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Welcome to first time I’ve ever done a power ranking. I’m only ranking the Great 8, because the Big 8 isn’t a problem… yet. [Editor’s note: They become my problem when I can beat 2 of the top 4 in the same season. We’ll see if that happens this season.]

For the uninitiated, my name is Happy Ourer, and I am the studio host, part time radio voice, and part time play by play voice of Linndale. In this very unscientific, and likely biased ranking, my colleagues on the Linndale basketball broadcast team, Joshua Doe, Jimmy Buckitts, and Sam Dunkley along with myself sat around, enjoyed some fine bar food and beverages, then we debated.

And argued. And yelled. And screamed. And calmed down and talked things through. Finally, we hugged it out before someone said something that triggered a bar fight. As a result, we’ll need to find a new haunt for the rest of this season. The results are as follows...

1. Detroit Globetrotters- PG Camiel Ravestein might be the best in the Great 8. SG Hank Obmann might be the best here also. SF Manuel Munoz… There’s a recurring theme here and I don’t much care for it. Michael Mansson… COME ON NOW!!! I BETTA NOT… Bryan Ellis is among the best also, and the bench isn’t empty either.

2. Eternityz Rostah Toru Mizoguchi has a contender to his throne as best PG in the Great 8; how will he respond? The concern here is that Father Time catches up to a number of his teammates. A short roster limits any depth. I wouldn’t bet against them, but I’m not betting on them. Father Time and Injury are a devastating tag team that could derail them.

3. Linndale Deep. Versatile. Improving. Young. Honestly, you could flip 3 and 4 here.

4. Andersonville Alligators Another team deep up front and promising in the backcourt. Arnaud Roche and Warner Lemons lead the deep frontcourt that is also plenty young and promising. Sleep on this team at your own risk.

5. Duke Devilz_ They’re still Duke, and you know what that means… [Editor's note: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! THEY EXIST SOLELY FOR ME TO BEAT THEM… Excuse me; I’ll try to be more professiona] Carlos Colon and company have a nice 5. The problem is after that, the pickings get slim real fast. Why do I have a feeling that the editor said something and inserted it into the final copy? Oh well; nobody cares. It's Duke, and if you don't hate Duke, I suggest you might need to seek therapy.

6. Everett Everymen Their deep frontcourt, led by the best big in the conference (and maybe the league) Gilbert Snell, is going to have to carry this team because the guards are young and not ready for this grind. How they proceed will tell a lot about their chances.

7. No Limit BPE Long roster. Anchor in the middle with Victor Perez. Not terribly deep despite the long roster but young. Weird spot were I don’t expect much, but I’d keep my eye on them.

8. Page 2 Interesting team. Young duo up front; Kingsley Tanko and Rodger Rapp will need to be the anchor they build on. Point guard Jurre Massalt needs to take a step forward, and Bogdan Kropelnytskiy will need to produce as well.

3 through 6 has the potential to be a dogfight. Having said that, I'm an optimist, and I'd like to see steel sharpen steel. Or however that thing goes...

Poll:  Who's your favorite to win the Great 8?

Nice writeup, thanks! This is my first foray into Div3. Hopefully there is some decent chatter like this.

Gilbert Snell has been our best draftee (we are homegrown, so ... all of our roster are our own draftees) to date, and it was fun to have him on the USA U21 this past year. I'm pretty daunted by how big his salary has gotten, though, at $87k! I hope we can afford to keep him.

Good luck to everyone, and hopefully we won't immediately get relegated back down.

Considering I went undefeated against the great 8 last season and had 5 losses against the big 8, I'll argue the great 8 is the far easier conference. Perhaps you guys will get a win against me this year.

Last edited by ehoosier at 12/28/2024 3:05:54 PM

Oh how humble...

Considering I went undefeated against the great 8 last season and had 5 losses against the big 8

So you're telling me you had 5 losses against the Great 8, the same number of losses that I had. Do I have that right?

Sounds to me like you got 5 problems of your own to deal with. You should probably do that.

