Nielsen) -- This one wasn't much of a game, as Stanford turned the ball over 19 times, committed 25 fouls, and Arizona shot 29 free throws. The Wildcats led by 21 at the half and rolled to a road victory.

Final Score: #13 Arizona- 80, Stanford- 45

Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 15 mins played, 10 points, 4 FGM, 2 FTM, 6 rebounds, 1 block, 2 fouls = 23 fantasy points. 1.533 for the game.
Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- 26 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 FTM, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 turnovers, 4 fouls = 1 fantasy point. .038 for the game.

So Kuji wins both the team and player head to head in very convincing fashion. Rob was hampered by fouls and turnovers in this one.


SO PG David Ginsberg (#9 Syracuse)

1/23/19 at Providence (L 58-57), 30 mins played, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 21 fantasy points.
1/26/19 at UConn (W 76-51), 21 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 3 fouls = 16 fantasy points.

37 fantasy points/51 mins played = .725 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#4 Texas)

1/23/19 vs. #17 Oklahoma State (W 80-71), 35 mins played, 20 points, 10 FGM, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 38 fantasy points.
1/26/19 vs. Nebraska (W 70-47), 31 mins played, 20 points, 9 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, POTG = 54.5 fantasy points.

92.5 fantasy points/66 mins played = 1.402 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

1/24/19 vs. Arizona State (W 84-65), 22 mins played, 8 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = 8.5 fantasy points.
1/26/19 vs. #13 Arizona- head to head game, featured above.

9.5 fantasy points/48 mins played = .198 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)

1/21/19 at Northern Illinois (W 88-66), 2 mins played, no stats = 0 fantasy points.
1/23/19 vs. Ohio State (W 102-74), 3 mins played, 1 rebound = 2 fantasy points.

2 fantasy points/5 mins played = .400 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

1/23/19 at South Florida (L 72-70), 18 mins played, 2 points, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 5 fantasy points.
1/26/19 at Georgetown (W 75-70), 11 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 FTM, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover = 14 fantasy points.

19 fantasy points/29 mins played = .655 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#22 Marquette)

1/23/19 at West Virginia (W 94-67), 30 mins played, 13 points, 5 FGM, 3 3PM, 3 rebounds, 7 assists = 40.5 fantasy points.
1/26/19 at Cincinnati (W 79-68), 33 mins played, 19 points, 7 FGM, 5 3PM, 1 rebound, 5 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers = 38.5 fantasy points.

79 fantasy points/63 mins played = 1.254 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#5 Mississippi State)

1/19/19 vs. Auburn (L 96-90), 3 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 1 assist = 4 fantasy points.
1/21/19 at Tennessee (L 85-83), 8 mins played, 8 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 14 fantasy points.

18 fantasy points/11 mins played = 1.636 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#13 Arizona)

1/24/19 at California (W 83-66), 15 mins played, 12 points, 5 FGM, 2 FTM, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 foul = 24 fantasy points.
1/26/19 at Stanford- head to head game, highlighted above.

47 fantasy points/30 mins played = 1.567 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#7 Florida)

1/22/19 vs. Arkansas (W 76-52), 33 mins played, 10 points, 3 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 FTM, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 14.5 fantasy points.
1/26/19 at #20 Kentucky (W 87-83), 25 mins played, 10 points, 3 FGM, 4 FTM, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 16 fantasy points.

30.5 fantasy points/58 mins played = .526 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#10 Louisville)

1/23/19 at Rutgers (L 107-99), 21 mins played, 14 points, 5 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls = 19 fantasy points.
1/26/19 vs. DePaul (W 70-46), 26 mins played, 6 points, 1 FGM, 4 FTM, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 1 foul = 12 fantasy points.

31 fantasy points/47 mins played = .660 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#21 Duke)- redshirting

1/23/19 at #25 Miami (L 72-64).
1/26/19 vs. N.C. State (W 78-71).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.402
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .725
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .198

An easy win for Al this week, as he takes the lead for the sophomore class. His POTG really helped. A disappointing week for Rob, who battled foul troubles and turnover issues in both games.

