2025 Post-Tournament Wrap

If you would have told me that four 1 seeds would be in the Final Four before the tournament began I would have said Big Mur will be out of it weekend 1.  Big Mur is not usually a big fan of the top dogs and high seeds, usually trying to find the diamond in the rough, but this year big Mur went with several of the top dogs and peppered in some mid range seeds that worked out which was a winning formula.  By contrast my own 8-9 seed favoring got me exactly where you would expect, crash and burn. 

Pick #1 Rob & Josh -  8th Place   8-1 Odds

Top Scorer - Broome 84 Points (Round 1)     Worst Scorer - Tait-jones UCSD 7 points (9th round)  

46 total games played  8.8 avg per game      1 Top 10 Scorer   1 Bottom 10 Scorer

The boys got 13 more games this year, a huge jump but their per game avg went from 15.2 to 8.8.  Lesson learned here:  The players on top teams who aren't a top 2-3 scorer on the team never get the ball in the Tournament.   The barbell attempt to take 3 players from 11-16 seeds didn't work out well either because although they took them with their last three picks all three underperformed and were each in the bottom 12 of 121 players drafted (bottom 10%).  I am also a firm believer that the "Early Adopter" (meaning picking your 12-16 earlier than the last round) always gets burned. 

Pick #2 Kelly  3rd Place   5-1 Odds  

Top Scorer - Flagg Duke (Round 1) 105 Pts.    Worst Scorer - Townsend Yale (Round 11) 15 pts

35 total games played  13.0 avg per game     1 Top 10 Scorer   0 Bottom 10 Scorer

Kel increased his games played by ten, a huge jump, and a point less per game.  Didn't really have a bad pick but got some supbar scoring from higher round players like Auburn's Kelly (after opening round was a mid single digit average) that with a little more luck there he make a serious run at it.  Also suffered from two goose eggs in actual games played which didn't help but had good teams and ends up in a solid three position.  And no, there is no prize money for third, just to clarify.  

Pick #3 Big Mur (The Champ)  1st Place   9-2 Odds

Top Scorer - Clayton FLA (Round 1) 134 Pts (Top overall scorer)   Worst Scorer - Kam Jones Marquette (Round 5) 15pts 

35 total games played  13.9 Avg     2 Top 10 Scorers   0 Bottom 10 Scorer

With the possible exception of Kam Jones, Big Mur put together the most complete draft.  11 different teams selected and took 7 into the Sweet 16.  Big Mur's gambles this year paid off and as a result he gets his second title in three years.  Big Mur has always been an Early Adopter (12-16) proponent taking his this year in Round 7 and it did not come back to haunt him this time because his guy got him 23 and his picks after the 12-16 were very good with 3 of the 4 equaling or outscoring the 12-16 pick.  I'm still a staunch critic of Early Adoption but Mur made it work so I can't argue it here.

Pick #4  Mur Jr.    6th Place   7-1 Odds

Top Scorer - JT Toppin Texas Tech (Round 2) 77 Pts  Worst Scorer - Tre Johnson (Texas) 0 PTs (Round 11)

32 Total Games played   12.8 Avg     1 Top 10 Scorer   3 Bottom 10 Scorers

Mur Jr. was feast or famine.  He had an arguably excellent first 4 rounds.  Then the wheels fell off entirely.  Unfortunately he had three player in the bottom 10, two were his 10 and 11 picks but the third was his 6th Rounder and that hurt as hid an early exit for his 5th Rounder.  I do wonder if Rob and Josh would have taken Isaiah Evans of Duke if Mur Jr didn't which may have helped Mur Jr.?  Evans would have fit perfect with Rob and Josh with his  9 points in 5 games.  Next year Jim, next year!  

Pick #5  Andy  11th Place   4-1  Odds

Top Scorer -Emanuel Sharp (Round 2) 77 Pts   Worst Scorer - Aaron Scott St Johns (8th Round) 13 Pts

28 total games played  12.6 Avg     1 Top 10 Scorer   0 Bottom 10 Scorers

The oddsmaker is guilty of oddsmaking from the body of work this year with Andy.  His team looked okay to me which might explain why I finished only one spot ahead of him.  The Round of 32 was brutal to Andy as he lost 6 of his 11 and by then 3 of his top 5 sealing his fate in the basement.  He didn't have much luck either as he only had one player get north of 18 points in any game.  We know Andy will be back next year with a vengeance so don't feel bad for him just yet.   

Pick #6  Dave  5th Place     9-2 Odds 

Top Scorer - Alijah Martin FLA (Round 1) 83pts  Worst Scorer - Phillips Texas A&M (Round 6) 11 Pts

35 Games played   11.7 Avg     1 Top 10 Scorer1   1 Bottom 10 Scorer

I wasn't quite sure about Florida's Martin as the Round 1 pick for Dave but thankfully for him he disagreed with me.  Only LJ Cryer (Ben) got more.  Dave got a lot of single digit scorers and as a result his per game avg was down almost a full point from his team last year.  A little more scoring punch would have had Dave in this thing but he had a nice effort that kept him in the race a bit and bumped him up three spots from last year. 

