The Real Championship Comes to Middlebury: Fantasy Report Week 8

Tufts QB Alex Snyder '17 teamed up with Fantasy MVP Matt Milano '16 to bring the championship to Joe's squad. (Courtesy of the Tufts Daily)
Tufts QB Alex Snyder ’17 faced Fantasy MVP Matt Milano ’16 on Saturday, but in they fantasy world they teamed up to bring the championship to Joe’s squad. (Courtesy of the Tufts Daily)

Prior to the season beginning, we picked Middlebury as our NESCAC Champions. That turned out to be just a little bit off. However, the Vegas odds also had the Fantasy trophy coming to Middlebury, and on Saturday Joe clinched the title in commanding fashion.

A year ago, Pete Lindholm won the fantasy championship on the strength of a historical performance from one Matt Milano ’16 (I think we’ve probably mentioned him in every fantasy article this season), and this year Milano once again carried a championship squad. My team finished the season 7-1 on a seven-matchup winning streak; all other teams finished 3-5, and not even Carson’s Bantam-heavy lineup could put up a fight in the Championship. It was bitter-sweet for me to watch Alex Snyder ’17 rack up the TDs on Saturday – it resulted in a loss for Middlebury, but really sealed the deal when it came to fantasy.

Joe Carson
Pos. Player Pts Pos. Player Pts
QB Matt Milano 34 QB Sonny Puzzo 5
QB Alex Snyder 27 QB Jared Lebowitz 0
RB Kenny Adinkra 15 RB Frank Williams 2
RB Jabari Hurdle-Price 17 RB Max Chipouras 14
WR Devin Boehm 6 WR Matt Minno 27
WR Charles Ensley 2 WR Mark Riley 3
TE Bryan Porter 15 TE Rob Thoma 0
FLEX Lou Stevens 2 FLEX Ian Dugger 2
FLEX LaShawn Ware 0 FLEX Jack Cooleen 12
D/ST Middlebury 3 D/ST Amherst 7
K Charlie Wall 5 K Charlie Gordon 2
BE Devon Carrillo 0   BE Neil O’Connor 0
BE Cole Freeman 5   BE LaDarius Drew 0
BE Jon Hurvitz 0   BE Nick Gaynor 9
 TOTAL 126      TOTAL 74
QB Reece Foy '18 had an up-and-down season, but in terms of fantasy, he was more consistent. (Courtesy of Amherst Athletics)
QB Reece Foy ’18 had an up-and-down season, but in terms of fantasy, he was more consistent. (Courtesy of Amherst Athletics)

In the consolation round, Nick continued his slide, but he had a respectable showing. After weeks of 42 and 52 points, his team was good enough to win most matchups this week, but Adam got contributions from everywhere. Bowdoin QB Tim Drakeley ’17 had far and away his best game of the season, so that was a great pickup for Nick, and Middlebury RB Diego Meritus ’19 had one of his best performances, too. In the end, though, Amherst QB Reece Foy ’18 and Bowdoin WR Nick Vailas ’18 outscored every other twosome, and at least ended Adam’s season on a high note for him.

Adam Nick
Pos. Player Pts Pos. Player Pts
QB Austin Lommen 8 QB Gabe Harrington 15
QB Reece Foy 27 QB Tim Drakeley 34
RB Nick Kelly 0 RB Jaylen Berry 3
RB Chance Brady 13 RB Diego Meritus 14
WR Darrias Sime 10 WR Darrien Myers 0
WR Mike Rando 13 WR Dan Barone 2
TE Alex Way 1 TE Trevor MIletich 5
FLEX Nick Vailas 23 FLEX Bryan Vieira 8
FLEX Jackson McGonagle 12 FLEX Matt Hirshman 0
D/ST Wesleyan 9 D/ST Trinity 11
K Ike Fuchs 1 K Kyle Pulek 5
BE Gernald Hawkins 2   BE Connor Harris 0
BE Pat Donahoe 5   BE Ben Kurtz 0
BE Shaun Carroll 0   BE Raheem Jackson 0
TOTAL  117      TOTAL 97

Who Made These Rules Anyway? Fantasy Report Week 7

Middlebury QB Matt Milano '16 has been the undisputed fantasy MVP this season. (Courtesy of Michael Borenstein/Middlebury Campus)
Middlebury QB Matt Milano ’16 has been the undisputed fantasy MVP this season. (Courtesy of Michael Borenstein/Middlebury Campus)

So this past week was the first week of the NESCAC Fantasy Football Playoffs. We have playoffs because NESCAC football doesn’t. There is nothing like the thrill of … OK, I’ve got to say something real quick.

This whole thing was rigged. Rigged, I say! Let’s start at the beginning , shall we? The order for picking the Fantasy draft was decided by a random number generator. Who ran the number generator and told us the results? That would be Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16). Who was awarded the No. 1 pick? Oh, that would be Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16).

Fast forward to AFTER the draft, and Joe explains how the scoring is going to work exactly. Wouldn’t it make sense to use the standard system to make it straight-forward? That’s not what Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16) did. Using some bogus, back of the napkin calculations talking about the number of passing and rushing touchdowns and yards in the NESCAC, Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16) boosted up the scoring you get from throwing passing yards and touchdowns.

So whatever, same rules apply to everyone right? Yes, but who did Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16) take with that stolen No. 1 pick? That would be Matt Milano ’16, Middlebury quarterback and easily the most productive passer in the NESCAC. Isn’t it a little suspicious that Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16) would make that change to the rules after he knew he had the best quarterback in the NESCAC, thereby giving him an enormous advantage?

Who guards the guards? Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16) was the man that Nick DiBenedetto, Carson Kenney, and I, Adam Lamont, trusted. That trust was betrayed by Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16). Let this be a reminder to all to keep CONSTANT VIGILANCE at all times. Even in matters of NESCAC Fantasy Football.

Spoiler: I lost to Joe in our playoff matchup.

