Putting the "N" in NCAA (NCAA12/PFS)

[Young Drachma]

Rather than consider this the 4th installment of the Neloxia dynasty series, it's more like 3b, as it operates in the same world as my current FM dynasty (and the future OOTP dynasty that I'll do either when 12 comes out or that I'll setup when I feel like playing baseball in 11 again) but the two stories are not likely to intertwine since this is only about college.

If you're in the dark about what I'm talking about, you'll want to read these to get a sense of where we are, because it might help you appreciate it a bit more.

The Progeny of Neloxia: A FM/Sim City 4 Dynasty - Front Office Football Central (Part 1)
Neloxia: 50 Years Hence (FM10/Sim City 4) - Front Office Football Central (Part 2)
Working Up The Ladder: A Neloxian FM Dynasty - Front Office Football Central (Part 3)

With that out of the way, here goes:

BACKGROUND

College basketball in Neloxia simply isn't what it is in America. Institutions are too busy following the professional football standings , loving baseball or the national sport of tennis polo to care nearly as much about basketball at the college level. Still, there are crazed basketball fans who year after year were watching the March Madness taking place over the pond in America and thinking "why not us too?"

As a rich industrialized nation, Neloxian institutions did what anyone else in a rich country would do. They started flashing money around. The practicality of a Neloxian collegiate basketball association would simply lack much cache for most Neloxian fans. While there are over 40 colleges and universities in Neloxia, the interest would be lacking. The other factor is this -- Neloxian institutions already call America their biggest supplier of international students. Through a generous fellowship program setup by the Neloxian government fifteen years ago, American students can attend university in Neloxia for free -- just as Neloxian students do -- so long as they pass an examination offered twice annually in the states for that explicit purpose.

So several thousand American kids already roam the campuses of the nation's finest universities. Many of them love the fact that universities have their own pro teams in baseball and soccer, but don't understand the lack of passion for college basketball as in the states and were part of the voices in support for a change.

In 1978, the Neloxian Basketball Conference was founded with twelve schools from around the country. This league eventually grew into a Neloxian Universities Basketball Association (NUBA) which has come to sanction the sport amongst the 58 colleges and universities around the nation who choose to play it at the post-secondary level as a varsity sport. The game has grown, but it's commercial viability is suspect. What's strange is, Neloxians love the spectacle of March Madness. Not just because there no Neloxian schools involved, but mostly because it's something we don't have on the island.

In 1991, the NUBA contacted the NCAA to inquire about the viability of Neloxian teams joining the NCAA at the Division II level. The linchpin of this proposal is NUBA, through a funding arrangement with several Neloxian companies, had agreed to pay for the entire Division II tournament if Neloxian schools were allowed to participate. This was not made public, but in 1996, the NCAA agreed to a two-year experimental arrangement. It was a rousing success and led to the highest ratings of the D2 tournament in history with Neloxian home viewership giving it a shot in the arm like never before.

Still, D2 isn't D1.

After over a decade at the D2 level, Neloxian schools wanted to play with the big boys and the NCAA, agreed to a proposal that allowed the schools to begin competing at the D1 level starting with the 2010-11 season, but only if participation remained with one conference comprised entirely of Neloxian schools.

NUBA agreed and The Neloxia League was born. This dynasty will chronicle the stories of Neloxian teams in the NCAA.

[Young Drachma]

The first thing we'll need to profile all of the schools that are going to be participating. I probably also ought to provide those of you who have not been keeping up with Neloxia with some kind of crash course in the geography of the country as that might be helpful? Yeah, I think maybe..

My original plan was to stick all of the Neloxian teams in one U.S. city. But I didn't like how that might look, so I decided to go into the db and edit the U.S. states and added Neloxia as a state, but the game hates when you do that and it won't work. So instead, I edited Alaska to become Neloxia since it's the only U.S. state without any D1 basketball teams. Then it crashed. So I edited it back to be called Alaska again and it seemed to almost work. But still no dice, so it seems I'll need to go back and start from scratch, putting the schools all in Anchorage or something rather than the Neloxian city in Alaska.

We're going to be operating in a sort of wormhole where the Neloxian teams have already been playing in the U.S. for 100 years now, so that we have some kind of legacy of history amongst each other. I'm just going to sim 100 years and see how they do and then I'll take over in 2010-11 with that history, okay?

Before I do that I'll introduce the teams and the cities they play in for the uninitiated. So with that roadmap, let's get started...

[Young Drachma]

The following schools make up the Conference Neloxia:

University of Alzate
Christian Larsen University (Marisa)
Condotti-Vanguard University (Upton Park)
Academia Cromwell
Neloxian Institute of Technology (Marisa)
Romero-Rasmussen University (Marisa)
South Alzate University
University of Swenton
College of True Believers

Condotti-Vanguard has long been the Harvard of Neloxia. Their main rival is the former Romero-Finniski, now known as Romero-Rasmussen. (Think Harvard-Yale)

Starting in 1959, South Alzate joined the league to make 9 teams. But the unprecedented move was yet to come. The Neloxian Education Ministry had been working with dozens of schools in the U.S. to consider relocating their CAMPUSES to Neloxia. They'd worked their way through large schools to small schools and ultimately settled on three institutions who would pack up their schools and move their main campuses to a new planned city called University City, as there are few major colleges and universities in the northern part of the country and the national government decided to rectify this in a grandiose fashion.

The $3bn project would be completed in that year and the schools would begin their tenures then. As such, the three schools would also join the Conference Neloxia to make it a 12-team conference.

What schools made the move? There's a poll. These are the ten choices:

Saint Joseph's
Siena
Campbell
Centenary
Holy Cross
Mount St. Mary's
Davidson
Sacred Heart
Xavier
Drexel

Please help decide!

