Busting Brackets Fantasy March Madness Tournament
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Busting Brackets March Madness Fantasy 1st Round
#8 Team Smith at #1 Team Tondamantham
Team Tonda smothers Team Smith from the opening tip. Rick Pitino’s pressure defense overwhelms Moore as he struggles to break pressure as the only true ball-handler on his team. Oubre looks lost for most of the contest, while Valentine kills his team with turnovers. Trimble uses his size advantage to pace the Team Tonda offense, and Malcolm Brogdon does plenty of Malcolm Brogdon things (playing great defense, knocking down shots, etc.).
Team Tonda 65, Team Smith 37
#5 Team Sherman at #4 Team Piasecki
The freshmen fear no bright lights. In a matchup between an ultimate team of college stars and a young group of future pros, potential shocked veteran “know how” in a high scoring contest. Jones added to his big game legend with a quality shooting performance, and Booker flourished in an expanded offensive role.
Johnson contributed with an unexpected amount of post defense on Wiltjer as well as neutralizing Dekker. Portis dominated the glass against Team Sherman’s unathletic front line. Kaminsky kept the game close, but Team Sherman’s inability to keep Portis off the glass led to a loss.
Team Piasecki 86, Team Sherm 80
#6 Team Krajewski at #3 Team Bennett
Team Bennett dismantles the opposition from the start. Okafor dominated Niang inside at the start, and once Team Krajewski decided to double down, the flood gates opened up for Wells and Grant. It was clear from the opening tip that this would be a romp.
Team Bennett 88, Team Krajewski 52
#7 Team Rude at #2 Team Tran
Wright spent the evening lighting up the Team Rude backcourt, but Smart made a game-changing coaching decision by switching Winslow onto Wright and allowing Anderson to abuse Cook instead. Anderson wasn’t able to take advantage of Cook as consistently, and Looney and Towns asserted themselves on the inside to pull off the only upset of the first round.
Team Rude 69, Team Tran 64
Losers Bracket Results
#2 Team Tran at #8 Team Smith
It wasn’t going to take a rocket scientist to tell you that Team Smith was going to have a short stay in this tournament.
Team Tran 84, Team Smith 58
#5 Team Sherman at #6 Team Krajewski
I called Team Sherman the favorites before this tournament started, and there’s no way they would go out winless. The Ferrell/Russell experiment lasts just as long as it should.
Team Sherm 90, Team Krajewski 59
Next: Round 2