Matchup One: #1 Joe MacDonald over #4 Adam Lamont 119-95

Joe MacDonald Adam Lamont
QB Matt Milano 31 QB Austin Lommen 11
QB Alex Snyder 10 QB Reece Foy 13
RB Kenny Adinkra 10 RB Nick Kelly 3
RB Jabari Hurdle-Price 10 RB Chance Brady 37
WR Devin Boehm 7 WR Darrias Sime 6
WR Charles Ensley 15 WR Mike Rando 0
TE Bryan Porter 4 TE Alex Way 0
FLEX Lou Stevens 10 FLEX Nick Vailas 6
FLEX LaShawn Ware 7 FLEX Jackson McGonagle 8
D/ST Middlebury 12 D/ST Wesleyan 9
K Charlie Wall 3 K Ike Fuchs 2
 Total   119 Total   95
BE Devon Carrillo 0 BE Gernald Hawkins 14
BE Cole Freeman 7 BE Pat Donahoe 1
BE Jon Hurvitz 0 BE Shaun Carroll 0

Analysis: Surprise, surprise, Milano was the leading scorer for Joe this week. He got good production from other players too, most of it fueled by cheap touchdowns that made their numbers look better than reality (I swear I’m not bitter). Chance Brady ’17 was almost able to pull out the victory for me all by himself, and I would like to think that there are discrepancies in the Colby box score that suppressed his numbers. Well, this stuff happens I guess.

Matchup Two: #3 Carson Kenney over #2 Nick DiBenedetto 87-52

Carson Kenney Nick DiBenedetto
QB Sonny Puzzo 9 QB Noah Nelson 5
QB Jared Lebowitz 0 QB Gabe Harrington 4
RB Frank Williams 1 RB Jaylen Berry 14
RB Max Chipouras 13 RB Diego Meritus 4
WR Matt Minno 35 WR Darrien Myers 7
WR Mark Riley 15 WR Dan Barone 7
TE Rob Thoma TE Trevor MIletich 4
FLEX Ian Dugger 4 FLEX Bryan Vieira 3
FLEX Jack Cooleen 0 FLEX Matt Hirshman 1
D/ST Amherst 10 D/ST Trinity 3
K Charlie Gordon 0 K Eric Sachse 0
 Total   87  Total   52
BE Neil O’Connor 0 BE Connor Harris 0
BE LaDarius Drew 0 BE Ben Kurtz 0
BE Nick Gaynor 0 BE Raheem Jackson 0

Analysis: I don’t think enough can be said about Matt Minno ’16 and his production from the wide receiver position. His performance this weekend of 171 yards and three touchdowns is his finest yet, and it was the difference for Carson beating Nick. I think the Middlebury offense will really suffer next year as a result of losing him. Nick’s hot streak at the beginning of the season turned out to be mostly mirage, though he definitely got unlucky with some players underperforming as the season went along.

Well, we have Carson vs. Joe in the championship. You know I’m rooting for you, Carson!

Another One Bites the Dust: Fantasy Report Week 6

QB Matt Milano '16 was good yet again from a fantasy perspective, but the Trinity defense was nearly as productive and was a threat to the Middlebury signal-caller all day. (Courtesy of Michael O'Hara/Middlebury Campus)
QB Matt Milano ’16 was good yet again from a fantasy perspective, but the Trinity defense was nearly as productive and was a threat to the Middlebury signal-caller all day. (Courtesy of Michael O’Hara/Middlebury Campus)

Injuries are playing a huge role in the fantasy world this week, especially given that no waiver moves were made last week. With that being the case, there are so very unfortunate rosters this week, with some teams, like Nick’s, especially, employing guys we know to be out in their starting lineups. Adjustments will have to be made as we shift to the postseason.

Matchup 1: Joe 111 – Adam 76

Joe Adam
Pos. Player Pts Pos. Player Pts
QB Matt Milano 24 QB Austin Lommen 24
QB Alex Snyder 13 QB Reece Foy 12
RB Kenny Adinkra 11 RB Jack Hickey 0
RB Jabari Hurdle-Price 16 RB Chance Brady 10
WR Devin Boehm 8 WR Pat Donahoe 2
WR Ryan Rizzo 0 WR Mike Rando 3
TE Bryan Porter 13 TE Alex Way 1
FLEX Lou Stevens 6 FLEX Nick Vailas 2
FLEX LaShawn Ware 7 FLEX Jackson McGonagle 4
D/ST Middlebury 7 D/ST Wesleyan 13
K Charlie Wall 6 K Ike Fuchs 5
BE Devon Carrillo 0   BE Gernald Hawkins 4
BE Conrado Banky 0   BE Ryder Arsenault 0
BE Tyler Grant 0   BE Shaun Carroll 0
 Total 111    Total 76

I now haven’t lost since a tight four-point defeat at the hands of Nick in Week 1. Per usual, Matt Milano ’16 carried my squad, but his production was actually matched this week by Adam’s Austin Lommen ’16. Nobody else answered the bell for Adam, and I got contributions from almost everyone. Bryan Porter ’16 is turning into a big fantasy pickup, with scores of nine, two, nine, nine and now 13 since I picked him up going into Week 2.

Matchup 2: Carson 63 – Nick 42

Carson Nick
Pos. Player Pts Pos. Player Pts
QB Sonny Puzzo 17 QB Gabe Harrington 2
QB Jared Lebowitz 2 QB Tim Drakeley 0
RB Frank Williams 1 RB Jaylen Berry 9
RB Max Chipouras 12 RB Connor Harris 3
WR Matt Minno 5 WR Darrien Myers 5
WR Mark Riley 2 WR Dan Barone 1
TE Rob Thoma 0 TE Jordan Jenkins 0
FLEX Ian Dugger 6 FLEX Ben Kurtz 0
FLEX Jack Cooleen 0 FLEX Matt Hirshman 2
D/ST Amherst 18 D/ST Trinity 20
K Charlie Gordon 0 K Eric Sachse 0
BE Neil O’Connor 2   BE Diego Meritus 0
BE LaDarius Drew 0   BE Trevor Miletich 0
BE Nick Gaynor 0   BE Raheem Jackson 0
 Total 63  Total 42

Yikes. A real clunker from Nick this week, but as mentioned above, he didn’t have the chance to make any roster moves this week and that clearly hurt him. The game day scratch of TE Trevor Miletich ’16 was another big blow, as the man’s replacement for Middlebury, Dan Fulham ’18 ended up with a TD. Amazing that the top point totals for both sides came from the defenses.