Freshmen

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.636
#2- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.567
#3- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.254
#4- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .660
#5- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .655
#6- Benton Gale (Florida)- .526
#7- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .400

A tight race for the freshman class, as the top 3 had great weeks. The bottom 4, not so much. Deacon once again took advantage of low minutes, but he got great competition from Kuji. A disappointing week for Tim, who saw his lowest minute total of the season this week, just 5 minutes. He didn't make use of those 5 minutes. Hopefully this isn't a theme of things to come.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.636
#2- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.567
#3- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.402
#4- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 1.254
#5- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .725
#6- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .660
#7- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .655
#8- Benton Gale (Florida)- .526
#9- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .400
#10- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .198

Deacon's 2nd weekly win over all classes, and the freshmen class has won the overall weekly race 7 of 11 weeks in this season. This is a rare case where a player that got a POTG didn't win the overall award for the week.

Here's a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3, which will be the final week for this month:

Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 2019

21 games on the docket this week (the final week of this particular month), with 1 head to head game, so let's get to it:

2/2/19- #10 Syracuse (David Ginsberg) @ #13 Louisville (Jaybard Riley) -- For 1 half, this game was good. Syracuse led 46-44 at halftime, but completely fell apart in the second half. The Orange were outscored 49-23 in the second half, and committed 21 turnovers for the game as Louisville rolled to an easy win.

Final Score: #13 Louisville- 93, #10 Syracuse- 69

David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 27 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 3PM, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 31 fantasy points. 1.148 for the game.
Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 16 mins played, 12 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 7 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 11.5 fantasy points. .719 for the game.

So while Jaybard wins the team head to head for this game, David counters by winning his 2nd player head to head of the season and his career. Now on to the rest of the weekly recap:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#10 Syracuse)

1/30/19 vs. DePaul (W 112-78), 25 mins played, 9 points, 3 FGM, 3 3PM, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 28.5 fantasy points.
2/2/19 at #13 Louisville- head to head game, featured above.

59.5 fantasy points/52 mins played = 1.144 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#2 Texas)

1/30/19 at Texas Tech (W 75-61), 5 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 turnover, 4 fouls = -0.5 fantasy points.
2/2/19 vs. Baylor (W 84-56), 30 mins played, 14 points, 5 FGM, 1 3PM, 3 FTM, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 30.5 fantasy points.

30 fantasy points/35 mins played = .857 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

1/31/19 at #1 UCLA (L 97-83), 28 mins played, 8 points, 3 FGM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 21 fantasy points.
2/2/19 at USC (L 71-66), 28 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, Fouled Out = 5 fantasy points.

26 fantasy points/56 mins played = .464 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#19 Michigan State)

1/28/19 at Cleveland State (W 82-69), 5 mins played, 1 rebound, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = -2 fantasy points.
1/30/19 at #5 Wisconsin (W 105-101), 6 mins played, No Stats = 0 fantasy points.

-2 fantasy points/11 mins played = -.182 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

1/30/19 vs. Notre Dame (L 74-62), 14 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 14 fantasy points.
2/2/19 at St. John's (W 83-52), 17 mins played, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 foul = 10 fantasy points.

24 fantasy points/31 mins played = .774 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#12 Marquette)

1/30/19 vs. Providence (W 78-68), 32 mins played, 3 points, 3 FTM, 1 rebound, 7 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 20 fantasy points.
2/2/19 vs. Notre Dame (L 80-57), 32 mins played, 9 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover = 27 fantasy points.

47 fantasy points/64 mins played = .734 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#18 Mississippi State)

1/29/19 vs. LSU (W 87-46), 6 mins played, 1 turnover = -2 fantasy points.
2/2/19 vs. Arkansas (W 93-81), 4 mins played, 3 points, 3 FTM, 1 rebound = 5 fantasy points.

3 fantasy points/10 mins played = .300 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#9 Arizona)

1/28/19 vs. Middle Tennessee (W 106-71), 9 mins played, 4 points, 1 FGM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 2 fantasy points.
2/2/19 vs. Arizona State (W 76-54), 11 mins played, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 foul = 4 fantasy points.

