NCAA Player Pool UpdateBy: Jacob Stallard

Following Iowa State and Baylor losses early Thursday afternoon, the Round of 64 was surprisingly chalky, meaning that most of the players in our pool lived to fight another day, but the second round delivered in excitement value and teams like Villanova, Virginia, and Kansas, which each offered several players to our pool, fell from contention.  We’re still a long way from the finish line, and 5 or 6 competitors in our pool still have a pretty equal shot at victory, as we wait and see if a take-complementary-scorers-on-great-teams strategy wins out or if a gamble-on-high-scorers-on-above-average-teams strategy prevails.  Without further ado, here are the current standings:

1st Place: Aran Smith

Still Dancing:

Travis Trice: 38 points

Terry Rozier: 37

Nigel Hayes: 29

Stanley Johnson: 26

Kaleb Tarczewski: 21

Andrew Harrison: 19

Sent Home:

Joseph Young: 57

Bobby Portis: 33

Total: 260

Highlights

-Aran has started out with a great combination of the highest score (by a wide margin) and the second-highest number of players still playing (6)
-Travis Trice is his second-leading scorer despite being his last pick, and is still dancing thanks to his role in leading Michigan State to an upset of Virginia
-6 of Aran’s players are exceeding their regular season scoring average in the tournament
-Joseph Young, though he couldn’t keep Oregon alive in their loss to a tough Wisconsin team, has scored the most points of anyone in the pool so far by a considerable margin
-The other 7 staff members may or may not be conspiring to let Aran, the site president, win

Lowlights

-Not much to speak of.  First round pick Stanley Johnson had a dud 4-point outing against Ohio State, but he had 22 against Texas Southern so it’s not a big deal

2nd Place: Eric Guilleminault

Still Dancing:

Quinn Cook: 35

TJ McConnell: 31

Karl Towns: 29

Trey Lyles: 21

Brice Johnson: 14

Sent Home:

Stefan Moody: 40

Darrun Hilliard: 39

Dez Wells: 23

Total: 232

Highlights

-Eric has a very healthy point total and 5 players still dancing, tied for third-most in the pool
-Quinn Cook has been very good with 35 points in a balanced Duke offense and his team looks like it will go deep in this tournament
-TJ McConnell, usually more of a distributor, has far exceeded his scoring total and provided great value for a 7th round pick
-6 players have exceeded their regular season scoring average in the tournament

Lowlights

-Eric’s two highest scorers are out of the dance, including Darrun Hilliard, leading scorer of a Villanova team that got upset early
-Brice Johnson has yet to exceed 7 points in this tournament and plays Wisconsin next
-Technically, Eric was not present to even pick his own team, so a balanced team was selected for him by none other than our first place competitor, Aran Smith

Third Place: Dave Ray

Still Dancing:

Sam Dekker: 37

Zach Auguste: 32

TaShawn Thomas: 27

Justice Winslow: 19

Sent Home:

D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera: 37

Seth Tuttle: 28

Perry Ellis: 26

Kelly Oubre: 17

Total: 223

Highlights

-Sam Dekker has proven to be a good first pick, scoring 17 or more in each game as his team is looking really sharp and primed for another win or 4
-Zach Auguste’s tournament scoring average has been 4 points higher than his regular season average
-TaShawn Thomas has stepped up his scoring and his Oklahoma squad is the highest seed in its region

Lowlights

-Dave is already down four players, including co-leading scorer Smith-Rivera
-His player with the highest regular season average, Seth Tuttle, is also eliminated
-Justice Winslow, Dave’s second pick, has looked like more of a complementary scorer in Duke’s first two wins, amassing only 9.5 PPG, almost 3 points shy of his average

Fourth Place: Clayton Crowe

Still Dancing:

Jahlil Okafor: 47

Marcus Paige: 34

Trevor Lacey: 26

Brandon Ashley: 21

Tyler Ulis: 20

Sent Home:

Frank Mason: 33

Taurean Prince: 18

Georges Niang: 11

Total: 210

Highlights

-Jahlil Okafor is tied for having the highest scoring total of any remaining player and Duke’s run doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon
-Tyler Ulis has provided good value as a last round pick, nearly doubling his scoring average in each game he’s played
-Trevor Lacey’s team got a surprise victory over Villanova to extend their stay in the Dance a little longer than expected

