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Warriors - Linndale Kickoff Show: The Speedway Part 2

Charles:
These are two teams that know each other obviously well. Stevenson and Pio Riena are two of the longest tenure coaches in the Big 8. What are you thinking about if you’re either of these two guys.
Douglas:
If I’m Stevenson, my first thought is contain the three. I know most people don’t think of that because they’re so use to the highlight reels of Guyton driving and dish and Hearn on the inside but Linndale is a dangerous three point shooting team. San Dan loves to go zone and despite them being one of the more proficient 3-2 zone teams in the Big 8, they have been burned on the outside by Linndale before. If I’m Pio Riena, the big concern has to be winning the Battle of France. Christophe Nguyen has to win out over Etienne Blanchet, who is probably the weak link in this high tempo San Dominica offense. Etienne seemed to turn a corner earlier last season in terms of finally becoming scorer but kind of regressed as the season went on. I’m looking for Pio to try to defensively force the Warriors to making Blanchet have to be a scorer rather than live with him just being a dime dropper.
Charles:
To me it’s the battle of the inside. Begin is going to get his, but can Big Turk somehow stay out of foul trouble. He’s number 1 in fouls in the Big 8 and that can’t be good being that when he is in the game he is a beast on the boards. But being a silverback as Coach likes to put it, doesn’t help if you can’t stay on the floor. I know Coach has been trying to go young, but I’m hoping that he goes with the veteran Bermudez over Manley. Manley is good player but he seems to lack the desire to take it to the next level. Bermudez paired with Tercero gives that Warriors’ bench an edge defensively that could be the difference maker between the Warriors breaking Linndale fans’ hearts or the Warriors leaving the Speedway 1-2
With that our lines are open. We’re curious about your expectations for this game and any other questions regarding the Linndale/Warrior rivalry when we come back from this commercial break.

Air Allnite: “Pio, short version is the kids need a crapload of work. Nguyen is not gonna be what you want until he starts to tighten his handle up and gets range on his shot. He’s better driving. McCain tightened up his handle, but can’t drive. Gotta figure out how to get Donny time on the court. Kyle tightened his handle up some more; the best all around guard on this team just keeps getting better. Shooter got better getting to the hoop; if he ever learns to finish at the rim he might be almost unguardable. The best backcourt is Kyle and Shooter.”

Pio Reina: “Air, the problem with that is we cannot play Mantas with McCain or Nguyen. Neither is ready or capable as an offensive threat to counter Mantas’ lack of aggressiveness. If he’s going to shoot, that’s one thing. If he doesn’t the second unit is trash. Mantas and his defense plays well with Kyle, and Shooter’s gonna shoot. Let him blaze away off the bench. Marshall, Reynolds or Reese? What’s the early line on that battle?”

Marshall Richards: “Too close to call. If Pemwieser could play on the perimeter defensively, I ‘d say go with him as the backup 3. I can even see Hatfield as an option there. The idea of Reese developing and playing with Pemwieser on the second unit would be nice if we think Reese can develop. The reality is one of those guys is gonna be the backup 3 and we may not know who it is until the end of the season. If Reese or Reynolds take their time developing, do not be surprised if Hatfield steals that job.”

PR: “Byron, how are the bigs looking?”

Byron Helm: “I’m working with Pemwieser to improve his decision making ability. He can play pick and roll or pick and pop, but if he improves his passing, he’s more dangerous in both. Floyd wants to continue his work on shooting, but I think he may be re-emphasizing the inside game some. Leo is much the same. Hatfield as well. This group will be fine.”

PR: “On to tonight. Coach Stevenson is going to have his team ready. We know them. They know us. You know the drill. Be ready for a fight.”

BH: “The boys know. Floyd says the inside game will carry the load.”

AA: “Funny; Kyle says he’s ready to go for 40 tonight.”

MR: “Kyle always says that. So does Shooter.”

AA: “You doubting my guys?”