6 fantasy points/20 mins played = .300 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#4 Florida)

1/28/19 vs. Georgia (W 81-69), 24 mins played, 7 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 4 FTM, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 fouls = 25.5 fantasy points.
2/2/19 at Tennessee (L 49-47), 20 mins played, 11 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 12 fantasy points.

37.5 fantasy points/44 mins played = .852 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#13 Louisville)

1/30/19 vs. South Florida (W 98-88), 24 mins played, 17 points, 7 FGM, 3 3PM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 35.5 fantasy points.
2/2/19 vs. #10 Syracuse- head to head game, featured above.

47 fantasy points/40 mins played = 1.175 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#23 Duke)- redshirting

1/30/19 vs. Florida State (L 81-80)
2/2/19 vs. #21 Miami (L 75-74)

That's got to be the most aggravating thing ever for Will, sitting on the bench redshirting while his team loses a pair of buzzer beaters this week. Ouch!

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.144
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- .857
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .464

Another fantasy win for David, who had a couple good outings. That ties him with Al for 5 weekly fantasy wins this season for the sophomore class. Rob was one of several people that had fantasy scores of 0 in a game, he needs to find a way to get it going again.

Freshmen

#1- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.175
#2- Benton Gale (Florida)- .852
#3- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .774
#4- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .734
#5- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- .300
#6- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .300
#7- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- -.182

Jaybard gets his 2nd weekly fantasy ranking win for the freshman class, and he can look back on the South Florida game because of it. He was 1 of just 2 players with a weekly fantasy total over 1.000 this week.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.175
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.144
#3- Al Mighty (Texas)- .857
#4- Benton Gale (Florida)- .852
#5- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .774
#6- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .734
#7- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- .300
#8- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .464
#9- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .300
#10- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- -.182

Ironic that the overall fantasy award for the week came down to the 2 players that were involved in our head to head game this week. Call it a tiebreaker if you will, but Jaybard again gets the last laugh, as he narrowly gets his first overall weekly fantasy win. Aside from those 2, there was some pretty weak perfomances this week. Hopefully that picks up.

Now a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Feb. 4-10 (the first week of a new month):

I will be unveiling the rankings for the month of Jan. 7-Feb. 3 a little bit later, but I wanted to give everybody some food for thought:

In the 1 full season and 3 months of this season in this dynasty, we have had a handful of performances that bottomed out at 0, that would have actually been negative point performances otherwise. I know from playing fantasy football that negative points are allowed. I have 3 options here:

1. I could go back through all the weeks, find a negative performance, and change the 0 to a negative score, make the recalculations, and edit those posts and the spreadsheet to reflect the negative scores (which would actually make it more realistic, but probably wouldn't change much as far as fantasy weekly winners or anything, although I'd never know until I looked into it).

2. Leave things the way they are up to this point, but going forward include negative points.. or finish up the season as is, and start negative points next season (I feel like doing this would have good and bad points, as I'd finally have negative points in, but all our players would have a season or 2 in which they might have got negative points that isn't reflected).

3. Leave it alone, and continue to just have any negative points drop out at 0, knowing it might have a small effect on some of the rankings, but just living with it.

I'm looking for opinions on what you guys think. I keep going back and forth between... well.. all 3 ideas actually. Sometimes I want to recalculate everything, sometimes I want to leave it alone, and sometimes I want to leave things be up to this point, but make changes and add negative points going forward. Granted, it doesn't happen often, probably less than 10 times, and maybe less than 5, that we've had someone that would have been negative for a game bottom out at 0. Let me know what you guys think.

Honestly, whatever strikes you as your preferred method is good with me. I'm enjoying the read and will continue to do so with any of the ideas you proposed.

I've went back and I've found all the games where someone had negative fantasy points, both for this season and last season, and I've updated everything. For those of you that are curious, you can look at the edited posts. It didn't change anything as far as who won a weekly or monthly fantasy contest, just some points and percentages. Moving forward, negative points will be a part of this dynasty. I just think it's better that way.

If anybody wants to take the time to go back through season 2 and this season and make sure I didn't miss anything, that's fine. Sometimes my math is off, but I'm pretty sure I didn't.

