The Picks!

Well, a possible timing error helped me break even for the week. Apparently it was a good week for the Techs, as I missed both of those games to drop to 0-2 on the week before the Illini and the Blue Devils(that I really don't like picking) pulled off wins to even me out for the week.

I kept at .500 with a 6-6 record in these picks so far, but I like to look at more recent trends. Just as people look at the Dallas Mavericks and say "Since their 0-4 start, they've been near unbeatable at 35-5," I'm going to say since my bad week of 0-4 I've been 6-2!!

Do I smell a ring in my future?

Alright, time for the picks!

We've got a lot of great games this week, and because of that, I'm expanding the normal four picks to six! It's a 50% bonus week! (Kinda like occasionally when you buy shampoo or deodorant and they give you the bigger bottle/container for the same price you're used to paying for.)

The games:

All on Saturday
#4 North Carolina @ #19 Arizona
George Mason @ James Madison
Western Illinois @ Missouri-Kansas City

Monday: Illinois-Chicago @ #11 Butler
Tuesday: Michigan State @ Illinois
Wednesday: #3 Wisconsin @ #24 Indiana

The picks!

North Carolina is the #1 team in the nation in Sagarin's rankings, #4 in the RPI, Coaches' poll and AP poll. Arizona is very good as well, but only outranks UNC in the RPI right now, where they are impressively ranked #2 behind only UCLA. Arizona does return their top scorer to this game though after he sat out last game(amazing how Lute Olson suspends him for a game against Arizona State, who they beat 71-47 WITHOUT Williams, but lets him come back for UNC) for a rules violation.

Overall, despite Williams coming back and the fact that Arizona has the home court, I'm going with the team I love to hate. Roy Williams and those damn North Carolina Tarheels are my projected winner.

Next is the battle of founding fathers! The amazing Fightin' George Masons who beat UConn last year in the regional final to advance to the Final Four vs. The Fightin' James Madisons, whose biggest win is completely unknown to everyone except themselves. Regardless, what we have here is a battle of the founder of the Bill of Rights vs. the writer of the Constitution(Never thought you'd get a history lesson from this site, did you?). Gotta go with the more important and bigger work. The Bill of Rights, as important as it is, is an addition onto the Constitution, so despite the stats that say otherwise(such as Sagarin's rankings that have GMU 94th overall compared to Madison's 291st), I'm going with the Fighting James Madisons to pull the upset at home.

The following is a game that only matters a small sector of the population, but I'm among it. As a graduate of the fine institution of Western Illinois University, this game matters. Western Illinois is competing to be the worst team in college hoops this year, and we HAVE to have this loss if we have a shot. We're currently 335th in the RPI out of 336 teams and are projected to move up a few spots to 331. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! The Kangaroos of Kansas City MUST win in order to keep us in the running for that coveted #336 spot. So out of necessity, I'm picking UMKC to defend their home court

Monday and Tuesday's chosen games are rematches of previous picks, where I went 1-1. UIC defeated Butler last time they played, in overtime at home. Well, it's revenge time. Butler, who is by far the superior team and still ranked #11th in the nation and 23rd in the RPI, will win this time. If not, I vow to never pick another Butler game this season until I have to turn in brackets for the NCAA Tourney, which unless I REALLY curse them, they should be part of. I am also picking Illinois to defend its home court against Michigan State. These two are basically each other's biggest rivals in the Big 10, even though not for geographic reasons, but because they seem to be about equally good or bad over the Self and Weber years at Illinois. MSU won at home, now I expect so will the Illini.

Finally, Wednesday's game. This will make one friend of mine who is a Wisconsin alum very nervous, as I've picked another Wisconsin game. Last time it worked out for him as I chose Ohio State over Wisconsin in my terrible, to be forgotten, 0-4 week. But this time, on the road against #24 Indiana, I'm siding with the Wisconsin Badgers. I'd love to say it's because WIsconsin is the better team, but I'm really going to say it because in my office at work, there is a stuffed badger on the file cabinet not too far from me, which is apparently the office mascot/thing to scare people with. There's no stuffed Hoosier(but man THAT would actually scare some people.)

The recap!

The home teams go 4-2 with top ranked teams North Carolina and Wisconsin being strong enough to win on the road.

