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Final Week Power Rankings - Part Two
11. Linndale
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 99
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 118.8
OPP EFFG Diff: -19.8
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 14

Speaking of the devil...I honestly hate the 6 seed relegation battle...because generally it's two decent teams a piece or two away from competing for near the top of the food chain in each division. But as expected Speedtraps put on a show for us both on the transfer market and on the coaching sidelines. Always a delight!

10. Dragmort Dragons Utd
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 119
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 1106.7
OPP EFFG Diff: 12.3
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 5

I think it's safe to say that Dragmort exceeded expectations this season - I thought they'd be decent but knowing what the top of the Big 8 looked like, I knew it was going to be difficult. But they played up and will finish at least .500 on the season. Bravo!

9. Fort Wayne Pistons
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 94
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 131.6
OPP EFFG Diff: -37.6
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 16

I almost hate to say it, but it's almost always true. Teams like Fort Wayne, while excellent offensively (7th overall in EFFG), their defense betrayed them from being great. That being said, they're the best of the bottom in the great 8 and looking to improve to 10 wins and a chance to knock off Tasty in the playoffs.

8. CB Bethesdorf
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 98.5
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 114
OPP EFFG Diff: -15.5
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 12

I called CB as finishing 6th in the Great 8 before the season began and they're sitting at fifth with a matchup against the #1 team in the conference. With an upset and a better PD than Fort Wayne, they could surprise and force their way into a second matchup against Tasty just three short days later.

7. Shandong Golden Lions
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 102
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 98.2
OPP EFFG Diff: 3.8
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 6

The Golden Lions are the type of Div. II relegator I like to see make their way down to Div. III, unlike southpaw army (who for those of you who are curious, are dominating, enjoying an undefeated season and on route to NBBA). Their Big 3 have kept them competitive and it looks like we'll have back-to-back Lion matchups in the coming days.

6. Mindless Zombies
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 117.5
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 93.8
OPP EFFG Diff: 23.7
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 3

The top three of the Great 8 find themselves at the top of the OPP EFFG rankings list, thanks to the three of them playing each other in the first two games of the season, meaning their early season OPP EFFG were a bit inflated to start. Mindless and Super face off in back to backs as well with home court advantage at stake for the second of those matchups. Super currently enjoys a 27 PD advantage, but a Mindless win at home Saturday night grants them that advantage, while a road win for the Sonics sends them back the Key Arena.

5. SuperSonics
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 131
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 87.7
OPP EFFG Diff: 43.3
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 1

Super didn't believe in themselves very much (which is easy to do in this game), but they've proved themselves hardy. If they lose tomorrow, I'm predicting a second loss directly after. But I've been wrong before.

Final Week Power Rankings - Part Three

4. San Dominica Warriors
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 77.5
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 78.3
OPP EFFG Diff: -0.8
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 7

Seven of the Warriors 11 players make at least $29k, with injured Mario Granja leading the way at $40k. They've consistently done more with less than any other team I've ever seen, proving that quality depth is more important than one or two quality stars.

3. F.Day Internet Lovers Club
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 96.5
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 82.5
OPP EFFG Diff: 14
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 4

A lone loss leaves them at the top of the Big 8, guaranteeing home court advantage for the playoffs, unless Linndale pulls off the miraculous. They've got two legitimate MVP candidates in Tabrizi and Melucci and have successfully sealed their fate with my end of Cup run mistake.

2. Tasty Tardsicles
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 120
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 86.9
OPP EFFG Diff: 33.1
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 2

I wrote before the season that it looked like we might have more parity between the two conferences this season than we'd had recently, and it has definitely improved, but not quite as much as I expected. While I point out that both of Tasty's losses came to Big 8 teams, they also came on the road. A three-game series in the finals is a big difference of opportunity, regardless of HCA.

1. Lion Rebels
Week 1 OPP EFFG: 65
Week 11 OPP EFFG: 69.1
OPP EFFG Diff: -4.1
OPP EFFG Change Rank: 11

It doesn't matter if you finish the best in something, because if you start out at the top, there's not much room for improvement, so you end up near the bottom of the Most Improved lists. I haven't said much about this, but my loss to Muffins, while it stung, was almost redeemed by the fact that I only lost by 4 to one of the better Div. II teams in the Cup that week. But a mistake is a mistake, and I might've blown up my plan to tank in Div. II next season thanks to that lone loss.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is our final rankings of the regular season. I am planning on posting an MVP prediction, and I'm quite excited about it this season because I've figured out a way to try and calculate/guess votes. So, after the games tomorrow night, I'll update my rankings and have a post out on Sunday, I hope.

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow night, especially Linndale.

