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Look forward to it!

Wow...there's a lot to talk about. Let's get into it

Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (18-2)
2) Gators (17-3)
3A) WildHoochieKoos (13-7)
3B) Big Beavers (12-8)
5) Snake River Panthers (9-11)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (19-1)
2)Hard2Guard (19-1)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (14-6)
4)Jersey Blazing Heat (10-10)
5)The Barack O'Ballers (11-9)

discussion/explanation: I'll start out with the Gators themselves...they ran Snake River out the building in the first quarter and never looked back. MVP candidate Cousido struggled against Florian Lackey who I will proclaim as a guy who could win defensive player of the year if BuzzerBeater had that as an award. He usually plays the best player on the other team and usually locks them down, and Cosuido was no exception. Overall here's the story of the game...Gators had 23 offensive rebounds. Snake River had 34 total rebounds. Also, shooting efficiency and free throws played a major factor. Another thing to watch is a possible changing of the guard at center and power forward; Calderon and Pihronen played more minutes off the bench than Taccini and Coly did as starters. Next, we have a closer game between BPE and Hooch. Once again, BPE's overall efficiency proved to be the difference as free throw conversion, field goal percentage, and assist to turnover ratio were all things that BPE had a big advantage in. Finally...it happened. I wasn't sure if it would happen...but it happened. Down goes the last unbeaten. The shooting efficiencies were about even. H2G had a slight advantage in rebounds, and while the assist to turnover ratio was about even, but H2G had way more assists. At the end of the game...while Clint Watson may have been the one to miss the shot, it was Jandula who choked at the end, missing a couple of layups and a mid-range shot in addition to committing an unnecessary foul in the last minute. Law Kim Tech, meanwhile, was coming up huge for H2G in the last couple of minutes. Starting at 2 minutes left, Raleigh had a 2 point lead, 92-90. Anyway, moving along to the playoff implications...home court still likely goes to Raleigh in the Great 8, and nothing in my eyes has really changed. The only thing that's really changed in the Big 8 is that Snake River is officially eliminated from the playoffs and will likely face the CPU team that finishes 7th in the Great 8. Overall, the playoff picture hasn't changed, the only spots that could really change going forward are 3 and 4 in the Big 8 and that's only if Snake River pulls the upset of Hooch and 4 and 5 in the Great 8 which I gave my opinion on last discussion.

There's several games to talk about with the playoffs fast approaching. Let's do it.

Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (19-2)
2) Gators (17-4)
3A) WildHoochieKoos (14-7)
3B) Big Beavers (13-8)
5) Snake River Panthers (9-12)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (20-1)
2)Hard2Guard (20-1)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (15-6)
4)Jersey Blazing Heat (10-11)
5)The Barack O'Ballers (11-10)

discussion/explanation: we have several games to get into today. I love it! We'll get BPE-Snake River out the way first...it wasn't even close, and while Cosuido had a much better game this time around than last game...the story of the game can be summed up as this: they had one more rebound as compared to turnovers and had only 3 fewer missed field goal attempts than points. Simply put, BPE absolutely bodied them, and all this without making a single 3 point shot. In the next game...the score wasn't as absolutely dominating, but H2G dominated on the boards and through efficiency en route to a big win over the O'Ballers. For our next game, Duck City used shooting efficiency, especially from behind the 3 point line, along with strong 2nd and 3rd quarters to put away Jersey despite them dominating on the boards and putting up an assist to turnover that, while worse than Duck City's, wasn't a huge disadvantage for them. Onto the last game of the day, Hooch managed to pull the upset against the Gators by gaining a sizeable first-half lead then maintaining it in the second half. For the Gators, the fact that Hooch "looked like the only team trying out there" seemed to be the big thing that doomed them, as they played more sloppy than usual, they did seem to have 5 guys positively contributing but after that all you see is guys having something that seems to contribute to the loss such as 5 fouls in 33 minutes, two guys who weren't hitting their shots and didn't get free throws, the second of those two guys having 2 turnovers in 15 minutes as a point guard, a center having 3 turnovers in 9 minutes, and lastly a guy having 3 fouls in 6 minutes. Basically...they laid an egg and Hooch took advantage, especially their small forward and power forward, both of whom were extremely efficient on offense and the former of whom was very active on defense. Looking forward to the playoffs...in the Big 8, BPE vs Big Beavers and Gators vs Hooch is basically set in stone as the matchups. All I can say is, expect different rotations from me in that game against Hooch; should be a fun one! Meanwhile, for BPE vs Big Beavers, I think that will also be a very good game. The Big Beavers have made big strides this season, especially at the guard spots, and whatever the outcome, it'll be fun to watch. Onto the Great 8, if one of Raleigh or H2G loses, then the other clinches the one seed; in the likely scenario that they both win, Raleigh has the point differential advantage in the bag. At the 4 spot, The O'Ballers currently hold a one game and 29 point advantage, but since their final matchup is against Raleigh and Jersey's matchup is against AC Bellem, I predict that Jersey wins, the O'Ballers lose, and the difference in points is greater than 29 meaning that Jersey get the final spot, becoming the first team I've seen make it in the playoffs in their inaugural season, where they'd face Raleigh in the playoffs, and with the other matchup it would be the classic Duck City and H2G matchup that's always a lot of fun.