Standings:

Joe: 5-1
Nick: 3-3
Carson: 2-4 (1-1, 200 head-to-head points vs. Adam)
Adam: 2-4 (1-1, 163 head-to-head points vs. Carson)

The Biggest Fantasy Day of the Year: Fantasy Report 10/27

Matt Milano 16 continues to dominate the fantasy world. Courtesy of Middlebury Athletics)
Matt Milano ’16 continues to dominate the fantasy world. (Courtesy of Middlebury Athletics)

NESCAC teams put up a lot of points and yards this week, and so fantasy scores were up almost universally. The one exception to that was Nick DiBenedetto who had almost no points this week. His entire team had 38 points (including his bench which had 0). That allowed me to cruise to an easy win and get to 2-3 for the year. Matt Milano ’16 had 42 points just by himself this week. Joe put up a big number of 150 points because of that outburst from Milano. So far this season, Joe has gotten a profitable return on the No. 1 overall pick.

Adam vs. Nick 

Adam Lamont Nick DiBenedetto
QB Austin Lommen 28 QB Gabe Harrington 9
QB Reece Foy 22 QB Tim Drakeley 0
RB Jack Hickey 0 RB Diego Meritus 5
RB Chance Brady 31 RB Connor Harris 5
WR Pat Donahoe 12 WR Darrien Myers 2
WR Mike Rando 9 WR Dan Barone 1
TE Alex Way 1 TE Trevor MIletich 2
FLEX Nick Vailas 6 FLEX Ben Kurtz 0
FLEX Jackson McGonagle 21 FLEX Jaylen Berry 3
D/ST Wesleyan 10 D/ST Trinity 11
K Ike Fuchs 3 K Eric Sachse 0
 Total 143  Total 38
BE Gernald Hawkins 21   BE Matt Hirshman 0
BE Ryder Arsenault 0   BE Jordan Jenkins 0
BE Shaun Carroll 0   BE Raheem Jackson 0

Both quarterbacks showed up for me and neither really did for Nick. That quarterback position has long been an Achilles heel for him, and it is starting to get exposed now. Then Nick got unlucky with some solid contributors like Darrien Myers ’17 and Dan Barone ’16 having substandard weeks. My team still has some flaws to it, but I’m liking them more and more every week. Chance Brady ’17 is becoming a certified stud every week, and if I can figure out another running back, I might actually have something.

Joe vs. Carson

Joe Carson Kenney
QB Matt Milano 44 QB Sonny Puzzo 8
QB Alex Snyder 19 QB Jared Lebowitz 10
RB Kenny Adinkra 2 RB Frank Williams 11
RB LaShawn Ware 3 RB Max Chipouras 33
WR Devin Boehm 12 WR Matt Minno 25
WR Devon Carrillo 16 WR Mark Riley 17
TE Bryan Porter 9 TE Rob Thoma 1
FLEX Jabari Hurdle-Price 12 FLEX Ian Dugger 2
FLEX Conrado Banky 17 FLEX Jack Cooleen 4
D/ST Middlebury 10 D/ST Amherst 4
K Charlie Wall 6 K Charlie Gordon 2
 Total 150  Total 117
BE Lou Stevens 2   BE Neil O’Connor 0
BE Ryan Rizzo 12   BE LaDarius Drew 0
BE Tyler Grant 0   BE Nick Gaynor 9

Having Milano isn’t really fair when he can throw for 405 yards and five TDs like it’s nothing. People have gotten so used to it that he was passed over for NESCAC POTW Honors in favor of Max Chipouras ’19. That Chipouras pickup might win Carson the Fantasy Championship before it’s all said and done, but it wasn’t enough for him this week. Joe, who takes these proceedings much too seriously, is scary good and is only going to get better.

Standings

Joe: 4-1
Nick: 3-2
Adam: 2-3
Carson: 1-4

The Cream Continues to Rise: Fantasy Report Week 4

Matt Minno '16 had a career-best 171 receiving yards. (Courtesy of Middlebury Athletics)
Matt Minno ’16 had a career-best 171 receiving yards – and 29 fantasy points. (Courtesy of Middlebury Athletics)

Much like the “real life NESCAC,” the fantasy world has provided us with a clear delineation between the elite and the bottom feeders, and in Week 4 the heavyweights faced off. As expected, I asserted my dominance, wiping the floor with DiBenedetto, buoyed by another strong performance from Matt Milano ’16. DiBo was definitely hurt by the fact that he didn’t have a replacement QB to sub in for Tim Drakeley ’17, but even if he did, the 50+ point spread would have been too much to overcome.

Matchup 1: Joe over Nick, 137-83

Joe Nick
Pos. Player Pts Pos. Player Pts
QB Matt Milano 33 QB Gabe Harrington 7
QB Alex Snyder 18 QB Tim Drakeley 0
RB Kenny Adinkra 12 RB Diego Meritus 26
RB LaShawn Ware 7 RB Connor Harris 15
WR Devin Boehm 9 WR Darrien Myers 8
WR Devon Carrillo 8 WR Dan Barone 9
TE Bryan Porter 9 TE Trevor MIletich 5
FLEX Jabari Hurdle-Price 16 FLEX Ben Kurtz 0
FLEX Conrado Banky 5 FLEX Jaylen Berry 4
D/ST Middlebury 13 D/ST Trinity 7
K Charlie Wall 7 K Eric Sachse 2
BE Lou Stevens 11   BE Matt Hirshman 3
BE Ryan Rizzo 0   BE Jordan Jenkins 1
BE Tyler Grant 0   BE Raheem Jackson 0
137 83

In this week’s JV tilt, Adam completely embarrassed himself. And that’s really where the story ends. Aside from that, Sonny Puzzo’18 led all scorers with a ridiculous 38 points this week thanks to four touchdowns on Saturday.

