2025 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 8

The coalition is back at it as we enter Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season!

Adam mentioned over text when I passed along our disputed game count for last week that it was a heavy one and that he expected we'd split. Sure enough, he and I split our six disputed games; Joe had a better week though as he swept our two disputed games and took five of eight from Adam.

The bad news for me now is that I'm tied for the bottom of the group standings, though not for having a bad week. It was just that others had a better week, as six games still separate me and Adam, though his lead for the whole group is down to just four games.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. After hovering around .500 in consensus picks, we hit on all four of ours this past week, which was a big reason why the whole group finished above .500 for the week. Adam's lead once again stems from his continued success in hero picks, though he split his two from last week.

As we look ahead to the new week, we have one of the more groupthink-laden set of picks in column history. All told, we disagree with each other on just two games apiece. Let's get to it!

2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Elimination Stage Round of 32 (Part 3)

We're down to 24 teams left as the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions rolls on!

Both of our teams that have won tournament championships were in action in the last batch of games, and as part of that, our defending Champion of Champions was unceremoniously swept out of their title defense. The two-time champion in the 1996 Chicago Bulls, however, remains alive to try and reclaim its throne.

After a set with a couple of upsets though, we were back to chalk in the last set as the higher seeds all prevailed, and all of them with relative ease. The batch of games we're doing today is pretty heavy with group winners, so we'll see if they continue to prevail to maintain home court advantage for yet another round.

The up to date bracket, scores, and results from Group Play can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Elimination Stage Round of 32 (Part 2)

The Round of 32 is underway in the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions, and already we've seen a little upheaval.

Our two most recent NBA champions held serve in their series, showing continued dominance for the modern era of the NBA. But we also saw that the gap between teams is closer than it might appear, as we lost both a 2 seed and a 1 seed in the first set of games.

In the Round of 64 the way I'd shuffled series it was set up so that no matchups for the next round would be determined in the first half. The shuffle didn't work out that way this time, but that's okay as if this were happening in reality games would be going on at the same time and we may have some matchups determined sooner than others.

The up to date bracket, scores, and results from Group Play can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Elimination Stage Round of 32 (Part 1)

We started with a playoff field of 64, and now that has been cut in half as the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions rolls on.

Chalk largely ruled in the Round of 64, as we only had five upsets: three five seeds and two six seeds were able to advance to the Round of 32, otherwise all the teams that finished in the top four of their respective groups held serve. Meanwhile from a historical perspective, the two teams that have won previous Tournaments of Champions are still alive, as are two of the three runners-up, and all of our previous semifinalists. By era, only two teams from before 1980 remain alive, and all but two champions from 2009-onward are still in contention.

Now the road gets a little bit harder as we move to the Round of 32. Since every group's top two finishers remain alive, those teams will continue to carry home court advantage into this round of play. As we did in the Round of 64 (though I don't think I ever specifically mentioned it), all series are best of sevens played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format.

The up to date bracket, scores, and results from Group Play can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2025 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 7

As the NFL season rolls on, so to does the coalition's quest to pick NFL games against the spread.

This past week was kind of a mixed bag. Joe was tied for the week's best mark in the group as he took three of four from me and three of five from Adam, Adam took four of seven from me. As a result, Adam moves a tiny bit further ahead of me while Joe pulls into what is now a three way tie for second, with the rest of the group just one game behind us.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. The status quo of the group remaining just a hair above .500 on consensus picks continues; meanwhile it was a good week for hero picks, with four of the five from last week hitting, raising the group's record when going hero to 17-11 through six weeks. Geoffrey is the only one below .500 in such games, and Adam's lead is largely based on his usual nonsense of picking the most hero games and winning more often than not.

As we look ahead to Week 7, Joe and I disagree on just two games, while Adam is more in his usual range of six disputed with me and eight with Joe out of 15. Let's get to it!

2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Elimination Stage Round of 64 (Part 8)

Just four series remain as we finish out the Round of 64 of the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions!

12 of the 16 matchups for the next round are now set in stone. We had a couple more first round upsets in the last set of games, including a series that went the distance and a game that was easily the highest scoring of the tournament.

As we finish this round out, three of our four one seeds will finally get their series covered, as well the two-time Champion of Champions. Hopefully this round will be able to finish with some dramatic finishes as well.

The up to date bracket, scores, and results from Group Play can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2025 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 6

The coalition returns for Week 6 of the NFL season, and I think it's official: The Great Reversal has begun.

I say this mainly because it was a pretty rough week for the group as a whole. No one finished above .500 for the week, a couple folks are now below .500 for the season, and yet just seven games separate first from last place. This bears out what happened in the column last week: Joe and I split our two disputed games, while Adam narrowly won the week, taking five of nine from each of us.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. As you would figure from the nine disputed games figure, Adam had several hero picks this week, but he ended up missing on a couple. As tends to be the case, his volume is higher than the rest of the group and he's hit on enough that it's helped him to first place. I hit on my first hero win of the season (albeit in a much smaller sample size). Meanwhile our consensus game rate remains at just a hair over .500.

So as we look ahead to this week, Adam and I disagree on seven games, Joe and I on four, and the two of them on five out of 15. Let's get to it!