MR: “Nope. I know them. I don’t doubt them. I know you too, and that’s the problem.”

BH: “Are we having a problem here? Do I need to enforce some etiquette around here?”

PR: “Easy, big man. Marshall, Air, is there a problem?

Both, in unison: “No.”

PR: “Good. Now back to tonight. We’ve got to get these kids some time. McCain and Nguyen have to learn at some point.”

AA: “These kids are not ready!”

PR: “We’ve already gone over the rotations to account for that. The kids need to play. Better they learn how we want them to. They’ve seen how we do things. It’s their turn. Our job is to make it easier for them. Are you saying you can’t do your job, Air?”

MR: “I don’t like having to trust kids that haven’t earned that trust.”

PR: “We don’t need to trust them right now. We need to be able to trust them in the postseason. Our job is developing them to get us there. Coach Stevenson is gomma kill these kids. The vets have to play ball for us to have a chance. You know it, I know it, and I suspect Coach Stevenson knows it. Tell Kyle and Shooter to go crazy. Floyd, too. We’re gonna need it.”

Happy Ourer: “This one started out okay, got real ugly by halftime, got even uglier when Kyle Knowles went down with an injury in the third quarter. Joshua, what do you take away from this beating?”

Joshua Doe: “Happy, I have nothing. Hearn was horrendous shooting; I guess it was that Luis Alberto Baiao didn’t kill us. There wasn’t much positive here.

HO: “We bring in our guest analyst, Linndale legend Roberto Gurgone. Roberto, tell the fans what you saw.”

RG: “Let me start with some general observations. Linndale’s defense wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great, but it could have been a whole lot worse. Despite Hearn and Genipabu’s efforts, we didn’t rebound well. Once again, we can’t take care of the basketball. Pio is going to be livid. 10 of the 17 turnovers were from his starters. Pio may not let this team run ever again!”

JD: “Roberto, what were your takeaways from the game.”

RG: “This is what I’m calling ‘The Season of The Point Guard’. Losing Rod Guyton hurt a lot, but now it’s time for Trenton Tovar and Mantas Petriukstis to show what they can do. Christophe Nguyen and Rich McCain have to show something. Of those 4, McCain and Nguyen are true point guards, and that’s the problem, because neither has shown they are ready for a bigger role. Petriukstis looks like he’s best served off the bench. I think they’re going to have to bring in a new point guard. One or 2 of those guys are going to have to change my mind, but this team needs a true point guard.”

HO: “Anything else catch your eye, Roberto?”

RG: “Happy, I’ll take the top 6 guys on this roster against anyone. Add Pemwieser and Hatfield; those guys are young and intriguing. They have promise and flash just enough to keep you intrigued. I don’t believe in Nguyen short term. Long term, he’s a backup point guard. I don’t believe in McCain long term at point guard. I don’t believe in Reese offensively. I just don’t know about Reynolds. What I’m saying is the back end of this roster needs an overhaul, or the team needs to make some changes and commit to the kids full time. You can’t do that with Hearn and Knowles on the roster. If they get a point guard, things get interesting.”

JD: “What, in your eyes, makes things interesting?”

RG: “The Hatfield-Pemwieser duo. They give you the opportunity to play then together on the second unit, ideally with Tovar, and grow from there. You can also split up Hearn and Genipabu and have Hearn start with Genipabu off the bench, allowing Hatfield and Pemwieser to get valuable playing time. Get a solid backup or upgrade at the 3, and all of a sudden this team is as deep and as dangerous as ever, but it has to start at the point guard. A second unit with Tovar, Petriukstis, Hatfield or Pemwieser, and Genipabu is tough. Put Sokmen on that unit or just a solid backup for him. Changes things a lot, doesn’t it?”

HO: “Roberto, are you saying this roster isn’t irretrievably broken?”