Matchup 2: Carson over Adam 122-54

Carson Adam
Pos. Player Pts Pos. Player Pts
QB Sonny Puzzo 38 QB Austin Lommen 5
QB Jared Lebowitz 1 QB Reece Foy 21
RB Frank Williams 10 RB Jack Hickey 2
RB Max Chipouras 7 RB Chance Brady 18
WR Matt Minno 29 WR Pat Donahoe 6
WR Mark Riley 5 WR Mike Rando 5
TE Rob Thoma 1 TE Alex Way 2
FLEX Ian Dugger 8 FLEX Nick Vailas 8
FLEX Jack Cooleen 3 FLEX Jackson McGonagle 13
D/ST Amherst 16 D/ST Wesleyan 8
K Charlie Gordon 4 K Ike Fuchs 6
BE Neil O’Connor 2   BE Gernald Hawkins 19
BE LaDarius Drew 0   BE Ryder Arsenault 0
BE Nick Gaynor 1   BE Shaun Carroll 0
122 54

Only two weeks left in the fantasy regular season, and barring any shockers, Nick and I will be the favorites heading into the postseason.

Current Standings:

Joe: 3-1
Nick: 3-1
Carson: 1-3
Adam: 1-3

QB’s are Important: Week 2 Fantasy Report

Nobody had Jack Cooleen '16 (#81) on their team this week. That will change. (Courtesy of Tufts Daily)
Nobody had Jack Cooleen ’16 (#81) on their team this week. That will change. (Courtesy of Tufts Daily)

It’s been a rough week for me. Losing in fantasy really hurts one’s pride. I studied all off-season for this. Nick didn’t do jack squat. He drafted “Trinity Kicker” during the draft. Are you serious? And yet he smoked me in Week 1.

Well, I think it’s fair to say that I got my revenge against his Bantam counterpart in Week 2. I cleaned the floor with Carson, more than doubling up his Puzzo-led squad. The QB duo of Matt Milano ’16 and Alex Snyder ’17 nearly topped Carson on its own.

The mid-week pickups of Kenny Adinkra ’16 and Devon Carrillo ’16 were pretty profitable, as well. Nick Kelly ’17 sat out with an injury for Amherst, which meant that Adinkra racked up 13 points for me. While I don’t know what’s going on at running back for the Cardinals, with two former All-NESCAC First Teamers filling reserve roles (including Lou Stevens ’17 who is on my bench), I trust that Carrillo is going to get plenty of touches every week with sweeps and in the Wildcat.

There wasn’t much to write home about for Carson. Sonny Puzzo ’18 was solid but less spectacular than a week ago when he tallied 36 points. Otherwise, Bates’ Frank Williams ’18 was the lone bright spot for Carson. Williams’ one-yard TD run in the first quarter was the difference.

See the damage below:

Joe Carson
Pos. Player Pts. Pos. Player Pts.
QB Matt Milano 26 QB Sonny Puzzo 15
QB Alex Snyder 26 QB Jared Lebowitz 10
RB Kenny Adinkra 13 RB LaDarius Drew 2
RB Tyler Grant 0 RB Nick Gaynor 4
WR Ryan Rizzo 12 WR Neil O’Connor 1
WR Devon Carrillo 16 WR Mark Riley 3
TE Bryan Porter 9 TE Rob Thoma 2
FLEX Jabari Hurdle-Price 12 FLEX Ian Dugger 1
FLEX LaShawn Ware 1 FLEX Frank Williams 15
D/ST Middlebury 17 D/ST Amherst 12
K Charlie Wall 13 K Charlie Gordon 1
BE Lou Stevens  0   BE Matt Minno  0
BE Pat Dugan  7   BE Henry Foye  0
BE Mbasa Mayikana  1 BE Jon Hurvitz  0
145 66

In the much less interesting matchup this week, Nick handily dispatched Adam in a pretty uneventful meeting. Adam made a huge acquisition by picking up Reece Foy ’18 last week, but his 31-point performance on the strength of a 90-yard TD run was not enough to close the gap. Nick didn’t get any standout performances, but his entire roster chipped in enough to take down Adam. Oh, and that Trinity defense … wow.

Adam Nick
Pos. Player Pts. Pos. Player Pts.
QB Austin Lommen 2 QB Gabe Harrington 5
QB Reece Foy 31 QB Tim Drakeley 14
RB Carl Lipani 2 RB Diego Meritus 8
RB Chance Brady 4 RB Connor Harris 5
WR Ryder Arsenault 0 WR Darrien Myers 8
WR Mike Rando 5 WR Dan Barone 4
TE Alex Way 3 TE Trevor MIletich 9
FLEX Shaun Carroll 2 FLEX Ben Kurtz 5
FLEX Jackson McGonagle 7 FLEX Jaylen Berry 5
D/ST Wesleyan 7 D/ST Trinity 17
K Ike Fuchs 3 K Eric Sachse 6
BE Gernald Hawkins  10   BE Matt Hirshman  1
BE Pat Donahue  5   BE Alex Berluti  0
BE Nick Kelly  0   BE Raheem Jackson  0
66 86

Standings:

  1. Nick DiBenedetto (2-0)
  2. Joe MacDonald (1-1, 101 QB Points)
  3. Adam Lamont (1-1, 71 QB Points)
  4. Carson Kenney (0-2)

We Know Nothing: Fantasy Report Week 1

Austin Lommen '16 (#11) helped propel Team Lamont last week.
Austin Lommen ’16 (#11) helped propel Team Lamont last week. (Courtesy of CIPhotograpy.com)

Every time I tell somebody that I play NESCAC fantasy football, I can feel the waves of judgment coming from them. They look at me with narrowed eyes full of skepticism. “NESCAC fantasy football? What drugs are you on?”

