I Love College
I wanna go to college for the rest of my life ,
sip Banker’s Club and drink Miller Lite
on Thirsty Thursday and Tuesday Night Ice
and I can get pizza a dollar a slice
I love college. Freshmen year, everywhere I went I couldn’t help but hear the words of Asher Roth. I, being new to college, was absorbed in the “I love college movement” like every one of my peers. Sure, it’s a bit corny, but what’s not to love about college. College life is great, and Asher put things into perspective perfectly. It was, and will always remain, the song I associate with the transitional period in my life from an in-shape high school athlete, to the out-of-shape, fat, and lazy couch potato I am today. Thank you college.
So fill up my cup, let’s get ****ed up
I’m next on the table, who want what?
I am champion at beer pong
Allen Iverson, Hakeem Olajuwon
And with the basketball reference, let’s begin my introduction into college basketball.
College basketball is a far different beast than the NBA. In the NBA you worry about things like late scratches, random blowouts, motivation factors, and picking guys that fill up the stat sheet without turning the ball over a ton or missing 20 shots. Rotoworld is your best friend. In college you worry about girlfriends, parties, and madness. Being well versed in all of the above, I can say worrying about college occurrences is a far better cry than the NBA. College is fun, fun, fun! I love college.
In college, blowouts rarely factor into playing time, and there are rarely ever late scratches or motivation issues. These kids young adults play twice per week and usually give it all they have; for if they didn’t, they would get benched, or even worse, kicked off the team. Most importantly, these kids want to play. They love the game. Before we get into a few basics in building a team, let’s further analyse why I love college!
College basketball on draftstreet has the weakest competitor base of any sport available on the site. I attribute this to a poor source of information, or rather the inefficiency of the college game. There is no rotoworld for college basketball. You actually have to figure things out on your own. College doesn’t have twenty million guys writing blogs about who to pick. College isn’t easy. It requires thinking. I love college.
The benchmark score in college basketball is 200 points. How you get to 200 is up to you. To signify the importance of the number 200, I happened to score 200.25 points in college basketball tonight. I did that specifically for the purpose of this blog. I’m the Kobe of college, I call the number I want to score and score it. As such, this is the result that scoring 200.25 had on this given day.
And here are the scores that my opponents put up in those games.
And lastly, I guess I should show the team that accomplished this feat; so you know I’m not making this up!
There are more scores than leagues because I included the scores of both opponents in the 3-man leagues. The high GPP score was 226 and the 6th place score (last spot that cashed) was 213.5. 200 was not good enough to win the GPP, but it was good enough to sweep my h2hs. You won’t win every league scoring 200pts, I got lucky tonight; anyhow, you will (typically) win the majority of your leagues if you hit the benchmark, period. I love college.
As we see in the scores above, average scores for your opponents are often going to be low. Some nights you will win (and profit) with 150; these nights are rare, but they do happen. On average I expect my opponent to score anywhere from 160 to 190, depending on the stakes. The lower (stakes) you play with respects to college basketball, the lower expected score you should have for your opponents. Often times your opponent won’t even check to see if their team is healthy and playing at the $5 level. When venturing higher than $11, however, you can usually expect a competent effort (somewhat). Actually, on Saturday I played 3 $55 leagues and 2 of them had guys from the Ohio State/Wisconsin game (that wasn’t played Saturday) and one of those had a guy that was out with an injury. That’s right, I had a $55 head to head with a 2 man advantage! I love college.
Now that I have set a framework for college basketball from my perspective, let’s take a brief look into what I do on a daily basis.
I focus heavily on studs when building my team. I often pay for the top salary guy on that given night. Sometimes, I take the top two. I don’t do so blindly, of course, but salary matters greatly in college basketball. The higher salary guys provide the best base for achieving 200 fantasy points. The studs absolutely have to go 1.5x for you to have a shot at winning, however. Their success is crucial. If they tank, you lose. Luckily, they are studs for a reason. Typically the higher priced players have more talent, or center their teams offense. They are either elite scorers, NBA lotto picks, or average a near double double. They aren’t absorbed (as much) to the drama of girls, parties, and school, because they have dealt with these issues since they hit puberty. They are real life versions of every thing that Spriz isn’t. I don’t resent them for that, though, for I love college.
The single greatest factor that I attribute to creating a competitive advantage in college sports is seen in the efficiency of the market. As I mentioned earlier, there is no rotoworld for college basketball. There are no “tip sites” for fantasy. You capitalize on the inefficiencies of information by outworking your opponent and doing your homework. It’s college, homework is a necessity here, much more so than in the “real world” of the National Basketball Association. You have to stay up on things, and learn a little bit about each team (or game) while building your daily fantasy team. How can you do this? Easy. Let Google be your friend. The internet is filled with information, more than anyone needs. There isn’t one source to pull all of this together for us with fantasy college basketball, therefore we must use all sources. Google is your friend.
Each day, the very first thing I do when looking at the college card is to check the over/under lines in Vegas. It’s important to identify the games that should have plenty of points for your guys. From there, you can take guys that shoot a ton, or run the offense for their team. Identifying players who the offense runs through is crucial to achieving consistent production. Double-doubles are a premium in college, so being able to identify double-double targets in high scoring games is often crucial in putting forth a respectable score.
Once I have my 3 or 4 elite studs from games I feel they will most certainly get theirs, I start my hunt for sleepers. Whenever possible, I try to find guys getting increased production because of injury, suspension, or perhaps just good play recently. If you can find a 6k guy who shoots 3s nonstop, plays 30 minutes a night and lights it up for 20+fpts one out of every three games (and goes for 6-10 the other two) I typically take that players flier. I find it best to shoot for the fences with my sleepers and live with a mediocre performance. Once I’ve identified some legit sleeper options, I look for that 10-12k player that will almost certainly give me 20fpts. These are my Mr. Reliables. They are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. They are your boy scout players!
That’s the conceptual framework I go on when working on a team. The best way to remember how to put a solid team together is to treat it like you were, once again in college. Treat building your college team like you treat a typical Friday night (in college).
So you’re sitting at the bar in your fly threads. You got a little gel in your hair, and you did 20 extra push-ups that morning. Tonight is your night. As you sit there, already feeling the effects of cheap bear and rubbing alcohol, you begin to scour the room looking for the three or four best looking babes. The studs that will make this night memorable. These are girls that are 9s and 10s. As you look around, you quickly identify the fly hoochies, who’s coochies are calling your name. You pencil them in. Now it’s a friday night. You need more than just 3 or 4 super fly honeys. You need 8, to be exact. Plus, you need a back up plan so you don’t go home empty handed. As such, you order another drink, and decide to find a few chicks that are sneaky-hot, you know, the kind that just have something you can’t pinpoint that not everyone notices but somehow end up sparking a subtle attraction. They are often sitting off to the side while their hot friends are dancing or something. They are the 5s and 6s. These chicks can really hit the ball out of the park in the right scenario, but two times out of three, they will put out mediocre performances. Lastly, order up another drink and note the few chicks that are on the level you can realistically get. You know, the average college girl. The 7 or 8. Once you have your list, you order another drink and get to work. I love college.
It’s that easy. Just another trip to the bar on a Friday night.
I love college.