2021 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 13

It's nitty-gritty time. Rivalry week is in the rear view mirror, and with Championship Weekend on the horizon, we have one final season-ending update for these rankings to come.

I don't count championship games for Playoff Points; it skews the numbers too much for the roughly 15 percent of teams fortunate enough to get what is essentially an early playoff game that can unfairly alter the picture for the remaining 85 percent. I do update win/loss totals following those games, which will have smaller, ancillary effects on teams, but not the big leaps that we see on a week in, week out basis with these rankings.

I missed the NCSS ranking post this past week, so I'm going to include it as a part of this final batch of rankings for Playoff Points, just as a point of reference for everyone.

Game Notes: (MBK) Aurora University @ North Central College (11/27/21)

Final Score
NCC 76, Aurora 44

Game Summary
This one didn't get off to a great start as the Spartans (1-4) scored the game's first four points before the Cardinals (3-1) got things figured out and overcame one last deficit at 6-4, embarking on a 14-2 run that spanned about seven minutes and gave North Central total control. Aurora never got closer than within eight the rest of the way as the Cardinals built a 33-15 halftime lead, then all but it out of reach with eight straight to open the second half. The margin was at least 20 from that point on, and was in the 30's for a good chunk of the half, allowing Todd Raridon to empty his bench for the final couple minutes.

Key Players

• Matt Helwig (NCC): 8-14 FG (3-6 3PT), 3-4 FT; 22 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl. Matt has become the go-to offensive guy for the Cardinals in the early going of the campaign; after a monster performance in the Battle of Chicago-Maple Avenue earlier in the week, he scored the first dozen points of the game for the Cardinals to help set the tone while the rest of the squad got going.
• Terrance Moncrief (NCC): 4-7 FG (2-4 3PT); 10 pts, 1 reb, 1 stl. There weren't a ton of other outstanding Cardinals looking at the box score, but I was pretty impressed with what Moncrief brought to the table in 22 minutes of action. He was an early sub for the Cardinals and hit a couple threes as part of that 14-2 run that gave the Cardinals control for the evening. He's got good burst and a pretty good shot; I think he'll be a good piece going forward for this team, and as a freshman, he's got time to blossom.
• Shamar Pumphrey (AUR): 3-16 FG (1-5 3PT); 7 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl. There were no good picks for Aurora, so we'll go with a guy that felt like a microcosm of their game tonight. When you tie for your team's lead in scoring with seven points... you're not having a good night.

Key Stats

• NCC: 10-24 3PT (41.7%). Coming into this one, the Cardinals were shooting a putrid 21.7% from three point range, so a confidence booster was needed, and tonight provided one. Getting the early spark from Matt Helwig and Terrance Moncrief was good as other guys got into the action as the game went on. The ten made threes matched the total from the first three games and pumped the Cardinals' numbers for the season up a full seven percentage points to a still rough 28.6 percent. We'll get there.
• AUR: 22 points off 20 NCC turnovers. I don't know if Aurora features a press as part of its main defensive strategy or it's something they saw that had given the Cardinals some fits in the early going, but it did help to some extent. Aurora only managed eight points off turnovers in the first half before picking it up a bit in the second (though a lot of that stemmed from a generally awful first half offensively).

Final Thoughts
There's not much to take from this game, and I won't sugarcoat it: this Spartan team is not very good. You have to beat the teams you're supposed to, and in that regard the Cardinals took care of business. But I'm not lauding this as some sort of masterpiece, because the Cardinals do have to clean some things up. I was a little surprised to see North Central finished with a 40-32 rebounding edge, because the Spartans had an edge in the first half. This is something the Cardinals will need to clean up, because CCIW play is fast approaching. North Central has a week now to prepare for the Carthage Firebirds to come invade Gregory Arena to open conference play.

2021 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 12

The coalition returns... except to your ears this time.

It's tradition for the Week 12 Pigskin Pick 'Em feature to go up a day early given the holiday. The newer tradition is that, instead of going full column, Adam and I are doing a podcast episode with our picks. Joe unfortunately wasn't able to join our recording session on Tuesday, but he did send picks along, so his are all mentioned on here in addition to mine and Adam's for your listening pleasure.

Last week I took five of six disputed picks from Adam and three of four from Joe, while Joe had that same three of four margin over Adam. Adam remains in first place in the group, but his lead narrows. You can view how we've picked in relation to each other here.

Let's get to the table and feast! From all of us at Confessions of a Sportscaster, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

2021 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 12

Just one week of the regular season remains!

We have rivalry week coming up this weekend as the conference races start to come to a close and we get ready for postseason play and the Death to the BCS Playoffs. And that's where these rankings come in.

Just about everything is set in stone in terms of conferences, though the individual team races are still somewhat up for grabs.

Let's look at how we stack up through 12 weeks.

2021 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 11

The coalition returns to action for another week of picking NFL games!

Joe joined us for last week's slate, and for us... it did not go well. And then there's Adam, who swept three hero picks, making the difference as he took four of five from me and six of seven from Joe, while I took three of four from Joe.

This builds Adam's lead to double digits as the rest of us are a mix of treading water above .500 to fairly far below. Adam's incredible success in hero picks (both in terms of rate and volume) is the reason for his large lead. Odd year magic is at it again. You can view how we've picked in relation to each other here.

Joe joins us again this week, and in this 15 game slate, Adam and I disagree on six, Joe and I on four, and Joe and Adam on four games. Let's get to it!

Editor note: Prior to kickoff on Sunday, both Adam and Joe used a mulligan to change their picks from Ravens -6.5 to Bears +6.5. And then prior to kickoff on Monday, Joe used a second mulligan to change his pick from Buccaneers -11.5 to Giants +11.5. Joe and Adam have both used two of their four mulligans for the season. Column was updated Monday 11/22 to reflect these changes.

2021 NCAA NCSS Rankings: Week 12

The penultimate week of the regular season gets underway tonight, which means it's time to get a quick peek at what's coming up.

We've got MACtion again each of the next two nights, which will help determine one automatic bid recipient, and likely not any at large berths. Most of that will come on Saturday, which is also when the D-III playoffs kick off, something I'm excited for.

There won't be many adjustments this week, though next week's batch of rivalry games certainly will. We'll see just how much that swings the pendulum, but for right now, here's where we're at going into Week 12.

2021 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 11

I am to some degree in full playoff mode, as D-III had their selection show for the playoffs on Sunday. Meanwhile, the FBS still has two more weeks of regular season games, plus Championship Weekend, on the docket. And with another week's worth of games in the books from last week, I need to take a look at the results and how things change now.

I'm still up in the air about doing a mock bracket, though with basketball clear for another week or two, I may have time to pull that off, and it won't seem like I'm doing too much anymore I don't think.

But for now, let's look at how the results from this past week have changed the numbers here.