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Week Two Part One Review

Howdy folks, welcome to week two. Only one player on player game this weekend between I Volt and FR-S as FR-S was hoping to force I Volt into a tie for second place but weren't able to pull it out. FR-S started out strong, keeping I Volt to 20 points and led by five but then succumbed in the second, ending up down four going into the second half. They employed a Patient tactic which led their PG (filling in a SG) Tyberiusz Swieboda to score 37 points on 17-38 (2 of 9 from three) for a 9.5 overall rating. Unfortunately is wasn't enough to overcome I Volt's M. Sapauskas and M. Korecki wings who combined for 46 points. Volt also dominated on the glass to earn the victory.

Other highlights from the player/bot games:
- Duluth Dirty Dogs destroyed Neros 144-53 with Duluth's back court dominating the field (C. Chun Yeung and I. Cardelle) scoring 27 and 24 points respectively. The team shot 57% from the field overall and 7 players scored double digits.
- The Lion Rebels had a surprise star turn from back up forward Niko Motturi who filled in for normal SF starter Srivastava who got injured just six minutes into the game. Motturi ended up leading the team with 39 points on 50% shooting from the field to go along with 13 REB, 4 STL, and 5 BLK.
- DVine Lions took their Run & Gun game to Northampton Acid, outscoring them by 70 points with their SG/SF combo (D. Basham and T. Dalton) scoring 39 and 28 points respectively - PF G. Reis dropped in another 21 points to finish the demolition.
- In the final player/bot showdown, OmegaShot (whose dangerously close to going bot themselves) took their Run and Gun show to LAGB's throats, winning easily 131-63 with three players scoring more than 20 points - SF N. Orduna lead the way with 30 points in 26 minutes hitting 4 of 8 threes and grabbing 8 assists. His backup, H. Lyssand finished the game off with another 17 points, shooting better than 50%.

That's all from this weekend - I'll try to get Tuesday's games done on Thursday or so. Good luck to all the players and even more luck to the bots!

Week Two Part Two Recap

Welcome back for another rousing edition of which live player can most destroy a bot player this week?! where we highlight any player on player match ups and note outstanding players from non-bot teams. Last night again only featured on player on player matchup: Duluth dirty dogs vs. I Volt, where manager cbbakke took his dirty dogs to their rival I Volt's Veclro Arena at near max capacity. Both teams came at it at a high pace where the end of the first period had the dirty dogs down by seven to I Volt, 40-47. They didn't fare much better in the second quarter even though they were running a full court press because I Volt entered the match putting in more effort than the dogs, which meant that I Volt ended the first half up 12, 84-72, with both scores outscoring 4 different bot teams for their respective entire games!

I Volt's Maksymilian Korecki (maybe the fanciest way I've ever seen Maximillion spelled!) lead the way shooting 8-14 in the half for 23 points in 18 minutes played. The second half, particularly, the fourth quarter would be a different story. While Duluth's Lev Sasson couldn't contain Korecki in the first half, he iced him in the second half - Korecki only scored 5 more points for the game and finished the half on 2 of 8 shooting, including missing three 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Sasson, who only scored 11 points in the first half, put on a show, scoring 25 points in the half, including nailing 3 more three pointers and finished the night 13-20 (6-8 from three point land). The other major story line here is the Full Court Press paying dividends, forcing I Volt into 25 turnovers (23 steals for the dogs). Along with Sasson's 36 points, Cardelle and Yeung contributed 35 and 30 respectively to push the dirty dogs to a 36-21 difference in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback and finish of I Volt in front of their own crowd. It ended up being a spectacular rivalry game.

In the other player games of the night, FR-S dominated the Edmonton Earthquakes 112-58, with FR-S's G. Pasztor hitting 8 three pointers on route to 39 points on 50% shooting.

The Lion Rebels almost kept Louisville from scoring in double digits in any quarter (allowed 10 in the 2nd) and ended up destroying them by 97 points, 121-24. Center Terry Armstead recorded his 6th ever triple double with 18 points, 17 rebounds, and 13 assists on the night.

DVine Lions took it to Neros, 112-61. Interestingly, the Lions only suited up 5 players for the night, with all of them hitting double digits, but PF G. Reis takes the cake with 25 points on 10-18 (including 3 of 4 from three) and pulled down 30 rebounds - quite a performance for the forward.

And finally, OmegaShot took their run and gun dance to the Trmps, scoring nearly 50 in the first quarter and finishing them off 128-60 with SG L. Volkner hitting 35 points on 14-24 shooting, including 15 points on 3 pointers, hitting 5 of 9 enroute to their domination.