North Carolina over Arizona
James Madison over George Mason(yeah, this is probably stupid)
UMKC over WIU
Butler over UIC
Illinois over MSU
Wisconsin over Indiana

Anyone ballsy enough, make some picks in my comments. If you're willing to post picks fairly regularly, I'll post your results against mine. No picking games after they've been tipped though.

Cardinals farm system rankings

Keith Law ranked the farm systems on an Insider article on ESPN.com recently!

...and to say the least, ours is still ranked as hurting pretty bad.

If you have Insider, here's a link:

The overall lowdown of the article: Tampa Bay is #1, having a crapload of talent, even though most of the really high ceilinged players are in A or AA ball. Milwaukee is the best in the NL Central, ranked 9th, the Cubs 19th, with only Felix Pie as a piece that's anywhere near major league ready, and then the good news:

We're better than Philadelphia and San Diego.

The Cardinals farm system ranks at 28th out of the 30 major league teams in Law's analysis. He does however say Rasmus, with a good year in AA would likely be a top 10 to 15 prospect across the board.

In about two weeks, Baseball America also has a write-up on the Cardinals farm system, where they rate the top 10 prospects in their system. That article is set to debut on February 9th.


Keith Law has been historically harsh on the Cardinals in his analysis of them on ESPN.com, but there's probably still some truth to this. Beyond Rasmus, the Cardinals have Chris Narveson and Blake Hawksworth as probably their two most likely future big league pitchers. Narveson probably has the ceiling of being at best about a #4 starter, and Hawksworth was derailed by surgery after being a top 100 prospect in 2004(#47 overall by Baseball America). The cupboard probably isn't as bare as Law states, but we're certainly no better than 20th even if you're REALLY optimistic.

For more on this topic, there are plenty of diaries on the site Viva El Birdos.

Now, time to work on a second post for today, my week's picks for my challenge!

ILL INI! (oh yeah, how about that handshake)

So far it's the only pick I've gotten right this week.

Illinois picks up what is probably their biggest win of the season over 24th ranked Indiana. This win gets them back to 3-4 in Big 10 play, 15-7 overall. It also is their first win of the year against a ranked opponent after losing earlier games this season to Maryland, Arizona, Ohio State and Wisconsin. This win puts Illinois back on the bubble as a potential, although certainly nowhere near a lock, NCAA team.

But as much as it was a needed Illinois win, this handshake will probably be the biggest story.

Prior to the game, Weber and Sampson had their normal pre-game handshake, but instead of being a normal cordial handshake, Weber was very hesitant and it looked as though he almost pulled his hand back in that whole "run your hand through your hair" blow-off.

The origins, as I talk about in this post, goes back to a recruiting war over top guard Eric Gordon. Gordon was originally verbally committed to going to Illinois and then backed out to become a Hoosier when Sampson was hired. Gordon could have been the top prospect that put Illinois with Weber on the recruiting map. Instead, there are numerous questions from Illinois and college basketball fans about whether Weber can recruit. Afterall, he also lost out on Duke guard Jon Scheyer, who was coached in high school by Bruce Weber's brother.

This handshake is probably going to be one of the big stories of the next few days, so let's see how it works out.

By the way, I'm not picking any more "Tech" games this year if I can help it.

This week's picks!

Ok, here we go.

Game 1: #5 Kansas at Texas Tech

As much as Bobby Knight gets the most out of his players and usually has a very good gameplan of how to win most games, these tend to be the games that never really come together for him. Games where his team is obviously outmatched seem to be the bane for Knight. At the same time, Self's teams, while always stocked with talent, always seem to underachieve to a very frustrating level(if only Kansas and Illinois could do an exchange program every 3 years ago between Weber and Self. They'd both be stocked with talent from Self that Weber could coach up.)

Overall, the pick here is Kansas.


Game 2: #22 Maryland at #25 Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech has been awesome as of late. They've totally earned their top 25 ranking by shaking up the ACC with some big wins. However--no one's going to overlook them now, and I can't see them keeping this up when they can't play the "underdog" card. Maryland has a better points per shot rate, shoots better, scores more points overall and rebounds the ball more per game. Some of this may simply indicate a faster pace, but overall, I've still got to go with Maryland to pick up a big win on the road in the ACC.