Lowlights

-Clayton was the only participant to have a player on Baylor or Iowa State, the two 3 seeds that lost in their first game, and he had a player on each team.  His second pick, Georges Niang, was gone after the sixth game of the tournament
-Frank Mason’s Kansas Jayhawks were also upset, costing Clayton the second of his first four picks

Fifth Place: Tyler Ingle

Still Dancing:

Kyle Wiltjer: 47

Jerian Grant: 33

Pat Connaughton: 16

Sent Home:

Malcolm Brogdon: 31

Melo Trimble: 29

Justin Anderson: 23

Josh Hart: 12

Treveon Graham: 10

Total: 201

Highlights

-Kyle Wiiltjer is tied with Okafor for having scored the most points in this tournament among players still playing.  He’s looked fantastic so far and gets to play an 11 seed in his next game
-Notre Dame continues to deliver for Tyler as two of his best players thus far lead the Irish

Lowlights
-After losing 5 players in the first weekend (4 in the round of 32), Tyler only has 3 players remaining, fewest of any competitor
-6 of Tyler’s players are scoring below their season average in this tournament
-Two of Tyler’s 3 remaining players, Grant and Connaughton, play for a Notre Dame team that barely won its first two games

Sixth Place: Jacob Stallard

Still Dancing:

Frank Kaminsky: 43

Buddy Hield: 30

Delon Wright: 23

Tyus Jones: 16

Isaiah Cousins: 15

Sent Home:

Tyler Harvey: 27

Nic Moore: 24

Isaiah Taylor: 14

Total: 192

Highlights

-Frank Kaminsky has been a good first pick and has put up 43 points after being selected second overall
-Jacob’s (my) three one-and-dones combined for 65 points
-No players were lost in the round of 32
-Oklahoma, for which two of my remaining 5 players play, is now the highest-seeded team in its region

Lowlights

-4 of my 5 remaining players are scoring less than their season average in this tournament, particularly Tyus Jones and Isaiah Cousins, who have really looked like role players
-3 players were one-and-dones, tied for most of any team, including leading scorer Tyler Harvey of Eastern Waahington

7th Place: Michael Visenberg

Still Dancing:

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: 34

Kevin Pangos: 34

Domantas Sabonis: 25

Demetrius Jackson: 22

Przemek Karnowski: 20

Aaron Harrison: 16

Devin Booker: 8

Sent Home:

Ryan Arcidiacono: 17

Total: 176

Highlights

-All 8 of Mike’s players survived the first game, and 7 are still dancing, most of any team
-All 7 of Mike’s remaining players play for the higher-seeded team in their Sweet Sixteen matchup

Lowlights

-Mike has the lowest average score (11.6) of any competitor by far
-Mike’s highest regular season scoring average is Demetrius Jackson’s 12.5 PPG
-Mike’s top 2 picks, Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker of Kentucky, have combined for a total of 24 points in 2 games
-5 of Mike’s players have scored less than their per game average in the regular season in this tournament

8th Place: Tajh Jenkins

Still Dancing:

Ron Baker: 27

Montrezl Harrell: 22

Willie Cauley-Stein: 16

Sent Homes:

D’Angelo Russell: 37

RJ Hunter: 36

Kris Dunn: 11

Rysheed Jordan: 10

Myles Turner: 2

Total: 163

Highlights

-7th round pick Ron Baker has led the way for Jenkins with 27 points
-Willie Cauley-Stein is playing a lot of minutes for the seemingly unstoppable Kentucky Wildcats

Lowlights

-After many of his gambles failed to pay off, Tajh now has the lowest score by 13 and only three players left, tied for the least in the competition
-All 8 of Tajh’s players are scoring less in this tournament per game than they did in the regular season
-Tajh can only get 2 players into the Final Four, at the most, as Baker and Cauley-Stein would face off in the Elite Eight with wins by both
-First pick Kris Dunn was upset in the first round and ended up with a mere 11 points
-Myles Turner’s 2 points will stand as the least by in player in the pool

Projected Scores if Favorites Win Out and Players Score Their Season Averages

1)Aran – 429
2)Eric – 400
3)Jacob – 398
4)Dave – 370
5)Clayton – 358
6)Michael – 340
7)Tyler – 294
8)Tajh – 246