The regular season has now come to a close. Here are the final rankings heading into the playoffs.

Big 8 Power rankings:
1) BPE (20-2)
2) Gators (17-5)
3A) WildHoochieKoos (15-7)
3B) Big Beavers (14-8)
5) Snake River Panthers (9-13)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Raleigh Capitols (21-1)
2)Hard2Guard (21-1)
3)The Duck City Ninjas (16-6)
4)Jersey Blazing Heat (11-11)
5)The Barack O'Ballers (11-11)

discussion/explanation: With the season over and the board for the playoffs set up, this section will mostly focus on what happened today. To start off...despite Gaugl's best efforts, Raleigh won the game by 45 points, having basically every major advantage go their way. In the next game that I'm gonna cover...I swear, the Gators are never running an inside box-and-one again, it never works for them. Anyway, BPE jumped out to a large first-half lead, then held off the Gators after an astonishing run in the first 5-6 minutes of the 3rd quarter where Lackey and Bayramov seemed to carry the whole team on them. Neither team shot particularly well, but free throws, rebounds, and assist to turnover ratio were all clearly in BPE's favor. Interestingly enough, both teams took it easy this game as the playoffs approach; this is probably because their seedings were locked in. Also, Camp seemed to find the secret to rendering Lackey's defense ineffective. Moving on to our last game...Hooch had a great shooting night, shot 47 free throws, got 30 steals...and still only won by 7 points. I had previously said Cousido was capable of going for 50 on any given night...unfortunately for Snake River, they needed that 50 plus one more and they got 43 from him. Overall it was a fun game to watch unfold. There's one more note I wanted to add in...coming into the final game of the season, the Barack O'Ballers and Jersey Blazing Heat were separated by one game and 29 points...after the 45 point loss by the O'Ballers to Raleigh and the 37 point win by the Blazing Heat against AC Bellem, the Jersey Blazing Heat have officially made the playoffs in their inaugural season! Congrats to them and good luck to everyone whether that's in the playoffs or in a relegation series.

There are no records to go off of so this is purely an opinion based pre-season ranking. Also, for the new guys in this league, first off, welcome, and second off, I won't include CPU teams in this or squads that have been inactive for long enough(which tbh how long "long enough" is too me is sort of inconsistent but eh). In terms of why I rank the teams where I do, I'll explain all of my reasoning below the rankings.

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

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Hard2Guard
2A)Clemson Cavs
2B)The Duck City Ninjas
4)Jersey Blazing Heat
5)The Barack O'Ballers
6)Boynton Birdseye