RG: “Yes. You had a great run with Guyton at the point, but people forget Guyton isn’t a point guard. Tovar and Petriukstis aren’t either. You don’t have anyone setting up the other guys on the floor for easy looks. You don’t have that coach on the floor who reads the defense and adjusts before the defense even knows what happened. This team doesn’t even have a serious drive-and-kick-or-finish threat. Teams know to guard against the 3 point shot. A drive and kick threat makes Hearn and Genipabu even more dangerous. It also opens up Pemwieser for the pick and pop. It gives you options. You already have the weapons; why not use them?”

HO: “We know the GM is not afraid to make a move.”

RG: “The move is point guard. Get one.”

Joshua Doe: I’m here with Pio Reina, and today we’re talking guards. This comes after we’ve just learned of Linndale’s new acquisition, point guard Maurizio Cerri. So let’s start there; what can you tell us about Maurizio Cerri?

Pio Reina: He’s a big point guard at 6 feet 4 inches tall. He is a gifted defender on the perimeter. A good ball handler and passer, he’s gifted with the ability to get to the rim and finish, but also has the vision to find the open man and ability to make the pass. He walks in the door as the top true point guard on the roster.

JD: You now have 4 true point guards on the roster. Does that mean the end of Mantas Petriukstis seeing time there?

PR: No. It just means that a guy like Christophe Nguyen can get the time he needs to work on some things. We’ve given him specific goals to meet, and Air Allnite is working with him to achieve those goals.

JD: If Nguyen is expected to be the backup point guard by season’s end, what does that mean for Rich McCain and Eze Donny?

PR: Rich is going to see developmental time with whatever group is training. Eze has goals to meet also, and will get time where we can.

JD: With a glut of guards now, how does the rotation shake out?

PR: We have clear starters in Cerri and Knowles. Tovar is in the rotation. We’re now blessed with the ability to play matchup with some guys. Mantas can see time at the 1,2 or 3 positions based on what we’re looking for. We could go small with Knowles or Mantas at the 3 and Sokmen off the bench. The fact is we have options, and those options were afforded us by Cerri giving us clarity on the point guard position. I can’t stress enough how important that was for us.

JD: You mentioned Air Allnite earlier. A lot of people were skeptical of his hire. How is he working out so far?

PR: As expected, he’s loud, brash, and abrasive. He’s also surprisingly effective working with players in small groups or in a one-on-one situation. It’s early, but he’s off to a good start.

JD: What do you and Air see as things that Cerri can improve on?

PR: Well, Air is a shoot-first-ask-questions later kind of guy, so naturally he thinks he can improve his shot. Specifically, it’s the range. He also thinks the ball skills could be a bit better. I’d like to see his defensive skill and rebounding improve. He’s big enough to where he should be an asset on the boards, and defensively he should be better defending the paint. When Marshall Richards saw him, he thought Maurizio was a new small forward; he wanted to get to the shot blocking. The defense first coach in me likes that idea, but that’s not what he’s here for. If we can get that, it would be great. We’re just not going to worry about that. We are aware that his presence has made the point guard meetings tougher for the guys working to get up to speed. Nguyen has been here a few seasons, and is just getting to that point, where he’s almost what we consider to be rotation worthy. McCain has work to do as does Donny.

JD: Looking ahead, should we expect to see Cerri start Tuesday’s game?

PR: No. We need to get time for McCain, Nguyen, Kyle Knowles and Trenton Tovar. We know Kyle is starting at shooting guard. We haven’t decided who’s starting at point guard. I expect Tovar to back up Kyle. We’re leaning towards starting Nguyen and having McCain back him up.

JD: Thanks, Coach.

PR: Thank you Joshua, and if you would, tell Roberto we have a point guard now, and ask him if there's anything else we need.

JD: Coach, that's just the old point guard in him trying to get an assist!

