PCTIIIIII DRAFT!

PCTI IIIII Draft and State of the Offseason... Addressed.

Date: Tuesday, October 29th.

Time: 8 pm CST, 9 pm EST, 6 pm BCT.

Location: Google Hangout on the PCTI Network.

Some would say PCTI had the most steam moving into the offseason that it's ever had since it's rookie year. Combining the most competitive tournament with arguably the best trip to date, everyone was looking forward to what the down time had to offer. 

Then some things happened... Anthony Hopkins started his MBA classes.  Fruit Man Danie started a job in which he actually had to work.  The Actor started acting.  Beasley entered the business world.  Four big blows when you factor in what each usually brings.

It gets worse.  We find out The Don (in one of the most selfish moves I've ever seen) picks a night to pleasure his wife for the millionth time.  In a careless act, he impregnates her, with a due date of April 2014. Where is the regard for PCTI?  Despicable.

Here is the good news... None of that matters.  All it took to get back on track was one brilliant post made by PCTI's favorite Actor, followed by a creative workout montage in which The Don managed to not only find an empty gym, but found an insane person to follow him around videotaping his every move... He even got the producer to do some voiceover work.  Incredible.

That brings us to two days out of what will be the most colorful collection of captains PCTI has ever had. With Wilson, you get a guy that everyone loves being around.  He will be fun on email chains.. And he has a masters in Sports Management, which means he has learned a lot about how to draft a team, manage a salary cap, etc.  All very important.  All that being said, you have to question his leadership and ability in the locker room.  A notorious nice guy with a bad attitude on court, you can't help but to wonder if that will rub off on his teammates in his new leadership role.  

Enter Abe, PCTI's most decorated player and coach.  He put together the best team in PCTI history.  He has multiple MVP awards to his name.  He plays hard.  He keeps his mouth shut.  He competes.  He's smart.  He wins.  

I imagine Wilson is a little intimidated going into his first draft as captain.  He is 0-4 and going up against the only 4-0 PCTI athlete.  A guy that enjoys the stage, I expect him to get preoccupied being funny in the Hangout, while Abe runs circles around him sticking to his board.  

Expect Abe to wipe the floor with Wilson on draft day... And do the same come April.

PCTI Faction Rankings (Fall, 2013)

It continues to be a slow off-season on the blog, but a disturbing trend captivated us subconsciously: Factions.  It all started with one despicable faction and now PCTI has turned into the WCW of 1997.  Here are the first rankings of Factions within PCTI.

1).  Quad Pod

Members: Jarsh Stevens, Tony Hopekin (1/2), Mich Beesly, Spotlite Hipspin (from right to left)

Defections: None

FA Wishlist: Bend Wilfsum

Location(s): Portland, OR; Nashville, TN; Denver, CO; Boston, MA

STRENGTHS

--The first faction to ever exist in PCTI.  

--Spearheaded a movement of hate that has not been seen since Berlin, Germany in 1938.

--Blog Strong: any opportunity to throw a "QP" behind a member's name, it is done.  

--Staples of going out late at PCTI and frollicking with co-eds.

--Best looking group in PCTI now that Jarsh Stevens no longer has braces.

WEAKNESSES

--Despite being Blog Strong, these guys never hang out or text each other outside of PCTI.  Several inside sources have indicated as much.

--They have never been truly a "Quad Pod" on the court which has lead to some dissension in recent years.

--Do they have a leader?  4 UT grads need someone to tell them what to do.

2). Danie's Flock

Members: Danie Crow, Britt Carnee, Mitch Ore, Jes Sabbine

Defections: None

FA Wishlist: John Tompkins, Brine Eshelledsin, Scout Dumbly

Location(s): Plano, TX; Austin, TX

STRENGTHS

--Quickest ascension in the rankings.  These four have molded together to give Quad Pod a run for their money as the top faction in PCTI.

--Quality hoops twice a week combined with a quality breakfast on saturday mornings keeps the rapport at an all-time high.

--Responsible for 80% of PCTI media production (blog posts and podcasts).

