$500 League Champion
$150 League Runner-Up
$50 Each Division Winner
$35 Each Wild Card Team
National Prizes: UL: #1 -$100, #2 $75, #3 $50, #4 $35, #5-10 $25
All prizes paid at end of the playoffs,

             2004-05 UFS FANTASY BASKETBALL LEAGUE RULES 

             Please give us a call at (949)458-7658, if you have an questions. The NBA starts Tuesday, October 29. The UFS season starts Monday, November 8.  Please read all rules carefully.

              ULTIMATE LEAGUES are lifetime leagues in which you keep your entire roster from year to year. To be eligible to participate in an Ultimate League, you  must have either played any part of a season in any UFS sport or be able to prove that you have played in a fantasy service and then received permission from the UFS commissioner. The current UL league owners are some of the best fantasy sports owners in the country. 

              UFS wants owners in its UL leagues that are committed to improving their team(s) every week of the season. Please play in 1-year ML leagues if you can not make this commitment. If  you are a first time UFS customer, you must make your 2005-06 off-season deposit of $50 when you pay your  fee. In UL leagues, all prizes will be paid as a credit towards future UFS leagues. No new UL leagues will be formed until existing "open" teams have been sold. If for any reason you do not keep your UL team, you will be billed a $75 re-stocking fee. 

           CLICK HERE to see available lifetime teams for sale. 

              UFS UL leagues are very competitive! Owners are expected to field the best lineup possible every week and owners neglecting their team(s) will have them taken over and operated by UFS without refund. 

              MAJOR LEAGUES are one-year leagues that compete for only one year. After owning your first 2004/05 UFS team (either UL or ML), all additional Major League teams can be drafted at a  $30 discount. Also, if you are a first time UFS customer, you get $30 off your first team ML team! 

              DRAFTS: Drafts are conducted by either conference call, and consist of 11 rounds.  A random process will determine the drafting order. ROUND 1 will go 1 to 15. Rounds 2-11 will go 15 to 1. Ex: If you have first pick in Round One, you will pick last in  Round 2-11. You may draft any combination of positions. but you must always have at least 3G, 2 C, 3G. 

LEAGUES: Each league consists of 15 teams in three divisions of five.

SCHEDULE: You will play an 82-game head-to-head schedule. The regular season will last 18 weeks. You will play the four teams in your division eight times for a total of 32 games. You will play the other ten teams five times each for the other 50  games. A weekly schedule of games per week is below. Due to a lack of NBA games, there will be no UFS games during the All-Star week.
 

UFS Schedule	Week #
West vs West, Central vs Central, East vs East	1, 17, 18
West vs West, Central vs East	2, 5, 8, 11, 14
Central vs Central, West vs East	3, 6, 9, 12, 15
East vs East, West vs Central	4, 7, 10, 13, 16

ROSTER SIZE: UL Leagues Maximums: 11 active players, 0-10 Injured List players. 1-5 College Draft picks. Future players as noted below. ML Leagues: 11 active players, 0-10 injured players. Any combination of positions is allowed.

Failure to activate DL/Future players: First, our system will not allow you to submit a transaction or lineup if over the 11-man active or Future roster limits. If you fail to get back down to the 11-man active or Future limit and both a transaction and lineup deadline has passed, any owner in the league can send an e-mail to the UFS Commissioner and notify us that a team is over the 11-man limit. We will then notify the owner in question. If no move is made on next lineup or transaction deadline, UFS will waive, in our opinion, without recourse, the worst player on the team. We've been running leagues for 20 years now, and 95% of the time, this will happen because someone is on vacation. Please drop us a line before you leave and let us know when you'll be back.

INJURED LIST: Players that have been placed on NBA IL can be placed on your Injured List. Players on IL can not be traded.

FUTURE PLAYERS: Players that are drafted in each NBA Draft are given "Future" Player Status. Future players lose "F" status after they have played at least seven games, and have a UFS average of 14.00 or higher. These players are automatically moved to your bench unless you have them in your lineup. Only rookies can regain "F" status, and their average has to fall below 11.00.

POSITIONS: All players may ONLY be used at their designated UFS positions. Those positions are (PF) Power Forward, (SF) Shooting Forward, (C) Center, (SG) Shooting Guard, and (PG) Point Guard. Players can have up to three of those positions assigned to them, but in a given week, you can only use them at one of their UFS desiganted positions.  Starting with play, as of week 5, a player that ONLY has one position will have another position added if he deserves it. All players have their positions reviewed and can be changed AFTER each season is over.

WEEKLY LINEUP: Starters: One PF, One SF, One Center, One SG, One PG. 

