Thanksgiving Eve: 7 Championship Game Madness

We have 7 championship games today, coming to us from the Cancun Challenge (Mayan and Riviera Divisions), Gulf Coast Showcase, Maui Jim Maui Invitational, Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off (Beach Division), and SoCal Challenge (Sand & Surf Divisions). After today, 24 of the 34 early season tournaments will be complete, which means we'll have a good understanding of who has a chance to win the pool along with who is eliminated. As it stands this morning, 12 people can pull off 1st place and no one is eliminated from coming in worse than 3rd place. However, many people need to be perfect from here on out. I will preview a few of the championship games below. 👀

Both divisions of the Cancun Challenge feature pool favorites, so I would not call these pivotal to our pool. In the Mayan Division, 4.5 favorite, and popular pool pick Radford takes on Northern Colorado at 2p CST.   A Northern Colorado win is critical for B.I., Jenn, and Matthew if they want to stay in this pool. Over in the Riviera Division, surprisingly ranked James Madison, and the pool favorite, are favored by 4.5 points against Fresno State. A Fresno State win is critical for B.I., Novak, and Sam I Am. If B.I. can pull off these 2 upsets he jumps into a 1st place tie with Sohler! 🐶

The Gulf Coast Showcase is an interesting championship game that features 5.5 favorite Hofstra vs. High Point. Our only pool Hofstra picks come from our current 1st place, and 5th-7th place players. Nobody has High Point. If Hofstra wins, we will have a serious log jam 2nd-7th place. 

The Maui Jim Maui Invitational gives us both a significant big time basketball game and a pivotal tournament champion for our pool. The favorite, Kansas, was obliterated by Marquette last night, which now gives us a matchup of Marquette vs. Purdue. Purdue is only favored by 3.5 points, giving us hopefully an incredible championship game to watch. From a pool perspective, a Marquette win bumps B.I. higher in the standings, while a Purdue win sends me into 2nd place. Everyone else in the current top 10 has been eliminated from the tournament.

The current standings can be found here, with some minor updates from the late games last night. I plan on posting an update, blog and standings, before the SoCal Challenge champion games take place. We'll know where everyone stands going into the late championship games.