WEAKNESSES

--Volatile personalities.  If you wrong these guys in any way, they'll let you know about it.  They aren't afraid of picking on their respective members.

--Power struggle of who truly leads the crew.  Sabbine has the gym and pick up games.  Does Carnee or Crow run the podcast? Who is the wittiest in the group: Carnee or Ore?  

--Lack of direction with or without a compass could have this Faction on a collision course with the bottom of the rankings.

3). NashTrash

Members: Tony Hopekin (2/2), Joust Pits (1/2), Ivan Horner

Defections: Mitch Ore

FA Wishlist: Brine Eshelledsin, Britt Carnee, Bend Wilfsum

Location: Nashville, TN

STRENGTHS

--Unapologetic love for all things related to Nashville.

--Make no mistake about it, Nashville will always be a force come PCTI Location voting time due to the voice of Ivan.

--Quality hoops can happen at anytime.

WEAKNESSES:

--Unapologetic love for all things related to Nashville. 

--No unity at all.  Who is running the show?

--Ivan and Joust's rift between eachother grows wider by the minute.

--Recruiting budget has diminished in recent years.

--Two many married people.

4). BestCoasters

Members: Bryn Mickany, John Tompkins

Defections: Danie Crow, Brine Eshelledsin

FA Wishlist: Mich Beesly, Tony Hopekin, Bend Wilfsum, Jarsh Stevens

Location(s): Scottsdale, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; Wherever a beach is

STRENGTHS

--Best friends

--Cool, laid back demeanor at all times, which leads them to being consistently tan 330 days out of the year.

--Will never get fat due to pressure from variety of sources: media, peers, and the sun.

WEAKNESSES

--Would always rather be elsewhere: another party, another bar, another babe, another city.

--Lack of basketball playing leads to diminishing returns come gametime.

--Marijuana smoking.

--How many web videos before Tompkins gets signed by a big agency?

--Bryn's lack of blog awareness.

--Will it only be these two forever?  Lack of recruiting and recent defections has hurt long-term prospects of the group.

5). Love, Actually

Members: Joust Pits (2/2), Brine Eshelledsin

Defections: None

FA Wishlist: None

Location(s): Nashville, TN; Houston, TX

STRENGTHS

--Their love has no boundaries as Pits went across the country in his Mustang to be with Eshelledsin.

--Eshelledsin didn't throw out Pits for driving a Mustang.

--Play well together and love has found a way.

WEAKNESSES

--Distance.  Pits can't live for too long away from Nashville. 

--Pits tendency to shut out anything anyone says regardless if it comes from Eshelledsin.

--Calf disproportions.  Eshelledsin has gigantic calfs that dwarf the rest of his body.  Pits has tiny calfs which are dwarfed by the rest of his fragile body.

--Pits drives a MUSTANG.

--One has a home and the other has taken over Tompkins role as the new vagabond of PCTI.

6). Identity Crisis

Members: Bend Wilfsum, Scout Dumbly

Defections: None

FA Wishlist: None

Location(s): Neenah, WI; Atlanta, GA

STRENGTHS

--Both get along famously with everyone in PCTI.

--Upper echelon players who manage to stay in basketball condition despite not always having their PCTI brethren near them.

--Both are good offensive players in PCTI.

WEAKNESSES

--Lack of faction or bad luck have lead them to be look inwards for sense of camaraderie within PCTI.

--Bend had a strong faction with Mitch Ore and Tony Hopekin with the 3 Cities Twist.  However, it fell apart with the recent defection of Ore to Danie's Flock.

--Scout has too much love for wife and soon-to-be-born child to get involved with a faction long-term.

--Scout also enjoys Wisconsin.

--Is Bend's love of indie music helping or hurting his stock to join a faction?

7). Wes Murray

Members: Wus Mourny

FA Wishlist: Everyone

Location: Parts Unknown, WV

STRENGTHS

--Not caring what anyone thinks of him.

--Relying on himself.

--Stomach has become a muscle.

--Well-liked by everyone.