Monthly (Jan. 7-Feb. 3) Rankings By Class

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.011
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .963
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .594

This one was close, and probably a rare case in that the person who got the most # of weekly fantasy wins for the month DID NOT win the monthly contest. David actually had 2 of the 4 weekly wins, but Al was close on both of them. Meanwhile, Al had 1 fantasy weekly win this month, but in his, he almost doubled up the 2nd place finisher. Rob did pick up 1 weekly win for the month, but was doomed by 2 really bad months.

Freshmen

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.091
#2- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .880
#3- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .879
#4- Benton Gale (Florida)- .839
#5- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .757
#6- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .519
#7- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .385

Deacon keeps up the streak for the freshmen playing less than 40 minutes in a month. Between him and Tim, who are the only 2 freshmen playing less than 40 mins a month, they have all 3 of the monthly fantasy wins for our freshman class. Not sure what is going on though, as the number of minutes Deacon got this month was almost cut in half compared to what he got the first month. Speaking of Tim, our monthly freshman winner for the first 2 months did a complete 180 this month, finishing last. And that race for 2nd place was tight, with just .001 separating 2nd and 3rd. Competition is what we like to see.

Monthly (Jan. 7-Feb. 3) Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.091
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.011
#3- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .963
#4- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .880
#5- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .879
#6- Benton Gale (Florida)- .839
#7- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .757
#8- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .594
#9- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .519
#10- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .385

A close one here, but Deacon edges out Al, as the freshmen have taken 2 of the 3 monthly fantasy overall awards this season. Again, it all goes back to taking advantage of the minutes you get. Deacon has done that this month, and Tim did it the first 2 months.

1 more month to go in the regular season, and some tight competition.

Feb. 4-10, 2019

21 games on the schedule this week, with 1 head to head game. We'll start there.

2/6/19- #14 Marquette (Dean Hoo) @ #8 Louisville (Jaybard Riley) -- Not much of a game here, as Louisville forced 17 Marquette turnovers and knocked down 18 three pointers, countering the better free throw shooting that Marquette had. The result was an easy home victory for the Cardinals.

Final Score: #8 Louisville- 85, #14 Marquette- 62

Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 29 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 1 rebound, 8 assists, 1 steal = 29.5 fantasy points. 1.017 for the game.
Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 15 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls = 17.5 fantasy points. 1.167 for the game.

So while the team head to head was dominated by Jaybard Riley, he narrowly won the player head to head, but he does get both.

Now onto the rest of the weekly recap:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#15 Syracuse)

2/6/19 vs. Cincinnati (W 74-55), 29 mins played, 13 points, 5 FGM, 3 3PM, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 25.5 fantasy points.
2/9/19 at #18 Georgetown (W 77-63), 27 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 1 foul = 12.5 fantasy points.

38 fantasy points/56 mins played = .679 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#2 Texas)

2/6/19 at Missouri (W 84-57), 33 mins played, 32 points, 13 FGM, 1 3PM, 5 FTM, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 fouls, POTG = 68.5 fantasy points.
2/9/19 vs. #25 Texas A&M (W 70-56), 30 mins played, 20 points, 8 FGM, 4 FTM, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, POTG = 57 fantasy points.

125.5 fantasy points/63 mins played = 1.992 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

2/7/19 vs. Washington (L 79-69), 29 mins played, 13 points, 4 FGM, 3 3PM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 17.5 fantasy points.
2/9/19 vs. Washington State (W 90-76), 17 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, Fouled Out = -0.5 fantasy points.

17 fantasy points/46 mins played = .370 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#13 Michigan State)

2/6/19 at Ohio State (W 86-78), 8 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 FTM, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks = 18 fantasy points.
2/9/19 vs. Penn State (W 101-68), 7 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 foul = 13 fantasy points.

31 fantasy points/15 mins played = 2.067 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

2/6/19 vs. #4 Villanova (L 83-82), 18 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 2 fouls = 26 fantasy points.
2/9/19 at Seton Hall (L 58-57), 11 mins played, 3 rebounds, 3 fouls = 3 fantasy points.

29 fantasy points/29 mins played = 1.000 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#14 Marquette)

2/6/19 at #8 Louisville- head to head game, highlighted above.
2/9/19 at #4 Villanova (L 72-60), 31 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 FTM, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls = 12 fantasy points.

