Scobel Wiggins Photography

Best Early Round Draft
The first round is easy, packed with top talent it's almost a can't miss situation. I felt like some owners drafted in these rounds with their eye on 2004 or earlier results (a theme from some owners throughout the draft), however, and they missed the boat on some dominant players as a result. Focusing on the first 3 rounds only, the winners here were The Huddle (with three very strong picks, no question), Cultimate (until they traded Hassell, at least), and Ryan (again 3 top-tier players without question). None of the other teams are bad, by any stretch, at this stage. But none can hold a candle to Adam Halverson's trio of Beau, Jolian, and John Hassell after pulling the wool over Cultiamte's eyes and landing that triple threat without giving up much in exchange. Well done, Halverson.

Best Middle Round Draft
The middle rounds make the core of the team; a huge part of the fantasy team's success will come from these guys - there's too much happening in Ultimate to rely on the top 3 guys to make a team, its not at all like basketball or football in that way. Without this core, the top talent is wasted. In this part of the draft, I particularly liked Mike Nash's work here - from Joel to Kanner he got relaible top talent from these picks. I also liked what Adam Halverson did here, a huge pickup of Ben Wiggins making up for the reach for Jeremy Cram, but great players here regardless. The undisputed winner of the middle rounds, however, (at least when I argue with myself) is the Huddle. Kiran is a rising star in the game, Tom James is too, and Alex Hughes and Taylor are great picks in rounds 7 and 8. No question here, the Huddle takes this category by storm.

Best Late Round Draft
Time to put the well rounded edges to the team, find the diamonds in the rough, to make the fantasy team complete. This part of the draft is hardest to judge though, as there are the most unfamiliar players in it. I liked Mike Nash's picks here, some very solid young players in this group. Cultimate also did very well in the last 4 rounds, I'm impressed with the quality of players they picked up from all-around great players Richter and Crockford at the top, to rock solid role players Hodges and Ryan Farrell at the bottom. Mike Kiyoi should also get honorable mentions for late round gold mining, but I think the narrow winner of this category is Ryan Thompson. Lots of veteran leadership here to go along with some up-and-coming young guns. Rounds 9-11 belong to Ryan.

Best Offense
I'll give honorable mention to Mike Nash's team (CK, Pressley, Illian, Rebholz, Swansen, Foster, and I'd put in Becker) - very strong and strikes me as possesion oriented with good chemistry. Also to Johnathan Neely (Damien, Mac, Handler, Stout, Bell, Hibbert, and Runner) - a good combination of handling and cutting, somehow I really like this core. The Huddle and Cultimate both have very strong teams too, shuddering to think about matchups there, possibly both better than the last two teams; and Ryan's team got put together very very well too, many contenders to choose from.... But the winner here for me was clearly Halverson's team, especially because I'm assigning so many of his early picks to offense (Wiggins, Hassell, Kittridge, Cram, Neff, Garcia, and VanHeuvelen). What a lineup. Good luck, opponents, you'll need it.

Best Defense
The honorable mentions go to Ryan's team (Eastham, Sherwood, Brodie Smith, Hohenstein, Savage, Jaeger, Kolthammer), but I think you need more throwers on this line. More honorable mentions go to Cultimate (though I'd put in Salad and leave Justin on the O team), and Neely (assuming Matsuno, Castine, Chicken, Winkleman, Chu) did really well here too. However the winner to me is clear in this category: the Huddle delivers a very impressive D-line of Seth Wiggins, Neild, Cascino, Sejour, Washburn, Hughes, Pottinger. Nice work there, Huddle.

Best Team
All of the teams are impressive, it would be fun to play with any of these constructions, but two teams stand out to me: Adam Halverson's and the Huddle's. Halverson got the benefit of an incredible trade with Cultimate to boost his O-line to ridiculous levels - but to me his D-line is weak relative to some other fantasy teams (at least the way I've structured it). The Huddle has the best D-line, but the O-line runs in the middle of the fantasy team pack. I think on the whole the Huddle has a more complete team, but I cant get past the Offensive juggernaut set up against it. In Ultimate, offense wins championships - or at least Adam Halverson's will. That settles the issue for me, congratulations and happy winning...

Dutchy is a Dartmouth(!) alum and coaches UC-Berkeley. This year he is playing with the Bay Area's Revolver.