Eight Remain

If your name isn't Patrick, your probably upset with how our tourney has played out.  Not only does he have most wins officially locked up, he also has four of the remaining eight teams.
However, if there is one silver lining for the rest of us, its that we all have one team remaining.  And on top of that, we all get an individual crack at bringing down this mighty Bullock empire.

Matchup #1: Marquette vs. Syracuse(Jimmy)
Last year was the first time Jimmy had a champion.  In order to repeat, Syracuse has to start by beating a scrappy Marquette team.  A Marquette team that has gotten better every round thus far.  Its a miracle they survived the Davidson game, but they capitalized and find themselves knocking on the door of the Final Four.

Matchup #2: Wichita St. vs. Ohio St.(Daschel)
The common belief here is that Ohio St. will win and head to the Final Four.  However, Wichita St. is a tough minded team, and won't be intimidated.  You combine that with Ohio St's penchant for playing close, grind-it-out games, and this could very well come down to the final possession.

Matchup #3: Michigan vs. Florida(Cach)   
Florida has gotten to this point by beating Northwestern St, Minnesota, and Florida Gulf Coast.  Not exactly a murderer's row.  Michigan, on the other hand is riding high after a comeback victory over #1 seed Kansas.    If Florida does lose, it will mark the 3rd year in a row that Cach hasn't had a team in the Final Four.

Matchup #4: Louisville vs. Duke(J Meyer)
James will be looking to get back to the Final Four, a spot he has reached every year since 2007.  While it has only translated to one champ, its still a streak worth preserving.  Standing in his way is the daunting task of beating this Louisville team.

WINS:
Bullock - 19
Jimmy - 12
Daschel - 11
Cach  - 8
Meyer - 7

Moving On to the Sweet 16

On the eve of Sweet 16 play, lets take a moment to recap the weekend action.

RIP Zags.

The magical first day for Hennessy continued on Friday morning, with both Creighton and Ole Miss getting those all-important W's.  However, the wheels quickly and tragically came off from then on.  It began with Georgetown dropping to FGCU!, followed the next day by Wichita St pulling the rare 1/9 upset win.  The 1st round upsets turned into 2nd round disappointments, leaving Hennessy with just two horses left in this race(Oregon, Syracuse).   

James had a rough first round, losing all but four matchups.  The weekend was a split, but he does retain both Duke and Indiana.  While most wins is out of the question, he still has high hopes riding on his top two drafted teams.

After Cach's laughable first day, the state of Florida came to his rescue.  In fact, out of his 8 total wins, 7 hail from schools located in the Sunshine State.  Florida Gulf Coast was the 4th to last pick in the draft, yet they are still around for the final 16.  (I'm sure Cach knew this would happen when he picked them)

Bullock, at this point, looks to be the odds on favorite for most wins, and arguably has the best remaining team(Louisville).  It looked grim for everyone else after Saturday, with Bullock having double the amount of wins as the closest competitor.  Sunday saw him lose Minnesota & Cal, but he still is an enviable position.

Daschel lost a few key matchups on Friday(Colorado & Oklahoma) leaving him with shrinking hopes for challenging most wins.  However, he does retain his top two picks(Ohio St, Kansas), and also has the pesky La Salle team.  Almost forgot...TEMPLE!  Finally got a damn win...

WINS:                                               TEAMS REMAINING:

Bullock - 15                                         Bullock - 6

Hennessy - 11                                      Cach - 3

Daschel - 10                                        Daschel - 3

Cach - 8                                               James - 2

James - 6                                              Hennessy - 2

Mouth of the South

http://thebiglead.fantasysportsven.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/marshall_hendersonauburn.gif

2013 Day 1 Recap

We kicked off the festivities Wednesday evening with a juicy Cach/Daschel matchup in the final play-in game.  We decided to go back to using one play in game to get that magic number of 65 where all 5 guys get 13 teams.  La Salle bagged a W for Daschel over Boise St.  

A monster day for both Jimmy and Pat.  Jimmy scored the biggest upset of the day with Harvard toppling New Mexico.  Pat got a nice 12/5 upset with Cal beating UNLV.

On the other end of things, it was an very rough day for James and Kevin.  James got the Butler win early this morning, and was looking to be in very good position to get the Davidson upset win.  However, Marquette hit some clutch shots, and Davidson forgot how to play defense on the final clenching layup for Marquette.  