41.5 fantasy points/60 mins played = .692 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#9 Mississippi State)

2/4/19 at Ole Miss (W 81-71), 2 mins played, 1 assist = 2 fantasy points.
2/9/19 at Alabama (W 90-68), 9 mins played, 3 rebounds, 1 assist = 8 fantasy points.

10 fantasy points/11 mins played = .909 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#6 Arizona)

2/7/19 vs. Oregon (W 63-53), 10 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 1 block = 7 fantasy points.
2/9/19 vs. Oregon State (W 72-47), 14 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 7 fantasy points.

14 fantasy points/24 mins played = .583 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#11 Florida)

2/5/19 at South Carolina (W 74-42), 28 mins played, 9 points, 4 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 11.5 fantasy points.
2/9/19 vs. #10 Vanderbilt (L 96-87), 23 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4 fouls = 15 fantasy points.

26.5 fantasy points/51 mins played = .520 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#8 Louisville)

2/6/19 vs. #14 Marquette- head to head game, featured above.
2/9/19 at Notre Dame (W 81-63), 14 mins played, 5 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 2 fouls = 22.5 fantasy points.

40 fantasy points/29 mins played = 1.379 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (Duke)- redshirting

2/6/19 vs. Georgia Tech (W 104-81).
2/9/19 at Boston College (W 72-68).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.992
#2- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .679
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .370

An easy win this week for Al, who was helped by 2 POTG awards in his 2 games this week. That is POTG #7 and 8 in his career, and he has 5 this season alone. Rob again struggled, fouling out against Washington State and ended up with negative fantasy points that game.

Freshmen

#1- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 2.067
#2- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.379
#3- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 1.000
#4- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- .909
#5- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .692
#6- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .583
#7- Benton Gale (Florida)- .520

Tim wins his 3rd weekly fantasy contest for the freshman class, once again taking advantage of his minutes. At this stage of the game, that's what it's all about.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- 2.067
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.992
#3- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.379
#4- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- 1.000
#5- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- .909
#6- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .692
#7- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .679
#8- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .583
#9- Benton Gale (Florida)- .520
#10- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .370

Normally when a guy plays 2 games in a week and gets POTG in both of them, he's the clear cut favorite for our overall fantasy weekly contest, but not this week. Tim's production was just so phenomenal in limited minutes, that it outshined what Al did. Tim gets his 3rd career weekly fantasy win overall and continues to make a case to not only be on the Big Ten All-Frosh Team, but also the NCAA All-Frosh Team.

Here's a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Feb. 11-17:



I've been befuddled by a lot of stuff in these polls before, but this one really befuddles me: How the **** does a team that WON both of its games this week DROP 9 spots? If there's one thing I always have a problem with in FBCB, it's the ranking system.

Feb. 11-17, 2019

20 games on the schedule this week, with 1 head to head game, so let's start there:

2/11/18- #9 Florida (Benton Gale) @ #7 Mississippi State (Deacon Palmer) -- A great game in which neither team gained a substantial advantage. Both teams shot well, the difference was that Florida shot just 58.8% from the free throw line while Mississippi State shot 81.8%. Also, the Bulldogs made 13 three pointers while the Gators only made 6. All this led to a big top 10 win for Mississippi State.

Final Score: #7 Mississippi State- 86, #9 Florida- 78

Benton Gale (Florida)- 22 mins played, 5 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 fouls = 17.5 fantasy points. .795 for the game.
Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 4 mins played, 3 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM = 5.5 fantasy points. 1.375 for the game.

A clean sweep for Deacon, as he takes home both the player and team head to head win in this game. Amazing that a lone three pointer can get you a player head to head win, but when you only play 4 mins, that's what happens.

Now onto the rest of the weekly recap:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#13 Syracuse)

2/13/19 at Rutgers (W 88-64), 27 mins played, 12 points, 3 FGM, 3 3PM, 3 FTM, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 38.5 fantasy points.
2/16/19 at Notre Dame (W 106-101, OT), 36 mins played, 14 points, 4 FGM, 1 3PM, 5 FTM, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 32.5 fantasy points.

