Week 3 - The Bid Thief
What is a bid thief?
Traditionally, the term is often used to describe a team in a NCAA tournament that qualifies by virtue of winning their conference tournament after the season. Out of 68 spots in the post-season 31 of them are given to conference tournament champions. And every once in a while, a team that wasn't suppose to win, does.
In 2016, Holy Cross finshed the season with a 10-19 regular season record, including 0-9 on the road in conference play. But it didn't matter. The Crusaders won four games on the road consecutively to win their conference tournament and qualify for the post-season. And at the same time the 21-15 Florida Gators were bounced from the post-season, even though they were a better basketball team, in a tougher conference, with a better record.
8 months ago, the members of the National Fantasy League voted to re-introduce divisions, and with it a new playoff structure. Divison winners get an automatic berth in the post-season, as do the next three teams in the standings, and the last spot goes to the team with the most points scored. Through three weeks, we have seen the AFC South and NFC East go an incredible 3-15. But thanks to the new structure, the Flood (0-3), Stompers (1-2), and Trash Pandas (1-2) currently sit in the field, while the Coins (2-1) are on the outside looking in.
But we've only played three weeks, and we have a lot of games left to play. No team is farther from the playoffs than just a single win in week four. But if you are the Coins, Sharks, or Gryphons you'll need to keep an eye on the bid thiefs. One thing we know for certain heading into week four - no one is safe yet.
/// Round Up///
We can't recap week three without talking about the AFC South. Going into the year, team that started 0-3 were 1-9 on making the playoffs. And thanks to the entire division starting 0-3, we'll see one again.
The NFC East saw their first 0-3 week of the season and now all sit at 1-2. Another division in the bottom half of the league, but they currently hold two playoffd spots.
For the rest of the league, this is breathing room. But it won't stay that way. The Sharks, Victinis, and Huskies all still have to play each other twice, six critical games. The Nightmare, Gryphons, and Coins are in the same boat. The Huskies still have two games remaining against the Nightmare as well, meaning 8/11 of their remaining games are against teams currently in the top 6 in the standings, and six of those are against teams in the top four. Plenty of unknowns left to sort out.
/// Stats and Records ///
The Coins and Pandas lose their 100th games, the Vicitnis and Sharks win their 100th games.
The Flood and Stompers play their 100th games this weekend.
After the Gryphons win over the Grizzlies, only two undefeated series remain- the Coins are now 7-0 versus the Kraken, and the Huskies are 6-0 against the Gryphons.
The Victinis 85.3 point win over the Coins is the 17th largest gap in league history, and first this year to crack the top 20 all-time.
The Victinis and Nightmare win their first NFL Kickoff Cup, the Huskies win their second. All three have won $20 FAAB and will host next season.
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