After four games DVine Lions Taylor Dalton still leads the league in shooting with 34 points/game. Guilherme Reis, also with the Lions, leads the league in rebounding with 19, and in a much closer race, Miguel Matas (OmegaShot), James Crane (bot), Porter Flores (bot), and Omar Sellers (Duluth dirty dogs) are all near the top with 7.5, 7.2, 7.2, & 7.2 assists/game.

Week Three Part One Recap
Once again, the slate of games only had one player on player matchup with the rest of the games being bots vs players or bots vs bots. This week's edition brings us DVine Lions traveling to Scion Arena to face FR-S. DVine came in running and gunning (albeit a bit lackadaisically) with FR-S bringing the energy along with their Outside Isolation. While FR-S jumped out to a 10 point lead but DVine came back to within 2 on the backs of Erik Scuppa (9-15 for 25 points) and Taylor Dalton (50% from the field, including 4 of 7 from three for 22 points). After the half, FR-S put up another 31 points in the third quarter to make it 96-90 going into the final period and even though Scuppa would put up 16 more points to hit 50 points on the game SG Tyberiusz Swieboda finished the Lions off, scoring 35 points on 30 shots and DVine just couldn't keep up the pace. The big difference in the game was FR-S's 35 assists, with every player having at least one assist and, surprisingly) C E. William dishing 9 to go with his 14 rebounds.

In other games over the weekend, OmegaShot continued their Run and Gun rampage over the Louisville Cardinals 131-41 with SG L. Volkner nailing 12-19 shots (4-8 from three) for 34 points. The Lion Rebels trumped the Trumps 122-37 with ease and SF Y. Srivastava led the way with 25 points, though T. Armstead flirted with another triple double coming one steal short. I Volt hit the road to Northampton Acid with M. Korecki, A. Dekovic, and R. Gasiniauskas all scoring at least 21 points, but C Dekovic took the cake hitting all ten of his free throws to go along with his 15 rebounds. And finally, Duluth continued its scoring rampage, scoring 49 points in the first quarter to defeat the Sneaker Geeks on the road 152-65. PF H. Saylor hit 9-11, including 10-13 from the charity line for 28 points and 19 rebounds.

After five games here are your leaders:
Scoring: DVine Lions' Erik Scuppa nudges Taylor Dalton with 34.7 ppg on 53% shooting, including over 51% from three.
Rebounds: DVine Lions' Guilherme Reis leads the way with 88 total rebounds, averaging 17.6 RPG. He's tallied more defensive rebounds that the Gravediggers' Kev Delarosa has total rebounds coming in second.
Assists: Duluth's Omar Sellers (at Center!) takes the crown thus far with 7.4 assists, though special mention should be made of Sneaker Geeks James crane who has a AST/TO ratio of 10.7.
Blocks: Another DVine Lions, Stevie Hobbs takes the block crown with 2.8.
Steals: Hank Saylor, for the dirty dogs, nudges his team mate Chen Chun Yeung by one with 20 total steals on the season.
Earlier Leaders for league MVP include Omar Sellers, Hank Saylor, Lars Volkner, Bican Okar, Iago Cardell, Ryan Singh, and Terry Armstead.

Finally, a special mention goes to Derek Blum, SG for the Trumps for posting a terrible average efficiency of -1.2 per 48 minutes. In his last game, he shot 0-12, hitting one free throw and turning the ball over 5 times for a 4.5 rating. Truly terrible.

Not going to lie, I forgot to set my lineup when playing against Divine so played with more enthusiasm than I had intended... Nevertheless it was a good performance for a team that's in its infancy...

Hate when that happens! Good win though!

Week Three Game Two Recaps
Once again, only one player on player game to highlight today from last night's festivities:

FR-S vs. Duluth Dirty Dogs
The dirty dogs, in a bit of a surprise, used more energy on this game with the FR-S boys, but still coming with their fast-paced Full Court Press game. The game wasn't particularly close because of those two factors, but Duluth also had their lowest scoring total of the season, beating FR-S 89-55. Both teams struggled from the field, shooting 34% and 25% each, but Dudluth made up for it by hitting 12 threes on the night. Backup shooting guard M. Pekoz finished the night with 23 points with three other dogs hitting double digits. Backup PF B. Joyner pulled down 18 rebounds in 29 minutes. FR-S's SF B. Zurlo put up a fair effort but struggled shooting to eek out 15 points in a hard fought night. The dogs were just shy of a full house with only 2 luxury boxes unattended. Rumour has it that SFRS13 paid the two box owners to not attend the game just to ensure the arena wasn't entirely sold out.