71 fantasy points/63 mins played = 1.127 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#1 Texas)

2/16/19 at Baylor (W 94-79), 23 mins played, 13 points, 4 FGM, 1 3PM, 4 FTM, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, Fouled Out = 25.5 fantasy points.

25.5 fantasy points/23 mins played = 1.109 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

2/14/19 at SIU Edwardsville (W 89-45), 21 mins played, 13 points, 4 FGM, 3 3PM, 2 FTM, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls = 28.5 fantasy points.
2/16/19 vs. California (W 99-62), 27 mins played, 13 points, 4 FGM, 2 3PM, 3 FTM, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 4 turnovers, 1 foul = 15.5 fantasy points.

44 fantasy points/48 mins played = .917 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#8 Michigan State)

2/13/19 at Minnesota (W 75-64), 6 mins played, 1 rebound, 1 turnover = 0 fantasy points.
2/16/19 vs. Michigan (W 77-63), 7 mins played, 4 points, 1 FGM, 2 FTM, 1 rebound, 2 blocks = 12 fantasy points.

12 fantasy points/13 mins played = .923 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

2/13/19 vs. UConn (W 86-75), 14 mins played, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 1 foul = 6 fantasy points.
2/16/19 vs. Providence (W 60-52), 15 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 18 fantasy points.

24 fantasy points/29 mins played = .828 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#22 Marquette)

2/13/19 vs. Seton Hall (W 75-56), 31 mins played, 14 points, 5 FGM, 3 3PM, 1 FTM, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 32.5 fantasy points.
2/16/19 vs. #16 Georgetown (W 69-58), 32 mins played, 4 points, 4 FTM, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 20 fantasy points.

52.5 fantasy points/63 mins played = .833 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#7 Mississippi State)

2/11/19 vs. #9 Florida- head to head game, featured above.
2/16/19 vs. #11 Vanderbilt (L 69-60), 1 min played, No stats.

5.5 fantasy points/5 mins played = 1.100 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#5 Arizona)

2/14/19 at Washington (W 85-63), 13 mins played, 6 points, 3 FGM, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 fouls = 11 fantasy points.
2/16/19 at Washington State (W 82-61), 14 mins played, 1 point, 1 FTM, 1 block = 4 fantasy points.

15 fantasy points/27 mins played = .556 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#9 Florida)

2/11/19 at #7 Mississippi State- head to head game, featured above.
2/16/19 vs. #15 Kentucky (L 95-78), 25 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 1 foul = 10 fantasy points.

27.5 fantasy points/47 mins played = .585 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#17 Louisville)

2/13/19 at West Virginia (L 77-76), 22 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers = 18 fantasy points.
2/16/19 vs. St. John's (W 82-69), 17 mins played, 7 points, 3 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 11.5 fantasy points.

29.5 fantasy points/39 mins played = .756 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#23 Duke)- redshirting

2/13/19 at Virginia (W 98-59).
2/16/19 vs. #20 Maryland (L 115-104, OT)

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.127
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.109
#3- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .917

Consistent lines this week for David, as he gets his 6th weekly fantasy win for the sophomore class, tying him with Al. He had a great assist to turnover ratio this week. Al only had one game, but did well. Rob was better this week, but still too many turnovers and fouls.

Freshmen

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.100
#2- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .923
#3- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .833
#4- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .828
#5- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .756
#6- Benton Gale (Florida)- .585
#7- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .556

The best thing that could have happened to Deacon this week was playing only 1 minute against Vanderbilt, and having no stats in that minute. Because of that, his single three pointer in his 4 minutes against Florida was enough to get him the weekly fantasy win for the freshman class. And take a look at #2, which is our other freshmen that gets limited minutes. They just keep taking advantage.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 1.127
#2- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.109
#3- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.100
#4- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .923
#5- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .917
#6- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .833
#7- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .828
#8- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- .756
#9- Benton Gale (Florida)- .585
#10- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- .556

David's consistent performance is good enough to earn him another Overall Fantasy Weekly win. Nice to see Rob in the middle of the pack instead of at the bottom. Deacon's three pointer was only good enough to get 3rd place this week, but the story still remains: take advantage of your minutes, because you never know.