[Young Drachma]

For geography buffs who are curious, University City will be in Northwest Neloxia, the area that's the least populated in the country. For decades, the only major city there was Vampire Lake and Teela City, each with about 45-50k people apiece.



Here's the inset map of the area. South of West Lake Village and North of Alzate (Which is located over the mountain there)

You'll get a map of Western Neloxia soon as it's the only region we've never chronicled since it wasn't worth talking about save for Alzate. Las Lomas and San Carlos -- the latter is Neloxia's Silicon Valley -- have already been established in this area, but the government set aside a city that was called "Education City" for decades and they wanted it to be in the North exurbs of County City, but most of those communities were opposed to the proposal because their rural character is important and so, the government headed west and settled on the area you set above.

Next you all will get first access into the University City area (the name is tentative)

[Young Drachma]

The first community within University City is Eastwick, these aren't cities, just sections of the town to distinguish the campuses. Eastwick Campus will be home to one of the three U.S. schools chosen to relocate to Neloxia. There's a small residential community straddling Eastwick Avenue and the Eastwick Community School is just off campus.




There's a Red Robin and a Pizzeria Uno just off campus, along with a Best Western and Super 8, for visiting parents.

[Young Drachma]

Here's an overhead flyby view of U City at night:





The other two campuses are the Northchester campus, which is admittedly the smallest of the three. But if you go to school in Northchester, you have the McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts and I think some other chain but I forgot which one off the top of my head... a Waffle House.





And finally, we have the Westwick campus. This is the largest of the three campuses





I love Westwick campus at night. Looks really awesome:

[bbgunn]

Amazing stuff. Like home away from home.

[Young Drachma]

Here are the regional maps throughout Neloxia, which are available in the 2nd installment, so I'll just link them here:

Southern Neloxia

Eastern Neloxia

Marisa

Northern Neloxia

The one of these that's not linked to the others is Western Neloxia because it hadn't been developed much beyond Alzate until a decade or so ago.

Here's what the west used to look like and here's what it looks like now:



Those howls you hear are Neloxian schools feeling left out of the Conference Neloxia expansion when the three U.S. turned Neloxian schools moved to University City.

Conference Neloxia extended invitations to four more schools to bring the league total to sixteen teams:

Academia San Carlos
Las Lomas University
University of the Enclave
Alzate Science & Technology University

[muns]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Rather than consider this the 4th installment of the Neloxia dynasty series, it's more like 3b, as it operates in the same world as my current FM dynasty (and the future OOTP dynasty that I'll do either when 12 comes out or that I'll setup when I feel like playing baseball in 11 again) but the two stories are not likely to intertwine since this is only about college.

If you're in the dark about what I'm talking about, you'll want to read these to get a sense of where we are, because it might help you appreciate it a bit more.

The Progeny of Neloxia: A FM/Sim City 4 Dynasty - Front Office Football Central (Part 1)
Neloxia: 50 Years Hence (FM10/Sim City 4) - Front Office Football Central (Part 2)
Working Up The Ladder: A Neloxian FM Dynasty - Front Office Football Central (Part 3)

With that out of the way, here goes:

BACKGROUND

College basketball in Neloxia simply isn't what it is in America. Institutions are too busy following the professional football standings , loving baseball or the national sport of tennis polo to care nearly as much about basketball at the college level. Still, there are crazed basketball fans who year after year were watching the March Madness taking place over the pond in America and thinking "why not us too?"

As a rich industrialized nation, Neloxian institutions did what anyone else in a rich country would do. They started flashing money around. The practicality of a Neloxian collegiate basketball association would simply lack much cache for most Neloxian fans. While there are over 40 colleges and universities in Neloxia, the interest would be lacking. The other factor is this -- Neloxian institutions already call America their biggest supplier of international students. Through a generous fellowship program setup by the Neloxian government fifteen years ago, American students can attend university in Neloxia for free -- just as Neloxian students do -- so long as they pass an examination offered twice annually in the states for that explicit purpose.

So several thousand American kids already roam the campuses of the nation's finest universities. Many of them love the fact that universities have their own pro teams in baseball and soccer, but don't understand the lack of passion for college basketball as in the states and were part of the voices in support for a change.

In 1978, the Neloxian Basketball Conference was founded with twelve schools from around the country. This league eventually grew into a Neloxian Universities Basketball Association (NUBA) which has come to sanction the sport amongst the 58 colleges and universities around the nation who choose to play it at the post-secondary level as a varsity sport. The game has grown, but it's commercial viability is suspect. What's strange is, Neloxians love the spectacle of March Madness. Not just because there no Neloxian schools involved, but mostly because it's something we don't have on the island.

In 1991, the NUBA contacted the NCAA to inquire about the viability of Neloxian teams joining the NCAA at the Division II level. The linchpin of this proposal is NUBA, through a funding arrangement with several Neloxian companies, had agreed to pay for the entire Division II tournament if Neloxian schools were allowed to participate. This was not made public, but in 1996, the NCAA agreed to a two-year experimental arrangement. It was a rousing success and led to the highest ratings of the D2 tournament in history with Neloxian home viewership giving it a shot in the arm like never before.

Still, D2 isn't D1.

After over a decade at the D2 level, Neloxian schools wanted to play with the big boys and the NCAA, agreed to a proposal that allowed the schools to begin competing at the D1 level starting with the 2010-11 season, but only if participation remained with one conference comprised entirely of Neloxian schools.

NUBA agreed and The Neloxia League was born. This dynasty will chronicle the stories of Neloxian teams in the NCAA.

I have to say that this background and the way your doing is is pretty damn neat. Im really looking forward to how this shapes up and to see how your twist and turns take us all on a fun reading ride!!!!

