2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: All Group Teams

Before we officially move onto the next stage of the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions... let's hand out some hardware.

Over the span of a couple months I simulated 880 games. That's a lot of manual score entry and trying to save box scores. And while there are a couple that I unfortunately missed, most of them are accounted for for this stage of the tournament. And with that, let's dig into those 880 games a little bit.

I wanted to make sure that we handed out some accolades for this portion of the tournament. You saw looking through all of the score reportings that I also went into the box scores and provided some of the statistics that went into the game. Every game's Player of the Game as determined by WhatIfSports got included, plus some bonus guys depending on clutch performances or other eye-popping numbers that I happened to catch.

As a way to honor those players, I went back through and charted all mentions from Group Play and named All-Group teams for each group. The criteria for getting named to this team was pretty simple: get mentioned the most, you make the team. I also went through and named a Group Most Valuable Player, though this one went more into the statistics as well as team performance to determine, as opposed to just Player of the Game mentions, though that also carries some weight.

Each group will have a First Team and a Second team, each consisting of eight players (attempting to balance by position as best as possible). Players who make the First Team will be eligible for the All Tournament Team when everything is said and done; I will have more details about that once the tournament is complete.

For now, congratulations to the following All Group players and Group MVP's.

2025 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 2

One week of NFL football is in the books, and the coalition returns for more!

We ended up with one more person in the group this year as my friend Tom also joined in last minute. He joined the group a couple years ago and is back at it this year with us, just on the picks side.

Meanwhile in the column, after talking all sorts of crap in our group chat Adam ended up with an okay start, though he is tied for last among the six of us at present. I took four of six disputed games from him and four of seven from Joe; Joe took four of seven from Adam in the first week. Despite my column lead, I currently trail the group by one as Jim is our early leader in the clubhouse.

You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. This is a continuation of the tracker I've used for the last several years originally built by Adam. This first week was pretty heavily tilted to 4-2 splits with games and no 3-3 even splits yet. Adam, Jim, and I have yet to go hero so far, with the other three guys splitting four hero picks in the opening week.

As we now look ahead to Week 2, Adam and I disagree on five games, Joe and I on seven, and the two of them on six out of 16. Let's get to it!

2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 22

And so for several teams, it all comes down to this.

Just 40 games remain in the group stage of the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions. For eight teams, their group stage is over; three of them are done for the tournament, while the other five have all locked up spots in the Elimination Stage. For 80 other teams, this round is their last change to either make the dance, affect their seeding, or for some, just play for some level of pride.

Of the 40 games left on the docket, only two are completely meaningless for the postseason. The remaining 38, at a minimum, are for positioning within groups, which could determine who gets home court advantage in the first round of the Elimination Stage. We also have two games between contenders for a 2nd seed, which would guarantee home court in the first two rounds. This accounts for half of the games this round.

By my count, we have 11 teams fighting for the final six spots in the tournament to be determined in this set. Nine games will determine those outcomes, including one win-or-go-home game. Meanwhile, only three of the eight groups have had their championships clinched; ten games will determine the fate of the other five, including one straight up title game. These include one game of overlap, so 18 of the 40 games have huge implications.

Standings, schedules, and scores for the tournament can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2025 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 1

We interrupt your NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions... to bring you the longest running feature on Confessions of a Sportscaster.

The first full fall after I'd started COAS, I'd had the idea of picking NFL games against the spread. After a couple seasons of a partnership for that, I went somewhat solo in that every pick appears here, but it's never been something I've wanted to do alone. And so for the 14th season, I'll be picking games with a coalition.

Returning once again are good friends Adam Quinn and Joe Klecka. Adam won the column last year by a fairly narrow margin, ending my run of Even Year Magic. Just four games separated the three of us in total, and we all finished above .500. I can't complain.

So as we've done in years past, after ESPN announces its initial lines on Tuesday afternoons, the three of us will make our picks independently. Adam and I will provide a rationale, whether it be based on on-field observations, statistics, hatred of throwback uniforms, or the moon (no, really).

In addition to the three of us, we are once again joined by 2024 group champion and my co-host from Then There Were Two: A History of the World Series Geoffrey Clark, along with Joe's uncle Jim. My son Matthew opted out for this season despite having a pretty good 2024.

As we get back to it, Joe disagrees with Adam and I on seven games apiece, while Adam and I dispute six out of the first 16. Let's get back to it!

2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 21

As the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions nears the conclusion of this stage, eight teams will close out their 20 game slate. Many of them are either already advancing, though some are still fighting for some of the final spots in the bracket.

Another eight teams clinched berths in the Elimination Stage, leaving just 18 spots left to be claimed with two rounds left to go. 29 teams are still fighting for those spots, so for 11 squads these next two rounds will be the end of the line.

No group championships have been clinched yet, but a number of them will officially be up for grabs in this round, including a couple de-facto title games on the docket this go-around.

Standings, schedules, and scores for the tournament can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 20

Time is running out as the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions rolls on!

Just three rounds remain, but a lot still remains to be determined at this stage. Only five more teams clinched berths in the Elimination Stage in the last round, but that leaves 26 spots open. 39 teams are still mathematically alive for those spots, though some of those doors are likely to be closing over the next few days.

Meanwhile, group championships are all still up for grabs at this point. One or two might get clinched in this batch of games, but others will probably come down to the final round.

We continue to have several instant classics as the tournament rolls on; this last round alone saw four games go to overtime, and we continue to have dramatic finishes aplenty as we come to our final 120 games of this stage of the tournament.

Standings, schedules, and scores for the tournament can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2025 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 19

Four rounds remain, and time is running out for teams to either punch their ticket or get their best possible seeding for the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions!

Eight more spots got locked up in the last round, so with that the field is just over half filled. Seedings, however, are very much still up for grabs as the gap between the top two teams in each group ranges from as many as two games to a dead heat in a couple (though one is already settled via head to head tiebreaker).

On the other end of the spectrum, just five teams have been eliminated from postseason contention, so even some folks at the bottom still have a shot to sneak into the Elimination Stage over these final four sets of games, though a lot of them will need help to get there.

Standings, schedules, and scores for the tournament can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!