And I get it. Playing NESCAC fantasy football is about as weird as fantasy sports can get. Nobody else does it for a reason. But you know what, we don’t care about you and your silly societal norms. We aren’t that invested in our teams; we aren’t going to lose any sleep or spend hours trying to do crazy trades. But it’s fun, easy and we know that some player out there is shaking his head at us in shame while also being pumped that he is on a fantasy football team somewhere, somehow.

Matchup 1: Nick DiBenedetto over Joe MacDonald 94-90

Nick  Player  Points Joe
QB Gabe Harrington -2 QB Matt Milano 40
QB Tim Drakeley 14 QB Alex Snyder 9
RB Diego Meritus 12 RB Lou Stevens 0
RB Connor Harris 12 RB Tyler Grant 10
WR Darrien Myers 21 WR Ryan Rizzo 12
WR Dan Barone 2 WR Mbasa Mayikana 0
TE Trevor MIletich 18 TE Nik Dean 0
FLEX Ben Kurtz 3 FLEX Jabari Hurdle-Price 1
FLEX Raheem Jackson 1 FLEX LaShawn Ware 5
D/ST Trinity 20 D/ST Middlebury 9
K Eric Sachse 3 K Charlie Wall 6
 TOTAL 104  TOTAl 92
BE Matt Hirshman 1 BE Ethan Suraci 1
BE Alex Berluti 0 BE Pat Dugan 6
BE Tanner Contois 0 BE James Burke 0

I have to give it to DiBo, when he took Darrien Myers ’17 with the fifth pick overall, I scoffed at it as a true homer pick. However, the wide receiver was the difference in this matchup with his two touchdown catches being especially important. The other big scorer for Dibo … that would be the Trinity defense which pitched a shutout and had a defensive touchdown to have a big weekend.

How Joe was not able to win despite 40 points from Matt Milano ’16 (the kicker for Milano was the one rushing touchdown he had) is beyond me. But if I was to gander a guess, the combined zero points between Jabari Hurdle-Price ’17 and Lou Stevens ’17 was a major factor. Expect MAJOR changes from  Team MacDonald in Week 2.

Matchup 2: Adam Lamont over Carson Kenney 109-78

Carson Kenney Player  Points Adam Lamont  Player  Points
QB Sonny Puzzo 36 QB Austin Lommen 24
QB Jared Lebowitz 0 QB Gernald Hawkins 14
RB LaDarius Drew 3 RB Nick Kelly 10
RB Nick Gaynor 9 RB Chance Brady 23
WR Matt Minno 5 WR Ryder Arsenault 2
WR Mark Riley 8 WR Mike Rando 5
TE Rob Thoma 2 TE Alex Way 5
FLEX Ian Dugger 3 FLEX Shaun Carroll 16
FLEX Frank Williams 3 FLEX Jackson McGonagle 6
D/ST Amherst 5 D/ST Wesleyan 3
K Charlie Gordon 4 K Ike Fuchs 1
TOTAL 78  TOTAL 109
BE Neil O’Connor 0 BE Ben Berey 3
BE Henry Foye 0 BE Pat Donahue 23
BE Jon Hurvitz 0 BE Carl Lipani 1

Am I surprised that I won my Week 1 matchup so easily? No, I’m surprised I didn’t win by more. Everywhere you look on the roster, it’s stud city. Quality days from Chance Brady ’17 (117 rushing yards and 2 TDs) and Austin Lommen ’16 (288 passing yards and 2 TDs) carried the squad. The 174 receiver yards from Pat Donahue ’16 weren’t even especially missed, and once he gets into the starting lineup, nobody is stopping me.

Meanwhile Carson got nearly half of his points from Sonny Puzzo ’17 (278 passing yards and 2 TDs), and had nobody else score in double digits. In all seriousness, this was just an unlucky week for Carson as guys like Matt Minno ’16 and Mark Riley ’16 had decent weeks but just didn’t have any touchdowns. Once he figures out his QB situation, he will be dangerous.

And those are your Week 1 results. As you can tell, many of the players that we expected to be huge contributors ended up doing very little in the first game. Such is the way of the NESCAC. Despite the click-bait title, we do not know nothing (and we know more than one thing too, alright Socrates). We just had to get some of the unknowns of how coaches would react to the first game before our fantasy lineups would become perfect.

Standings:

Team Lamont (1-0)
Team DiBo (1-0)
Team Kenney (0-1)
Team MacDonald (0-1)

Dreams Never Die: NESCAC Fantasy Football is Back!

 

We know you were hoping that we wouldn’t do this again. That we’d stop pretending that this is the NFL and just let the kids play. That we’d retire our make-believe fantasies of running an NFL organization and building a perennial championship competitor.

But we did it anyway.

This season, four opponents once again step up to the plate and compete for NESCAC Fantasy Supremacy – editors Joe MacDonald and Adam Lamont, longtime contributor Carson Kenney and newcomer Nick DiBenedetto.

The rules are basically the same as last year. We shrunk the roster size slightly, bringing it down to 14 players. We’ll be starting two each of QBs, RBs and WRs, one TE, one FLEX (RB, WR, TE), a D/ST and a K. Each team has four bench spots.

With this week as an exception, player acquisitions will be made on Tuesdays every week via the very sophisticated method of group chat. The waiver order will always go in reverse order of the standings. If there is a tie in the standings the tiebreakers listed below will take affect.