Pick #7 Jim & Joe  7th Place    7-2 Odds

Top Scorer - Will Richard FLA (Round 1) 69 Pts   Worst Scorer - Mark Mitchell  Mizou 8 pts (7th Round)

30 Games played   13.7 Avg    0 Top 10 Scorer   1 Bottom 10 Scorer

Jim & Joe put together a nice scoring team but needed a bit more longevity (a few more games).  St John's early exit hurt them as it did me but they did hold 4 of their top 5 until the Sweet 16 but the Elite 8 didn't fall their way either.  The Mountaineer did continue to enhance his reputation as a mid to late round genius grabbing BYU's Richie Saunders in the 5th Round who put up 66.  If Joe can harness that same ability for the late rounds, watch out.  Another team that picks well, just needs a little luck to get over the hump.  Next year Connolly Boys, next year.    

Pick #8 JoeDoc  4th Place   3-1 Odds

Top Scorer - Lanier TENN (Round 1) 83 pts     Worst Scorer - Shieffelin CLEMSON (Round 6)  1 pt 

27 Games played  16.0 Avg    2 Top 10 Scorers   2 Bottom 10 Scorers

The former rookie sensation made a nice run this year, and put up some big scoring averaging 16 a game but just needed a few more games that proved elusive as Joe was down to one by the end of the Elite 8.  Still, a nice run at it and a respectable 4th place finish.  Not too bad, especially with the 8th pick, in my opinion a pick of doom - very hard to build a winner picking out of the 8 spot. 

Pick #9 Harry   10th Place     10-1 Odds

Top Scorer - Ziegler TENN (Round 2) 50 Pts    Worst Scorer - Ognacevic LIPSCOMB  18 Pts(Round 10)

24 Games Played    15.4 Avg     0 Top 10 Scorer   0 Bottom 10 Scorer

When your best scorer has 50 you know you might be at or near the bottom.  As is the risk with my reliance on 8-9 seeds, I lost 8 players in the round of 32.  Ouch.  Thanks to Andy for taking up last for me, check is in the mail my man. 

Pick #10  Ben   2nd Place    4-1 Odds

Top Scorer - LJ Cryer HOUSTON (Round 1)  112 Pts     Worst Scorer - Taelon Peter LIBERTY 8 Pts (11th Round)

32 Games played    14.5 Avg       1 Top 10 Scorer   1 Bottom 10 Scorer

What can I say, a great run at it.  Good balance, good first round pick.  Needed his household favorite Tom Izzo to go just one more game though but it was not to be this year.  An excellent effort and possibly the last stop before a title win in 26.  Make it happen young man.  

Pick #11  Ken   9th Place    Unspeakable Odds

Top Scorer - Sean Pedulla Ole Miss (Round 7)     Worst Scorer - Rae Sean Taylor SIUE 10 pts (Round 11)

31 Games played    12.2 Avg       No Top 10 Scorer   1 Bottom 10 Scorer

A very poor showing for the entire workforce of Granite Financial taking two of the bottom three spots.  A few bad mid round picks doomed Ken this year (Clemson and Texas Tech guy who put up three goose eggs in 4 games). Next year somebody in GFS has to reclaim at least the 590 Bethlehem Pike Title (now owned by the Rob and Josh's merry band of bench guys).

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Scoring by Round:

Round 1  898 (higher than last year)

Round 2  639 (higher)

Round 4  516 (higher)

Round 3  501 (higher)

Round 5  402  (Lower)

Round 7  365 (higher)

Round 6  324 (lower)

Round 9  266 (lower)

Round 8  240  (lower)

Round 10  235 (lower)

Round 11  206 (higher)

• For some reason Round 3 is always a dog and scores less than Round 4 and sometimes Round 5 also.  

• I'd like to think we did a good job of drafting as only 9 players drafted after Round 3 snuck into the top 33.  

• Ken's Round 1 pick (Kentucky's Oweh) was 33rd of 121.  Ouch.  Then again I can't talk, my best scorer was 30th of 121.  

• 21 players (17% of the entire pool)  scored 15 or less, down from 25 Players last year.  Rob and Josh, JoeDoc as well as Andy led with 3 of these each.   Big Mur and myself are the only ones with no players in this group.  

•  9 of the top 12 scorers made the Final 4.  

• The lowest total for a player playing the final 4 was 9 (Mur Jr's Isaiah Evans of Duke).  Lowest Final 4 player last year got 53.

• Rob and Josh had the most games played AND least points per game from the last two years.  Their 46 games bests my 42 from last year and their 8.8 per game crushed last year's worst of 12.3 a game (was me, who won).  

• On the other side, my 24 games does nor surpass Mur Jr and Ben from last year who had 23; and JoeDoc had the highest per game avg this year of 16.0 while last year Joe himself put up 17.1.