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“Happy Ourer with Marshall Richards back for another season on Linndale basketball, and if you didn’t tune in to the broadcast of tonight’s game, you missed seeing Coach Pio Reina lose his mind in the first quarter! I’m almost certain there were a few expletives yelled!”

“Happy, I can guarantee it. Coach Reina was pissed, and he made sure everyone in the arena, and some of the fans at home, knew it!”

“Well Marshall we happen to have Coach Reina live with us on the postgame show! Welcome Coach! It’s good to see you! I gotta start with the elephant in the room! What did you tell the guys between the first and second quarters?”

“Happy, I can’t repeat that on air, but what I can tell you is I reminded the guys who started the game why they were starting, I reminded the guys on the bench why they were on the bench, and I told everybody getting rid of them is a very distinct possibility if they didn’t show up to play.”
“Coach, Marshall Richards here. Trenton Tovar looked pretty solid in the starting lineup tonight. Harrison Mann and Art Reese looked solid as well off the bench. Is this something to watch?”

“No. Tovar only did ok. He’s got to be better defensively. Reese has the ability to be a solid piece while still developing, so I’d keep an eye on him for the future. Mann has to show me more, but tonight was a decent first step.”

“Coach, Happy again. Was Kyle Knowles sending you a message?”

“Actually, Happy, every time he got a stop he was yelling at Tovar “That’s how you do it, kid!”, and when he drained a three ball, he was yelling at me reminding me why he’s the starter and not the kid. I gotta admit, that’s the kind of fire I want to see. I think I told Kyle I hadn’t made up my mind about him starting Saturday, but I think he knows he is.”

"Coach, Marshall. What about the idea that Carolina just didn't take the team seriously?"

"I can't blame Carolina. I don't take us seriously. What I do take seriously is Kyle off the bench a perfect 5 of 5 from deep. I saw Mann with 6 points and 6 boards in 12 minutes. I saw Kamp with his 20 and 8. I also take seriously 14 turnovers, half of which came off the bench. We have to cleanup the turnovers or we're dead in the water. We don't rebound well enough to give away free possessions. We don't cause enough turnovers to give away free possessions. Did we win a single 50-50 ball tonight? I don't think so. Marshall, right now as we are showing ourselves to be, we are not worthy of being taken seriously."

"Coach, finally Happy with the last question. What do you say to rumors you're excessively hard on Trenton Tovar?"

"I am. If Shooter doesn't like it, my door is always open to discuss things. If I didn't think he could be great, I wouldn't push him so hard. Look we know what kind of shooter Kyle Knowles is. Shooter has the potential to be even better. Imagine Lutz on one wing and Kamp on another, Coenen leading the break, Garcaa running the middle of the floor, and Shooter trailing as the spot up guy. I don't want to imagine that. I want to see it, but if he can't get his defense up to where we need it to be, that's not going to happen."

"Coach, that's all the time we have. Congrats on the win, and we'll see you Saturday night!"

Thanks Happy, thanks Marshall; let's just hope the boys decide to show up in Philly. If they don't it's going to get ugly fast."

Day 4 (Tuesday 21 February 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)
Oof - that Rebels San Dom game was UGLY.

Night results
209’s MostWanted 120 - Fondy Cardinals 110
Flamin' Flamingos 88 - Philly Dribble 113
Lion Rebels 50 - San Dominica Warriors 66
Carolina Rebels 77 - Linndale 98
Tasty Tardsicles 98 - The Beer Bellys 82
Hustlas 67 - Miami Cleo 92
STG on MCU 46 - The White Walkers 88
Żubr Białystok 106 - Cincinnati Slammers 86

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 120 : 209’s MostWanted
Rebounds : 64 : Miami Cleo
Assists : 28 : Miami Cleo
Steals : 11 : Linndale, The White Walkers, Fondy Cardinals
Block Shots : 10 : San Dominica Warriors

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 41 : H. Quindós (Żubr Białystok)
Rebounds : 21 : A. Gallucci (Miami Cleo)
Assists : 14 : M. Maurin (Miami Cleo)
Steals : 6 : M. Maurin (Miami Cleo)
Block Shots : 4 : C. Anaya (The White Walkers)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : J. Muñoz (Fondy Cardinals) (23 Points, 3 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 4 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 25
Shooting Guard : A. Ziółkowski (209’s MostWanted) (31 Points, 2 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 26
Small Forward : D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos) (30 Points, 3 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 33
Power Forward : I. Homs (The Beer Bellys) (27 Points, 10 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 0 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 31
Center : R. Raich (209’s MostWanted) (18 Points, 15 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 32