The following two sections are basically copied verbatim from last year’s initial fantasy article:

 

Scoring:
Our scoring scheme is essentially the same as an ESPN standard league, so in the interest of saving time and space I won’t put down every point total here.
The only difference is in the points we award for passing. In ESPN standard leagues, QB’s receive one point for every 25 passing yards and four points for a TD pass. However, the NFL is much more pass happy than the NESCAC. Over the three years from 2011-2013 (I chose not to go through the tedious work of adding the 2014 information to this study), there were 316 passing touchdowns and 306 rushing touchdowns in the NESCAC, and 45,452 passing yards compared to 34,181 rushing yards. So, we decided to award six points for touchdowns of any kind (passing, rushing or receiving), and one point for every 20 passing yards as opposed to 25. Running backs and receivers earn one point for every 10 yards on the ground or through the air.
One other miscellaneous note: individual players do not receive points for kick returns. For example, Darrien Myers ’17 is one of the league’s best return men, but if he runs a kickoff back for a touchdown he will accrue no points, while the Trinity D/ST will receive six.

Schedule:
We will be competing in weekly head-to-head matchups. There are four teams, so each team will play each other team twice over the first six weeks. Weeks 7 and 8 will serve as a single-elimination playoff. The top seed will play the fourth seed, the second will play the third, and the winners of the Week 7 matchups will compete for the title.
First tie-breaker: Head-to-head record
Second tie-breaker: Most points in head-to-head matchups
Playoff tie-breaker: QB points
Second playoff tie-breaker: RB points
Third playoff tie-breaker: WR points

We’ve also added one new wrinkle to try and compensate for the most glaring inefficiency in NESCAC Fantasy Football – injuries. So, if an owner plays an individual who ends up not appearing in that week’s game, and there was no prior indication that he would not be playing (meaning that he played the entire game last week, and to the best of our knowledge was healthy going into the current Saturday), then the owner will receive the average of all the players on his bench who are eligible to play that position. Make sense? Good.

Below is how the draft itself shook out. Some picks might raise a few eyebrows. After each round there is a bit of analysis from one of the team owners.

ROUND 1:

Joe MacDonad: Middlebury QB Matt Milano ’16
Adam Lamont: Amherst RB Nick Kelly ’16
Carson Kenney: Wesleyan RB LaDarius Drew ’15
Nick DiBenedetto: Trinity RB Joe Moreno ’19

Joe: The NESCAC is a running back-heavy league. So I took the gunslinging Matt Milano. No one throws it quite as often or effectively as Middlebury, and that offense is loaded. I really wanted either Drew or Moreno in Round 2 (specifically Drew), but my competitors were too smart for that. Shocker. I also will be interested to see if Moreno can really return this level of value.

ROUND 2

ND: Trinity WR Darrien Myers ’17
CK: Middlebury WR Matt Minno ’16
AL: Tufts RB Chance Brady
JM: Wesleyan RB Lou Stevens

Adam: Such a blatant homer pick by Nick to take Trinity WR Darrien Myers ’17 that you can’t help but love it. The Minno pick could be considered high for a WR, but he looks primed for a massive year the way he and Milano found chemistry down the stretch. I love Chance Brady, might have picked him a little high there at seven. Joe showed his respect for the Wesleyan offense by taking another Cardinals running back eighth.

ROUND 3

JM: Bowdoin RB Tyler Grant
AL: Williams QB Austin Lommen
CK: Trinity QB Sonny Puzzo
ND: Colby QB Gabe Harrington

Carson: I got off to a great start in my opinion by snagging Drew and Minno, but I needed a quarterback. As a Trin alumn/current employee, obviously my allegiance is with the Bantams. Puzzo didn’t play at all last year so he should have a lot to prove. Word on the street is the kid is about to blow, and since he’ll get fantasy points through the air and on the ground, I thought he was a good choice at QB. Adam taking Lommen that early, in my opinion, was a bit of a panic pick.

ROUND 4

ND: Bowdoin WR Dan Barone
CK: Bates WR Mark Riley
AL: Wesleyan QB Gernald Hawkins
JM: Colby RB Jabari Hurdle-Price

Nick: Mac’s pick in the fourth round looks promising. The Colby RB’s should have ample opportunities to put fantasy points on the board. Mark Riley seems to be Bates’ weapon, that may or may not work out for Carson as teams may stack Riley’s side. Adam went with a young Wesleyan QB in the fourth round, which could prove to be the pick of the draft. The Floridian knows what football is, but does he know how to play in the frozen tundras of the Coop. Gernald Hawkins could emerge as a big-time player this year. Lastly, Dan Barone is a solid pick as he should be a big contributor to Bowdoin’s offense at wide receiver.

ROUND 5

JM: Middlebury WR Ryan Rizzo
AL: Colby WR Ryder Arsenault
CK: Middlebury RB Jonathan Hurvitz
ND: Amherst QB Alex Berluti

Joe: If you’ve read anything I’ve written about Middlebury this season, I’ve been hyping up Rizzo like you wouldn’t believe. Full disclosure, he’s a friend of mine, but he’s also a damn good football player. The caveat is that there are some other really good wideouts pushing him right now, and I could see Conrad Banky ’19 taking away some of his reps. But I think when the time comes, Rizzo will produce.

ROUND 6

ND: Trinity TE Matt Hirshman
CK: Trinity WR Ian Dugger
AL: Tufts WR Mike Rando
JM: Tufts TE Nik Dean

Adam: Quickly getting into the part of the draft where we say, why not, I’ll take him. Hirshman didn’t have a catch last year so total trust pick. Carson also stays loyal to Trinity and makes a solid pick with Dugger. Then Joe and I go back to back with Tufts guys, two good picks. Nik Dean at tight end is a really good one for Joe because the NESCAC as a league does not tend to use tight ends in the passing game very often, and Dean should get consistent targets.