Other Player V. Bot Games
OmegaShot v. Tomahawks
Once again, OmegaShot ran up and down the court, scoring no less than 33 points in a quarter to dominate the Tomahawk Bots 143-54. They nearly had 5 players hit 20 points on the night - hitting 19 of their 34 threes, including starting SG L. Volkner hitting 7 of 7 (he only shot 9 times in the game). Down 36-4 after the first, Tomahawks never had a chance.

Sneaker Geeks v. DVine Lions
Another run and gun team played at home, scoring proficiently from the outside and holding Sneaker Geeks Bots to 46 points on the night, winning 134-46. This one wasn't particularly close and PG E. Scuppa dominated the field shooting 21-32 with 8 threes (not a miss on the night from behind the arc), finishing with 52 points. Basham and Dalton finished the night with 28 points each. Other notable player was PF G. Reis finishing the game with 28 rebounds. The only question that comes with DVine is whether or not they're going to expand their team so that those four guys don't have to play 48 minutes every night.

Lion Rebels v. LAGB
The Lion Rebels took their basic offense on the road to LAGB's LAGB Arena, playing in front of 5007 fans on the night to win 108 v. 52, giving up their second highest scoring allowed for the season. Star Center Terry Armstead finished the night with 30 points, 19 rebounds on 13-18 shooting in 35 minutes. Meanwhile, LAGB SG C. Farr scored 22 points on 9-22 shooting, including 50% on 8 threes for the night.
Neros v. I Volt

In the TV game for the night, I Volt thoroughly decimated Neros Bots by nearly 100 points, 152-59. Lots of guys scoring double digits for I Volt, but backup C A. Dekovic gets the nod for best player of the game with 19 points to go along with 15 rebounds in only 25 minutes, including 11-12 from the free throw line.

Good luck in the BBM Tournament games tonight - looks like FR-S and OmegaShot have a tough match up in the Cup games this week. Best of luck!

Fresh meat! Welcome to the league YGT. Best of luck to ya!

Week Four Part One Recap
And we're back with another enthusiastic edition of the column, where we review any player on player games and highlight any non-bot outstanding players in the other games! This week's focus is on the dirty dogs of Duluth and the DVine Lions, hosting in a shoot out matchup that almost saw the demise of the dirty dogs, but not quite.

Duluth dirty dogs (7-0) vs. DVine Lions (4-3)
Though competitive, DVine appears to struggle against its human competitors. They've put up +100 points in each matchup, including 127 in Saturday night's brawl, but even with more effort than the dirty dogs and home court advantage, they fell, losing by 12 in front of 11,053 fans. Taylor Dalton (SG) scored 44 points in the evening, but that was balanced out by 12 turnovers, struggling mightily with the dirty dogs full court press. On the flip side of the court, Lev Sasson (SF) and Chen Chun Yeung both scored 32 points on a combined 26-49 from the field in the win. Though the dogs fell behind early, they were able to pull off the second half come from behind by outscoring the Lions by 17 in the 4th quarter. The Lions fought valiantly lthough, hitting 15 three pointers to keep them in the contest for as long as they did, but now the dogs have proved that they stand alone atop the Great 8 in IV.42.

Lion Rebels (7-0) vs. Frosty BC (3-4)
The Rebels thoroughly dominated, limiting Frosty to only 2 1st quarter points enroute to a 116-37 victory. Surprisingly, young point guard Kurt Brown scored on 12 of 18 shots, including 3-6 from three, to score 29 points along with 5 assists, 5 steals, and 5 blocks and a 9.0 rating.

YGT (5-2) vs. OmegaShot (6-1)
Omega rudely introduced YGT to the league Saturday night with a 90 point loss served up on a silver platter, 133-43. Puzzlingly, YGT's top 4 salary players didn't even suit up for the match and while 32 year old PF Paris Logsdon had a nice showing (19 points, including three 3 pointers), YGT was no match for the Run and Gun offenseive display by Omega, which had 36 year old cagey vet, Nehemias Orduna score 29 points with 5 three pointers.

Edmonton Earthquakes (1-6) vs. I Volt (6-1)
The Quakes didn't stand a chance in this one, as I Volt racked up 140 points for an 85 point home victory and back up PG Ingmar Kollman went off missing only two shots on the night for 32 points and 6 assists in only 26 minutes.