BACKUPS: You can list up to two PF and/or SF that will back up your STARTING PF and your STARTING SF. You can list up to two Centers that backup your STARTING Center. You can list up to two SG and/or PG that will back up your STARTING SG and your STARTING PG.

GAME PLAY: Your Center position will get FIVE  games played per week. Any games not played by your starting C will be made up by the 1st backup Center, or 2nd backup Center if needed. Example: Your starting C plays three games. Your 1st backup then plays two games to total five.
   Your two Forward (SF/PF) and Guard (SG/PG) positions will each get NINE games played per week. Example: Your two starting Forwards play six games. Your 1st backup F will play three games. Your second backup at each position is rarely used although they become very valuable when injuries occur (and they always do!) and when an NBA team plays an occasional two games in a week. THE LINEUP DEADLINE IS ALWAYS MONDAY AT NOON (PT).

Important note: The use of backups is not to be manipulated in any way that is not consistent with normal basketball. i.e. No sandbagging a position just because you have Marbury and Kidd at PG. This will result in in a score of zero for all backup games. If you your starter is injured and it's reported that he's going to be out three weeks or less, then you are NOT required to replace him. If your starter is injured and he's reported to be out three weeks or more, or has already been out three weeks (day-to-day injuries do last this long), you MUST replace him at the first possible moment or no backup games will be allowed.

TRANSACTIONS: There are two transaction periods each week. 

 1) THURSDAY NOON PT DEADLINE. 
 These moves can be submitted from Monday Noon to Thursday Noon PST each week. They become effective for the upcoming week, the following
 Monday. Each Thursday at NOON PST, we process the moves that have been submitted. 
 Trades, waives, ON IL, OFF IL, and FREE AGENT priority list of up to five players will be processed on this transaction. 
  A maximum of one free agent can be signed. 

 2) FRIDAY NOON PT DEADLINE. 
 These moves can be submitted from Thursday 1pm to Friday Noon PST each week. They become effective for the upcoming week, the following Monday. 
Each Friday at Noon PST, we process the moves that have been submitted. 
A maximum of one free agent can be signed AND room for this player MUST be created by Thursday NOON PT. 
The only type of transaction permissable on Friday deadline is the signing of one player. 
No waives, On DL, Off DL, On ML, Off ML moves are accepted on this transactions. 
Players waived the day before on the Thursday deadline can not be signed untiul the following Thursday. 

WAIVERS: Once a player is waived, he is a Free Agent and cannot be signed until the following week. There are no "conditional/if" waivers. You cannot waive a player the same week you trade for him.

FREE AGENTS: A free agent draft is held each Thursday and Friday. Always free!! Any player not on a league roster is a Free Agent. In weeks 1-18, you can sign up to two Free Agent per week as noted above. You may leave a list of up to FIVE players in order of preference. If two teams or more teams request the same player, his rights will be awarded to the team with the worst record, or least total points, if still tied. You must make room (waive, 2-1 trade) on your roster before a Free Agent can be signed. There are no "conditional/if" Free Agent picks. Why? Each team, especially the better teams, must risk a player to sign a player or they would only get better.

GENERAL MANAGER: Being a good GM for your team is a vital part of the UFS game. The GM is responsible for calling in during posted call-in periods, and following all rules and regulations of the game. It is your responsibility to make sure that your call-ins are clear and concise by speaking up and using FIRST & LAST NAMES on every type of call. UFS wants all your moves to go through, so please follow all procedures exactly.

All players acquired in trades and signed as Free Agents are placed on your BENCH until you put them in your lineup. Nothing is ever assumed.

TRADES: Always free!! Team owners are free to contact each other regarding trades. Please be considerate and try not to call a person after 10pm in their time zone!! Once a trade is agreed upon, BOTH OWNERS MUST CALL IN THE TRADE EXACTLY THE SAME on the UFS Sports Center (949-458-6403) or enter it in the UFS Internet system. The trade is official when you here it on your league transaction report or see it on the UFS Internet sytem. You may then use newly acquired players in your lineup if you call in a new lineup before Monday Noon (PT). Multiple player deals are allowed. You may acquire up to FIVE players per week via trades. You may trade away up to FIVE players per week. Players acquired in trades must stay on your team for one week. UL League College draft picks can not be traded until the start of week 4. If you trade a player away, you cannot get him back in any trade until FIVE TRADING PERIODS have passed. The UFS Commissioner has the power TO VETO any trade deemed too one-sided or not in the best interest of the league. Trades between friends and between contending and non-contending teams are very closely scrutinized. A non-contending team trading its best or better players for players of lesser value will decide no UFS league. TIP- Quality over quantity!! The trading deadline is Week 14, date TBA. RECENT EXTENSIVE STUDIES BY UFS HAVE SHOWN THAT ANY TRADE THAT GIVES A TEAM "THREE" OF THE TOP 15 PLAYERS IN THE NBA RESULTS IN THAT TEAM RARELY LOSING A GAME. NO TRADE WILL BE APPROVED IF THIS IS THE NET RESULT OF THE TRADE (The Bulls never had 3 of the Top 15 either!!). Players on IL can not be traded.