Day 3 (Saturday 2 September 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
F.Day Internet Lovers Club 90 - Las Vegas High Rollers 64
southpaw army 119 - 209’s MostWanted 104
Lion Rebels 117 - Philly Dribble 97
San Dominica Warriors 101 - Linndale 80
Żubr Białystok 0 - Miami Cleo 50
Fort Wayne Pistons 92 - Super Sonics 118
VileOnes 110 - Twotone Touloose 79
Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 89 - Tasty Tardsicles 102

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 119 : southpaw army
Rebounds : 68 : F.Day Internet Lovers Club
Assists : 35 : Super Sonics
Steals : 13 : Twotone Touloose, Tasty Tardsicles
Block Shots : 14 : F.Day Internet Lovers Club

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 33 : Z. Levin (Super Sonics)
Rebounds : 22 : K. Nádas (209’s MostWanted)
Assists : 11 : S. Aranda (Fort Wayne Pistons)
Steals : 5 : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️)
Block Shots : 6 : D. Branimirović (F.Day Internet Lovers Club)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : X. McNair (southpaw army) (29 Points, 3 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 22
Shooting Guard : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) (30 Points, 4 Rebounds, 8 Assists, 5 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34
Small Forward : Z. Levin (Super Sonics) (33 Points, 7 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 31
Power Forward : P. Audier (Las Vegas High Rollers) (14 Points, 19 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 3 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35
Center : C. Goldsmith (Super Sonics) (20 Points, 10 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 31

MVP of the evening
P. Audier (Las Vegas High Rollers) (14 Points, 19 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 3 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35

The bad performance of the evening
G. Charino (Las Vegas High Rollers) (8 Points, 0 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -9

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : V. Wheat (Twotone Touloose) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : R. Raich (209’s MostWanted), A. Durham (VileOnes) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : M. Blanco (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), G. Charino (Las Vegas High Rollers), D. Branimirović (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), M. Coedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : A. Ziółkowski (209’s MostWanted) : 5 Three points

The best performer : C. Goldsmith (Super Sonics), S. Brinkman (VileOnes), C. Wui Kwong (Tasty Tardsicles) : Rating : 17.0

The worst performer : W. Sitorski (209’s MostWanted), K. Elias (Super Sonics) : Rating : 6.5

Air Allnite: Pio, we can hide Cerri’s deficiencies, but do you really think he can be the long term starter?

Pio Reina: You fancy yourself a shooting savant. You think you you’re this great coach that can do better than a lot of people. Here’s where you earn your money. Every point guard we have has an issue. Fix the shooting issues. Get every one of them playable defensively. That part’s easier; we already got Nguyen ready and Cerri walked in ready. You want to complain? Go back to the broadcast booth.

Air: So who’s complaining? I just think he might be a better fit as a backup.

Pio: The job is to develop who we have here. You have three prospects with differing floors and ceilings. Nguyen is the best bet to be a backup right now. McCain and Donny could be better long term bets. Cerri is the starter, but all four aren’t finished. Your job, your number one job is to finish them.

Marshall Richards: Pio, Roberto mentioned last night you asked him to stick around for a while and help with the wings.

Pio: Yeah. Be nice if we could get another wing besides Sokmen who could drive and finish. Kyle’s could be better there, Trenton and Mantas are dreadful there, and Rolland needs an intervention. Reese is leaving us.

Byron Helm: Pio, you know Hatfield is the only big here that can move his feet reasonably well, right?

Pio: You have a unicorn in Pemwieser. You have a defensive beast in Floyd, and a capable big in Leo. You were a good shooting big. I want those two to join the unicorn club. Hatfield may take longer, but he should get close. Air has to work with what we have and make it better. You get to work with what we have and make it better. See the difference?

Byron: Marshall, let’s talk over dinner tonight. We need to coordinate a shooting plan for the frontcourt, and work up a plan for Reynolds to get him ready for more minutes.

Marshall: Sure thing, Byron. Pio, what’s the plan for tonight?

Pio: We do the unexpected. We don’t have a distinct advantage to press tonight, except for Floyd. Let’s try something unconventional. Air, how does this set us up for training minutes?