MVP of the evening
D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos) (30 Points, 3 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 33

The bad performance of the evening
K. Brown (Lion Rebels) (13 Points, 1 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -8

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : A. San Miguel (STG on MCU), S. Klin (Hustlas) : 7 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : D. Conaghan (Tasty Tardsicles), A. San Miguel (STG on MCU), F. Czuryszkiewicz (STG on MCU), M. Grimm (Żubr Białystok), C. Riggins (Żubr Białystok), D. Freire (The White Walkers), R. Dargels (The White Walkers), S. Klin (Hustlas), J. Segovia (The Beer Bellys), Y. Georgoulis (The Beer Bellys), M. Milo (Fondy Cardinals) : 5 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : A. Gallucci (Miami Cleo), L. Arevalo (Carolina Rebels), S. Hollins (Lion Rebels), H. Quindós (Żubr Białystok), P. Stevens (Cincinnati Slammers) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : K. Knowles (Linndale), H. Quindós (Żubr Białystok), G. Kostezer (Fondy Cardinals) : 5 Three points

The best performer : K. Knowles (Linndale), V. Papageorgiou (The White Walkers) : Rating : 17.5

The worst performer : T. Lang (Fondy Cardinals) : Rating : 3.5

Week Two Power Rankings
Week 2 Observations
In my power rankings, Week 2 typically shows the most drastic movement in the rankings because the differences in opponent capabilities changes drastically. You could have started out terrible because of more difficult opponents (see Tasty Tards below) last week and then jump an immense amount because the second week you played easier opponents. Tasty, for example, started 1-1 with a nice win over Miami for an EFF rating of 104 and OPP EFF rating of 78. Not bad. But then they got torched by White Walkers giving up OPP EFF of 141 and their own EFF only hitting 38 with three players scoring negatively. That made their average EFF rank 16th while their OPP EFF ranked 9th, which averaged together left them in 15th, one point behind Flamin' Flamingos and two points ahead of Fondy Cardinals. This week, however, they hosted Cincinnati whom they took out back behind the woodshed (EFF of 158 and OPP EFF of 12) and then had a nice victory on the road vs. The Beer Bellys with EFF of 118 and OPP EFF of 83 and their efficiency rating difference led them to a much higher ranking this week than last.

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.

More movement on the transfer list with two purchases (BIG ONES) and five players moving out. As a league that brings us to having spent $5.75 million more than we've made on selling players since the beginning of the season. CHEEZUS. Those purchases also combine for a total of $587k in salary (on 18 players) for an average of $32k in salary.

It's looking like the Big 8 is going to be a punch drunk slugfest throughout, with even Fondy looking to be a player, even though they're still winless. On the opposite sides, we might be starting to see some separation into tiers, but it's a bit too early to tell. Anyway, on to the rankings! This week's rankings will show last week's rankings in parenthesis behind the team name.

Week 2 Power Rankings
1. The White Walkers (1)
The Night King has yet to lose a game in any competitive fashion, going undefeated in league games as well as BBM and the Cup so far. Papageorgiou (which I pronounce Papa Georgio), is balling from all over the court, hitting over 50% in FGs (58% from 3!). A tight win on the road against Żubr Białystok who almost completed the fourth quarter comeback, followed by an easy win at home against STG on MCU. Nice to see whitestok give them a run for their money - makes them not seem quite as invincible. Next up, what should be an easy week hosting the drunkard Beer Bellys before traveling to Cincinnati for a TV game. May the Cup gods grant them a difficult matchup to make up for it!

2. Philly Dribble (3)
Shorthanded, Philly took one on the nose last Saturday to the Lion Rebels, but I guarantee you if Huddleston was on the court, it would have been a much different matchup. In nine regular season matchups, Philly's only lost to me twice, so I'm sure they don't feel too terrible about it. They followed the loss with a nice victory over Flamin’ Flamingos. While they gave up 35 points in the fourth quarter, the matchup was well in hand at that point thanks to a 16 point and 15 point deficits in the 1st and 3rd quarters. TV game at Linndale this weekend followed by a trip to Fondy.

3. Miami Cleo (6)
Miami makes the first big jump in these rankings, moving up three spots thanks to two more victories to land them on a nice three-game winning streak. First, they dispatched STG on MCU by 14-points before hosting Hustlas in what turned into a bit of a blowout. Gallucci had a nice night, scoring 15 points to go along with his 21 rebounds. Too bad he only shot 30% from the field. Next comes a home game against Cincinnati before a rivalry matchup at The Keg.