WEAKNESSES

--Buffets.

--Emails.

--West Virginia.

--Direct Flights.

--Tennessee Vols.

--Groomed Beard.

Check back in January, 2014 for the Winter Rankings.

Beas's Jonathan MOXon Draft 1.0

SIKEEEEEEEE!!!

Let the boredom continue.....

..

This offseason

Announcement! + Mock Analysis! + Draft Secrets Revealed!

Yo Ben, I'm taking 2-3, or as I call it, the first curvy part of the snake.

After witnessing 45 great minutes of debate and speculation, I thought it might be interesting to critique the action and give everyone an in depth analysis from someone who has a stake in the outcome. Overall, I was very entertained.

I also have some other thoughts.

Favorite part...

BC's shot at Ben for his amazing memory and ability to remember how bad he has played the last two years. Very good off-the-cuff burn right there. A real thigh slapper for Danny as you can see.

Mock Draft Grades:
(Also a break down of the most common tendencies of each player)

Ben as represented by BC - F-

• Ben - Driver, Stand and Shoot
• Brian - Distributor, Capitalist
• Joe - Scorer, Defender
• Donley - Stand and Shoot
• Smo - Stand and Pass
• Danny - Stand and Shoot
• Bmac - Stand and Shoot
• Hops - Sometimes everything, sometimes nothing

Abe as represented by DANNY - A+

• Abe - Scorer, Defender, Rebounder, Philanthropist, Genius, All around great person
• Beas -Scorer, Defender
• BC - Stand and Shoot
• Pitto - Scorer
• Sabin - Scorer, Defender
• Bruise - Rebounder
• Spot - Stand and Shoot, Backcutter
• Wes - Stand and Miss

Look at those teams! Not even fair. I'd have way too much offensive power. Defense always goes to shit in these tourneys because everyone gets crazy tired no matter how good of shape they are in so defense really is not even worth mentioning. Scoring takes far less physical effort and ultimately plays a much larger role as the weekend progresses.

The Player Analysis Debatables:
The way I break it down, right now there are 5 people in this thing that can get theirs. Joe, Pitto, Sabin, Abe, Beas. The people that are most up for debate are explained below.

• Beas has a small sample size but I'm sure his effort guarding Joe last year took a lot out of him on the offensive end. Thats why I still think he has the talent and determination to be an electric offensive player.
• I've taken Ben off the scorer list because, well, he hasn't scored in a while.
• Brian can score and is effective when doing so but I don't really consider him a scorer. More of a "capitalize on opportunity" rather than "breakdown your strength" kinda guy.
• Donley can play off other people pretty well and can put up numbers but he relies on his teammates to do it. 

So I would have 4 of those 5 scorers? No chance for team Grizzly Bear.

At this point in time, we all know each other well enough to know what we can expect. Of course, every year there will be a couple disappointments alongside a couple redemptions, but for the most part it will remain pretty consistent. And even those outliers aren't really that extreme. Its not like we have an Adrain Peterson that tears up his knee one year and the next year puts together a record breaking performance. Its more like, "Oh, this guy didn't suck quite as bad as last year" or, "Hey, why is Brian missing layups?"

My Drafting Strategy:
I want at least a little competition this year so I'll drop some knowledge on Ben and give him a little insight. In PCTI when drafting a team, a common mistake that is made is emphasizing both matchups and size. Out here size doesn't really matter. We all end up on the perimeter anyway and we are all pretty slow out there. That transitions me into the other point well... Matchups. Anyone can pretty much guard anyone. It's because we all get tired and lazy and then the least bit of defensive pressure can shut us down. This is an unfortunate realization of our old age and diminishing ability. Danny was right on the money when he said that I go by "best available", but I will add to that... I go by "best available scorers". So far that strategy has worked pretty well and now my secret is out.

It's your pick Ben... whatcha gonna do?

PCTIIIIII Vidstick #2 w/BREAKING NEWS and a Mock Stick

The most earth shattering news out of the PCTI camp since inception announced in the first three minutes.