Air: Oh… I see you’ve made changes… our top 3 guards should be done for the week after today. Thursday we can run Mantas, Nguyen, McCain, and Donny. Depending on how things go, likely Nguyen and Mantas off the bench with Donny and McCain starting that one.

Marshall: Interesting. Never seen this configuration before. I knew practice was different, but I just couldn’t figure out what that was about. Now it makes sense.

Byron: It’s… different. Pio, you sure about this?

Pio: Well, we do have training considerations. We also have distinct deficiencies. This is the best way I can come up with to make the most of what we have.

Byron: You know this is going to cost us, right?

Pio: Byron, I’m grading on a curve tonight. The bigs are protected. The guards and wings are on the hot seat tonight.

Byron: You’re the boss!

Day 4 (Tuesday 5 September 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Las Vegas High Rollers 76 - southpaw army 111
209’s MostWanted 99 - Lion Rebels 106
Philly Dribble 123 - San Dominica Warriors 141
Linndale 94 - F.Day Internet Lovers Club 118
Miami Cleo 113 - Fort Wayne Pistons 89
Super Sonics 93 - VileOnes 94
Twotone Touloose 53 - Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 117
Tasty Tardsicles 145 - Żubr Białystok 31

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 145 : Tasty Tardsicles
Rebounds : 66 : Tasty Tardsicles
Assists : 44 : Tasty Tardsicles
Steals : 23 : Linndale, Tasty Tardsicles
Block Shots : 14 : F.Day Internet Lovers Club

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 55 : A. Ziółkowski (209’s MostWanted)
Rebounds : 24 : I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club)
Assists : 10 : K. Knowles (Linndale)
Steals : 6 : F. Hearn (Linndale)
Block Shots : 6 : D. Branimirović (F.Day Internet Lovers Club)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : M. Velasco (Philly Dribble) (29 Points, 8 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 31
Shooting Guard : L. Baião (San Dominica Warriors) (37 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 37
Small Forward : M. Granja (San Dominica Warriors) (24 Points, 11 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Power Forward : P. Huddleston (Philly Dribble) (29 Points, 19 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots), I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (29 Points, 24 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 44
Center : F. Hearn (Linndale) (22 Points, 17 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 6 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36

MVP of the evening
P. Huddleston (Philly Dribble) (29 Points, 19 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots), I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (29 Points, 24 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 44

The bad performance of the evening
H. Gandy (Żubr Białystok) (0 Points, 3 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots), : Efficiency : -12

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : E. Piana (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), H. Gandy (Żubr Białystok) : 7 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : K. Nádas (209’s MostWanted) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : L. Zotke (Las Vegas High Rollers), E. Piana (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), J. Bover (VileOnes), W. Acevedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), W. Bonner (Żubr Białystok) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : A. Ziółkowski (209’s MostWanted) : 9 Three points

The best performer : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) : Rating : 19.0

The worst performer : W. Brissett (Żubr Białystok) : Rating : 2.0

Week Two Power Rankings
Week 2 Observations
Well, with extreme disappointment comes a fun treat for the power rankings. I'm deeply perturbed by whitestok's disappearance resulting in a botified team. He had a great core building up and it's a shame to see them get auctioned off one by one. If I had the cash (or the balls), I'd spring for one. Shaun Hatch, his $40k/week SF already has been viewed 260 times and last I checked, was bookmarked by 21 managers with 28 bids already placed, driving his price up to $687k thus far. (To be fair, the prime reason I'm disappointed that whitestok is no longer with us is because he always told me my projections were the best).

But because he's shuffled off to his own mortal coil, we have a somewhat surprising leap up to first place in the Week 2 Power Rankings. Which isn't all too abnormal for week 2 - just depends on first week games and who plays who resulting in some pretty skewed EFFG and OPP EFFGs. But they eventually sort themselves out over time. But this season, things seem to be sticking where they were last week.