Now a look at the national top 25 going into the week of Nov. 18-24:

Hahahahaha the scoring system seems a little off now. Not complaining to be clear, just odd that playing very few minutes can get you a lot of points

Yea, it is weird to see the guys playing the least getting fantasy wins. It's just really all about they are taking advantage of their minutes and putting up key stats in limited minutes. There's no perfect scoring system, but I do think this one I'm using is the fairest.

Feb. 18-24, 2019

20 games on the schedule this week, and 2 of them are head to head games, so let's jump right into it:

2-21-19, Stanford (Rob Nielsen) @ #4 Arizona (Kuji Chagulia) -- An easy win for Zona in this one, as they shot 60% for the game, forced 19 Stanford turnovers, and held the Cardinal to 36.8% shooting.

Final Score: #4 Arizona- 99, Stanford- 63

Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- 21 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls = 13.5 fantasy points. .643 for the game.
Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 27 mins played, 13 points, 5 FGM, 3 FTM, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4 fouls = 33 fantasy points. 1.222 for the game.

So an easy head to head win for Kuji in both the team and player head to head, as Rob and the Cardinal continue to struggle.

2/23/19- #17 Marquette (Dean Hoo) @ #11 Syracuse (David Ginsberg) -- The Orange just could not find the net in this one, and the only thing that made this one seem closer than it was is that 14 of Syracuse's 21 FGM were three pointers. Marquette dominated otherwise.

Final Score: #17 Marquette- 79, #11 Syracuse- 65

Dean Hoo (Marquette)- 24 mins played, 18 points, 6 FGM, 5 3PM, 1 FTM, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 fouls = 38.5 fantasy points. 1.604 for the game.
David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- 27 mins played, 7 points, 1 FGM, 1 3PM, 4 FTM, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls = 12.5 fantasy points. .463 for the game.

More total domination for Dean Hoo, as he controlled both the player and team head to head in this one.

Now to the rest of the weekly recap:

SO PG David Ginsberg (#11 Syracuse)

2/20/19 vs. #3 Villanova (L 86-78), 22 mins played, 7 points, 2 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 FTM, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls = 22 fantasy points.
2/23/19 vs. #17 Marquette- head to head game, highlighted above.

34.5 fantasy points/49 mins played = .704 for the week.

SO SG Al Mighty (#1 Texas)

2/18/19 vs. Colorado (W 77-45), 31 mins played, 27 points, 13 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, POTG = 37.5 fantasy points.
2/23/19 at Iowa State (L 67-63), 35 mins played, 17 points, 6 FGM, 2 3PM, 3 FTM, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls = 30 fantasy points.

67.5 fantasy points/66 mins played = 1.023 for the week.

SO SF Rob Nielsen (Stanford)

2/21/19 at #4 Arizona- head to head game, featured above.
2/23/19 at Arizona State (W 73-58), 29 mins played, 12 points, 5 FGM, 1 3PM, 1 FTM, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls = 23.5 fantasy points.

37 fantasy points/50 mins played = .740 for the week.

RS FR PF Tim Sheppard (#8 Michigan State)

2/20/19 at #22 Illinois (W 89-85), 4 mins played, No stats = 0 fantasy points.
2/23/19 vs. #10 Wisconsin (L 93-79), 5 mins played, 2 rebounds = 4 fantasy points.

4 fantasy points/9 mins played = .444 for the week.

RS FR C Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)

2/20/19 at Cincinnati (W 84-73), 11 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 FTM, 5 rebounds, 1 turnover = 14 fantasy points.
2/23/19 at West Virginia (L 71-68), 15 mins played, 2 points, 1 FGM, 5 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 1 foul = 7 fantasy points.

21 fantasy points/26 mins played = .808 for the week.

RS FR PG Dean Hoo (#17 Marquette)

2/20/19 at St. John's (W 63-48), 32 mins played, 12 points, 5 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls = 17 fantasy points.
2/23/19 at #11 Syracuse- head to head game, featured above.

55.5 fantasy points/56 mins played = .991 for the week.

FR SF Deacon Palmer (#7 Mississippi State)

2/19/19 at Georgia (W 70-59), 2 mins played, 2 rebounds = 4 fantasy points.
2/23/19 at LSU (W 93-80), 9 mins played, 6 points, 2 FGM, 2 3PM, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 12 fantasy points.