[Young Drachma]

After the move of five more American schools to Neloxia upon the success of the maiden three to a new community build for them on the island community of Enclave, the schools decided to band together to form their own "home in our new home" The new league was called the Neloxia 8. (Detractors call them the Imperial 8)

Conference Neloxia added Charles City University as the 14th member with the defection of the three schools and renamed itself The Neloxia League

The Neloxia 8 took the court with the following members

Mt. St. Mary
Drexel
Xavier
Holy Cross
Centenary
St. Joseph's
Sacred Heart
Siena

The biggest difference between the two leagues? Grades. Schools in the N-8 have average admissions requirements, the schools in the Neloxia League are mandated to be High. Will it make a difference?

I made other conference changes in 1969 to mimic what's going on in the current college basketball landscape. The lone exception is in my universe TCU goes to the Big XII with Houston, since the game won't support a 17-team Big East.

My current league options include a 68-team NCAA tournament and 40-team NIT. 3pt shot is on, players never turn pro, conference movement is off and conference prestige change is on. Finally, transfers play immediately.

The Neloxia-8 did not sponsor a conference for the for it's first few seasons, prior to that the regular season champion won the auto-bid.

[Young Drachma]

This here is Issac K. Ross. I'm introducing him because he's going to be a subplot feature of our dynasty now. Issac was one of the heirs to Alzate Mining & Manufacturing dynasty before cashing out and investing his money all over the world in a variety of different projects. He's ostentatious, brash and no one really understands what he's good. Still, he serves us a purpose.

His net worth is estimated at $150 million US.

But one thing he loves more than making money is gambling it. Most joke that Ross should just buy Neloxia's casinos because he spends so much money in them. Gambling isn't an obsession for Neloxians, but foreigners love Neloxian casinos and in the tradition of the Brits, you can bet on pretty much anything in Neloxia. Even 9th division football games can be bet on in Neloxia, it doesn't much matter.

Sooo..here's the scoop. Mr. Ross is much too busy to do the research to gamble on games himself, so he's hired a lowly assistant to do his dirty work. Because he's rich and doesn't give a shit, he left us with about N$28,000 which works out to exactly $100,000 US dollars and our task is to gamble it all between the two Neloxia NCAA conference tournaments and then make him money on the NCAA tournament after that.

If we do well in this, he'll give us more and we might to get gamble on Neloxian soccer games, but only if we don't manage to screw this up.

So we're going to start this in the 1997-98 season and I'll post the tournament brackets, give information on the teams and games, I'll post my picks and sim the games. No funny business, though if I stop posting because I managed to lose all of his money...it was nice knowing you all.

[Young Drachma]

(in case you are wondering where it is geographically, here's a satellite picture. It's in Eastern Neloxia on the cape, north of Hellsbath)
(Day shot)

Ok, so here's the scoop. I'm in Victoria Palace -- think Neloxian Atlantic City -- and the story is like this: The minimum bet for conference tournament games bets is N$1000 for Neloxia league, $500 for Neloxia 8 (since that league isn't very good) and for NCAA games, it's N$5000 through the sweet 16 and afterwards N$10000 and the championship is $25000 so we've got to make some money to be able to really make a play at the NCAA.

Each game will have some different kind of bet, so it won't be straight about winning and losing. Plus, that way it's more random and it's less likely I'll have any idea of what's going to happen.

To determine the jackpots, I'm going to use random.orgs true random number generator each time and that'll determine how much I win. If I lose, I lose what I put in, of course and then it's off to try again.

Will we make it out of the conference tournies knowing we have to bet on a game in each round? I dunno, but it'll be fun to find out. I hope.

[Young Drachma]

The 1998 N-League tournament is up first.

We've got preliminary games up the wazoo and I don't know anything about these teams at all. At N$1000 sesta a pop, I can't really afford to be too cavalier about my picks either and I have to bet in each game. We're dropping N$6000 in this first round and remember he gave us N$28k, so if we lose every bet here we'll be down to N$22k. (I'll convert the currency to US dollars when we're all done, don't worry.)


Here's the bracket



and here are the bets for each game, with the jackpot for each (courtesy of random.org, all dollar figures N$ unless I specifically tell you otherwise.)

San Carlos v. Swenton
(+/- 10 points of the total points scored between both teams)
Jackpot: N$3300

Enclave v. Las Lomas
(Pick the leading scorer for the game) Jackpot: $4908

Alzate v. Condotti-Vanguard
(Pick the winner) Jackpot: $1433

NIT v. True Believers
(Pick the winner) Jackpot: $3169

Romero-Rasmussen v. Charles City
(+/- 5 points of the losing team)
Jackpot: $1304

Cromwell v. Alzate S & T
(Pick the leading scorer on the winning team) Jackpot: $4378

[Young Drachma]

Okay, I'm going to do one of these and then I'm done for the night with this. Here are my bets. I'll explain in more detail later, but I'm just curious to see how this turns out and so, I'm going to pick and sim the first game just to see how it ends up.

San Carlos (16-14) is scoring 71.2 PPG this season and is allowing 68.5, but their second leading scorer C Don Reedy (12.2 PPG) and second leading rebounder (7.3 RPG) is out for the rest of the season.

Swenton (12-17) is scoring 67.4 PPG and giving up 71.8 PPG and their second leading scorer SG Thomas Porter (10.2 PPG) is suspended for whatever reason.

These two played each other on Feb. 21st, San Carlos won 65-63 and the next two games that Swenton won, they put up 70 and 60 points respectively. San Carlos lost their last two after that win, scoring 43 and 57, but their two opponents were ranked Alzate and Romero-Rasmussen (RR from here on out) and so, I don't think we can hold that against them as a result.

Soo...my unscientific assessment is that both teams will struggle to put up points, but someone has to win and so, I say San Carlos will win 71-65 for a total of 136 points. So if they score between 126 (-10) and 146 (+10), we win this bet and the jackpot associated with it and if not, we're already down N$1000.

Wish me luck.