4. Lion Rebels (2)
I can't say enough awful things about Tuesday night's 66-50 loss to San Dominica. Sure the defense was stout, but sheesh. Both teams combined for a putrid 27% shooting night, including only making 7 of 45 from beyond the arc. Kurt Brown was atrocious - I think he missed his first 8 shots on the night and finished 0-8 from three with a -8 efficiency on the night. Some tough matchups loom now, and we'll find out where we're really at with a road game against the revamped 209's before hosting Flamin' next Tuesday.

5. Tasty Tardsicles (15)
Up ten spots in an unprecedented move for these rankings (as far as I can remember). Since I already outlined their first two weeks above, I don't have much to say about them here! They’ve got six players averaging double digits or higher in PPG and their depth...it's thiccc. They've got STG at home followed by whitestok's crew on the road in Week 3.

6. 209's MostWanted (12)
Another YUGE jump in the rankings, up six places comes Alex from the 209, averaging 122 PPG with the ridiculous Ariel Ziółkowski hitting nearly 40 every night. They dismantled Speedtraps group, exposing their defensive inadequacies and then fended off Fondy Cardinals for a 10-point victory on Tuesday. A show down with Lion Rebels looms this weekend before they travel to play the (better) Rebels in Carolina next week.

7. Carolina Rebels (4)
Down a few spots after suffering a second loss, this time to Linndale after taking it to Coach Stephenson's Warriors (Schmwarriors) over the weekend. It was a flip-flopping of effort on both games, with Carolina exerting force over San Dominica before succumbing to Linndale's whims. They travel to Flamin' Texas Center to face the Flamingos on Saturday before hosting 209's in a rivalry matchup.

8. Linndale (9)
Despite being 2nd in PPG, their point differential is 0.2. They went 1-1 again, and in both their losses have given up 128 points, while in both their wins, their defense has held strong. They got torched last weekend by 209's before dominating Carolina on the way to a win. But it's not going to get any easier as a fully healthy Philly Dribble host them next before they turn around and travel to San Dominica.

9. San Dominica Warriors (5)
Speaking of the devil, the Warriors fell a bit, hanging on at .500 with that loss to Carolina before dropping my Rebels in the toilet. Seriously though, only one team in one quarter scored more than 20 points. Just atrocious offense and terrific defense. While the Warriors defense is great, they haven't been scoring that much. That might change with a game against Fondy on the road this weekend followed by a home matchup with Linndale.

10. Żubr Białystok (8)
Just a nailbiter at the end of their one-point loss to White Walkers with four lead changes in the final 1:45 with Żubr coming back from being down 11 at the start of the fourth quarter. They took their final lead with just 17 seconds left, but then Clark Riggins fouled Fornos on a layup and Forno made both free throws to go up by one. Shaun Hatch missed a potential buzzer beater after that to seal the loss. They remedied that with a 20-point victory over the Slammers. Next, they go on the road to the hope to be redeemed Hustlas before taking on the Tards.

11. The Beer Bellys (10)
Fortunately for The Keg goers (and thatguy), Isidre Homs is still quite young (that dude is TEARING it up) as the Bellys drop two more games this week, first in a barn burner against Hustlas (where the Hustlas played Patient but still scored 138?!?!? I don't think I've ever seen that before - I guess double OT helps) where they made 14-37 threes, but still came up short. This was a tight one the entire game with PD quarter by quarter being 1, 4, 3, 0, 0 until the Bellys lost steam in the 2nd OT and only managed 6 points. They turn around and travel Beyond the Wall before heading South to Miami in what will be an extreme in weather differences.

12. Hustlas (7)
A pretty precipitous drop off for Hustlas who improved by 9.5 points on the EFFG but dropped 21 points in OPP EFFG. A two-week injury to their sixth man, Mauro Navarro won't help, but they are holding on at .500 for the time being after that blistering matchup with Bellys followed by a tough loss at Miami. J. Esposito looked good, scoring 57 points in 46 minutes shooting 54% including 7-11 from three. Unfortunately he couldn't replicate that on Tuesday shooting 4-20 from the field including 1-6 as they lost by 25 to Miami Cleo. Żubr Białystok looms next followed by a road trip to STG.

13. Flamin' Flamingos (14)
I still think several of these bottom dwellers will start to move up the ranks as their teams gel. But the Flamingos are going to have to start putting some Defense on the court if they want to really compete. Darnell Rivas is looking good in his age 34 season, averaging 28.3 PPG. They took out the Cardinals by 7 last weekend before losing by a wide margin on the road against Philly. Fun fact, each team they've played this season has played Look Inside against them! Do with that what you will. They too have a very Rebel week, first taking on Carolina at home before traveling to Daylis to try to defeat the Lions.