Cach is on life support after just the first day.  He spent two high picks on Mountain West schools New Mexico and UNLV, and they both came back to bite him in the ass.  Most wins is looking unlikely at this point.  Cach is aching just to get a single win...

Daschel had a couple upsets in the making, but came up short.  Gonzaga hung on against Southern, and Butler locked down Bucknell down the stretch.  He also lost Pittsburgh to a minor Wichita St. upset win.

WIN TOTALS:

Jimmy-8

Pat-7

Daschel-3

James-1

Cach-0

  

2012

Breaking the trend of past years, 2012 was a split pot.  Jimmy won champion, while Daschel won most wins.
In fact, this was Jimmy's first time winning any title in this pool.

Continuing the Temple storyline, they were seeded fifth after a very strong regular season.  James ended up taking the bait.  Returning to form, they got rolled by South Florida in the first round.

Champion: Jimmy (Kentucky)
Most Wins: Daschel-19
Pat-16
Jimmy-11
James-10
Kevin-7

2011

James made his triumphant return to the challenge, and took home most wins and the champion in a huge breakthrough performance.

Daschel got tired of being screwed by Temple, so he picked the team playing against them in the first round. Naturally, Temple won.  This was really the cherry on top to a pathetic 3 year run, which saw Daschel unable to advance a SINGLE TEAM to the elite 8 over that span.

This was the 5th straight year in which the champion also won most wins.

Champion: James (UConn)
Most Wins: James-22
Bullock-14
Cach-12
Daschel-9
Jimmy-6

2010

For the second time in three years, we played a man down while James was in Fuji doing something a hell of a lot more virtuous than playing some bracket game.  We commend you.

Cach took advantage, cruising to the most wins and championship titles.

Champion: K Cach (Duke)

Most Wins: K Cach-22

Jimmy-17

Pat-17

Daschel-6

For the 3rd row in a row, Daschel drafted Temple, only to have them lose in the 1st round.

2009

Bullock carried his momentum from 2008 into the 2009 tourney, and easily took most wins, plus the championship.
We returned to the five man lineup, but did not use the play in game to give everyone an even 13 teams.

Champion: Bullock (North Carolina)
Most Wins: Bullock-17
Cach-14
Jimmy-13
James-12
Daschel-7

For the 2nd year in a row, Daschel drafted Temple, only to have them lose in the 1st round.

2008

Jimmy was overseas in Europe, and we made the conscious decision to NOT invite Wirth back.  We instead rocked a four man lineup.  

Usually by the time we reach the Final Four, there are 2 or 3 of us with no teams left.  This year is the only time that all participants had a team in the Final Four.  

Pat(Kansas) defeated James(North Carolina) in the first semifinal, and locked up most wins in the process.

Daschel(Memphis) defeated Cach(UCLA) in the other semifinal.

Daschel was feeling confident about winning his 3rd championship in a row, but it wasn't meant to be.

Bullock danced around our apartment with glee as Mario Chalmers hit the winning shot over Memphis.

Champion: Pat (Kansas)

Most Wins: Pat-20

James-16

Kevin- 15

Christopher-12

2007

First year the tourney had its traditional five man lineup. 

Nothing too memorable from this tourney. 

Florida won its 2nd straight championship, and Oden led Ohio St. to the title game with his left hand.

Champion: Daschel (Florida)
Most Wins: Daschel-17 
Pat-13 
Jimmy-13 
Kevin-11 
James-10

2006

The one year we let Wirth into the tourney, he dominates.
3 of the 4 final teams. Most wins by a mile.  Something to tell the grand-kids, I suppose...
However, the big underdog Florida(Daschel) stole the championship from UCLA(Wirth).
Another oddity: For whatever reason, I used a CBS sportsline bracket instead of the usual ESPN bracket. 

Champion: Daschel (Florida)
Most Wins: Wirth-22
Daschel-14
Pat-13
Cach-8
Jimmy-7

2005

The original consummation of the Challenge. This year featured just four players.
(Sorry James, for the lack of an invite)

This matchup came down to the championship game for the right to win "Most Wins" and "Championship". 

Winner take all. Daschel vs. Cach. Cach won.
Congrats on winning $20, bitch.

Champion: K. Cach (North Carolina)
Most Wins: Kevin-22
Daschel-20
Pat-12
Jimmy-9