Mid-Major 5 Title Could Be In Jeopardy Thanks to Doug McDermott

See, things were going so well for the Mid-Major 5. We had a comfortable lead, the past week was a strong one from almost every player.

And then Saturday happened.

There may have been a slight miscalculation when we picked the Mid-Major 5 to go against the ESPN talking heads and their Fantasy Team picks. Conference Tournaments start this week for the little guys, we our players will be ending their seasons a little earlier than the big boys that are filling up the ESPN teams.

Now, we have enough of a lead that this should be an issue, provided that all of our players get deep into the tournaments. But remember that mid-major tournaments are tricky. They like to ensure that the top seeds are protected in a lot of cases.

For example, Ray McCallum, who is tearing up the court lately, will counting Saturday afternoon's win, play just three more games for the rest of the year at most. That means we only have a few chances to get more 35-fantasy-point performances from the guy who should be a lock for first team all-conference (and probably a co-player of the year with Ryan Broekhoff).

We also lose Jerrelle Benimon for good. His Towson Tigers finished tied for second in the Colonial, but poor APR scores will keep them sitting at home for the conference tournament.

Let's be clear: we should still win this. I don't see the four players that remain falling apart over the final two weeks. They should all be playing in the conference championships for their leagues. And even if Nate Wolters' South Dakota State team doesn't make it that far, he should have a couple of big games trying to get them there.

Oh, and all of this wouldn't be an issue except for Creighton's Doug McDermott. Jalen Rose has the boy wonder on his team, and Rose had moved into first place among the ESPN analysts entering Saturday. McDermott put together a 41-point performance, worth 50 points in the contest. Figures that another mid-major could help to bring down the rest of his kind.

But Rose is in the same situation that the Mid-Major 5 is in with two mid-major players on his squad. He will also have guys bowing out of the competition early, and that could be all the opening that our team needs.

Here are the standings entering Saturday's games, as we head into the final two weeks:

Check out the complete lineups for all four teams here.