discussion/explanation: in the Big 8, BPE is clearly the team to beat. I didn't even realize how far behind them my team was until I tried to play man defense in the semis...that was a mistake. Also, they now have awesome guard play which makes them all the more dangerous. Next, we have what I believe to be a very close race between 2,3, and 4, especially at 2 and 3. The Gators are interesting in that their main players are back as Lackey gets his second full season on the team under him, Bayramov can still score with the best of them when he's on, and Basham and Gomez are also nice pieces around them, but they've now fully committed to their new center after selling off Taccini who'd been their starting center for several seasons while Pihronen seems to have passed Coly in the rotation. The Big Beavers, meanwhile, finished very strong at the end of last season and even beat the HoochieKoos in the second go-around of divisional play. BPE is another team that seems to have gotten much better in the backcourt, especially with Wade James emerging as a big scoring threat in addition to his passing ability(evident in his high assist numbers). Hooch seems like a bit of a wildcard as excluding the Gators matchup in a game where they put in more effort, they seemed to tail off a little down the stretch, but they still have a solid squad. Lastly, we have the up and coming Snake River Panthers, who have a couple of really good guards and now the key to success for them is improving the forward spots and center spot from within via training. As for the Great 8, usually the team coming down from the III league would be the favorite, but Clemson's team ratings really underwhelmed me. I'm not even sure if they'll be better than Duck City, which is why I have the "2A and 2B" situation. Hard2Guard came off a season where they were 5 seconds from sending the more impressive Raleigh team from last season to overtime at their place in the playoffs, but...see the playoff thread to recap my personal pick for "playoff MVP." As for the next 3...I'm not sure what improvements Jersey or the O'Ballers have made, but seeing what we saw last season, I'm more confident in seeing internal improvement from Jersey than the O'Ballers, though where both teams need to improve to stand out from the other is the guard spots. Lastly, we have the new team and...quite simply, I'm treating them as basically an expansion team. I hope they stick it out though; more competition is always fun! Overall, it should be a fun year; the most interesting part of this is that the Big 8 may be starting to catch up with the Great 8 in terms of team quality. It'll be fun to watch! Well, good luck to everyone and I'll see you again with a rankings update along with game recaps after the first gameday.

First off allow me to clarify, I thought Boyton was a brand spanking new team replacing a CPU team which...they basically are but after re-looking at the stats on them...you'll see. Anyway, here's the new rankings

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

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Hard2Guard(1-0)
2)The Duck City Ninjas(1-0)
3)Clemson Cavs(0-1)
4)Jersey Blazing Heat(1-0)
5A)Boynton Birdseye(1-0)
5B)The Barack O'Ballers(0-1)

discussion/explanation: after the first set of games, I have a couple of takeaways from the user v user games... 1: Jersey showed once again that they have passed the O'Ballers, and after Gaugl struggled so much, they could be in for a rough season; one where Boyton could certainly surpass them and if they make the right moves with training and the transfer market, challenge Jersey for a 4 seed in basically its first season(they created the team right at the very very end of last season after looking back, and I'm reserving a full-on in-depth evaluation of them until they actually play either the O'Ballers or Jersey). 2: seeing Hard2Guard beat Clemson by such a wide margin was a shock to me; I expected the margin to be closer to 10-15 points, not 23. That certainly gives at least the appearance that Duck City could challenge for second place and that Hard2Guard is the clear-cut front-runner to finally win league IV.64 after so many seasons of being so close. Taking a look at the user v user games, for O'Ballers and Blazing Heat it was a complete 180 from the season opener between these two last season, as it was the O'Ballers this time who jumped out to a big lead before the Blazing Heat rallied back in the second half for a 10 point win which included outside the O'Ballers by 15 points in the fourth quarter. Offensive rebounds, fewer turnovers, and a faster pace seemed to all contribute to Jersey's victory in this game. Shiu Ling was impressive with 17 points on great efficiency along with 2 steals and 4 blocks as a shooting guard. With Hooch and BPE, Hooch got out to a good start and even lead after a quarter, but BPE turned it on in the 2nd and put it away in the 3rd quarter. A small advantage in assist to turnover ratio and big advantages in rebounding and free throws were key components in their win, despite the best efforts of Collantes and Fortin who combined for 70 points. Next game I'll cover is Gators and Snake River...since the Gators are my own team I can tell y'all that even though Lackey was at small forward, you best believe I had him as my best defender defending their shooting guard Cousido, who I believe to be one of the most explosive scorers in this league. He ended dropping 24 points but it wasn't on the greatest efficiency numbers, and it wasn't very pretty among the rest of the team either; they are a relatively young team going against a squad who just finished second in their division this past season, though, so it's understandable. On the Gators end of things, their 4 bigs in the rotation all ended up with double-digit rebounds and the team as a whole was pretty efficient. I'm holding out to see how they do against the top tier teams, though. Lastly, despite Hard2Guard surprisingly having more turnovers than assists, as previously mentioned they won the game by 23 points. Overall, free throws, shooting efficiency, and rebounds, especially offensive rebounds, contributed to Hard2Guard's significant margin of victory.

