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Here is the week two power rankings and...nothing has changed except for records...2-0 teams include-BPE, Gators, WildHoochieKoos, Snake River Panthers, Raleigh Capitols, and Hard2Guard; 1-1 teams include-The Duck City Ninjas and The Barack O'Ballers. 0-2 teams include-Big Beavers, Jersey Blazing Heat, and San Diego Crows who if they aren't active at all by the next update, I'm gonna stop tracking. For actual rankings, you can literally look at my last post and just adjust the records. The interesting thing to watch in the Big 8 is how WildHoochieKoos performs. If they continue to outdo Gators against common opponents, I may have to slide them up to 2. In the Great 8, the interesting thing to watch is how Raleigh does against the other top-rated teams in the division. Their next game is against Duck City, which should be a good measuring stick game for the impending mega matchup on the 28th. Big Beavers has had a brutal schedule to start, but things look to be easing up going forward. Jersey is having to go through the Great 8 gauntlet, though I expect them to pick it up a little, especially as they start playing the computer teams.

This is great! Keep 'em coming!

finally found you!! thanks for your contribution.

Update: I am no longer going to count the Crows in the rankings since they've been inactive for 3 weeks.
Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (3-0)
2) Gators (3-0)
3) WildHoochieKoos (3-0)
4) Big Beavers (1-2)
5) Snake River Panthers (2-1)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (3-0)
2)Hard2Guard (3-0)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (1-2)
4)The Barack O'Ballers (2-1)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat (1-2)

Discussion/explanation: I thought Raleigh would win pretty soundly against Duck CIty...but I wasn't expecting THAT. It seems safe to put them as the exclusive #1 in the Great 8 for now, but the mega-matchup on the 28th will determine that ultimately. Other than that, I'm fully expecting Duck City to win the rest of the first round of division play now that they've gotten through their brutal stretch to start the season. As for the Big 8, Big Beavers won over Snake River, which I expected, but it was a little closer than I thought it would be; the disparity in rebounding clearly made a huge difference. If I were Snake River, then, assuming they have enough funds to do this, I'd look for a center on the transfer market with high ratings in the post player skills, especially rebounding(though preferably it would be a younger player). Other than that, things are shaping up as expected and congratulations to Jersey City on their first win of the season!

Here's the updated power rankings as major matchups in both divisions loom

Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (4-0)
2) Gators (4-0)
3) WildHoochieKoos (4-0)
4) Big Beavers (1-3)
5) Snake River Panthers (3-1)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (4-0)
2)Hard2Guard (4-0)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (2-2)
4)The Barack O'Ballers (3-1)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat (1-3)

discussion/explanation: Nothing I saw in these games changed my opinions on the teams. Commenting on the games, the thing I was most interested about was seeing H2G bust out the old run and gun with a press that they used to run all the time. Other than that, all the games went as expected and there wasn't anything of note to look at tactically or with any interesting lineup changes that I'm aware of.

Here's an exclusive head's up to you. If it works you have something to talk about if not forget about it.
will be defending BPE's bigs with an inside box and 1. They seem to like their bigs no matter which offense they run. Will come at them with my inside game even though my center is hurt. No excuses!

There are not as many big matchups looming, but still some intriguing ones on the way. Here are the updated power rankings going into those

Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (5-0)
2) Gators (5-0)
3) WildHoochieKoos (4-1)
4) Big Beavers (2-3)
5) Snake River Panthers (3-2)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (5-0)
2)Hard2Guard (4-1)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (3-2)
4)The Barack O'Ballers (4-1)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat (2-3)

discussion/explanation: the games went as expected, though some of the margins were surprising. The injury to Hooch's starting center made a big impact on the game against BPE; maybe they don't win with him healthy, but they probably shoot better than 25% from the field...yikes. They tried putting in a higher effort level and tried to slow down the big men for BPE through strategy, but Baldriz still got his buckets despite the inside box and one defense that Hooch played. Another interesting thing to note was BPE bringing their second-leading scorer off the bench; he was still kept in check scoring wise, however. Perhaps this was with the intent of starting with a more defensive based lineup? I'd have to ask Smooth himself to get that answer. What I can tell you is that the gameplan I had for Snake River went even better than expected. I went with a defense based starting lineup and brought Bayramov, usually my best scorer, off the bench. I expected to win by a sizeable margin; what I was not expecting was holding them to 21% from the field on defense and significantly impacting the averages of previously some of the highest average scoring players in league IV.64. Lastly, we have another interesting matchup impacted by an injury. Raleigh vs Hard2Guard went about as I expected it to, a relatively close game where Raleigh comes out on top. Depending on a few factors, namely injuries, however, I could see Hard2Guard getting them back in the rematch at their place. Another interesting thing to note is the fact that H2G decided to play through their post players in this game. The injury to Ortiz obviously affected the tactical decisions, but it almost felt like, in addition, a way to reward Tomo Plot just for this game for being a beast on the boards for so long.