ROUND 7

JM: Colby WR Mbasa Mayikana
AL: Bates Slotback Shaun Carroll
CK: Amherst TE Rob Thoma
ND: Wesleyan TE Ben Kurtz

Carson: I was confident in the team I had picked up to this point. Have a good group of receivers, two running backs I like, a QB, so I figured I needed a tight end. I wanted to take Hirshman since he’s a Bantam and is looking to have a big year, but DiBo had a stroke and forgot how to human, so I let him have him. Amherst is going to be good this year but they are inexperienced at QB. So why not throw quick passes to your TE? Also, I like Monty’s pick with Carroll. Could have a sneaky good year in Bates’s two slotback offense.

ROUND 8

ND: Trin D/ST
CK: Amherst D/ST
AL: Amherst WR Jackson McGonagle
JM: Tufts QB Alex Snyder

Nick: I started off the eighth round with a flawless pick in the Trinity D/ST. The Bantams are on brink of another undefeated season, and if all goes well, the Trinity defense will be up to par. Trinity had a solid special teams last year, and Devanney welcomes in a true competitor in a freshman kicker. Carson followed in my footsteps, taking one of the other top defenses in the league. The Amherst defense is gritty and they are looking to repeat as undisputed NESCAC Champions. If all goes well for Amherst, this pick from CK will be the right one. Adam has a nice pick with Amherst wide reciever Jackson McGonagle, coming into his senior year he should be a threat, and we heard that he trained with a lot of D-I talent this summer – potential for consistent points there. Really uneasy about Joe’s pick here. Why go with a QB who is going to win one game this year!?!? Tufts QB Alex Snyder has seemed to grow exponentially since his freshman year, but I’d rather see Joe choose a winning QB.

ROUND 9

JM: Hamilton RB LaShawn Ware
AL: Wesleyan K Ike Fuchs
CK: Wesleyan WR Neil O’Connor
ND: Williams RB Connor Harris

Joe: I like my pick better than the rest here. I actually think the Hamilton O can be middle of the pack, as Ware is a good runner, and whoever ends up starting for Hamilton – whether that’s Brandon Tobin or Chase Rosenberg – will be doing so because they had a promising camp. Either Rosenberg will have shown improvement, or Tobin will have come in and wrestled the starting job away. I do think Connor Harris could be a steal, though. He showed off his athleticism in the return game last season. Let’s see if that translates to the backfield now.

ROUND 10

ND: Middlebury TE Trevor Miletich
CK: Trinity WR Nick Gaynor
AL: Williams TE Alex Way
JM: Trinity RB Ethan Suraci

Adam: The round started with Nick changing his pick from the Trinity freshman kicker who he couldn’t remember the name of to Middlebury’s tight end Trevor Miletich ’16. Ended up working out pretty nice for him. Then what felt like the 20th Trinity player came off the board. I grabbed my tight end in Alex Way, and then somehow Joe decided that it was necessary to take yet another Trinity player with his pick. Unless the Bantams score 100 points a game, some of these picks are going to look quite silly.

ROUND 11

JM: Midd D/ST
AL: Tufts WR Ben Berey
CK: Middlebury K Charlie Gordon
ND: Trinity Kicker

Carson: I’m a big believer that kickers are the most underrated player on your fantasy team. A good kicker can get you an easy 10-12 points a week which can be huge in winning a matchup. I took Mason Crosby in the seventh round of my real life fantasy draft (which I’ve started out 0-2 so what do I know). Gordon should only have to worry about extra points for most of the year, or kicks from 30 yards or closer, so I’m optimistic he can get me quality points every week. Trinity Kicker is a funny name for a person but I trust Dibo knows what he’s doing.

ROUND 12

ND: Middlebury RB Diego Meritus
CK: Middlebury QB Jared Lebowitz
AL: Hamilton WR Pat Donahue
JM: Bates QB Pat Dugan

Nick: Diego was my Middlebury RB pick out of the hat, but he is actually nasty after watching his highschool highlight film. Carson went with Middlebury’s hometown (sort of) hero. Jared Lebowitz is a big bodied sophomore QB who may not see the field due to Matt Milano, but I believe Lebowitz is up and coming. Backup QB’s are awkward picks, but in the 12th round he is a fine pick. Adam chose Pat Donahue. Joe went with the Bates senior which is a good pick to get a starting QB this late.

ROUND 13

JM: Middlebury WR James Burke
AL: Colby RB Carl Lipani
CK: Bates Slotback Frank Williams
ND: Bowdoin QB Tim Drakeley

Joe: I think Burke is a steal here, and I actually had Banky on my mind but couldn’t pass up on Midd’s starting wideout opposite of Minno. Sure, maybe a bit of a homer pick, but I like Burke’s upside way more than anybody picked after him. Maybe Lipani will make me look like a fool, though, if he can seriusly cut into Hurdle-Price’s carries.

ROUND 14

ND: Middlebury WR Tanner Contois
CK: Trinity QB Henry Foye
AL: Wes Defense/ST
JM: Amherst K Charlie Wall

Adam: Taking a Midd wide receiver late is never a bad pick since they throw the ball so often, even though Contois is pretty deep on the depth chart right now. I grabbed the Wesleyan Defense/ST, realizing my mistake of not grabbing one of Trinity, Middlebury, or Amherst too late. Wesleyan had a great defense a year ago, but that unit is almost entirely gone. I think that while the defense will take a step back, this will still be a good unit because of the talent on the roster and the coaching ability of the Wesleyan staff.

Fantasy Basketball Is Like Little League, Everybody Wins: Fantasy Report 2/24

We are pretty late with the final fantasy roundup of the season, so just to be clear – these statistics are from the final regular season weekend of conference play. The Quarterfinals that took place on Saturday had no impact on our fantasy matchup.

Heading into last weekend, I held a 5-3 advantage over Adam, but many of those leads were by the slimmest of margins. For instance, I was up just 19 assists, 1.1 percent from the stripe, 1.9 percent from the field and a measly one rebound.