Sneaker Geeks (0-7) vs. FR-S (5-2)(
In the last bot vs. player game of the weekend, FR-S defeated handily the worst team in the league, by 60 points, but also gave up 85 points in the win, by far the most bot v. player points scored by a bot this week. FR-S took 105 shots and shot 57% from the field, including 54% on threes, but other than that, there offensive flow didn't look good and they barely out played the Geeks. Not a great look for the third place team looking to level up against the likes of Duluth and I Volt this season. Backup SG Ioannis Trapezanidis did a great Giannis impression as the Greek Freak, scoring 23 points on 9-14 shooting in just 20 minutes, including 4 of 6 threes.

That's all from this weekend. Inter conference play starts tomorrow night, with OmegaShot traveling to FR-S in the player v. player highlight for the second half of the week. We'll see if FR-S's game management this season will prove to be the difference against Omega whose on pace for nearly 2800 points this year but haven't been managing player minutes or game style/effort whatsoever.

Last edited by Baine at 11/3/2021 9:17:12 AM

Week Four Part Two Recap
8 games in the books, nearly half-way through the season and just three games until the All Star game, here is our 2nd half league recap:

OmegaShot vs. FR-S
OmegaShot (7-1) continued its romping Run and Gun offense, deftly handling FR-S (5-3) attempt at Patient to slow the game down, defeating them 113-100, though FR-S entered the final period only down 4. 35 year old José Refugio Fernández (42350714) led the R&G parade with 37 points on 15-29 shooting, including 50% from three (on ten shots) in 40 minutes. After the first period, the point guard only had three points on two shots and after two led the team, but still only had 12 points. His 3rd quarter performance sparked the OmegaShot with 28 points on 8 made field goals.
Still, it was a decent effort by FR-S, whose SF-like shooting guard Ioannis Trapezanidis (48571921) was the star in the patient offense, hitting 14-34 and 6 of his 8 free throws to score 35 points on the night, however he struggled from the three point line uncharacteristically, only hitting 1 of his 6 attempts. The season long 40% shooter couldn't find the drip on the court tonight. While he had 33 points after three quarters, he only made one of his final 5 shots in the 4th quarter as FR-S stumbled.
Even though FR-S dominated the boards (60 to 37), the 13-28 from three point land for OmegaShot was the deciding factor in this one.

YGT vs. Sneaker Geeks
Poor showing by both teams in this game with ineptitude on both the offense and defense leading to a 92-90 loss for the newly knighted YGT (5-3). Good effort by SG Alan Mixon for YGT (50235295) scoring 30 points and playing all 48 minutes, but 4-12 from three will not cut it if you're going to be taking 12 of those types of shots. He ain't no Steph Curry, that's for sure.

LAGB vs. I Volt
Unsurprisingly, VLT (7-1) dominated their bot matchup last night, 138-66 leading in FG% (58%, including 58% from three), rebounds (64-33), assists (40! - 15), steals (8-4) and 12 (count 'em, 12!) blocks. Seven players in double digits on the night, including a spectacular performance from SG Mykolas Šapauskas (46751940), the Lithuanian who scored 27 points on 11-15 shooting, including four of his five 3-pointers in just 32 minutes.

Lion Rebels vs. Neros
Another crushing victory for the Lion Rebels (8-0) over the bot-run Neros, defeating them 131-36. Bit of a surprise in this game for American Byron Lutz (49430492) with a break out game in the PG position scoring 33 points on 13-19 FGs, including 5-8 from three. The Rebels sorely need a three point specialist and it looks like they're banking on him to be that guy. PF Ryan Singh also had a nice night with a triple double in 35 minutes.

Louisville Cardinals vs. DVine Lions
DVine (5-3) righted the ship with an easy bot matchup after losing Saturday to the Duluth dirty dogs, defeating the Cardinals 139-73. They scored 42 points from the land of 3's, with SF Darren Basham (47801638) scoring 39 points on 16-27 shooting, but also dished out 11 assists, enabling Taylor Dalton and current points/game leader Erik Scuppa to score 28 and 25 points respectively on the evening.

Tomahawks vs. Duluth dirty dogs
Duluth (8-0) had no trouble dispatching of the hawks, 140-65. With three players scoring at least 21 points and another four hitting double digits, they appear to be a force with their frenetic pace on both sides of the floor. Israeli SF Lev Sasson again lead the way for the dogs, scoring 26 points in 26 minutes.