While it is definitely not entirely accurate it makes the season a bit more interesting to have these power rankings differ a bit from what we see in the standings. They'll be up and down and around as teams find their groove (or slip and fall on their faces). For those of you who are new, we'll see them pretty much solidify and not see much movement about a week or two after the all-star break.

Here's the rankings, in reverse order: (Last week's rank will be in parenthesis behind the team’s name).

Week 2 Power Rankings
16. Żubr Białystok (16)
I'd say with whitestok botifying, they've finally shown some life since they lose in a walk over finally, but the newly minted trash team scored a -34 in EFFG against Tasty and gave up an appalling 247 in OPP EFFG. I won't have much to say about bot teams, so hopefully someone new signs up and gets slaughtered week after week in the bot's place.

15. Las Vegas High Rollers (15)
Las Vegas is still one of three teams without a win thus far. And while in week 1 they scored 91 points against my own Lion Rebels, the next three games have seen them average just 17 points per quarter as they got throttled first by F.Day and then somewhat mercifully only lost by 35 to southpaw. They're still in the Cup, though! And look to be in the Cup until next week at least. Otherwise, they host Philly before traveling to Linndale in pursuit of their first league win.

14. Twotone Touloose (14)
No movement for Twotone in the rankings this week with losses to VileOnes at home followed by the Zombies taking out their Mindless Frustration with the season on Tuesday night, losing by 64 points in a game that started out ugly and after a brief, "maybe we've got a fighting chance" 2nd quarter where they outscored the Zombies by 2 points, they fell off a cliff and only scored 17 total points in the 2nd half. Unfortunately for Twotone, the only redeeming factor of this season might just be the fact that whitestok not only went bot, but wasn't active at all, guaranteeing them at least two wins, but most likely a 7th place finish in the Great 8 only to have to go up against a team in the Big 8 that will be PISSED they didn't make the play offs.

13. Linndale (13)
I was not prepared for this. Maybe Speedtraps had a better idea about how this season would start, but 0-4 is not a fun way to begin the season. Fortunately, Vegas is there to cushion the fall, but with Internet Lovers Club introduced to the Big 8 mix, it's looking like 6 extremely competitive teams with Linndale just on the outside looking in. They have made some moves and they definitely have time to turn it around - a trip through the Great 8 might be the dose of medicine they need, though they have to travel to the 209's first before hosting Las Vegas in what should be their first win, if not their second if they turn it

Week Two Power Rankings - Part II
12. Philly Dribble (10)
Sliding down two spots this week, Phil_wings has had enough and listed team super star Miguel Velasco whom he's had on the roster since season 56. He's made the all-stars for the Big 8 in the five seasons since then and also ranked in the MVP vote three times. But now riding a three-game losing streak with a 20-point loss to the Lion Rebels at home followed by an 18-point loss to San Dom on Tuesday, it looks like a pivot is in motion for the Dribble, which might be a boon for Linndale. Next comes a reprieve against Las Vegas in Vegas, before playing host to 209's next Tuesday.

11. 209's MostWanted (8)
They may be 1-3 after two weeks, but their point differential only stands at -15 despite having played four teams whose collective record thus far is 14-2. They kept their loss to southpaw to only 15 points, but that's soured a bit when you realize they were up 6 at the half, only to blow the lead in the third and then get marched over in the 4th. Here comes Linndale in a matchup at home followed by Philly on the road in a two-game series that will define which of those three teams will more probably fight for playoff access.

10. Fort Wayne Pistons (9)
While Ft. Wayne falls a spot with their 1-3 record, they hold out ahead of 209's despite losing two this week to the top two teams in the Great 8 thanks to the boost their EFFG received from playing Twotone (131) and keeping their EFFG over 100 against Miami and Super Sonics this week. Their downfall is definitely their OPP EFFG, which drifted 18 points in the wrong direction this week to 131. The Pistons face Mindless Zombies on the road before hosting VileOnes in the hopes they can move up the standings in the Great 8.

