The yearly calendar for the fantasy enthusiast offers very few let ups. While there are football drafts to prepare for, baseball All-Star break is one of the occurrences in which very little is going on. So, I figured it would be as good a time as any to introduce (or go over again) the various resources available for playing fantasy college basketball. For the past three years, I have played in three and I know of a few others. I also found one last weekend on Facebook, but if you know of others, please let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

Fantasy College Hoops – I would be remiss if I didn’t start with this blog’s benefactor: Rick Young and his fantastic site. The site has been going for ten years and has a variety of leagues (unfortunately, no remaining openings for next year). This is the closest thing to actually coaching a team that I’ve seen. The leagues use the entire Division 1 player pool and the head-to-head scoring is based on fantasy points which is a formula of the sum of point, rebounds, offensive rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and threes. Missed shots, free throws, and turnovers each deduct a point. The best players average about 30 fantasy points per game and good players provide 20. This is a full keeper league with limited player movement (although they have become somewhat more liberal in the past few seasons), so you keep your players from year to year. During the season, there are 11 weeks in which you play three teams per week to add up to a 33-game schedule. While the game is solid, it is the little things that Rick does that take the site over the top. He has detailed records and team histories that give the league’s an extra bite. There is also a forum for trash talkers and I plan to bring the deluxe garbage this year.

Big Chief Challenge – This league is the closest to my heart because I created it three years ago. It has slowly been gaining steam ever since. The first year we had ten people, two years ago 16, and this past year we had 22 players in the Tier 1 challenge and another 16 in the Master’s Edition. The Big Chief Challenge is much simpler than Fantasy College Hoops and I intended it as a gateway league into more in depth leagues. We used the players from the Tier 1 conference and play weekly head-to-head games against one opponent (which I prefer). The Masters edition used the top seven mid-major or Tier 2 conferences. This year, it will involve the WAC, MWC, Valley, Horizon, Conference USA, Colonial, and A10 (the Colonial and Horizon replace the MAC and WCC). Points, rebounds, and assists are scored separately and if a team sweeps all three, they get an extra win. Like the FCH, each team has to start a freshman. Asa Tysseling who hosts the forum has been working on various web applications to make scoring and player acquisition easier. This year, we’ll also host a money league in addition to our two free leagues.

James River Gang – One problem with the above two leagues is that they are both fairly schedule dependent. So, if a team’s set of players has more games on the schedule than their opponent, they are often in good shape even before the match begins. Scott Tingen and his James River Gang league have an innovative way around that (among other interesting innovations). This league also plays an approximately 30-game schedule, but there often two games per week: a Monday-Thursday game and a Friday-Sunday game. Rather than drafting players in this league, you draft six entire teams and make your lineup out of players from that roster. Another twist is the scoring system: points and rebounds are worth one, assists and steals are worth two, and blocks are worth three points. I always get suckered looking for block shot guys, but like in any league, it pays to have balance. In order to strengthen the importance of the regular season, teams are given point advantages in the final tournament (as opposed to my league in which a 17-seed won the championship).

Those are the three leagues that I play in. I have not tried U-Sports, which has merged with Athlon to become a powerful player in the fantasy college sports market. I do know that U-sports could customize leagues to pretty much whatever setting you like and Athlon provide excellent college basketball coverage (and editor Braden Gall participated in the Big Chief Challenge last year). They feature “automated stat updates” and the ability to change lineups until tipoff. There host public leagues and offer a lot more customization for private leagues, including a waiver wire system, live drafts, and adjustable league rules. They also have leagues for college fantasy football enthusiasts (of which, sadly, I am not one). There are few other leagues out there and if you have more information, please feel free to comment. Four more months until the season…