Game 3: Indiana at Illinois

The Big 10 game of the week. Indiana has been very good under Sampson so far. IU is currently 4-1 and tied for 2nd in the Big 10 behind only #3 ranked Wisconsin. Illinois has struggled and are 2-3 in the league(not counting the game against Wisconsin as I type this).

Illinois does have the home court though and they rarely lose there. They're looking rather good against Wisconsin, although they trail at the half. With the home court, I'm going with my team this time and taking Illinois to defend their home court against Indiana.


Game 4: #16 Clemson at #17 Duke

I look at Clemson's schedule and I wonder...

HOW THE HELL IS THIS TEAM 16TH IN THE NATION?

Their marquee non-conference win: Mississippi State(home game) - 56th in the Sagarins, 77th in the RPI. The 77th best team is a marquee win, right?

They've faced two ranked teams in the ACC in Maryland and North Carolina and lost to both of them. Their only real marquee win is another home game over Georgia Tech, who they beat by 1. Georgia Tech is 34th in the RPI. Now, Clemson somehow is ranked 11th in the RPI, so I guess if I'm going by the RPI, I can't completely rip them, but I can't imagine Clemson will be anywhere near that high by the end of the season.

The pick here is Duke, who as much as they're struggling, still only has 3 losses and still has one of the best basketball coaches in the country(NBA included)

The recap!

It's a bad week for "Techs" who I'm calling to go 0-2. It's a good week for the traditional powerhouses of the last few years. All four winners have been strong programs for the last several years, while the losers have all been either traditionally weak in basketball or in the case of Indiana, just down the last few years.

Kansas over Texas Tech
Maryland over Virginia Tech
Illinois over Indiana
Duke over Clemson

Can I go over .500?

Hoops Challenge!

A successful week last week! I grabbed myself a shovel and dug upward.

After a first week 0-fer, I went 4-0 on picks last week to finish week 2 of the challenge at 4-4. Now, it's time to pick the games for this week.

Saturday: #5 Kansas at Texas Tech
Sunday: #22 Maryland at #25 Virginia Tech
Tuesday: Indiana at Illinois
Thursday: #16 Clemson at #17 Duke

A pretty balanced week. These could go either way. Obviously the two ACC games are teams very closely ranked, with the supposed underdog being the home team. The Big 10 game is two teams going in very different directions as of late, and the Big 12 game should be a relatively easy pick, but then when Bobby Knight is involved, anything's possible.

I almost picked #12 Arizona at #2 UCLA instead of the Kansas/TTU game, but I figured I've shown sufficient stones for the week in picking three games that could be tossups. Why make it four? Gotta take one where I can get some real odds at winning.

Picks will be published before the first game tips, at 3:00 CST.

Turning it around!

My Hoops Challenge has turned around for me.

Wisconsin/Purdue is later this week, but so far I'm 3-0 this week, with the probable gimme being the only one left.

On a football note(sort of)--Why is Prince the Super Bowl halftime entertainer? Couldn't the biggest American television event of the year get someone who peaked sometime more recently than 1990?

Apparently, Color Me Badd was unavailable.

I know, Prince is on that level with Michael Jackson, but still--it's not like we're seeing HIM as the centerpiece of the Super Bowl entertainment.

It can only get better....

After last week's 0-4 in the MWSF Hoops Challenge, I can only get better. Only one of these games should be an easy pick this week, but then again, Butler/UIC last week was supposed to be easy, until an overtime victory made me winless.

The games!

#20 Tennessee @ #5 Ohio State - Sat.
IUPUI @ Valparaiso - Sat.
Illinois @ Michigan State - Sun.
Purdue @ #4 Wisconsin - Wed.

So three of my four picks will be decided by the time the new polls come out. Now, on to the picks!

The "locks"

I say that of course, tongue in cheek.

Game 1: #20 Tennessee @ #5 Ohio State - Noontime tip

This one makes me nervous. Tennessee is a pretty high powered offense, averaging 85.6 points per game, and they're led by two junior guards who seem to be lighting it up. Ohio State, however, is the more talented team and has home court. OSU's recent struggles(losing to Wisconsin, only scoring in the 60s at Illinois, despite walloping them overall) can probably be accounted to a lot of freshmen playing on the road in a rough conference to get road wins. Tennessee has beaten some good teams in Oklahoma State and MEmphis, both ranked teams, but they got walloped by one of those top tier teams in North Carolina. In writing this, I've almost talked myself into taking the upset, but I can't do it. Ohio State, at home, will pull this one off.

