Starting Eight (2012) - A new NCAA tourney game

[Young Drachma]

35.3% of the field still has Perry Jones, Anthony Davis finds himself on 4 entries and Jared Sullinger tops all comers with 7 (41.2%) and so, if there's going to be difference makers it'll be the people who can manage to get someone all the way through the Final Four. In theory, one of those guys at the bottom could shoot up the standings, but...we'll see how it all flops out in the end. I think now that we know how to play, it'd yield interesting results if we'd done it again.

[Young Drachma]

Updated through the current games. Wade's Tu Holloway went out with aplomb, giving him a pretty comfortable lead at 3744 pts, but britrock and Karl are less than 600 points behind have 3 and 2 guys left respectively.

Alas, the next three rounds should be interesting as we get down the stretch.

[Young Drachma]

Updated for Day 3. Wade and Ramz are the only two with no one left. If Perry Jones can learn to score again and get a few rounds, it'll make things especially interesting. I wouldn't be shocked to see someone far behind lap the field with a few choice guys getting it done. But we'll see!

[wade moore]

Yeah, getting pretty dicey for me, even with the lead. If OSU goes to the Final Four, I think britrock catches me - let alone the other scenarios that are out there. I really needed XU to pull off one more win.

[Young Drachma]

Britrock is on a roll. He's less than 200 points behind wade and Karl is nipping on both their heels. If Karl gets Sullinger and Jones into the Final Four then it's his to lose, as he'll cancel out with britrock who also has Sullinger. If some reason, both of those guys go down this weekend, then wade will escape with the victory.

Welcome to Google Docs

[Karlifornia]

The one good thing I've done this year in the tournament games. Jones started out as a dud, but now it's all riding on him for me.

EDIT: BTW, I went with a partial strategy of taking guys that were playing against each other in the opening rounds, hopefully getting either a lot of points from a low seed and done, and a player who advances, or getting the huge upset multiple-game jackpot.

[Young Drachma]

Karl needed Perry Jones to score at least 28 points in this game to get past britrock with both of them owning Sullinger heading into the Final Four. Wade still leads, but barring a Sullinger drought of unprecedented propositions, it looks like it's britrock's to lose.

[Young Drachma]

Without the multiplier, wade would've had this thing sewn up with a 500 point lead with two rounds left. I imagine it would've impacted the picks of people who decided to go chalk when the rule changed but...it certainly made the game more interesting as a result.

[kingfc22]

I was able to get two guys to the Final Four. Unfortunately, my high 10+ seeds didn't come through for me early in the tourney.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Karl needed Perry Jones to score at least 28 points in this game to get past britrock with both of them owning Sullinger heading into the Final Four. Wade still leads, but barring a Sullinger drought of unprecedented propositions, it looks like it's britrock's to lose.

You have my hopes up, but the spreadsheet shows Karl leading me by 6 points.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by britrock88

You have my hopes up, but the spreadsheet shows Karl leading me by 6 points.

Haha...that's because it saved with me playing around with scenarios. Perry Jones did not score 29 points and alas, it was wrong.

I think next year, we'll have to attach some kind of bonus for getting guys into the Final Four. It'll create some incentive but also split things up a bit for people who say, cancel each other by picking the same guys and it'd make it interesting for those guys at the bottom who've got two guys in the last four but won't be able to win without some kind of magic.

Anyway, here are the standings heading into the Final Four:

wademoore 3744
britrock88 3666 (1)
Karlifornia 3528 (1)
dfisher 3392
butterof69 3116
jbergery22 2427 (1)
Ramzavail 2338
Dark Cloud 2186
kingfc22 2000
whomario 1975 (1)
Lathum 1770 (1)
cartman 1546 (2)
Ragone 1467 (2)
Panthersfan75 1430 (2)
muns 1099
SkippyDies 585 (1)

Sorta funny to do a game like this in a year where chalk ruled the day.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Sorta funny to do a game like this in a year where chalk ruled the day.

Well, you can see it that way, sure. At the same time, CJ Leslie is worth almost one-third of my total because he was a leading scorer for an 11-seed that made the Sweet 16.

The problem with the tournament in general is that it gets boring once the Sweet 16 games are going. (We've been spoiled with Butler and VCU the last couple years.) Then, in games like this one, the players with Sullinger, Robinson, et al. chip away thanks to the round multipliers. I like this game because it asks you to strike that balance between guys who may be scoring some points for several rounds and guys who might score a lot of points for lower-seeded teams for a few rounds.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by britrock88

Well, you can see it that way, sure. At the same time, CJ Leslie is worth almost one-third of my total because he was a leading scorer for an 11-seed that made the Sweet 16.

The problem with the tournament in general is that it gets boring once the Sweet 16 games are going. (We've been spoiled with Butler and VCU the last couple years.) Then, in games like this one, the players with Sullinger, Robinson, et al. chip away thanks to the round multipliers. I like this game because it asks you to strike that balance between guys who may be scoring some points for several rounds and guys who might score a lot of points for lower-seeded teams for a few rounds.

Good point on Leslie.

Yeah, I'm glad we came up with the round multiplier to make it worthwhile to take these kinds of guys that are still playing now or else, it'd have fizzled out.

Between this game and Top Gun, you've been on fire.

[wade moore]

And, really, my team would be quite a bit different if Mizzou doesn't go down in round 1. I haven't played with the numbers, but I imagine if Mizzou stuck around until the Sweet 16 I'd be in much better shape.

[Young Drachma]

Spreadsheet is updated. Barring some crazy scoring in the Final, britrock beat wade by 3796-3744.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Spreadsheet is updated. Barring some crazy scoring in the Final, britrock beat wade by 3796-3744.

I'm counting on Davis and Robinson each scoring 70.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by cartman

I'm counting on Davis and Robinson each scoring 70.

Hehe. That'd be a fun finish.

[wade moore]

Good job britrock. Missouri losing in the 1st round did me in. If I get a couple more games from denmon like I "should" have I likely win.

[britrock88]

Thanks, Wade. You're right on Denmon. Neither of my 4-seed picks (Taylor, Zeller) overachieved, and I whiffed on Will Barton and J'Covan Brown. CJ Leslie and Robbie Hummel worked out well, but you had me pretty much covered there with Tu Holloway. Weird to think that Sullinger made a difference in a contest like this that rewards low seeds.

[kingfc22]

Going to need Davis to have one heck of a game to crack the top 5.

[britrock88]

Bumping this hopefully.

[Young Drachma]

Yeah, I'll talk to wade, but we'll surely do this again this year I'm fairly certain.

[Young Drachma]

March Madness Starting Ten (2013) - Front Office Football Central

It's back, this time with two more.