Hey, I've been out on vacation but now I'm back and I'll bring a new power ranking very soon!

Since I have 2 games worth of coverage to catch up on, I'll do a quick synopsis of the past 2 games for each user team in discussion/explanation.

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

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Hard2Guard(3-0)
2A)The Duck City Ninjas(3-0)
2B)Boynton Birdseye(2-1)
4)Clemson Cavs(2-1)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat(2-1)
6)The Barack O'Ballers(0-3)

discussion/explanation: starting with the Big 8, the top 3 have all gotten off to fast starts, while Hooch had a tough starting schedule and Snake River had an absolutely brutal one. BPE faces its toughest game so far when they take on Hooch, but I see the top 3 all going to 3-0. In the Great 8, meanwhile, things are shaping out a bit surprising, though surprises are always welcome in this normally predictable league. Starting at the bottom, Gaugl's 15 point average through 3 games to go with barely getting to the charity stripe is surprising along with the O'Ballers looking like they're about to fall off a cliff play wise. Jersey isn't much of a surprise so far. Clemson is a bit worse than I would've thought for a team having come from a III league. The biggest surprise for me has to Boyton; after having been relegated from a IV league the season prior, they look like a totally different team this season; this guy obviously knows what he's doing with either the draft or the transfer market, or both. Duck City and H2G are top teams as expected, but Boyton looks like they're capable of giving either team a run for their money.

What a set of games. Here are my new power rankings

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

Great 8 power rankings:
1A)Hard2Guard(3-1)
1B)The Duck City Ninjas(4-0)
1C)Boynton Birdseye(3-1)
4)Clemson Cavs(3-1)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat(3-1)
6)The Barack O'Ballers(0-4)

discussion/explanation: well, the Great 8 is wide open at this point with 3 teams vying for the top spot; a little more clarity could come soon in the form of an upcoming mega matchup this coming Saturday. There are two usual suspects and a first-season team (because apparently I can't use "expansion team" anymore or people will get in their feelings like Drake) that are firing on all cylinders; seriously, the first-season team isn't playing like one at all, because the only first season teams to get in the playoffs in their first season were BPE, who had seemed to have taken over for a team spot held for years by Boston Headbangers, a perennial contender while in existence, and Jersey this past season. But, history of first season teams aside, I digress. Moving onto the games, Gaugl continues to struggle as age seems to have caught up to him and the rest of the team just cannot pick up the slack; Boyton, meanwhile, simply ran them out the gym. They play more like a team that had just been in the III league than Clemson does. Moving on, let's get into the two games where it at least appeared to be two evenly matched teams. Usually, when Hooch busts out the full court press on a better team, it turns into a bit of a mess for them; against the Big Beavers, however, this to go with an uptempo offense helped propel them to a big lead after 1. The Big Beavers, however, wouldn't let it get out of hand; they kept within striking distance as they slowly clawed their way back in the game before tying it up by the end of the 4th. They then carried this momentum into OT where they got the 142-136 victory. Victor Brathen has to be given mad props for putting this team on his back and getting the win for them even with Simpson and Jonas eventually fouling out; he ended up with 27 points on really good efficiency and was also active on defense, getting 3 steals and 3 blocks. Rissoson was also impressive with 9 rebounds and 11 points in only 12 minutes of play. Onto another great game, as despite getting out to a small lead early, Hard2Guard took a loss to Duck City at Ninja Central. A few small advantages seemed to give Duck City an advantage; it seemed that being a little more trigger happy with shooting, especially on 3's, ended up paying off. The difference in turnovers also seemed to make a difference in the outcome. Lastly, despite total rebounds being the same, Duck City's advantage on the offensive glass helped them get more second-chance opportunities, inevitably leading to more points. Looking forward to next week, Duck City and Boytin can help clear up the confusion at the top; injuries to key starters, however, could impact this game. Also, I know right now in the standings that Hard2Guard is 5th in the standings...trust me, that is not going to last for long; they'll soon climb back up the standings.

