First, I don’t know if anyone realizes this but all four teams in the Final Four have never before won an MML title, so, the champion will be a “newbie” to the list of past winners. Whoever that will be, welcome to the club!
#4 Maize and Blue Bloods vs. #8 KC Warthogs
Well, I thought if Buchanan played it would be a toss-up. Well, Buchanan played and had just 6 fantasy points in his first game of the week. Of course, Maize and Blue Bloods chose this week to go for both consistency and explosiveness (189.0 with one player still to play his first game) and have therefore eliminated the threat of the “Edey factor” entirely. Yes, you heard me right. While KC has more players who can improve their scores with 2nd round games, it doesn’t matter. MBB has already prepared the pit and the spit for the luau and roast Warthog is the main course.
Rated: Stick a fork in the Warthogs, they’re done. MBB is in the championship game!
#2 Hoosiers vs. #3 Virginia Gentlemen
This is a little bit of a tear-jerker, so to speak. The Hoosiers do not have a history of success in the MML and by far, this was their best season and it appeared to be their best chance to win a title. Now, let me say that the Hoosiers lineup is having a very good week. They have 136.0 already and are still waiting on Ware to have his game. And, he could easily put 30+ up and place them somewhere from 166.0-170.0. So, what’s not to like? Nothing. The problem for them is that the Gentlemen not only have 212.0 from their first round of seven games, but the reason the Hoosiers are toast is that Jones & Bacot only had one game each this week and they scored 37.0 & 38.0 respectively. In other words, that’s 75.0 locked in. The Hoosiers can make it close. Only Dubar and their freshman Mack approached or surpassed their season averages. But I don’t see how they can overcome that 75.0. VG will see some slippage, especially from Carter, who put up a 50-point fantasy game, and, perhaps a little from their freshman, but could also get much higher production from Ford. VG should wind up somewhere from 175.0-185+.
RATED: The Gentlemen are going to the cotillion ball!
STATS UPDATE: I want to remind everybody that the numbers never lie. Looking at the adjusted numbers below (they now include the Elite 8 week), you won’t see any teams in the 270’s or 280’s. Average weekly score for weeks 7-Sweet 16 (total number of games played during those weeks in parentheses).
Hoosiers=317.7 (91)
Virginia Gentlemen=311.8 (94)
Maize and Blue Blood=300.2 (95)
KC Warthogs=293.7 (89)
COMMENT: The Hoosiers couldn’t expect to stay around the 330.0 per week mark forever, and even though 317.7 is still rather gaudy, they are more like a 300-310 team right now. That’s what makes me thing they and VG-which is going the opposite way, on the rise, are such a close and great matchup. MBB has also been rising, ditto KC. The difference there is that MBB is right at their ceiling and relies on its players to get their averages to win. KC, despite the “Edey factor (Edey counts for one and a half players just about every week), needs some of their players to “out-perform” their season totals. However, this too, looks like it should be a very close matchup unless those “Out-performers” continue to show up and Edey continues to average 32-35+ again.
Now, look at their average points per player, per game, derived from adding up the total number of points scored in weeks 7-Elite Eight, and dividing that total by the number of games they played during those weeks.
Hoosiers: 2,224 points=25.3 over 91 games
Virginia Gentlemen: 2,183 points=23.0 over 94 games
KC Warthogs: 2,056 points=22.8 over 89 games
Maize and Blue Blood: 2,102 points=22.1 over 95 games
COMMENT: Again, the Hoosiers dominate, and, in these stats, averaging 2.3 points per player more than the next closest team is freaking SCARY! KC & MBB have risen but it’s the Virginia Gentlemen who have not only climbed but maintained a high level.