Post Tournament Wrap

Fist of all congrats to Dustin, who nabbed his third win in just six years.  He needed a very strong showing to fend off that pesky El Gato, who had a very strong year that wins in most years.  El Gato takes the mantel as the best loser from yours truly so there is a clear trend that PC alums make excellent losers.   Many thanks to El Gato for his professional scorekeeping and thanks to all of you for allowing the Philly kid to make more an ass of himself in this pool.  Have a great summer.

Farco - Pick #1  4-1

3rd Place

Best Pick - Stojakovic ILL (Round 4)  69 Pts

Worst Pick - Dent (UCLA)  (Round 5) 21 PTs

Farco didn't have any actual BAD picks but he never made a really good pick either, hence he takes third.  Boozer was a no brainer, he had to take him and after that he did well with Peat but Rounds 3-7 were a struggle, and with a good pick in that mix he might have taken it this year.  Next year Farco.  

Pick #2 - Strong Island JT   9-2

6th PLace

Best Pick - Martin High Point (Round 7) 53 pts

Worst Pick - Fears MSU (round 2) 32 Pts

JT was not happy with his Ron Duguay assignment in the odds but it proved to be a rather accurate mascot for his squad.  Came out looking good but ended with no substance.  Our hero's late round picks doomed him like many of us only getting 5 games out of his last three picks even though his 12-16 went two games.  Next year JT.  In the meantime, enjoy that Whistlepig.

Pick #3 - Red Light, aka "El Queso"  Normally a lock for 2nd but this year not feelin it.  10-1

4th Place (an odd feeling to not be in 2nd)

Best Pick - Lendenborg (Mich) (as predicted)

Worst pick - The rest of them (as predicted)

The second place king has been dethroned but happy to pass the mantel to my fellow PC alum, El Gato so the PC lockdown on best loser continues.  Gato accurately called me out on my hypocritical 5th round pick going for the high flying 12-16 guy (stupid).  My DIRECT quote from my extensive 12-16 analysis findings in last year's wrapup:  "Conclusion.  Early Adoption is a team killer. "

New Conclusion = I am a complete moron without question.

Pick #4 - Cat  7-2 

2nd Place

Best pick -Gillespie TENN (Round 6) 87 PTs

Worst Pick - Murauskas ST Marys (Round 5) 4 PTs 

Strong finish by El Gato.  His second round was a bit low scoring as that and the St Mary's curse kept him from another Title to add to his lengthy list well documented on the home page of this site - though this one would without argument have to be the toughest to get.  This group is the elite of the elite in pool drafting (which explains why I have never won).

Pick #5  Pags   4-1

8th PLace

Best Pick - Philon (Alabama) Round 2 73 PTs

Worst Pick - Thornton (OSU) Round 7  10 Pts

The reigning champ came out swinging in Round 1 with a great showing points wise but losing three was too much to overcome.  Got great scoring just a smidge more longevity next year Pags and you are right back on top.      

Pick #6 - T-Mac     9-2  

9th Place

Best pick - Boozer Duke (The other one) (Round 6)  50 Points

Worst Pick - Thomas (Virginia) Round 3  23 Pts

Uncharacteristically low finish for Tmac.  Tough spot to pick in as all the high fliers were gone but he only got two 20+ games and his top guy made the Final 4 but only put up 66 doing it.  Rough Rd 2 for Tmac when he saw 3 get ousted and only carried two player into the sweet 16.  I expect Tmac to be back in the upper echelon next year, the trend analyzers will be all over him as the smart money next year.

Pick #7  El Bagre  5-1

5th Place

Best Pick - Reed UCONN (Round 2) 117 Pts {Top pick of the draft}

Worst Pick - Condon FLA (Round 1) 34 PTs

El Bagre came out flying in Round 1 taking the lead but losing his top pick in Round 2 was something out bottom feeding friend could not bounce back from.  His Reed pick kept him in the running as Reed ended up the top scorer in the tournament.  Next year stay away from Florida El Bagre.  

Pick #8 - Mana   4-1

10th Place

Best Pick - PEterson KU( Round 3) 49 PTs 

Worst Pick - Jefferson Iowa St (Round 2) 2 Pts

A year to forget for Mana.  Good start in Round 1  but then the wheels came off between injuries and early oustings, he never had a chance.  

Pick #9 - Dustin  4-1

Champ

Best Pick - Mara (Michigan) Round 2  88 Pts

Worst Pick - Bilodeau (UCLA) Round 4  0 Pts

Hard to believe Dustin's Round 4 pick put up Goose Egg and he still won.  His other picks were all good and had to be to get past El Gato.  Fine job yet again Dustin.   Dustin's third win in six years.  One more and this site gets renamed DustinPoolMadness.com.

Pick #10 - Scooter 4-1

7th Place

Best Pick - Smith Purdue (Round 2) 67 PTs

Worst Pick - Catchings GA (Round 6)   0 Pts

If Scooter didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck.  His Johnnies had a nice run but not nice enough to get him in the upper echelon.  His 5 and 6 picks totaling 4 points is what did him in.  Scooter will be back next year with new Johnnies to pick and maybe an even deeper run with coach Rick.

Now for some idiotic facts and analysis/commentary:

•  Harry had two of the top three scorers overall and still managed to only come in 4th.

• Mana and Pags led the pool in players appearing in the "putrid index" of 15 pts or less for the tournament, with two each.  We did a bit better this year with only ten players making up the index however we did have three goose eggs.  Teams avoiding the index this year were Tmac, Harry, Farco and JT.

• El Gato had FOUR players in the top 20 scorers.  Dustin and Farco had three each.

• JT had 4 players within 5 points of each other for the tournament.  Unfortunately their totals were from 27-32 and not 88-93.

• Tmac had four bottom 20 scorers leading the way.  Farco had three, and several had two.

Here are the Round averages by Round (per player):

Round 1 - 61.2 (a 25% drop from last year)

Round 2 - 65.4 (First time ever Round 2 outscored Round 1 and a 23% increase)

Round 3 - 52.5 (18% Increase)

Round 4 - 43.5 (a 46% increase {skewed by El Gato's horrible 12-16 pick last year})

Round 5 - 29.2 (Decrease of 19%)

Round 6 - 36.7 (Decrease of 5%)

Round 7 - 23.8 (Increase of 27%)

A very clear indicator of the lack of big scoring men as Round one was way down and rounds 2-4 were way up.  Interesting down trends in Round 5 and 6 may indicate that there was some very good secondary scorers but pickens got slim once they were taken.  

Thanks again for letting an idiot keep score and offer commentary.  I look forward to reclaiming my rightful place as the top loser for 6th time in 7 years in the El Gato Invitational 2027.  Have a great summer lads.