As inter-conference play draws near, let's take a look at the updated power rankings.

Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (6-0)
2) Gators (6-0)
3) WildHoochieKoos (4-2)
4) Big Beavers (3-3)
5) Snake River Panthers (3-3)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (6-0)
2)Hard2Guard (5-1)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (4-2)
4)The Barack O'Ballers (4-2)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat (2-4)

discussion/explanation: Snake River got picked apart by another top-ranked team in the Big 8...seems like when I was just starting out. Also, I'm pretty sure Hooch is about to get Must back when the two teams play so there's that. I was also surprised to see Hooch take it easy in the matchup against me, but I can understand the rationale considering they're about to get their big man back. In the Great 8, Hard2Guard basically beat the O'Ballers at their own game, so it'll be interesting to see with one of their players back from injury whether they continue playing through their post players or go back to a perimeter-based game. Duck City and Jersey played their usual brands of basketball; one interesting development, though, was the dominance of Duck City's bench unit in the fourth quarter of that game. Maybe it's partly because, like when I was starting, Jersey doesn't have much of a bench, but if a top-tier second unit develops for Duck city, it could help them going forward, especially in tougher close games.

Here are the updated power rankings as we head into inter-conference play

Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (7-0)
2) Gators (6-1)
3) WildHoochieKoos (5-2)
4) Big Beavers (4-3)
5) Snake River Panthers (3-4)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (7-0)
2)Hard2Guard (6-1)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (5-2)
4)The Barack O'Ballers (4-3)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat (3-4)

discussion/explanation: first of all...wow. I was not expecting the O'ballers to get absolutely run out the gym like that. Oh, my goodness. Also, Hooch went away from playing post offense and blew out Snake River, and now they get their starting center back as the head into inter-conference play. Lastly, it has become evident to me that once I get sufficient funds after expanding my stadium again, I need to get some more players because while the team I have now is close, BPE has seemed to have clearly established themselves as the Big 8's top dog as of present. What would that look like? I don't know, possibly a point guard that could move Basham into a 6th man role for now or another player with close to Lackey's capabilities to defend both the perimeter and post at a high level.

Wow. vs WildHoochieKoos, @ Gators, and vs BPE.Bombers. Hopefully my new strategy will atleast allow me to get 2 out of 3 in this stretch. Course, the main issue will be dealing with the Koo's C, which even though has a low salary, seems to be their offense's engine. We'll see what happens! Also plan a couple lineup changes.

With inter-conference play officially underway, here are the updated power rankings

Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (8-0)
2) Gators (7-1)
3) WildHoochieKoos (5-3)
4) Big Beavers (5-3)
5) Snake River Panthers (4-4)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (8-0)
2)Hard2Guard (7-1)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (6-2)
4)The Barack O'Ballers (4-4)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat (3-5)

discussion/explanation: First of all...wow, what a difference a couple of months makes. I know San Diego is winless and not in these rankings but damn...lost by 100 points. Even most CPU teams don't do that. Onto the user v user games...even with Must back, Duck City was able to run Hooch's press out the gym for a 34 point victory. I was surprised to see Hooch go to the press, and they seemed to have no answer for Duck City's guards and small forward. The Gators came out with a wire to wire 22 point victory against Jersey, despite the fact Jersey took 13 more shots in the end. And lastly, we have the most exciting game of the season yet: Big Bevers versus the Barack O'Ballers. This game came down to the final seconds but in the end, the go-ahead basket proved to be a dunk by Vidar Brathen that was assisted by Wade James. The O'Ballers had a chance on a buzzer beater, but their point guard Bosko Begovic couldn't get the baseline mid-range shot to drop (I personally question why they didn't go to Gaugl in this situation, but things happen).