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow night, especially Linndale.

We're going to find out how much the defense has improved, aren't we? (The answer is not enough, but if they go deep in their rotation we might have a shot.)

We're not kidding anyone; we don't have a shot.

I'd upvote this but then I won't be able to rate your postgame so this will have to do

Last edited by Coach Stephenson at 2/17/2024 8:30:19 PM

Charles:
We are here at the SMG for the final game of the regular season. Warriors go to take on Dragmort Dragons in what most of us would agree is a meaningless game. And I say this for both teams since even if the Dragons get the win tonight and the Golden Lions lose. The point differential is so in Shandong’s favor.

Hunt:
Yeah, interesting to see what both teams do regarding this game. Warriors you think would be looking to go into the playoffs with a win after a loss to the d**n Rebels last Tuesday. I told you all the only way the Warriors were gonna win that game was food poisoning. But nawh

Bret: (losing his mind laughing)
You … you seriously … had wanted us to give them a bad pizza and hope the team got food poisoning. You were serious.

Hunt:
Oh I wasn’t going to be the one who did it. One of you guys were supposed to do.

Bret:
Doug! Man where’s that lawyer you was talking bout the other day (loses his mind laughing)

Douglas:
I don’t know any of you people. I knew I should have went with Pete man. Charles man you better get us back to the right side of the law.

Charles:
The Warriors are probably happy that this is a meaningless game because they’re still without lead scorer Mario Granja. Now there’s been some good developments on that front. At first there was real concern that Ranger Granger would be out for the first round of the playoffs, turning an already difficult task into a herculean one. But we had a report from Dr. Kourmpanas that Granja will be available for the playoff game. He’s still out tonight but they feel that starting Sunday he can go full out on the court.

Bret:
Coach has to be feeling good about that news. Because awesome as Coach Stephenson is and as the Blaine Report noted, there are few coaches who have managed to do with what little he has. But against either of those two, the Lions or Agency, not having a scorer like Granja makes it really really difficult

Charles:
The Dragons will once again have their muscle hamster, Asil Anil “Packrat” Pakzat and “Quzi” Zi. Last game the Warriors managed to wear down the muscle hamsters. Will it be the same this time?

Bret:
For the Warriors’ sake I hope so. The first game was basically a tale of two team’s silverbacks. The first half it was all about Packrat and Qoozi giving the Dragons second chances at scoring. The second half it was the three headed monster of Begin, O’Brien and Big Turk. Warriors got to have that three headed monster again if they want to end the regular season with a win.

Douglas:
I agree, the Warriors got to win in the paint if they want to win this game.

Hunt starts to talk

Bret:
Nah! Not another word out of you man! (laughing) we probably getting reported to the feds as we speak (laughs more)

Charles:
We get ready for the tipoff when we return.

AYFKM????

If you told me I'd only be down 5 at the half in this game, I'd try to sell you a bridge.

Anyone want a bridge? I got a special going on the Brooklyn Bridge!!!

Joshua Doe: I’m here with Pio Reina, where Linndale has just finished a tough loss in the season finale. Coach, what went wrong?

Pio Reina: We just couldn’t make shots. Chalk it up to their defense. They are who they say they are. We rebounded, we took care of the ball, we defended, we just couldn’t make a shot tonight.

JD: Coach it looked like the plan was to relentlessly go inside, attacking the rim, and come what may. Was that the plan?

PR: In a nutshell, yes. We wanted to try and get their bigs in foul trouble, just attack the rim, and keep working off that. We’re not a good outside shooting team. We knew that coming in. That was not going to be a weapon for us tonight. So, we just wanted to attack inside as much as possible and make life difficult for them. We did a nice job of that, but it wasn’t good enough. We tip our cap to them, but they can’t say we didn’t bring it.

JD: This game was a microcosm of the season in many ways, was it not?

Pio Reina: No. This game was a measure of our growth. We improved because we had to. I said after the Jumpstop game we had to upgrade our defense. We did. I asked our front office to get us a scorer. They did. Then I told him you gotta play defense to get on the court here. We upgraded every position during the season. The guys bought in to what I wanted. They got better on defense, they rebounded, and they got better taking care of the basketball. We were relentless out there. These guys gave it their all, and I am extremely proud of them. We outrebounded them by 11 and killed them on the offensive boards. We took care of the ball. We had 4 guys in double figures rebounding, the problem was we only had 4 guys in double figures scoring. We've got work to do, but I think the league is on notice.

JD: Next up, relegation series against Jumpstop.

PR: We felt we should have won our game earlier this season, but they shredded our defense. We upgraded because of that. We relish the challenge. They’re talented, don’t get me wrong. We wanted this and need this chance to redeem ourselves in our eyes.