[Young Drachma]

Haha...this is going to be more fun than it ought to be. Feel free to offer up prop bet scenarios that I need to follow for future games and I'll use them.

Anyway, the first game is done:

Spoiler

Swenton 69, San Carlos 66

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Ian Thompson      C    28   4-4   7-9   0   5   1  0  15
Ken Porter        PF   25   3-8   3-4   4   9   1  2   9
Silvester Veh     SF   24   2-7   2-2   0   2   1  2   6
Mike Durtnall     SG   31  5-12   3-4   0   5   1  3  15
Keenan Collins    PG   32   3-5   2-2   1   5   2  3  11
Gotthilf Veitl    C    16   0-2   0-2   2   3   1  4   0
Fred Pilkington   SG   14   1-2   0-1   1   3   1  3   3
Udo Perlesreither SF   10   3-5   1-3   1   2   2  0   7
T. Potteau        PG    8   0-1   0-0   0   0   1  1   0
Howard Mchenry    SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
G. Remmelmayr     PF   10   0-3   3-4   1   1   0  1   3
Kieth Robinson    PF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 11 (I.Thompson 1, K.Porter 1, S.Veh 2, 
 M.Durtnall 2, K.Collins 2, G.Veitl 1, F.Pilkington 1, 
 U.Perlesreither 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (G.Veitl 2, T.Potteau 1)
Steals: 3 (K.Porter 1, U.Perlesreither 1, G.Remmelmayr 
 1)
3P FGs: 6-15 (S.Veh 0-1, M.Durtnall 2-7, K.Collins 3-4, 
 F.Pilkington 1-2, U.Perlesreither 0-1)

San Carlos Stats:
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Daryl Fenner      C    24   3-5   1-2   1   6   0  3   7
Preston Peterson  PF   15   1-5   0-0   0   4   1  5   2
Charles Bell      SF   34  4-10   4-5   4   7   1  2  14
Tony Williams     SG   32  8-15   4-6   0   3   2  4  23
Matthew Nicks     PG   36   3-5   2-4   2   3   5  1  10
Hunter Gross      PF   16   1-4   0-0   0   2   1  1   3
Terence Shanahan  PG    3   0-0   0-2   0   0   1  0   0
Pons Roussell     SG   12   1-3   1-3   0   0   0  1   3
Emiliano Campos   SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0
Rein Haller       PF   18   2-4   0-0   1   5   1  1   4
Burl Hopkins      PF    7   0-0   0-0   0   3   1  2   0

Turnovers: 10 (D.Fenner 3, P.Peterson 2, T.Williams 3, 
 P.Roussell 2)
Blocked Shots: 3 (P.Peterson 1, H.Gross 2)
Steals: 3 (T.Williams 1, M.Nicks 1, R.Haller 1)
3P FGs: 8-19 (C.Bell 2-5, T.Williams 3-7, M.Nicks 2-3, 
 H.Gross 1-3, P.Roussell 0-1)

Player of Game: C Ian Thompson (SWEN)

So I had the winner wrong -- Swenton managed to pull the minor upset -- but I was only ONE POINT from being dead on. The teams combined for 135 points. As such, we just won N$3300 for a profit of 2300 after our initial $1000. Not a bad start. Let's hope tomorrow treats us as good!

[Young Drachma]

Okay, let's get this first round done.

#8 Enclave v. Las Lomas
This is our biggest jackpot possibility, but really hard to choose because it's just hard to say wht it'll look like.

Enclave (25-5) is ranked in the Top 10 and Las Lomas (9-20) are obviously not. Las Lomas leading scorer is Brent Hysell (14.6 PPG) this season, but it's unlikely he's going to play out of his mind in some kind of huge upset. On the flip side, Enclave's leading scorer is SF Alonzo Brinker (16 PPG), but not far behind is PF Cole Wine (13.5 PPG).

When these two teams met two days ago, the leading scorer for the game was Las Lomas SF Scott Lee with 21 points. His season average is about 10.8 PPG, Hysell was second with 20 points in that game.

Doing some research over Enclave's games -- they've lost four of their last five after winning 24 straight -- it seems apparent that they win by spreading it out. Most of their games feature the other team having the person leading all scorers and so, it seems likely that while Enclave ought to win handily, Las Lomas will have the leading scorer.

Looking at their recent history, it means that either Brent Hysell or Scott Lee will be the leading scorer because that's historically what happens on that club.

For that reason, I'm going to choose Brent Hysell as the game's leading scorer because he usually logs more minutes than Lee and so, it's more likely he'll score more points.

This bet is a crapshoot though. Let's see how it goes.

Spoiler

Enclave 91, Las Lomas 62

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Paul Mitchum      C    23   1-4   0-0   2   5   0  3   2
Gregory Carver    PF   26   0-2   1-2   0   5   4  1   1
Fred Jenks        SF   24   4-8   0-0   1   3   1  2  10
Brent Hysell      SG   26   3-9   6-7   0   1   1  4  13
Gene Bullock      PG   30   3-8 11-11   0   3   2  1  17
Scott Lee         SF   21   1-8   0-0   0   0   2  2   2
Michale Brace     PG   18   4-8   2-3   0   1   2  2  11
Andres Karns      PG    1   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Tony Mason        C    14   1-4   0-0   1   2   0  2   2
Paul Walker       C     3   0-0   0-0   1   1   0  0   0
Darryl Jones      PF   14   0-2   4-4   1   3   0  2   4
Mark Burkhalter   SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   1  0   0

Turnovers: 10 (F.Jenks 1, B.Hysell 3, G.Bullock 3, 
 T.Mason 2, D.Jones 1)
Blocked Shots: 6 (P.Mitchum 1, G.Carver 2, B.Hysell 1, 
 D.Jones 2)
Steals: 4 (G.Carver 1, F.Jenks 1, B.Hysell 1, S.Lee 1)
3P FGs: 4-22 (F.Jenks 2-5, B.Hysell 1-7, G.Bullock 0-1, 
 S.Lee 0-5, M.Brace 1-4)

