Picking up where we left off last week, the seeds have been planted to crown the baddest man on the offensive line. Borrowing some advice …

SheikYbuti said:

I don’t think I’d seed ‘em on merit before the actual tournament; it would be too difficult to overcome the seeding (it seems unlikely that we’d change our collective minds in the interim). I’d just give byes to the first four alphabetically or by age/seniority, then fill in #s 5 through 12 on the same basis.

Useful. Alphabetically seemed a little unfair (the 11 and 12 seeds would be Joe Madsen and Quinton Spain)  and age/seniority seemed uneven (Spain and once and possibly future starter Pat Eger are slighted).

I instead went by playing time, which was a homogenization of starts, games played, where the games were played and the post-spring depth chart.

Starters are better than backups and backups are better than special teams players and special teams players are better than sideline standers and sideline standers are better than still-unproven players.

It got a little tricky, of course, and I wrestled with Nos. 3, 4 and 5, but used the formula to settle it. Basically, Bassler has played more games, but Eger has had more significant action and Jenkins has the most starts.

The seeds …

No. 1: Joe Madsen
No. 2: Jeff Braun
No. 3: Josh Jenkins
No. 4: Pat Eger
No. 5: John Bassler
No. 6: Quinton Spain
No. 7: Nick Kindler
No. 8:  Cole Bowers
No. 9: Curtis Feigt
No. 10: Marquis Lucas
No. 11: Russell Haughton-James
No. 12: Brandon Jackson

First-round fights:

No. 5: John Bassler v. No. 12: Brandon Jackson
No. 6: Quinton Spain v. No. 11: Russell Haughton-James
No. 7: Nick Kindler v. No. 10: Marquis Lucas
No. 8: Cole Bowers v.  No. 9: Curtis Feigt

Please vote on the winners of our first round battles and, pretty please, explain your conclusions.

That is, No. 5 John Bassler beats No. 12 Brandon Jackson because Bassler is a veteran who knows his way around the ring and, while not a known commodity, has been waiting for his chance to show himself.

Or No. 10 Marquis Lucas upsets No. 6 Nick Kindler. Lucas gets inside Kindler and neutralizes Kindler’s reach and Kindler can’t snap his jab on account of an old shoulder injury.

Is Quinton Spain a knockout artist or an easy target? Does Cole Bowers pen the Cinderella Story? Can Curtis Feigt continue his upward ascent? Who is Russell Haughton-James?

Let’s find out!