There was quite the flurry of transactions prior to and during Week 10. One of those moves could be significant. Several were good, don’t get me wrong, but too little too late to change the roster they joined into a championship contender. But I will say, that it was great to see teams NOT stand pat and add some players who are capable of having a hot week, thus, making the playoffs more of a minefield this year, IMHO, as some of these teams now have enough firepower to upset a stronger team. Not enough to sustain anything for four straight weeks, but I would not be surprised to see anybody in the championship; I think these moves ensure an upset or two at least come playoff time. So, bully! As President Theodore Roosevelt was wont to proclaim; as in, good for those teams.
The most significant move to me was the addition of Brice Sensabaugh, frosh forward from Ohio State. The Prozac Pups picked him up, proving that those twelve step programs can work if you keep at it long enough. They are definitely one of those teams that will be a “tough out” come playoff time.
I also liked Max Fiedler to the Hillbilly Maulers. It’s a shame that Rice doesn’t really give him the ball but he leads his team in rebounds and assists and converts closer to 80 than 70% of his fga’s. I like him for the Maulers because he’s a junior. They are building a nice base for 2023-2024.
Finally, somebody added Filip Rebraca. Unfortunately, it was KC, whose roster is still lacking but I have to respect them for still going after it.
And Gator Bait finally cut ties with Zach Austin, who had a great frosh season last year but is really struggling this year. They added Patrick Gardner, who I had earlier and dropped. I needed better and Gardner is not a rebounder. But he is a scorer and he is doing well in conference play.
As for the week itself, Gator Bait went 0-3. However, while some may say they were due for a “correction,” let me remind you that two players (Murray & Podziemski) only played in one of their two games. And, with those two, you would normally figure they would combine for around 50 fantasy points, so, there was that, and, they started Markquis Nowell. Now, to be fair, Nowell has been having himself a great season with Kansas State, but, I’ve never “trusted” him. Prior to K-State he forced a lot of shots, shot a low percentage and turned it over a lot. He’s been great this season because now that he has a better supporting cast of players, he hasn’t had to carry the load. But he reverted this past week and it really cost GB. However, going forward, with the “real Max Abmas” back and killing it, he won’t have a difficult decision in benching Nowell for Abmas & Podziemski come playoff time. So, let’s not get excited. GB is still who I said they were.
Nipping at their heels however, in their own division in fact, is Maize & Blue Bloods. They finally “showed up” and were the force I thought they would be when I did my pre-season review. And, bad luck for all of us, it was not an aberration. Their lineup averaged 24 fppg per man and they are certainly capable of doing that more often than not as none of their players did anything they can’t normally do, unlike some other teams who got fantastic performances from players who had their week of weeks.
Those “guard hatin” Hoosiers are getting a nice lift from guard Cam Shelton. With Tubelis having elevated his game even more and frosh Grady “stiff” Dick performing pretty consistently, I will be elevating them when I do my pre-playoff stuff.