JD: Coach, thank you for your time, and I know it was a tough season, but you guys fought and made everyone proud.

PR: Thanks Joshua.

JD: Tough loss tonight, Happy, but Pio and the boys are still full of fight and it seems like their looking for one with Jumpstop.

Happy Ourer: That series is gonna be one to watch. That was Joshua Doe with Pio Reina after a hard fought 92-87 loss to the league leading F.Day Internet Lovers Club. Back with more after the break!

Last edited by Speedtraps at 2/17/2024 10:08:39 PM

Charles:
Welcome back to the studio. Warriors win it 102 to 73. A game that the Dubs led from start to finish. It did not take long for any hope the Dragons had of getting the win to go out the window. But you know where they were having hope. Here

Interior of Daylis Arena

Charles:
Yeah, even when the Lion Rebels are not taking the floor, the fans still pack the house.

Hunt: (whispers)
D**n Rebels

Douglas:
You let him back in?!

Bret (shakes his head)

Charles:
Lions Rebels having a watch party at Daylis, hoping they can watch their team maybe celebrate a conference title and channeling whatever energy they can to the Speedway and hopefully a Linndale upset to make that hope a reality

And hope was alive. Early on, the Lovers strike first, a three pointer from Melucci off a sweet dime from Tabrizi. Lover's Club up 3-0 and it would stay that way for a while. Early quarter was a tale of this game for Linndale. Opportunities were presented and somehow Linndale couldn’t take advantage of them. Defensively Linndale doing everything right so far to stay in this.

Back at Shandong Provincial Stadium, Golden Lions strike first. But then. Dirty Brown to Afrikka. Lion Rebels lead 4-3. Little under the 8:00 minute mark Lions up 8-3. Back in Speedway, total points at that same interval: 8. Lovers up 5-3.

Bret:
It was a nasty gritty game. But that was what Linndale needed it to be to have a chance.

Charles:
Midway into second quarter, Lion Rebels in complete control. They were up by double digits. The fans in Daylis are enjoying it. Unfortunately in the Speedway, Lover’s Club up by 12. But then Linndale starts to make a comeback. Leao, 3 pointer from the corner. Linndale now down 41-35. 45 seconds left in the 2nd quarter. Beko finds Boilboks. Top of the Arc. Drains it. Linndale now down 5. Halftime score 45-40 and the Daylis folk are feeling hopeful.

Early in the 2nd half Linndale could close within a single score on a Frias alley oop to Passman and they would get no closer as the Agency would keep Linndale at arms’ length. Disappointment in Daylis as the Lover’s Club would win it 92 to 87 to clinch the Big 8 conference title and with it the top seed and homecourt throughout the playoffs.

Bret:
Tough loss for Linndale but they have to feel good. Most of us had this being a massacre and yet Linndale made a fight of it all the way through. Pio Reina has to be feeling good. On the other hand Shandong. Tough night. Losing your second leading scorer and best 3pt shooter on the eve of the playoffs. Just feel for Jia Zhizhuo

Charles:
Yeah tough loss for the Golden Lions. When we return we’ll talk about the Warriors win over the Dragmort Dragons. This is the Warrior’s Den on the Warrior’s Sports Network.

Layups, Dunks, Bombs, and Bricks
By Sam Dunkley

Time for another edition, so this time I headed out to the Rocket Mortgage Field House, where the other basketball team in the area plays their home games...

I do not get why they have all of those guys that are good at a couple of positions but master none.

This is the biggest of bricks. Just say you don’t understand their idea of positional versatility. In short, your 5 best players can change depending on the situation. Good coaches adapt. The Linndale front office is crafting a team where the other team has to adapt. There are very few, if any, specialists on the team. If you’re on this team, you can play multiple positions well, or you’re close to doing that. It’s why if you have Joy Beko on the floor with Walt Pasman and Carlos Frias, Darko Stojakevic, you don’t know who’s playing what on offense and who’s playing where on defense. Even if you know who the 5th guy on the floor is, you still can’t be sure. Unless it’s Rongjing; that’s the only time you might be sure. Maybe.

Joy Beko is an overpriced bench jockey the front office is desperate to justify.

This one is the biggest of bricks. I’m not going to quote stats because it’s obvious you haven’t paid attention or don’t know how to watch the games. Is he a scorer? No. Is he a starter? Technically, no. Can he start? Definitely. He was moved to the bench to bolster the bench, and is still putting up starter worthy numbers. Having Beko on the floor is never a bad thing. He defends, he rebounds, he’s like having a second point guard on the floor. You think the talk of him playing in the backcourt is a joke?