Game 2: IUPUI @ Valparaiso - 7:05 tip

The two most well known teams in my alma mater's conference, the mighty Mid-Con. Valpo is the usual league champ, but IUPUI has the most fun name, and everyone remembers wanting to pick "ooey-pooey" a couple years ago when they made the tourney. This year, IUPUI is the better scoring, better rebounding team, but that might be misleading because their toughest game was against unranked Illinois. Valpo meanwhile, matched up with Ohio State, Butler and Marquette, all ranked teams at the time of the game. Due to lack of a true favorite here, I'll go with the home team and say that Valpo gets themselves back to .500 in Mid-Con league play.

Game 3: Illinois @ Michigan State - Sunday, 12:30 tip

Both teams are 1-2 in the Big 10 after starting off with two losses in league play. Illinois squeaked by Iowa after letting a reasonable size lead slip away. Michigan State looked dominant against lowly Northwestern, beating them by 21. Iowa is not a team Illinois should struggle with at home. I can understand on the road, but at home, you have to take care of business and stick that dagger in when you have a chance. Illinois seems incapable of doing this right now, AND they're on the road. As much as I hate to do this, as a fan, I'm going with the third home team out of three games so far, and picking Michigan State to beat the boys in orange and navy.

Game 4: Purdue @ #4 Wisconsin - Wednesday, 7:00 tip

Purdue is having one of their best seasons in a long time--so far--and are currently projected by Bracketologist Joe Lunardi to be in(although only a #12 seed) the field of 65. However, they're already 1-2 in Big 10 play(not a shock to me), and my guess is they're on their way to about a 6-10 Big 10 season, with this game against Wisconsin being another of those 10 losses. Wisconsin right now is the undisputed best team in the Big 10--although maybe not by the end of the season, check Ohio State still--and they're at home, where they're virtually unbeatable. That of course is a lesson I ignored last week, but fool me twice... shame on me! Wisconsin should win this mid-week game handily.

RECAP!

All home teams win!

Ohio State over Tennessee
Valpo over IUPUI
Michigan State over Illinois
Wisconsin over Purdue

The Curse and the Big 10 NBDL 1st and 2nd teams

So I've gone and done it. I've ruined Butler's season.

I picked them to beat UIC, and they then went out against UIC, who was without its coach and without several players that straight up quit, and they lost to UIC in overtime.

On the bright side, things can only go up after my 0-4 start to my own NCAA Pick'em Challenge.

On another note:

I was looking at the NBDL website, actually trying to find former Illinois star and first round draft pick Frank Williams. When looking at this, I started wondering: What other big name college stars have fallen to the wayside in the D-League? Specifically looking at the Big 10 players, I found 9 Big 10 players spread out among the 12 NBDL teams. Some of them I don't remember at all. Some of them were big-time talents that either the scouts didn't think would translate to the NBA well and dropped in stock. Some were former big stars who were even drafted and floundered into the NBDL.

So, here we go, based on only the statistics easily found on the NBDL website(since I've never seen an NBDL game, nor live anywhere near where any of the teams are), here is.... your All Big-10 1st and 2nd teams.

Slotting in as the star of this writer's team is shooting guard Vince Grier, former Minnesota star. Averaging close to 20 a game(18.7) and hitting 54% of his field goals, Grier is making the most of his time in the NBDL, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's given a chance in the NBA by season's end. The rest of my first team includes the aforementioned Frank Williams, averaging 15.8 ppg and 4.6 apg for the same Sioux Falls team Grier is on, a couple of Michigan State products in Aloysius Anagonye, averaging 9.6 with 5.7 boards and 1.4 steals a game and Alan Anderson, hitting 49% of his shots for 14.2 ppg, and finally at center, Rick Rickert, who is having a fairly successful NBDL season so far at 14.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 55.6% shooting.

An honorable mention and 6th man award goes to Jared Reiner of Iowa, also on the Sioux Falls team. Rounding out the 2nd team is Kevin Burleson, Tyler Smith and Marcus Taylor. Marcus Taylor being the same one that was drafted high a few years ago after coming out of Michigan State.

