This is a great final matchup…or, should be. It’s like the old fable of the tortoise vs. the hare. The tortoise in this case would be the Maize and Blue Bloods. They feature a lineup that has been as steady and consistent as any could be in the world of fantasy college basketball. They have some guys who can go big too, but it’s their consistency that has gotten them this far. That leaves the hare. The hare was a speed demon compared to the tortoise. Well, I would equate that attribute in the fable to the awesome firepower that the Virginia Gentlemen have put on display. And, the high flyers for the VG’s have been pretty consistent as well. My congratulations in advance to both teams for making it all the way.
#3 Virginia Gentlemen vs. #4 Maize and Blue Bloods
MBB made an interesting choice in their 6th man slot. Statistically, they had 3 good choices to make for this position and they are going with Purdue’s Braden Smith over Ja’Kobi Gillespie and T.J. Bickerstaff. Smith actually has a lower fantasy average but is a very steady performer. Gillespie has been pretty good down the stretch and you can never be sure of what you will get from Bickerstaff. That also means that they are starting Isaac Jones. Jones’ fantasy average is lower than all 3 but he can go big. So, I find all of that strategically interesting, as it’s obvious MBB put a lot of thought into those two choices. His big gamble to me is actually starting Chaplin at the guard. The February Chaplin is not the same strong performer that the pre-February Chaplin was, but I am guessing that MBB is thinking: #1-body of work vs. recent work, and, #2-maybe a little concern about the VG’s explosive scorers. So, go with Chaplin and Jones because they have shown they can go big and balance that with the steady Smith. I can understand that thinking. As for the VG’s, I’m sort of a “contrarian” myself, so, the fact that Xavier Johnson had a bad week last week means he should be back to his normal studly self; at the same time, I think Devin Carter should continue to be very productive but he’s not going to have a 40.0+ fantasy average this week. So, that’s the guards. Their question mark is Ford-who has generally been very good but can sometimes decide to play passively and not be aggressive as far as getting shots up. The battle of the freshmen is interesting. Haggerty (MBB) has no spread to speak of but averages 20+ for Tulsa and 21+ in fppg. So, he is being aggressive every game while Wilborn (VG) only averages 10.7 for St. Francis-PA and must rebound and block shots to get his 18.0 fppg average.
Analysis: ADVANTAGE Virginia Gentlemen but don’t count MBB out. VG is going to send a few big bombs out and MBB must stay steady and can’t have any of their people trying to do more than they normal do, resulting in some low scores. In general, two single digit fantasy scores (players scoring less than 10 fantasy points in a game) are difficult to overcome. This is not the week for MBB to see two of those games and since their opponent is VG, even one could prove deadly. On the other hand, another reason MBB can hang with VG if MBB’s players perform as they generally do is that VG can’t afford to have two-three players have sub-par weeks-although they are much more likely to be able to overcome that if a few of their big guns do their thing and GO BIG!