Enclave Stats:
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Ulysses Cain      C    30   2-5 10-10   6  16   2  4  14
Cole Wine         PF   32  7-15   3-5   3  10   3  4  17
Alonzo Brinker    SF   30  4-10   0-1   3   8   4  4  11
Jose Dixon        SG   22   3-6   2-2   0   2   1  5   8
Isiah Gile        PG   31   3-7   4-4   2   3   3  1  12
Curt Smith        SG   20   5-6   0-0   0   2   3  0  10
Mack Latour       PF   15   4-7   0-1   0   2   0  2   8
Dong Mendenhall   SG   12   3-5   2-2   0   1   4  1   8
Dominic Eng       C     5   0-0   0-0   0   2   0  0   0
Daniel Robertson  PF    2   0-0   0-0   0   0   1  0   0
Jonathan White    PG    2   1-1   1-1   0   0   2  2   3

Turnovers: 11 (U.Cain 2, C.Wine 1, A.Brinker 4, J.Dixon 
 1, I.Gile 1, M.Latour 1, D.Mendenhall 1)
Blocked Shots: 8 (U.Cain 4, C.Wine 2, M.Latour 1, D.Eng 
 1)
Steals: 4 (J.Dixon 1, I.Gile 3)
3P FGs: 5-12 (A.Brinker 3-4, J.Dixon 0-2, I.Gile 2-5, 
 D.Mendenhall 0-1)

Player of Game: C Ulysses Cain (ENCL)

I was wrong. Enclave's Cole Wine and Las Lomas PG Gene Bullock tied for 17 pts. Of course Bullock made 11 free throws, which is sort of insane that he went to the line that much. In any case, we don't win this bet. Oh well. I knew it'd be a hard one.

[Young Drachma]

Next two are easy. Just pick the winner it says.

#16 Alzate (26-6) v. Condotti-Vanguard (12-18)

I'm going with Alzate

Spoiler

Alzate 99, Condotti-Vanguard 76

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
James Alger       C    30   3-6   4-6   4   8   2  5  10
James Hoch        PF   13   0-2   5-6   3   4   1  5   5
Brad Williams     SF   21  5-11   4-6   1   3   1  4  16
John Board        PG   25   2-6   2-2   2   2   1  2   7
Bruce Witte       PG   33  6-16   3-4   4   6   6  2  19
Jose Durante      SG   17   1-5   0-0   1   4   0  3   3
Ellis Begin       SF   13   2-6   0-0   2   2   1  1   4
Thomas Louie      PG    8   0-0   0-0   0   1   1  2   0
Noe Kammerer      PF   17   3-5   0-0   1   9   1  1   6
Stephen Bing      PF   20   2-2   1-2   0   1   0  3   6
Al Reyes          C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 24 (J.Alger 4, J.Hoch 4, B.Williams 3, 
 J.Board 2, B.Witte 6, J.Durante 2, E.Begin 1, T.Louie 
 1, S.Bing 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (J.Hoch 1, J.Board 1)
Steals: 7 (J.Alger 1, J.Board 1, B.Witte 2, J.Durante 
 1, E.Begin 2)
3P FGs: 9-24 (J.Alger 0-1, B.Williams 2-5, J.Board 1-4, 
 B.Witte 4-9, J.Durante 1-3, N.Kammerer 0-1, S.Bing 1-1)

Alzate Stats:
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Robert Chancey    PF   32   3-3   2-3   2   7   1  3   8
Jacinto Jordan    C    31   6-7   4-8   4   9   1  2  16
Dylan Boyle       SF   14   3-7   2-3   1   1   1  5   9
Major Jones       SG   25   2-9   3-4   0   2   1  3   7
Richard Williams  PG   27  3-10   7-8   0   3   3  3  13
Maximino Sanz     SF   16   5-9   3-3   1   2   4  2  13
Joaquin Genovese  SG   18   5-8   2-2   0   1   1  2  13
Bradly Hendrick   SF   12   1-1   0-0   1   2   2  3   3
Bruce Crowell     PG    5   3-4   0-0   0   0   0  0   8
David Underhill   PF   11   1-4   0-0   1   2   0  0   2
Jeffry Young      SF    5   1-1   1-2   1   1   0  0   4
Landon Hartshorn  C     4   1-1   1-1   1   3   0  0   3

Turnovers: 14 (J.Jordan 2, M.Jones 2, R.Williams 3, 
 M.Sanz 3, J.Genovese 1, B.Hendrick 3)
Blocked Shots: 4 (R.Chancey 1, J.Jordan 1, R.Williams 
 1, J.Genovese 1)
Steals: 12 (J.Jordan 2, D.Boyle 1, M.Jones 1, 
 R.Williams 2, M.Sanz 3, J.Genovese 2, B.Hendrick 1)
3P FGs: 6-15 (D.Boyle 1-3, M.Jones 0-5, J.Genovese 1-3, 
 B.Hendrick 1-1, B.Crowell 2-2, J.Young 1-1)

Player of Game: PF Jacinto Jordan (ALZAT)

We needed that one, even though we basically only break even.

Neloxia Institute of Technology (17-13) v. True Believers (15-15)

This is a 7-10 game, so it's a bit more borderline, but NIT blew out True Believers a few weeks ago 83-60, but then barely got past 6-23 Charles City in their last regular season game the other night. On the flip side, True Believers barely lost to Alzate (11 points) and have played streaky all year. True Believers blew out Charles City though.

I think this one could be an upset, so we're gonna take True Believers.

