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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.

Snake River will stay in the rankings for now but the O'Ballers are still on the deadline of the 20th. Anyway, let's get into this.

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

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

discussion/explanation: no real close games yesterday...well...except for one. We'll get started with the Gators and Big Beavers in a game where the result even surprised me. Even with the effort gap, I would expect more like a 20 point game at worst. Brathen got his fairly efficiently, but other than that, their shooting was just off. Next onto Clemson and Boyton in just another measuring stick game where they passed with flying colors, getting to a good start and really putting it on in the second quarter. Ciobanu continues to impress, and their overall efficiency really helped; one aspect that Clemson once again dominated in, however, was free throws, though this was another game in front of their 12k+ home fans. Onto the final game, the one big upset of the day, Jersey, and Duck City. After a solid 3 quarters by Jersey, they put their best one together in the fourth when Duck City tried to make its rally at the end and gave their home fans quite the game. Other than rebounding, nothing stood out as a big advantage for Jersey, so I'll give the credit to Eryüzlü, Martelli, and Joya off the bench for their major contributions of 41 total rebounds and 10 offensive rebounds, along with their second-leading scorer Shiu ling who had 7 boards of his own and their leading scorer Avdeenko who had 6 including 4 offensive boards.

Last edited by Rob Da Man at 8/12/2018 4:36:39 PM

Some interesting games last time around. Let's get into it.

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

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Hard2Guard(7-1)
2)Boynton Birdseye(6-2)
3A)Clemson Cavs(6-2)
3B)The Duck City Ninjas(5-3)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat(5-3)
6)The Barack O'Ballers(2-6)

discussion/explanation: Ok...I had this ready a day or two ago but took too long to post and forgot to hop onto another page so I'd lost it and was too frustrated to type it all again. Well, here I am now and I won't make that mistake again. Anyway...onto the first re-written analysis...I'm not even going to go in depth on Duck City and Snake River...all you need to see to sum up how the game went: 6 assists to 26 turnovers...24 assists to 9 turnovers...that sets up the picture pretty well. Onto Big Beavers and the O'Ballers...Gaugl turned back the clock and once again provided a virtuoso performance, but it wasn't nearly enough against the Big Beavers team ball play, even with them "taking it easy" in this one. They simply had a slight advantage in everything except for free throws. Lastly, we have Hooch with a surprise win against Boyton, even with the fact that Hooch played this game as a "crunch time" game. It seemed to come down to the fact that Boyton simply wasn't hitting their shots which Hooch, inside the 3 point arc, was. The disparity in free throws also helped contribute to the 17 point margin by the end of the game.

I feel honored that teams feel the need to play "crunch time" against me lol.

That's fair lol, I definitely think that going 6-1 against the Great 8 kind of earns you that with basically everyone except H2G, BPE, and maybe Big Beavers and me. Maybe. I won't give that info away yet ;)

Gators vs H2G, 2 juggernauts going at it. I thought it was too soon for me to be up there. Lol I remember I crunch timed H2G. I think that the Big 8 is as competitive.

We have some stuff to get into...let's do it!

Big 8 Power rankings:
1A) BPE(7-2)
1B)Gators(9-0)
1C)Big Beavers(8-1)
4) WildHoochieKoos(6-3)
5) Snake River Panthers(3-6)

Great 8 power rankings:
1)Hard2Guard(7-2)
2)Boynton Birdseye(7-2)
3A)Clemson Cavs(7-2)
3B)The Duck City Ninjas(6-3)
5)Jersey Blazing Heat(5-4)

discussion/explanation: well...D-Day has come and gone for the O'Ballers. Press F to pay respects...
F
Ok, now that that's done, let's get into the games. Hooch beating the O'Ballers will be covered because the O'Ballers cutoff day came and went...just know that it's the same old story of Gaugl playing well and everyone else getting overwhelmed. Onto the games I'll actually cover..just, to sum up how the game went between BPE and Jersey, BPE had more bench players score 10 points than Jersey had guys in total doing that. Also, Jersey's third-leading rebounder had the same total rebounds as BPE's starting SF who was tied for the third-leading rebounder on his own team had offensive rebounds. Onto Clemson and Snake River...Clemson was almost as dominant. There isn't anything too specific to point out just how dominant they were, but they certainly impressed, even if it was against a shaky Snake River squad. Finally onto maybe the match of the year...where Gomez's dunk with 12 seconds left earned the win, but it wasn't without more action after in the form of an offensive rebound with 2 seconds left...and a missed putback layup! This game was as statistically even as any I have ever seen-it's astonishing-and the game could have truly gone either way.