9. VileOnes (11)
With a win on the road in The Pavilion against Twotone last weekend followed by the upset of the week in a one-point victory over Super Sonics on TV, Vile moves up two spots in the rankings. More on that upset in a moment, but first, just to show you how crazy the EFFG rankings are: VileOnes currently have 111 for an EFFG, which is a 17-point improvement from week one, but is only good enough for 11th with 10th, 9th, and 8th hitting 111.8, 112, and 113.3 respectively. There's a significant drop off in EFFG after that, with 12th coming in at just 89.5. Now back to the upset: deploying a patient attack, Vile took a meager 7-point lead into the 2nd half, and despite Super Sonics getting close, maintained a 3-point lead heading into the final frame. But it only took two minutes for Morris Craig to tie it up at 70 with a three pointer with the Sonics taking back the lead for the first time since the 7-minute mark of the 2nd quarter on their next possession. After that, it was a bit of a dog fight, with the lead being exchanged seven more times. With 39 seconds left, the Sonics called a time out, being down by 1 after Kaiser Ramazan hit a 3 to make it 92-91. Just six seconds after their timeout, Sonics scored from the elbow to go up 93-92 and then, disaster struck in the form of what looked like a blessing - with 13 seconds left, Chas Goldsmith (a Center!) intercepted a pass and got the ball immediately to Morris Craig. Craig had scored just 9 points on the night including going 1-7 from the three-point line but hadn't yet attempted a free throw. He promptly stepped up to the line and bricked both free attempts to leave an opportunity and Vile's PG Alfonso Messineo ended the possession with a rebound and a quick time out. Coach drew up a perfect play and Sf Jordi Bover drove to the line and drained it with no time remaining on the clock for a buzzer beater upset victory. Tremendous ending to an enjoyable game!

Week Two Power Rankings - Part III
8. Mindless Zombies (12)
Yes, their first win of the season was against Twotones, but it does appear as if the Zombies are truly being raised from the dead. A 12-point boost in EFFG and a 21-point boost in OPP EFFG which took them from 11th last week to 6th this week in the latter category bumps them up to 8th overall, marking them as the best 1-3 team through two weeks. The week didn't start out great, with a road loss to Tasty by 13, but turned it around with the aforementioned 64-point victory over Touloose in a game in which they held Twotone to just 34 efficiency (of which 30 points came from just two players), while every single player for Mindless had a positive efficiency, including 4 players with 20+ efficiency on the night. They have a standoff with Fort Wayne on Saturday before benefiting from the botified Zubr next Tuesday, so their fortunes will most likely improve come next week!

7. Miami Cleo (6)
The last undefeated team in the Great 8 slides down one spot this week in a somewhat surprising turn at face value. They do lose out on some benefit by playing Zubr in their last walkover win as no efficiency points are gained/lost according to the statistics on walkovers, but handled Fort Wayne nicely with a bit more effort, belying the fact that they might not be quite as good as their 4-0 record. But! I've doubted them before and they've basically spit in my face, so I won't be surprised if I wake up next week with a loogie in my hair. A weekend match up with Twotone at home (and on TV) before what could be a battle for 1st in the Great 8 against Tasty Tardsicles.

6. Super Sonics (3)
After starting week two in first place in the great 8 and third in these power rankings, and despite a weekend 26-point victory over Fort Wayne, their 1-point last second loss to VileOnes on the road put a damper on their standings and their EFFG rankings. Despite a 1.7 increase in EFFG, they slipped one ranking spot to fourth and then an 8.7 decrease in OPP EFFG dropped them two places in that category ranking leaving them on the Outside Looking In (OLI) of the top 5 teams for this week. I will point out Zoran Levin's SF performance last weekend in which he scored 33 points on 14-24 shooting from the field to go along with 5 offensive rebounds in just 27 minutes to lead the team to victory. Next up, a prime matchup against Tasty Tardsicles at home before setting their sights on Twotone on the road at The Pavilion.