Thinking that I would be able to hold onto my percentage advantages on the strength of Luke Westman ’16 and Lucas Hausman ’16, in addition to a couple of efficient big men, I threw all my efforts into the rebounding category believing that it would make the ultimate difference.

Also, with Joseph Lin ’15 unfortunately suffering a season-ending injury, I had to drop my team’s namesake, and in Lin’s place I slotted in Ryan Jann ’16, a good rebounding guard who could also hit some threes for me. I decided to roll with the resurgent Matt Daley ’16, double-double machine that he is. It killed me to sit Connor Green ’16, but he only had one game this weekend. It turned out to be a great performance, but I had to give the nod to the two Mules guards and Hausman.

Position Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
G H. Rooke-Ley L. Westman
G G. Safford R. Jann
G J. Brown L. Hausman
F J. Swords Mal. Delpeche
F Mar. Delpeche M. Daley
F T. Palleschi D. George
F J. Kuo Z. Pavlin
Bench J. McCarthy H. Merryman
Bench D. Wohl C. Green
Bench A. Santos J. Starks

I was able to lock up rebounds, the only category that I thought I was in danger of losing, thanks to 20+ rebounds from Daley, David George ’16 and Zuri Pavlin ’17. I had a shot at steals being down just seven, but Adam beat me in that category this week. What I didn’t anticipate was the abysmal performance my team put together from the line. Those same three big men combined to go 21-36 (58.3 percent) from the stripe. So what appeared to be my strength ended up costing me big time.

Week Five

Category Lord of the ‘CAC Lin and Tonic Leader
Points 148 221 Joe
Assists 34 32 Adam
Rebounds 72 105 Joe
Steals 13 11 Adam
Blocks 17 14 Adam
FT% 75.5% (37/49) 68.0% (51/75) Adam
FG% 40.9% (52/127) 52.9% (31/153) Joe
3PT Made 7 8 Joe

As you will see below, Adam edged me out in free throw percentage. And there you have it. A rotten 4-4 tie. This leaves a worse taste in my mouth than the Graham Safford ’15 jumper at the end of the game that put the nail in the Middlebury coffin in 2014. I guess there’s nothing to do about it now, though. I suppose we now have to turn out attention to the so-called “real” basketball games coming up this weekend.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC Lin and Tonic Leader
Points 977 1120 Joe
Assists 159 176 Joe
Rebounds 490 524 Joe
Steals 82 73 Adam
Blocks 82 62 Adam
FT% 74.3% (231/311) 73.9% (317/429) Adam
FG% 44.9% (340/758) 48.5% (399/823) Joe
3PT Made 85 48 Adam

Final: Tie 4-4

The Race Gets Tighter: Fantasy Report 2/11

Zuri Pavlin '17 was unstoppable on the boards this weekend, grabbing 29 rebounds. (Courtesy of Conn. College Athletics/Anika Goodhue Photography)
Zuri Pavlin ’17 was unstoppable on the boards this weekend, grabbing 29 rebounds. (Courtesy of Conn. College Athletics/Anika Goodhue Photography)

With Bowdoin thrashing my very own Panthers last weekend, my only chance to earn any bragging rights this winter over Adam is if I can thoroughly annihilate him in fantasy basketball. I had been cultivating a nice lead in the points, assists and rate categories, but as of last week blocks, steals and three pointers made seemed to be slipping out of reasonable grasp. With that in mind, and the loss to injury of two of my skilled big men, Hunter Sabety ’17 and Chris Hudnut ’16, I was forced to make some roster decisions. I would have loved to add sharpshooter Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15, but Adam had waiver priority and beat me to the punch, but I was satisfied to add Connor Green ’16 and Matt Daley ’16. I didn’t end up playing Daley this weekend, but I’m hoping for a big week from him in the final weekend coming up. Adam was forced to sit his best rebounds/blocks contributor, John Swords ’15, who had only one game, which gave me some hope that I could close the gap in those categories. Here’s how our lineups shook out:

Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
Position Player Player
Guard G. Safford J. Starks
Guard D. Wohl L. Westman
Guard H. Rooke-Ley C. Green
Forward A. Santos E. Ogundeko
Forward D. Sinnickson D. George
Forward Mar. Delpeche H. Merryman
Forward S. Ajayi Z. Pavlin
Bench J. Brown J. Lin
Bench J. McCarthy M. Daley
Bench J. Swords L. Hausman

I rolled out a lineup with a little bit less scoring potential than usual. Of course, Lucas Hausman ’16 only had one game, but I also kept Joseph Lin ’15 on the bench who is among the league’s best at scoring. However, I felt good about the matchups I had. Two of my guards this week are very good rebounders, and I was hoping for a big week from beyond the arch from Jaquann Starks ’15, Green and Hunter Merryman ’15. Zuri Pavlin ’17 stepped up huge for me with 21 rebounds against Trinity. My strategy worked on the boards, but it was a cold week for my squad from deep, aside from Green who netted 10 of my 15 three pointers:

Category Lord of the ‘CAC Lin and Tonic
Points 235 178
Assists 26 18
Rebounds 100 116
Steals 7 13
Blocks 6 9
FT% 87.7% (64/73) 66.1% (37-56)
FG% 46.2% (73/158) 42.3% (63-149)
3PT Made 27 15

While I took over the advantage this week, the percentage gaps shrunk considerably, which makes me nervous. It will be tough to hang onto the slim margins I’ve created, but it’s always better to be ahead in a tight race than behind. Here are the composite standings:

Category Lord of the ‘CAC Lin and Tonic Leader
Points 829 899 Joe
Assists 125 144 Joe
Rebounds 418 419 Joe
Steals 69 62 Adam
Blocks 65 48 Adam
FT% 74.0% (194/262) 75.1% (266/354) Joe
FG% 45.6% (288/631) 47.5% (318/670) Joe
3PT Made 78 40 Adam

Overall Score: Joe 5-3