Overall, MSU and Minnesota have 3 players each in the D-League, with Iowa, Illinois and Penn State each being represented too. I don't know if this is an honor or not, but I thought I'd mention it.

On a side note - I think I know why these guys are in the D-League. Many of the scores are scores like 129-118. Apparently these guys don't play a whole lot of defense down there.

And the big ha-ha this week goes to:

Well, me, for going 0-4, but also for Barry Bonds, who tested positive during the 2006 season for amphetamine use. He supposedly received the uppers from career bench player Mark Sweeney(brother to Kansas City star Mike Sweeney). As one of the most scrutinized players in professional sports, he didn't learn his lesson that you shouldn't just pop things in your mouth because someone says they're ok? I don't buy the story at all, but even if Sweeney did have uppers in his locker that he handed out, Barry has no one to blame but himself.

Tom Hicks is no longer the top dog for giving out bad contracts for too much money! The owner of the LA Galaxy just signed David Beckham to a ridiculous contract that eclipses what A-Rod got from the Rangers by a healthy margin. The total contract value is $250 million, 2 million less than what A-Rod got....

BUT IT'S OVER 5 YEARS!

A-Rod's average of 25.2M is ridiculous and he could never possibly live up to it. Ok, we all know. So then how does it work that Major LEague Soccer, which gets nowhere near the television contracts or the ticket sales that baseball gets, can afford to have one of its teams put out $50M a year to one player!

This might have to get a post all to itself, comparing it to other leagues.....

The Kiss of Death

Well, Quinnipiac beat St. Francis.
My upset pick in UNLV was a mistake, as Air Force beat them narrowly.
Now, Ohio State is looking bad against Wisconsin.
Who wants to take bets on Illinois-Chicago upsetting Butler tomorrow?

I'm a short time from starting off my challenge 0-3.

Tomorrow(assuming I have time), I've got some interesting stuff about former Big 10 players who have fallen from grace.

The MWSF NCAA Hoops Challenge!

The inaugural week of the MWSF NCAA Hoops Challenge is now!

The idea will be that I'll pick four games from the upcoming week(for my purposes, each week will begin with Sat., since that's when the majority of college hoops is on) and I'll make my picks. Basically a 4-per-week NCAA Tourney challenge, going for the rest of the season.

My current plan is that at least 3 of the games will be Top 25 games, and since I'm a Big 10 guy, at least one every week will be a Big 10 game. The fourth game I'm going to try to pick a game that could have major importance for both teams but doesn't involve top 25 teams.

This week's games:

Today, Jan. 6 - UNLV at #16 Air Force
Today, Jan. 6 - Quinnipiac at St. Francis(PA)
Tues, Jan. 9 - #6 Ohio State at #4 Wisconsin
Wed, Jan. 10 - #13 Butler at Illinois-Chicago

The picks:

UNLV at #16 Air Force

Probably the most undervalued game this week, but these are two teams that would be LOCKS for the Tourney and would likely get seeded somewhere in the 3 to 6 range if they had to choose today. It also seems like Air Force would be the favorite, being ranked and having the home game, but their current RPI suggests otherwise. UNLV is currently ranked 11th in the nation in RPI, Air Force 15th. This could be a very important game in the MWC between two 1-0 teams.
I'm going to take the upset and pick UNLV to go into Air Force and take the game.

Quinnipiac vs. St. Francis(PA)

Normally I won't do this, since I know nothing about either team, but it's always intriguing when two teams this equally matched and this equally bad come together to play a game. In the RPI, these two teams(keep in mind, there are 336 teams in Div. 1 Hoops) are ranked 333rd and 326th respectively. Now, I'm in no position to speak ill of these teams, since my alma mater is smack-dab between them ranked 330th currently, BUT - Alcorn State isn't our opponent this week(334th), so WIU's game isn't very compelling on any level.
I'll go with the favored home team in 326th ranked St. Francis(Go Catholics!).

