March Madness Brackets 2015

 

March Madness is finally here, and every year I fill out approximately a bajillion brackets, in hopes of doing the impossible and getting one correct. This year, I decided to cover all my bases, so I did each bracket with a particular theme: Crazy Upsets, Top Seeds, Coin Flip, Mascot v Mascot, etc. Hopefully this will increase my odds of having the perfect bracket!

Victory Never Hurt So Good: Baseball’s Top 10 Weirdest Injuries

I finally won a fantasy baseball match up!

It only took five weeks.

Fantasy Made Official

The fantasy basketball season wrapped up this week, and house favorite Redheaded Clergymen pulled out the W. My girlfriend managed to get third, so that’s also a small victory. She didn’t make any real moves during the season, so it’s interesting to me that her and I had completely different strategies, but both teams still did well. I guess I might start trusting my gut more and letting players ride.

Fantasy Baseball is Here!

Well I went and did it. I signed up for fantasy baseball, and I have no clue what’s going on…

FBB 2013-14 season Recap

Yours truly posted the highest score this week, en route to my eleventh victory this season, which tied me up with two other competitors for the fourth and final playoff spot. Yes, I was able to make it a three-game sweep of my girlfriend’s team, but apparently that doesn’t go into play in a tiebreaker based off of head-to-head record.

FBB Week 17 Recap

I was able to hang on in this week’s match up, and if I can keep this train a rollin’, I might just make the playoffs. I made some great pickups in Gerald Green and Markieff Morris from the Suns, and they both ended up getting me 69 fantasy points for the match.

FBB Week 16 Review

The NBA All-Star break made week 16 a two-week event, and taking on one of the best teams in our league, I viewed this match up as a great litmus test for the playoffs. Right now my team has some real strength, but the key fill-in players I had are back to riding the bench, like Chris Kaman, so I dropped a few and added the likes of Gerald Green, Markieff Morris, and Raymond Felton. We had 14 match up acquisitions for the All-Star break, an I had to use all of them to barely squeak by with a victory over Team Irvin, 1207-1195.

Last night, when I desperately needed some points to grab a victory, I got them. Going into the night, I was only down 8 points, but after watching Irvin’s team rack up three 30 point plus performances, I got a little worried. Kevin love and Rudy Gay helped salvage my night, though, and I came away with the victory.

As it stands right now, I can still make it into the playoffs with wins the next three weeks and key losses to other teams. So fingers crossed.

One of the other aspects that has affected my fantasy basketball team this year has been all of the trades. I now have two Cleveland Cavaliers players in Spencers Hawes and Luol Deng, who were traded from the  Sixers and Bulls respectively. Both have actually fared very well in Cleveland, probably because they are the only good players on the team, but with Varejao on the mend, they could actually be a solid team in the near future So far, both traded players have been able to produce like normal. Another player I had traded was Rudy Gay, who just posted 32 pts. and 11 boards in a win over the Nuggets. Right now, all systems are go. I’ve made it through a tough run with a W and two losses and still control my own destiny.

As for my thoughts on the dunk contest: meh.

FBB Week 15 Recap

Well since I was the highest scorer last week, it only makes sense that my team would completely tank!

Injuries straight up killed me this week, and I’m really hoping Kevin Love makes it back to the court soon. Check out some of these amazing stat lines from this week:

I held with Redheaded Clergymen for a while, but he was able to rack up 200 point games with ease, and by Friday, I had lost all hope of pulling out a victory. The standings right now in our league are super close, and I’m seriously worried I won’t make the playoffs. There’s four weeks left in the season, and it’s make or break time.

We’ve also been having a great conversation on the merits of Russell Westbrook, and particularly, his chemistry with Kevin Durant this last week:

What do you think? Is the Thunder better off with or without Westbrook? Vote below now!

Good-bye, Kendall Marshall: The Return of the Steve Squad

Well, it was good while it lasted. I ended up dropping Kendall Marshall for J.R. Smith last night. It looks as if the returns of Steve Nash, Steve Blake, and the impending return of Jordan Farmar have spelled devastation for a fantasy baller, who had been tearing it up all the way until last night, when the regular starters returned to action for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kobe Bryant seems to still be a ways off from his return, but the comebacks of the Steve Squad, Nash and Blake, reduced Marshall’s usually great numbers to mediocre at best. The game before, Marshall had a double-double with 10 points and 12 assists. All the assists got eaten up last night, though, as Blake and Nash combined for 15, and Marshall was left with 3. Word is that Nash will be eased back into his playing role, sitting out back-to-back games until he is fully ready to go, but after last night’s performance (Marshall only getting 21 mins.), it’s no wonder why his ownership has already dropped 11.5%, one game into Nash’s return.

Kendall Marshall was a stud for me, but I just don’t see him getting any better of a run in the near future. Hell Blake played a whole half with a ruptured eardrum, so you know he has the will and desire to be a starter again. over the last month, Marshall averaged 11 points and 10 assists and 3 rebounds. It was fun while it lasted, but for now, I’ve gotta pass on Marshall and move on to another project player: J.R. Smith.

On the Rise: Markieff Morris

If you haven’t heard, my boy Markieff has been goin’ off lately.

I picked him up about a week ago, and since then, he has scored 20; 11; 37; and 25 fantasy points in his last four games. Apparently the guy is kind of a dick, but after getting a talking to and finally receiving the confidence of his coaching staff, he has been straight money from the field, totaling at least fifteen points in 5 of his last 7 games. Now, the boards are not always there, but he has been known to drop a double-double about every four games.

Still, his production has been off the charts as of late, and he’s still only owned in 57% of ESPN leagues, after a 29% increase this last week. He still only averages 26 min. per game, coming off the bench, but history has shown that when he gets 30 min. he usually grabs a double-double. And in all of the games where he plays 30 min. he has scored in double figures.

So here’s to hoping that his streak of consistency continues, and he logs more PT. But for now, he should make for a solid add in any league.