Why can’t this team score more? The offense is inconsistent, guards can’t score, no one can hit a three point shot, everything is at the rim and they still miss a lot? What’s the deal?

This one is an easy dunk. Why? Because a) it’s a young team with the players learning themselves and each other, b) there was a lot of roster churn going on, c) have you been watching this league since Linndale arrived? This league has traditionally been the toughest league in D3. Want proof? Piotr Bolibok was shooting over 50% from the field AND from three point land, scoring over 25 a game in another D3 league. Since his acquisition a month ago, his game and usage have clearly improved, but his shooting numbers are under 50% in both categories. He’s still at 22 ppg on the season. You seriously don’t get how good the defense is here. But there is a three point shooter on the roster...

Joy Beko for point guard.

This one is still a layup. The numbers are insane! From 4 assists and 0.7 turnovers per game in our last edition to 4.9 assists and 0.9 turnovers per game! I maintain you want his ball handling and passing to be a better, but that’s nearly a full assist improvement at the cost of 0.2 turnovers a game. That is wild! It’s not like Carlos Frias (4.3 APG, 1.1 TO) or Leandro Leao can’t make a similar argument (3.1, 0.5). He definitely would be a non traditional point guard. One could run a few things with him offensively (and defensively). I’ll bet Pio Reina has something cooked up for that occasion. That positional versatility is slowly simmering, and when it starts to boil, look out!

Pemwieser is still overrated. They let the wrong big go.

This again? Is he a monster on the boards? No. Can he be a capable rebounder? Yes. He’s not here for that. He’s here for his shooting on top of his ability to rebound. He’s shooting .462 from the field and .519 from deep. That’s good for 2nd and 1st respectively. They want him to be more aggressive and shoot more, and think the aggressiveness will help him on the boards. Plus, with Beko, Stojakevic and Rongjing around, does he have to hit the boards? It’d be nice if he would, but does he have to? Still the brickiest of bricks.

Day 22 (Saturday 17 February 2024) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
VileOnes 61 - Jumpstop Jumpers 101
Dragmort Dragons Utd 73 - San Dominica Warriors 102
Lion Rebels 117 - Shandong Golden Lions 65
F.Day Internet Lovers Club 92 - Linndale 87
Muffin Men 116 - 209’s MostWanted 107
Super Sonics 90 - Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 102
Fort Wayne Pistons 134 - Balls to the Walls 114
CB Bethesdorf 98 - Tasty Tardsicles 79

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 134 : Fort Wayne Pistons
Rebounds : 80 : Balls to the Walls
Assists : 43 : Fort Wayne Pistons
Steals : 25 : Fort Wayne Pistons
Block Shots : 23 : Fort Wayne Pistons

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 33 : B. Lal (Muffin Men), C. Hofstätter (Balls to the Walls)
Rebounds : 27 : J. Smug (209’s MostWanted)
Assists : 19 : G. Izaza (Fort Wayne Pistons)
Steals : 5 : E. Cruz (Fort Wayne Pistons), A. Durham (VileOnes)
Block Shots : 7 : G. Reinhardt (Fort Wayne Pistons)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : B. Lal (Muffin Men) (33 Points, 5 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34
Shooting Guard : U. Jaén (Fort Wayne Pistons) (23 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 3 Steals, 1 Block Shots), B. Pascual (Balls to the Walls) (31 Points, 10 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 27
Small Forward : C. Hofstätter (Balls to the Walls) (33 Points, 15 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 31
Power Forward : C. Webber (Muffin Men) (25 Points, 19 Rebounds, 8 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 37
Center : J. Smug (209’s MostWanted) (12 Points, 27 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36

MVP of the evening
C. Webber (Muffin Men) (25 Points, 19 Rebounds, 8 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 37

The bad performance of the evening
L. Yongran (VileOnes) (2 Points, 3 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -5

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : C. Choi Kwan (Shandong Golden Lions), A. Šuliakauskas (209’s MostWanted) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : D. Gay (Shandong Golden Lions), I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), M. Kops (Linndale), P. Pardo (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), A. Šuliakauskas (209’s MostWanted) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : R. De Calice (Shandong Golden Lions), A. Suprianto (Shandong Golden Lions), L. Melucci (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), E. Dickens (Tasty Tardsicles), F. Lovaina (Tasty Tardsicles), S. Ofome (Jumpstop Jumpers), A. Durham (VileOnes) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : F. Alidori (San Dominica Warriors) : 5 Three points

The best performer : K. Brown (Lion Rebels) : Rating : 18.5

The worst performer : G. Cinovskis (VileOnes) : Rating : 3.5

Season 63 MVP Predictions
Welp, just as my predictions go poorly, I nearly gave up trying to work the maths to get my numbers to line up with how I think votes for MVP work. I DO think this year should be quite close with, according to my calculations, three guys who stick out from the rest of the crop. In all, 31 players made the calculations list (technically 32, but Daniel Gay fell off the list after the last game of the season). Of those players, 12 of them didn't rank in the top 20 in terms of Average Efficiency. Another 12 didn't make the top 20 in Average Rating.