#6 Ohio State vs. #4 Wisconsin

The big game this week! Two potential #1 seeds going at it in Madison. Madison is one of the toughest places in America to get a road win, but Ohio State has man-child Greg Oden and a very talented overall group of young players, many of whom have never played and lost in that gym before.
I look at this one as a coin-flip, but I've decided on taking Ohio State to go into Wisconsin and take a key Big 10 road win. (This could be a rebound game after OSU at Illinois, as Illinois MIGHT be one of the few teams equipped with a big enough front line to combat OSU's size)

#13 Butler vs. Illinois-Chicago

I kept the midwest theme in this one, picking a UIC game as my final pick. Butler has the chance to do something very special. They're currently the #3 team in the nation in RPI. RPI Forecast unfortunately has them forecasted to finish around #20, which is due in large part to their conference dragging them down. But nevertheless, if Butler could run the table in the Horizon league(and who's going to stop them? Milwaukee-Green Bay?) then they could finish in position to earn themselves at LEAST a #3 seed in March. Every game is a land mine for Butler, but this is early in the season and I see no reason why UIC would beat a team that has already dispatched Notre Dame, Indiana, Gonzaga and Tennessee.
The pick: Butler keeps it going.

I know this is probably too late to really get anyone else who might regularly read this involved wholly, since games start very soon, but if anyone wants to post picks, throw them in the comments section. Even if you only pick the two games during the week this week, that'd be a good start.

Update! Not an auspicious start for me. UNLV lost in a close game to Air Force 56-50 and St. Francis let me down, losing 89-82. Today's games were the suspect picks though. GO OSU AND BUTLER!!

Break's over

Well, after a nice 2 week hiatus from teaching and from blogging, I'm back. Classes start tomorrow, which means I've got a WHOLE lot to do today, but here's a post anyway.

Not gonna strain myself with a big post today, but here's some random notes:

Cardinals Notes

Mark Mulder is still considered his options, which according to the Star-Telegram out of Texas currently include the Rangers, Cardinals and the Indians. Most of the other reports have stated the competition is down to Texas and St. Louis. I'd like to see him back, especially now that our options are dwindling. Mulder's offers appear to be around 2 years/8M guaranteed with a boatload of incentives.

Other options for the rotation include Ohka and Piniero. Ugh. Please Walt! Sign Mulder and/or Weaver! On the Weaver front, there appears to be absolutely no news to speak of. That does seem to be Jocketty's way though, keeping things as quiet as possible.

Bulls Notes

Good news on a scary story: Bulls NBDL prospect Martynas Andriuskevicius attended practice with the Bulls recently after suffering major health complications stemming from a fight in practice with his NBDL team, the Dakota Wizards. Andriuskevicius was basically cold-cocked and dropped to the floor unconscious, hitting his head again rather harshly on the floor. He lost all verbal communications skills for a time and his hearing and speech are still not 100%. He says he does not intend to press charges against the player, Awvee Storey, but his agent does not rule out this possibility.

Other good news: At 19-12, the Bulls are percentage points behind Detroit for 1st in the CEntral and would start the playoffs today as the #2 seed. Their point differential of +5.2 ppg is the best in the Eastern Conference and 5th best in the NBA. As John Hollinger of ESPN.com(Sorry, you have to have Insider to actually view this article) states, "Believe it or not, victory margin is a stronger indicator of future win-loss record than a team's win-loss record, and normally a team with Chicago's victory margin would be 20-8, not 16-12." Currently, by the NBA RPI, the Bulls are playing three games better than their record indicates they are, as their expected W-L at this point is 22-9.

College Hoops Notes

This is not a proud time to claim my alma mater. Despite my fanship of the Illini, I am actually a graduate of Western Illinois University, a school that usually puts out a strong D1-AA football team, but that pretty much puts out a real stinker in basketball every year. Currently, they are 329th in RPI and 305th in Jeff Sagarin's rankings. When you consider there are 336 teams in Division 1, this is downright pathetic.

Props to the Big 10! Right now, in those same Jeff Sagarin ratings, they would likely have 6 teams in the dance. The conference is currently ranked 4th overall, and Wisconsin(6th), Ohio State(24th), Indiana(25th), Purdue(30th), MSU(33rd) and Illinois(41th) would all likely make the dance. Not that this is hugely unusual, but this looked to be a down year for the Big 10, with Illinois taking a big step downward, and only Wisconsin and Ohio State looking like they really had the pedigree to do ANYTHING in March. Time to knock on wood though, because there's still conference season, and I could see Purdue putting up a 5-11 record and falling out of the tourney.

That's all for now. I'll probably be writing more on college hoops and some on the Bulls as we go into the early months where baseball news is really hard to find.

70 days until first round action begins!