Last edited by Rob Da Man at 8/2/2018 3:18:41 PM

Upsets at the top and status quo below. Let's get into the rankings!

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

Great 8 power rankings:
1A)Hard2Guard(4-1)
1B)Boynton Birdseye(4-1)
1C)The Duck City Ninjas(4-1)
4)Clemson Cavs(4-1)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat(3-2)
6)The Barack O'Ballers(0-5)

discussion/explanation: once again, the Great 8 is wide open...however, I still would put Duck City and Boyton a good way above them simply based on how I've seen each of those teams play to date. Also, I'll explain keeping BPE at number one in the Big 8 soon...for now let's get into the games. For Hard2Guard @ the O'Ballers...do I need to say again how Gaugl just cannot carry this team like in season past and how he isn't getting nearly enough help? It's sad to see a team 2 seasons removed from making the playoffs go like this. Their inactivity makes it quite possible that I'll drop them from the ranking within 1-2 weeks. Moving onto Hooch and Snake River...the Panthers have been inactive since selling Cousido and have been equally depressing to cover. The leash on them is longer, but by the end of this month, they could be gone from the rankings if they stay inactive. Moving onto the more competitive games where I'm going to actually give actual analysis...The 13 point victory by Clemson over Jersey is part of what I mean by Duck City and Boyton looking more impressive. Jersey is no joke, but a contending team probably beats them by at least double what Clemson did. Their bigs were impressive, controlling the boards and scoring efficiently, but the turnovers are something to watch when they face stiffer competition. Now onto one of the mega matches...and Boyton, with their older experienced players, came into Duck City without their leading scorer and won. That shooting guard slot seems to be bursting at the seams with talent, their point guard got to the line 17 times-something that shows aggressive play, which I like in a player, especially when he's making 15 of those free throws-and their starting bigs combined for 33 rebounds including 9 offensive rebounds. Not to mention, all of this was on the road in front of 10k+ fans. Duck City played mostly well, but Boyton made a statement. Lastly, we have BPE @ Gators...I was not expecting to win this game to be honest. BPE had beaten my squad every time we faced each other every time since he pulled the 72-67 upset in the semifinals not too long ago...however, between good defense and great rebounding by the Gators, a herculean scoring effort from Florian Lackey, earning every last dollar of that very expensive salary, and an off shooting game from BPE, especially Ladner, it actually happened. I'm leaving BPE at number one in the power because I'm not sure if this will happen again and I still see them as overall the better team, but the win still feels nice.

I'm keeping Snake River and the O'Ballers in for now, but their time left if they aren't active again soon is very short. Also, more madness! Let's get into it

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

Great 8 power rankings:
1A)Hard2Guard(5-1)
1B)Boynton Birdseye(5-1)
3A)The Duck City Ninjas(4-2)
3B)Clemson Cavs(5-1)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat(3-3)
6)The Barack O'Ballers(1-5)

discussion/explanation: the standings haven't updated yet so can't comment on it...as is tradition, I'll just stick to user v user games, but me and Hard2Guard respectively just ran the computer teams in front of us out the gym. Boyton jumped out to a huge first-quarter lead, then Jersey settled but could never quite put together a push to get back into the game. Boyton thoroughly dominated all aspects of the game, but assist and turnovers were especially dominated by Boyton's squad. Up next...we have more of what I was expecting flipping on its head. Once again, a team plays crunch time effort on BPE and gets the win. This time it was Big Beavers and kudos to them for doing it without their starting point guard and doing it at BPE. The three-point line and the charity stripe both seemed to work out great for them, and I can't stress enough how valiant of an effort Campio Alonso put in in this spot start. Forcing BPE into 16 turnovers also helped their cause. Lastly, Clemson was able to defend home court and pull off an upset of their own, taking down Duck City in a close, hard-fought game. In the end, however, the biggest difference in the game seemed to be this: Duck City was 4-4 on free throws...Clemson...23-27. I don't think that's going to happen again. It didn't help Duck City's case, however, that Tilge seemed to choke down the stretch.