Eight or nine years ago frequent Big 12 Hoops commenter TomBruno23 sent an email to a group of our college friends about a fantasy type game he read about, maybe in ESPN The Magazine... and our lives haven't been the same since!
The premise is simple, we all gather on a conference call and over IM and select NCAA Tournament players, and the only stat that counts is points.
(See the Results here)
So that puts a wrinkle in scouting for the draft. Now you aren't necessarily looking for the best player, but rather the guy who is going to play the most number of games and score the most total points.
That means that for as much of a game changer as Kansas' Cole Aldrich may be, he's probably going to go in the 2nd or third round. Rebounds don't count, you see. Neither do blocks.
It also means that the 6th man on a potential Final Four team, like Kentucky's Darnell Dodson, who averages 6 ppg will get drafted ahead of, say New Mexico State's Jahmar Young, who can put up 20 a night but might only play one game, because 6 games of 6 pts is nearly double 1 game of 20 pts.
So using a Snake Draft format, tonight I will get on the phone and B.S. for 2 hours as guys I know are lying will talk about Jerome Randle like they have seen Cal play a thousand times. They haven't but Randle will be on their Matrix.
The Matrix is what all of us create prior to the draft, and without giving away any of my secrets, it basically lists out who you are drafting. As a nerd, mine is generally an Excel spreadsheet. Some guys just print out team pages off one of the sites, and our resident Basketballtologist has been know to just sit down with a blank bracket and rattle off names of the best players on each team.
So for those looking for that new vice, this is probably the most fun night of the year for a college hoops junky like myself and I HIGHLY recommend that anyone as into the tournament as I am try this at home.
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