Spoiler

NIT 68, True Believers 60

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Trevor Maloy      C    34   3-5   0-0   3   8   3  3   6
C. Miramontes     PF   17   3-5   0-1   1   2   0  5   6
Kenneth Flowers   SF   36  4-22   3-6   4  10   6  4  11
Randell Santillan SG   36  5-16   0-0   4   7   1  2  12
Caleb Cordero     PG   28   5-6   0-0   2   2   2  2  12
Theron Keeling    PG   18   1-6   0-0   0   0   4  3   3
Junior Snowden    PG    3   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Stuart McLain     PF   23   5-6   0-0   5  11   1  2  10
Gary Anglin       C     3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Cecil Redford     PF    3   0-0   0-0   0   2   0  0   0

Turnovers: 12 (C.Miramontes 1, K.Flowers 4, R.Santillan 
 3, T.Keeling 3, S.McLain 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (C.Redford 1)
Steals: 5 (T.Maloy 1, R.Santillan 1, C.Cordero 1, 
 J.Snowden 1, G.Anglin 1)
3P FGs: 5-16 (K.Flowers 0-2, R.Santillan 2-6, C.Cordero 
 2-2, T.Keeling 1-5, J.Snowden 0-1)

NIT Stats:
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Joe Fetter        C    28   3-4   0-2   2   8   1  0   7
Charles Smith     PF   28   3-5   1-4   1   4   1  3   7
Garland Kersey    SF   32  9-19   2-3   3   9   3  2  20
Arthur Morelli    SG   33  6-11   0-0   0   2   1  2  15
Jerald Ashworth   PG   28   1-6   6-8   1   3   5  0   8
Radek Rychtr      SG   19   2-4   1-2   1   1   2  1   5
Booker Saunders   PG    8   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Edmund Henderson  PF   14   2-3   2-3   3   8   1  0   6
Carey Kuster      C     5   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0
Severo Navarro    SF    5   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0

Turnovers: 13 (C.Smith 2, G.Kersey 1, A.Morelli 2, 
 J.Ashworth 2, R.Rychtr 1, B.Saunders 1, E.Henderson 2, 
 C.Kuster 2)
Blocked Shots: 1 (J.Fetter 1)
Steals: 3 (G.Kersey 1, A.Morelli 1, R.Rychtr 1)
3P FGs: 4-13 (J.Fetter 1-2, G.Kersey 0-3, A.Morelli 
 3-4, J.Ashworth 0-3, R.Rychtr 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Garland Kersey (NIT)

Oh well. I had the right idea, True Believers were within 3 at halftime, but choked on it.

[Young Drachma]

All right, last two of the 1st round

#11 Romero-Rasmussen (25-5) v. Charles City (6-23)

Gotta pick +/- 5 points of the losing team's score. Heh. Well, that's likely to be 6-23 Charles City who won one game in-conference all year.

When these two teams met earlier in the season, they lost 93-58. Their season high in a loss is 78 and their low is 43.

56 is the first number that came to mind, so we're gonna go with that.

Spoiler

Romero-Rasmussen 56, Charles City 50

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Miquel Eaddy      C    27   2-4   2-2   0   5   2  1   6
Samuel Futrell    PF   28   1-3   0-0   2   6   1  0   3
Jules Ulloa       SF   33  3-11   2-2   3   5   4  2   9
Rubin Luce        SG   36  7-16   0-0   1   5   0  3  20
Hayden Linkous    PG   31   3-7   1-1   0   0   3  2   7
Brady Castro      C    14   1-4   0-0   2   3   0  0   2
Daren Obannon     PF   11   0-0   0-0   0   0   1  0   0
Grover Jacobs     PG    9   0-2   0-0   0   1   0  2   0
Jeffrey Giordano  SG    4   1-3   0-0   0   0   0  0   3
Riley Reeves      SF    7   0-2   0-0   0   1   0  3   0

Turnovers: 7 (M.Eaddy 1, R.Luce 2, H.Linkous 3, 
 G.Jacobs 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (R.Luce 1, B.Castro 1)
Steals: 3 (S.Futrell 1, R.Luce 1, R.Reeves 1)
3P FGs: 9-25 (S.Futrell 1-2, J.Ulloa 1-4, R.Luce 6-11, 
 H.Linkous 0-4, G.Jacobs 0-1, J.Giordano 1-3)

Romero-Rasmussen Stats:
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Mike Nick         C    28   4-4   0-0   2   6   1  1   8
Roosevelt Young   PF   29   3-5   0-0   7  15   0  0   6
Robert Gonse      SF   29  5-12   1-2   1   4   3  2  13
Jose Miguel       SG   33   3-9   0-0   5   6   4  3   7
James Graf        SG   34  4-15   0-0   0   4   1  2  10
Donny Gamble      PG   26   3-8   0-0   3   6   1  1   8
E. Collinsworth   PG    6   0-2   0-1   0   1   2  0   0
Steven Eaves      PF   11   1-3   0-0   1   2   1  0   2
James Walton      SF    1   1-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   2
Stephen Johnson   SG    2   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 11 (R.Young 3, J.Miguel 3, D.Gamble 2, 
 E.Collinsworth 1, S.Eaves 1, J.Walton 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (D.Gamble 1)
Steals: 4 (R.Gonse 2, J.Miguel 1, J.Graf 1)
3P FGs: 7-27 (R.Gonse 2-7, J.Miguel 1-6, J.Graf 2-9, 
 D.Gamble 2-4, E.Collinsworth 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Robert Gonse (RRU)

Lost the bet by one point. Shoot. I knew I should've gone a smidge lower. Oh well.

Cromwell (18-12) v. Alzate S & T (15-15)

Leading scorer for the winning team. Hmm...this is another rematch from the last regular season game of both teams. A game that S&T actually won 82-71. Leading scorer was S&T's C Jordan Trudeau who put up 24 in that game.

Looking at both teams, it comes down to who I think will win. If Cromwell wins, it'll be SG Earl Gardner (23.6 PPG), if S&T wins, it'll be Trudeau (17.4 PPG)

I'd love to tell you I knew when I was plotting this that these two teams had dominant first option scorers, but I had no clue because it was all random.