 UFS Basketball "Competitive Cap" Rule for Lifetime Leagues

      Now in its third year, the "Competitive Cap" was born when too many teams had reached a point where their team(s) were so good, that the
  probability of losing more than a handful of games each year was remote. 

      Fantasy Basketball player performances are easily the most definable and consistent of any sport. Shaq's worst week is always better than just a
  few players. That simply doesn't happen in other sports. 

      UFS conducted a study of all the teams three years ago that went an average of 70-12, or better. This was used as that is the Bulls all-time NBA
  record for wins. We grouped teams into three categories, 0-4 losses, 5-8 losses, and 9-12 losses to see if there were any patterns. We were quite
  amazed to find that each of the three categories had unique and distinct characteristics. 

     The goal is to get these teams down to the characteristics of a 70-12 team. That being no more than two players in the Top 15 and one other player
  in the Top 16-30. 

      While everyone wants "iron clad" rules to work from, the "Cap" does not lend itself to work properly that way. So here are the "guidelines" we
  use. 
      1) At the end of each year, we review each UL league. The object is NOT to knock down every very good team. The object is too make sure that
  there are several teams that can compete for the title. Generally, if we see 3 or more competitive teams, then there is no reason to apply the Cap.
  There ARE exceptions all the time. An example would be 3 teams that are all around 74-8 and have averages over 740 and the #4 team in that
  league is around 650. 

     2) "Cap" teams are named before the first off-season transaction. There is no other time when they are named a "Cap" team. One does not
  become subject to the "Cap" during the season if player(s) on their team rise in dramatically in value. 

     3) There are several characteristics of "Cap" teams. 
          a) They have three or more players in the UFS Top 15. This scenario has occurred about 70% of the time. 
          b) They have two players in the UFS Top 15 AND two or more players in the UFS Top 16-30. This scenario occurs about 20% of the time. 
          c) They have one player in the UFS Top 15 AND four or more players in the UFS Top 16-30. This scenario occurs about 10% of the time. 

      4) Once a team has been named to be subject to the "Cap", they have the entire off-season to comply by making trade(s) with other teams in
  their league. An e-mail will be sent to the entire league stating  the minimum requirements that must be met. 90% of the time, "2 and 1" is
  applied. That being "2" in the Top 15 and one in the Top 16-30. Other considerations can be granted as the object here is to NEVER leave a "Cap"
  team obviously worse than another team in the league. If a team does not comply by the Thursday transaction before the start of Week 1, then UFS
  will waive players at its sole discretion. 

      5) In making "Cap" trades: 
          a) All "Cap" trades must be one-for-one. There are no exceptions. 
          b) From this point forward, no players will be exempt due to age or prior injury. Since the object is to often trade a 37 or a 40 for a 29 to comply,
  and it has to be one-for-one, there's no reason for an exemption. As for age, K.Malone can be traded for a 28-29. As for injury, anyone that has a
  premium player injured for an extended period of time is very unlikely to have a dominating record at the end of the season at be subject to the
  "Cap". Very important - You can not be named a "Cap" team until you DO HAVE a dominating record at the end of a season. 
          c) "Cap" teams may not trade for NBA lottery picks or any other young prospect that gives them the remote chance of repeating "Cap" status
  the next year. The days of "Cap" teams trading for rookie "27's" like V.Carter and E.Brand are over. 

      6) No UL team, in any league, at any time during the regular or off-season, can finish a transaction period by making a trade(s) where it is left 
  with the charcateristics of a "Cap" team as noted in sections "3a" and "3b" above. "3c" can be an exception if the league is very competitive. It's
  actually quite simple, if you have to call and ask if it's okay :-), then you've already answered your question. 
 

WINS/LOSSES: Your team's score at the END of the UFS week will be compared to that of your scheduled opponents. At the end of Sunday's games, your total score for the week is compared to your scheduled opponents. You will get a win for every team you outscore and a loss for every team that outscores you. In case of a tie (for a game or TOW), the team with the highest individual point total will earn the win.

PLAYOFFS: The UFS playoffs are held during NBA weeks 19-22.The three division winners and the next best five teams regardless of division will make the playoffs. Playoff seeds are determined by 1 to 8 ranking on standings page. Division winners no longer automatically get seeded 1-3. The first and second round will last one week. The championship round l