We'll worry about the Great 8 when it's time to, and not a second before. The Great 8 isn't my problem until we get to the finals, and only then.

Sam Dunkley: I’m with Linndale Head Coach Pio Reina. Coach, What is the thing you’re most excited about for this season?

PR: We’re coming off of a successful first season in this tough league, we’re excited to see what the new season brings, and we’re excited to see who steps up this season.

SD: Who are you expecting to step up this season?

PR: Sam, I have to tell you our, our bigs excite me. David Spada is a guy we expect to blossom this season. Rafet Ozver is another one. Gian-Luca Twaruschek is a little different from those two. He excels where they don’t. Pere Vendrell kind of disappeared from the rotation last season, but he’s anxious to show he’s better. Then there’s Joy Beko, who is so dependable.

SD: That sounds like a headache to divvy up playing time for that group.

PR: It’s the headache I’d rather have than trying to figure out how to get through a game on a wing and a prayer.

SD: You and your staff have spoken a lot about versatility for some time. It begs a question, who might we see at other positions?

PR: That depends on needs and matchups. It could happen at anytime and involve anyone.

SD: Let’s talk back court. Last season, the goal was to move Carlos Frias off the ball. Walt Colenbrander made that very successful. How do things look now, given the recent changes to roster?

PR: We’re in a very enviable position where we can decide who is going to play based on matchups. We’re also able to put a team on the floor based on training considerations while still expecting win. In the back court, we have 5 point guards but the starter is clearly Walt Colenbrander. What we have is an opportunity for someone to seize backup point guard minutes, and that may be affected by what happens at other positions.

SD: Like what?

PR: Who starts at shooting guard and small forward, what does the second unit look like at those positions, what do we need for training considerations, and of course, injury.

SD: Which begs the obvious question of who starts at those positions.

PR: It will change from day to day based on the factors I’ve given already.

SD: The way you talk about the talent has me wondering if there’s a serious scoring threat on the second unit. Is there?

PR: When scoring is a problem, one of the best things you can do to give yourself a chance is to make sure the other team can’t score and doesn’t get rebounds. We can do that.

SD: How do you match that with offense?

PR: No one ever won a basketball game 2-0, but if you can’t play defense, it’s hard to get on the court here. We’ll find offense.

SD: Everything around the team has had a Great 8 focus. Why?

PR: We don’t care about the Big 8 as a conference. The Big 8 isn’t our problem until we get to the finals. We have to handle business to get to that point.

SD: Let’s look at your opening opponent, Everett Everymen.

PR: They’re built around a deep frontcourt, and they have quite the rock to build on with Gilbert Snell. We can’t match up with him directly. It would be foolish to try, even with our deep front court. I think the smart play is to not worry about him and stop everyone else. We feel we have the guys to take everyone else away. Now, he might go for 60 and 20 against us. But if no one else for them scores 15, we’ll take our chances. If no on else scores 10 for them, we win. Let him do what he does and take away his help.

SD: What do you need to do offensively?

PR: Score 1 more point than they do. It’s not rocket science, Sam. It’s basketball.

SD: A pleasure as always, Coach. Good luck on the new season.

PR: Thanks, Sam.

SD: Happy, back you Joshua and Jimmy in studio!

HO: Thank you, Sam. Sam will be back in studio at the half.

Joshua Doe: I have to speak on this, Happy. Pio talked up his bigs and his point guards, didn't say anything about anyone else really, and did not mention offense at all. That is no accident.

Last edited by Speedtraps at 12/28/2024 8:49:42 PM

Happy Ourer: Gentlemen, your thoughts on the first half.

Joshua Doe: Well Happy, Pio Reina, and really the Linndale organization have historically been about defense, rebounding, and limiting turnovers. Why? Because they know they can’t shoot. What are they doing? Defending, rebounding, limiting turnovers, and not shooting well.