How It Works: It's simple. I took the top twenty in each category (AR, AE, and Efficiency/48 Minutes [E48M]) and assigned each slot a number value as follows:
1st = 20
2nd = 18
3rd = 16
4th = 14
5th = 12
6th = 10
7th = 9.5
8th = 9
9th = 8.5
10th = 8
11th = 7.5
12th = 7
13th = 6.5
14th = 6
15th = 5.5
16th = 5
17th = 4
18th = 3
19th = 2
20th = 1

Then you add each category together and voila. Attempting to get it to translate into votes, however, proved annoying. Looks like to me for every active team, there are two votes for 1st-5th place. So, 32 votes for 1st, 32 votes for 2nd, etc. That's a total of 160 votes. I ended up having to massage my calculated numbers, but I gave a qualifying "score" to each player on a sliding scale where the combined total points from the combined category score would be multiplied by a number. So, if a player score at least 40 points, their score would be multiplied by 3. 30 or more multiplied by 1.5. 20 or more by 1, and then 17.5 and above divided by 2 and less than that was multiplied by 0. That left me close to where I needed to be and with 10 players. Looking back, there's not nearly ever 10 actual players listed in the MVP votes and so, because I needed to, I cut out the two lowest scoring players on my list, Gerardo Nuñez and Kurt Brown. That left me with the following players (and their associated stats).

Igor Tabrizi: (F.Day Internet Lovers Club)
59% FG | 10.2 RPG | 18.9 PPG | 15.2 AR | 26.1 AE | 37.6 E48M
Thomas Freeman: (Mindless Zombies)
53% FG | 06.2 APG | 17.7 PPG | 17.7 AR | 21.3 AE | 36.9 E48M
Carlos Webber: (Muffin Men)
42% FG | 15.9 RPG | 19.8 PPG | 11.9 AR | 26.6 AE | 30.4 E48M
Macario Coedo (Zombies):
47% FG | 12.4 RPG | 14.7 PPG | 14.7 AR | 21.9 AE | 32.7 E48M
Simón Aranda (Fort Wayne Pistons):
44% FG | 07.8 RPG | 22.5 PPG | 10.6 AR | 26.0 AE | 32.1 E48M (worth noting 5.8 APG)
Terry Armstead (Lion Rebels):
45% FG | 12.3 RPG | 14.5 PPG | 16.3 AR | 24.0 AE | 38.0 E48M
Ulises Jaén (Pistons):
49% FG | 04.9 RPG | 27.1 PPG | 12.6 AR | 26.4 AE | 35.2 E48M
Morris Craig (SuperSonics):
51% FG | 05.9 APG | 19.0 PPG | 15.8 AR | 21.3 AE | 32.7 E48M

Once again, I'll make my complaint that tables don't play nice with these forums. Boo.

Your season leader for Average Rating is Thomas Freeman. Average Efficiency leader was Carlos Webber. And Efficiency per 48 minutes was led by Terry Armstead. And again, none of these categories were weighted more than another - this is based on score based on placement in each category.

The last thing I'm going to say is I really do think it's a tossup between the top three players. And I swear, I'm not biased (I think). Enough of my rambling - here's my guess at the results:

|------Player Name | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Total
|---Terry Armstead |- 17 |- 07 |- 04 |- 00 |- 02 | 144
|--------Igor Tabrizi |- 12 |- 12 |- 03 |- 00 |- 00 | 129
|Thomas Freeman |- 03 |- 13 |- 19 |- 00 |- 00 | 127
|--------Ulises Jaén |- 00 |- 00 |- 05 |- 18 |- 02 | 53
|----Carlos Webber |- 00 |- 00 |- 01 |- 01 |- 17 | 22
|-------Morris Craig |- 00 |- 00 |- 00 |- 08 |- 01 | 17
|----Macario Coedo |- 00 |- 00 |- 00 |- 05 |- 05 | 15
|-----Simón Aranda |- 00 |- 00 |- 00 |- 00 |- 05 | 5

Hat's off to Tabrizi who really does deserve it. Freeman as well.

Best of luc

Last edited by Baine at 2/19/2024 3:11:50 PM