League Leaders and the Like
After 8 games, here are your league leaders by category:
Scoring: DVine's Erik Scuppa (35.2) - though his teammate Taylor Dalton (33.1) is creeping up on him.
Rebounding: Another DVine, Portuguese Power Forward Guilherme Reis with 20.5. This race isn't very close, but the Lion Rebel's Terry Armstead has pulled off a run of 14, 19, 14, 19, & 19 over the last five games to pull himself into second on the rebounds list
Assists: DVine continues to dominate these leader boards with Darren Basham and Erik Scuppa both with 6.5 apg, thought his race is much tighter with the 10th closest player having 5.4 assists per game.
Blocks: DVine's Stevie Hobbs has 24 blocks for a 3.0 average.
Steals: Duluth's Hank Saylor leads the way with 3.6 steals/game, totaling 29 steals, but special mention goes to Iago Adrian Cardelle for the dirty dogs who has 24 steals compared to only 5 fouls on the season for a 4.8 STL/PF rate, which leads the league handliy.

That's all for this week - next week I'll be revealing my All Star roster predictions. Saturday's player on player matchup features a revealing one between the Great 8's I Volt (7-1) vs. the Big 8's Lion Rebels (8-0). Should be a good matchup!

Last edited by Baine at 11/3/2021 10:17:39 AM

Week Five Part One Recap
Welcome to the fifth week of the season as we start to settle into the near-mid point of Season 55. I believe for the first time this year we had two player on player matchups, though one wasn't nearly as competitive as it should have been.

#3 DVine Lions vs. #3 YGT
DVine (6-3) made an interesting choice, benching the leading scorer of the league, PG Erik Scuppa (10 points in 13 minutes) alongside SF (turned SG Saturday night) Darren Basham. 19 year old American Garland Villegas instead point for the Lions, scoring 15 points with 5 assists, including 4 turnovers. Backup SF Israel Silverman lead the way to victory with 29 points on 13-27. Their run and gun attack was and because they put more effort into the game that YGT (5-4), they led by 28 at the half before finishing them off 112-47. YGT looks like they're starting to figure out schedule and gamesmanship, but they've got a lot of work to do to still make the playoffs and their lineup choices are a bit interesting, choosing to start 5 guards in a weird sort of small ball.

#2 I Volt vs. #1 Lion Rebels
The premiere matchup of the weekend, everyone was eager to see if I Volt's (7-2) depth in their roster would be able to take down the recently Division III demoted Lion Rebels (9-0), but even with the ferocity of their effort and up tempo offense combined with their press they were unable to pull the game off, losing 115-91. Volt was able to pressure the Rebels into 27 turnovers on the night with their full court press, but just didn't have the offensive fire power to pull this off, shooting only 29% from the field, including 4-29 from three. The Rebels, meanwhile, were still able to shoot 54% and dominated the glass for nearly 30 more rebounds, 74-48. I Volt shot the ball a lot, 118 times, with their primary four scorers shooting 27, 19, 29, and 14 times...they just couldn't hit anything. PG Romus Gasiniauskas (18 points 9 rebounds) and SF Maksymilian Korecki (18 pts 6 steals) led the way but it wasn't enough as C Terry Armstead and PF Ryan Singh each had a double double on the night.

Sneaker Geeks vs. #2 OmegaShot
The still not bot OmegaShot easily defeated the geeks 135-52 - it was a lot uglier before the fourth, but sitting their stars for the fourth led the geeks score 25 points in the final frame. SG Lars Volkner had himself a night, scoring 25 points on 11-15 while C Bican Okar grabbed 18 rebs.

#1 Duluth dirty dogs vs. Louisville Cardinals
Duluth had no trouble dispatching the cardinals, but did give up 63 points to the cardinals, 150-63. Once again Chen Chun Yeung had himself a night, scoring 28 points on 10-15, including 6-7 from the charity stripe to go along with 6 assists PF Bob Joyner put up 22 points to go along with his 16 rebounds, including 8 assists, 5 steals, and 4 blocks.

#4 FR-S vs. Trumps
Super clean game here for FR-S (6-3) winning 109-75. They spread the ball around and had six players in double digits. Two standout stats on the night - FR-S had 42 assists on the night, but they also had 19 fouls which led to the Trumps making 13-18 from the line to make it a little bit closer than it should have been. Backup guard Tyberiusz Swieboda had 18 points in two minutes to go with his 8 assists.