Sam Dunkley: And winning, Joshua. They’ve indicated they would play guys in service of training because they think they can do that and still win. That explains Reinholm getting the start. And they’re winning. What concerns me is that they’re getting guarded by forwards in the back court and can’t make open shots.

JD: Because they can’t shoot. 29 of 58 from the field but 3 of 12 from outside. They’re gonna need to be better than that against the better teams.

Jimmy Buckitts: I spoke to lead assistant Byron Helm before the game about what the bigs had to do, and he said we might be surprised by what happens out there. I’m not sure he was expecting this performance thus far. Joy Beko got off to a very fast start with 10 points and 5 rebounds in the first 6 minutes of the game and is at 18 and 10 at the half. Vendrell has 12 rebounds. Reinhom is saddled with foul trouble with 4 fouls, and Frias I just 6 minutes has 11 points and 4 assists.

HO: So what I’m hearing is Linndale is who we thought they were, and they’re working on shoring up weaknesses. We’ll be back with more of this killer analysis after the commercial break!

Considering I went undefeated against the great 8 last season and had 5 losses against the big 8

So you're telling me you had 5 losses against the Great 8, the same number of losses that I had. Do I have that right?

Sounds to me like you got 5 problems of your own to deal with. You should probably do that.

We'll worry about the Great 8 when it's time to, and not a second before. The Great 8 isn't my problem until we get to the finals, and only then.

I believe that was a 17 point loss you took while using more effort.

Oh how humble...

Ehh this board needs a little spice. Might as well fight over conference dominance.

Day 1 (Saturday 28 December 2024) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
GloryBoyz 111 - Las Vegas Red Pandas 115
Anchorage Allstars. 93 - The Dachshunds 81
Defenseless Babies 110 - Wahoo Warriors 89
AZ Sunburn 127 - Auto-Strikers 108
Detroit Globetrotters 83 - No Limit BPE 63
Page 2 149 - Duke Devilz 140
Everett Everymen 61 - Linndale 110
Eternityz Rostah 75 - Andersonville Alligators 85

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 149 : Page 2
Rebounds : 64 : Linndale
Assists : 40 : Page 2
Steals : 23 : Page 2
Block Shots : 11 : Defenseless Babies

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 50 : P. Hengyun (Page 2)
Rebounds : 23 : W. Lemons (Andersonville Alligators)
Assists : 16 : M. Silver (Defenseless Babies), J. Campos (Duke Devilz)
Steals : 6 : C. De Stefano (Page 2)
Block Shots : 5 : C. Colón (Duke Devilz)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : J. Campos (Duke Devilz) (26 Points, 8 Rebounds, 16 Assists, 2 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 42
Shooting Guard : P. Hengyun (Page 2) (50 Points, 1 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 41
Small Forward : V. Corte (Las Vegas Red Pandas) (18 Points, 7 Rebounds, 9 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 28
Power Forward : B. McAlinden (Las Vegas Red Pandas) (35 Points, 9 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots), G. Monda (Duke Devilz) (35 Points, 12 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36
Center : C. Colón (Duke Devilz) (21 Points, 17 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 0 Steals, 5 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 38

MVP of the evening
J. Campos (Duke Devilz) (26 Points, 8 Rebounds, 16 Assists, 2 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 42

The bad performance of the evening
C. Skutt (Duke Devilz) (0 Points, 0 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -5

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : K. Tanko (Page 2) : 5 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : E. Gandy (Wahoo Warriors), K. Tanko (Page 2), H. Ramos (Everett Everymen), A. Junghans (Eternityz Rostah) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : S. Spurlock (Wahoo Warriors), D. Arconte (Wahoo Warriors), R. Denzel (Auto-Strikers), B. Falegnami (Auto-Strikers), J. Massalt (Page 2), L. Schneider (Everett Everymen), H. Ramos (Everett Everymen) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : J. Goldsmith (Auto-Strikers) : 8 Three points

The best performer : C. Colón (Duke Devilz) : Rating : 15.0

The worst performer : A. Stockton (Duke Devilz) : Rating : 4.5

No disagreement on that point here.