16 fantasy points/11 mins played = 1.455 for the week.

FR C Kuji Chagulia (#4 Arizona)

2/21/19 vs. Stanford- head to head game, featured above.
2/23/19 vs. California (W 94-73, 13 mins played, 4 points, 2 FGM, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 2 fouls = 13 fantasy points.

46 fantasy points/40 mins played = 1.150 for the week.

FR PG Benton Gale (#15 Florida)

2/18/19 at Auburn (W 81-48), 25 mins played, 11 points, 4 FGM, 3 FTM, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers = 22 fantasy points.
2/23/19 vs. South Carolina (W 74-58), 25 mins played, 9 points, 3 FGM, 2 3PM, 1 FTM, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 1 foul = 25 fantasy points.

47 fantasy points/50 mins played = .940 for the week.

FR SG Jaybard Riley (#18 Louisville)

2/20/19 vs. Seton Hall (W 70-33), 22 mins played, 7 points, 2 FGM, 1 3PM, 2 FTM, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls = 9.5 fantasy points.
2/23/19 vs. #19 Georgetown (W 78-70), 15 mins played, 17 points, 5 FGM, 5 3PM, 2 FTM, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover = 31.5 fantasy points.

41 fantasy points/37 mins played = 1.108 for the week.

FR SF Will Brown (#23 Duke)- redshirting

2/20/19 at Florida State (W 95-80).
2/23/19 vs. Clemson (L 94-85).

Weekly Fantasy Rankings by Class

Sophomores

#1- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.023
#2- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .740
#3- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .704

2 solid games this week for Al, including another POTG award, gave him this weekly fantasy win for the sophomore class. Rob didn't finish last for the first time in a while, but he still needs to pick up his consistency. Still way too many turnovers and fouls.

Freshmen

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.455
#2- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.120
#3- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.108
#4- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .991
#5- Benton Gale (Florida)- .940
#6- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .808
#7- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .444

What a week for our freshman class, with several of them over or near the 1.000 mark. Again, it comes down to a player not getting as many minutes but taking advantage of them, as Deacon regains the lead for the freshman class with his 4th fantasy weekly win. Tim didn't have a good week at all, a rarity for him.

Weekly Fantasy Rankings Overall

#1- Deacon Palmer (Mississippi State)- 1.455
#2- Kuji Chagulia (Arizona)- 1.120
#3- Jaybard Riley (Louisville)- 1.108
#4- Al Mighty (Texas)- 1.023
#5- Dean Hoo (Marquette)- .991
#6- Benton Gale (Florida)- .940
#7- Jace Hunter (Pittsburgh)- .808
#8- Rob Nielsen (Stanford)- .740
#9- David Ginsberg (Syracuse)- .704
#10- Tim Sheppard (Michigan State)- .444

Deacon wins his 3rd overall weekly fantasy win, again taking advantage of key minutes, but it was still an exciting race.

Now a look at the national top 25 as we move into the week of Feb. 25-March 3, the season is winding down:

Not sure if I mentioned this somewhere or not, but we had one of our season 4 recruits still unsigned. Sophus Abel has made the decision to sign with Texas, joining Al Mighty. Wild stuff.

The month starting on Feb. 3 will be a very extended month. For whatever reason, the conference tournaments don't start for another 2 weeks (March 11-17), so that means I had 2 options:

1. Extend this month starting Feb. 3 and have it be 6 weeks (Feb. 3-March 17), and then have our postseason (I have no idea why the conference tournaments are starting so late, seems like this season is running a week late. Weird.

2. End this month with this week, and make it Feb. 3-March 3, and then have March 4-17 be a separate week. I really didn't like the idea of having a "month" be just 2 weeks. I know the month of November only has 3 weeks, which is fine, but 2 weeks, just not enough. There's no perfect solution here, no way to just have strict months (Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar.). Hope I'm not confusing anyone.

I've decided to go with option #1 unless enough people want option #2. Again, breaking this down into months is hard, because the last day of the month rarely falls on a Sunday.

So if anybody has an opinion on this, let me know.