In any case, I think Cromwell will win if only because S&T have only won one game all year outside of their building. Which means that we're going to choose Earl Gardner was leading scorer for the winning team.

Spoiler

Cromwell 85, Alzate S&T 61

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Jordan Trudeau    PF   29  6-11   1-1   1   6   0  0  13
Wayne Slayton     C    32  6-10   0-0   0   5   2  3  12
Charles Mayle     SF   27  4-10   2-2   0   3   1  3  11
Herbert Miracle   SG   30   1-7   0-0   1   8   8  3   2
Carlos Deans      SG   26   5-8   2-2   1   2   1  2  15
Craig Ritchie     PG   17   2-8   0-0   0   2   3  0   6
Jude Baier        SF   13   0-2   0-0   1   2   1  2   0
Andy Barboza      PF   16   1-5   0-0   2   4   1  2   2
Johnnie McKay     PG    6   0-0   0-0   0   1   2  2   0
Al Woodruff       SG    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Taylor Watkins    PF    2   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 21 (J.Trudeau 2, W.Slayton 1, C.Mayle 6, 
 H.Miracle 3, C.Deans 3, C.Ritchie 2, J.Baier 1, 
 A.Barboza 3)
Blocked Shots: 5 (W.Slayton 1, C.Mayle 1, C.Deans 1, 
 C.Ritchie 1, A.Barboza 1)
Steals: 12 (J.Trudeau 1, W.Slayton 1, C.Mayle 1, 
 H.Miracle 2, C.Deans 3, A.Barboza 4)
3P FGs: 6-25 (J.Trudeau 0-1, C.Mayle 1-3, H.Miracle 
 0-4, C.Deans 3-6, C.Ritchie 2-7, J.Baier 0-2, 
 A.Barboza 0-2)

Cromwell Stats:
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Barrett Rooney    C    31  8-17   2-3   2  15   1  1  18
Shayne Scheffler  PF   29   3-7   3-4   2  10   3  2   9
Earl Gardner      SF   35 10-17   3-5   2   2   5  2  25
Scott Means       SG   32   4-8   0-0   1   5   3  2  11
T. Quintanilla    PG   31  6-10   3-4   1   1   2  1  18
Mike Woods        PF   16   0-1   0-0   1   4   1  0   0
Kris Eckstein     SF   15   1-3   0-0   0   1   1  1   3
Lorenzo Lacroix   PG    7   0-1   1-2   0   1   1  2   1
Werner Baum       C     3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 17 (B.Rooney 3, S.Scheffler 2, E.Gardner 1, 
 S.Means 4, T.Quintanilla 2, M.Woods 1, K.Eckstein 1, 
 L.Lacroix 2, W.Baum 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (S.Means 1, M.Woods 1)
Steals: 10 (B.Rooney 1, S.Scheffler 1, E.Gardner 4, 
 S.Means 2, T.Quintanilla 2)
3P FGs: 9-17 (E.Gardner 2-5, S.Means 3-5, T.Quintanilla 
 3-6, K.Eckstein 1-1)

Player of Game: SF Earl Gardner (SPS)

Finally, I win one and it just happens to be the 2nd most lucrative one of the night. So on day one, we've made N$6,111 (US $21,789.99).

Off to Day Two.

[Young Drachma]

Ok, next rounds. I'm getting lazier about this, so I think we're going straight winners in these next few rounds.

But to make it interesting, I'm just going to do a bracket and pick who I think will win ahead of time and that way, I don't get the advantage of knowing and to make it a bit more fair.



Here are my picks without a lot of science behind them.

Quarterfinals (Jackpot: $4303)
South Alzate over Swenton
Alzate over Enclave
Neloxiant over NIT
R-R over Cromwell

Semifinals ($4699)
South Alzate over Alzate
R-R over Neloxiant

Finals ($2745 * 2)
South Alzate over R-R


I wrote down my own picks wrong, because I had Cromwell beating R-R, but then had R-R beating Neloxiant and losing in the final. So I don't really know what the hell I was doing there. I won't take any money for the R-R over Cromwell win because I wrote it down wrong, but will maintain my picks beyond that.

[Young Drachma]

Quarterfinals Results

South Alzate 81, Swenton 73
Neloxiant 83, NIT 59
R-R, 97, Cromwell 57
Enclave 79, Alzate 65

Note to self next time. Just play when you're not feeling lazy next time. As a result, we broke even in that round since I divided the jackpot between the games and indicated above, I wrote my own bracket down wrong and won't claim for R-R win in the QFs.

Semifinals Results

Enclave 82, South Alzate 69
R-R, 80, Neloxiant 66

Well again, we split. And this tournament is over as we cash out since we'll lose the final.

Finals

Enclave 82, R-R 72

Our final standing after the N-League tournament is N$36,612 (US $130,547.41) I guess at least we made it out without losing money, right? Time to go bet on some soccer while we wait for the Neloxia 8 tournament to get going.

[Young Drachma]

Time for the Neloxia-8 tournament. While the N-League is reportedly going to be a five-bid league at the least, the N-8 is going to be a one-bid league only according to Bubble Watch.

The N-8 Tournament shapes up like this:

1ST ROUND (Jackpot per win: $532)

1) Holy Cross (17-15) v. 8) Xavier (9-20)
4) Centenary (17-13) v. 5) Drexel (13-16)
2) Siena (22-7) v. 7) St. Joseph's (13-16)
3) Mt. St. Mary's (15-13) v. 6) Sacred Heart (16-13)

Just picking winners here:

Holy Cross over Xavier
Centenary over Drexel
Siena over St. Joe's
Sacred Heart over Mt. St. Mary's

I went with regular season matchups in these cases, not really a whole lot of science, Sacred Heart and Mt. St. Mary split the regular season matchups and so, it leads me to believe it's a pick-em situation and I don't know which way to go, but Sacred Heart has a higher RPI and one more win, so we'll go with them.

[Young Drachma]

Here are the results:

Xavier 72, Holy Cross 56
Siena 79, St. Joe's 53
Mt. St. Mary 68, Sacred Heart 62
Drexel 68, Centenary 48

This league sucks. No predictability at all. We lose more than we make on this one. N$500 per game in this tournament only eases the pain slightly.

Next round is

SEMI-FINALS ($758 per win)
Xavier v. Drexel
Siena v. Mt. St. Mary's

My picks are:

Siena over Mt. St. Mary's
Xavier over Drexel

I just don't want to pick an 8th seed with 10 wins in this one, but Drexel only has 14 wins and Xavier BLEW OUT Holy Cross. These two split the regular season series too. So in short, this league confuses me mightily. Meanwhile, Siena wass my pick to win this league from the start of this tourney and I'm sticking with that.

After thinking about it a bit more and looking at the stats, it seems Xavier scores more points a game than Drexel by a ten point margin. This leads me to believe they're playing inspired basketball after knocking off Holy Cross -- who they hadn't beaten all year -- easily and so...I'm going to take the 8th seed in another upset I guess.

Let's see if I regret it.

[Young Drachma]

Started to post the box scores for you, but I can't imagine you care.

Semi-finals

Xavier 62, Drexel 53
Siena 76, Mt. St. Mary's 57

Nailed them both. Not bad at all, not bad at all.

So in the final, I'm sticking to my guns.

Siena over Xavier, though you have to admire the moxie of the kids from Xavier for getting this far. Jackpot for this round is $622 * 5 (I do a random number for the jackpot, then a random number from 1-5 to get a multiplier so the finals aren't less than other rounds)

Here's the result from the final

Xavier 95, Siena 79

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Basile Fran       C    25   4-7   1-2   0   3   1  2   9
Gino Smith        PF   28   6-9   4-5   1   3   1  2  16
Terry Shill       SF    4   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Malcolm Sevier    SG   29   4-7   3-3   0   3   3  2  15
Kenny Chasse      PG   15   1-2   0-0   1   3   5  4   2
Patricio Garcia   C    21   3-4   6-6   0   3   0  3  12
Peter Dyer        PF    6   0-0   2-2   0   1   0  0   2
Jamison Jacobs    SF   14   2-3   3-4   0   1   1  1   8
Scott Thomson     SG   16   0-5   2-2   1   1   2  1   2
Hershel Pringle   SF   22   4-9   0-2   0   2   1  3  10
Jack O'Neil       PG   15   1-5   0-1   0   0   0  0   3
S. Lamerand       SF    5   0-1   0-0   1   2   0  0   0

Turnovers: 13 (B.Fran 1, G.Smith 1, T.Shill 2, M.Sevier 
 5, S.Thomson 1, H.Pringle 2, J.O'Neil 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (P.Garcia 1)
Steals: 7 (G.Smith 1, M.Sevier 2, K.Chasse 1, P.Dyer 1, 
 S.Thomson 1, H.Pringle 1)
3P FGs: 8-26 (G.Smith 0-2, T.Shill 0-1, M.Sevier 4-7, 
 J.Jacobs 1-1, S.Thomson 0-4, H.Pringle 2-5, J.O'Neil 
 1-5, S.Lamerand 0-1)

Xavier Stats:
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Fred Hickson      C    32 12-15   4-7   2  11   3  3  28
Brendon Rivera    PF   20   5-7   0-0   2   3   1  4  10
Harland Pelkey    SF   15   1-3   1-2   1   1   1  5   4
Toney Coley       SG   35  5-11   0-0   2   5   6  3  15
Scott Edwards     SF   30  6-15   3-3   3   4   2  4  16
Larry Gordon      PF   24   2-6   2-2   2  10   3  1   6
Paul Weis         PG   25   3-5   3-4   1   3   0  3  11
Arthur Boyce      SF    9   1-3   0-0   0   1   0  0   2
Nathanael Little  PG    2   0-0   1-2   0   1   0  0   1
Forest Lajoie     PF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Jim Taylor        C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Loren Fuchs       SF    4   1-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   2

Turnovers: 16 (F.Hickson 1, H.Pelkey 2, T.Coley 4, 
 S.Edwards 1, P.Weis 5, A.Boyce 3)
Blocked Shots: 4 (F.Hickson 1, L.Gordon 2, P.Weis 1)
Steals: 4 (B.Rivera 1, T.Coley 1, S.Edwards 2)
3P FGs: 9-23 (H.Pelkey 1-1, T.Coley 5-10, S.Edwards 
 1-6, P.Weis 2-4, A.Boyce 0-2)

Player of Game: C Fred Hickson (XAV)

Ooof. Should've known better. Should have known better. Oh well.

[Young Drachma]

So we leave the N-8 tournament with a total of N$35,660 (US $127,152.86) heading into the NCAA tournament.

Sort of sucks, but what can you do? At least, again, we're not under going into the NCAAs, but it's going to get pricier quicker over there and less margin for error when we lose.

With that said, let's head to Selection Sunday and see how it all flops out. We're only going to be betting on NCAA games involving Neloxian teams until there are none left.

[Young Drachma]

Ok, time for Selection Sunday. Here are the brackets for the 1997-98 tournament.









Remember each game we bet on in this round is N$5000, through the Sweet 16, N$10000 for the Elite 8 and Final Four and N$25000 for the championship.

We're going to need to make money to even be able to keep betting through the tournament. It's going to cost us $N30000 to bet on the first six games that involve Neloxian teams in this round, meaning if we lose them all, we'll be down to just one game in the next round before we've lost everything.

No pressure, huh?