14. STG on MCU (13)
Our second team sitting at 1-3 so far on the season, STG has had two decent showings in two of their losses. Despite getting blown out of the water on Tuesday against the White Walkers (and being the only team to score less than my sad showing, but only by 4 points), they've at least started making moves to be more competitive this week, bringing in $42k 22-year-old Center Alfredo San Miguel to couple with their other recent purchase, 25-year-old guard/forward combo Matthew Marsh (whose having a nice season, ranking #6 in points and FG made). They lost by 14 points to Miami Cleo, suggesting the gap from the top isn't terrible, as long as they're playing at home, and Miguel might help bridge that gap a little more. They face a stiff test against Tasty this weekend, but I have a feeling we'll get to see where they land in the pecking order of the middle of the Great 8 when they play host to Hustlas next week.

15. Fondy Cardinals (16)
Aside from their first game, Fondy hasn't necessarily been getting blown out in their four losses. Their big transfer, PG Jorge Muñoz has really only played two league games thus far, shooting 50% from the field and making 5-8 from beyond the arc to go along with 12 assists. I imagine as his game shape improves, Fondy will start to see improvements and make those games even more competitive. Collectively, this week, they lost both games by 17 points playing both Flamingos and 209's tightly. This week will be a stiff test, however, as they travel to San Dominica and then play host to #2 ranked Philly Dribble.

16. Cincinnati Slammers (11)
Despite two losses in week one, the Slammers found themselves ranked 11th in these rankings last week, but a demoralizing loss to then 7th seed Tasty deflated them quite rapidly and they followed that loss up with a 20 point loss to Żubr Białystok. Already the 2nd lowest salaried team to start the season, they sold off two players in the last week to drop their total salary to just over $11k under the salary floor. They did make a relatively decent haul ($300k on 20k worth of salary), but unless they've got some serious money banked, I don't think they'll have enough to turn it around and bring more talent in to bring them to a competitive level. And this week doesn't look to be any easier with matchups on the road against Miami before playing host to the hottest looking team in the league, The White Walkers.

Day 5 (Saturday 25 February 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Lion Rebels 130 - 209’s MostWanted 127
Carolina Rebels 93 - Flamin' Flamingos 81
Linndale 76 - Philly Dribble 93
Fondy Cardinals 66 - San Dominica Warriors 124
STG on MCU 79 - Tasty Tardsicles 108
Żubr Białystok 107 - Hustlas 92
Cincinnati Slammers 57 - Miami Cleo 103
The Beer Bellys 56 - The White Walkers 102

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 130 : Lion Rebels
Rebounds : 66 : Miami Cleo, Tasty Tardsicles
Assists : 27 : Żubr Białystok
Steals : 11 : Miami Cleo, San Dominica Warriors, STG on MCU
Block Shots : 11 : Miami Cleo

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 43 : J. Esposito (Hustlas)
Rebounds : 20 : G. Locus (Miami Cleo), N. Kackis (209’s MostWanted), R. Sanz Garcáa (Linndale)
Assists : 8 : H. Šapiras (Żubr Białystok), J. Muñoz (Fondy Cardinals)
Steals : 5 : M. Granja (San Dominica Warriors)
Block Shots : 3 : G. Locus (Miami Cleo), J. Bégin (San Dominica Warriors)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : K. Brown (Lion Rebels) (36 Points, 2 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 22
Shooting Guard : M. Bobôšík (Żubr Białystok) (22 Points, 1 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 26
Small Forward : M. Marsh (STG on MCU) (36 Points, 1 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 27
Power Forward : T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) (34 Points, 11 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 39
Center : G. Locus (Miami Cleo) (21 Points, 20 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 4 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 41

MVP of the evening
G. Locus (Miami Cleo) (21 Points, 20 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 4 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 41

The bad performance of the evening
J. Segovia (The Beer Bellys) (5 Points, 4 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots)U. Barbarossa (Cincinnati Slammers) (2 Points, 3 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -7

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : D. Conaghan (Tasty Tardsicles), M. Slakteris (Hustlas), J. Jude (Fondy Cardinals) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : T. Rumin (209’s MostWanted), R. Singh (Lion Rebels), R. Sedonio (Lion Rebels), J. Jude (Fondy Cardinals), D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : K. Brown (Lion Rebels) : 53 Minutes

The shooter : Z. Shunyi (209’s MostWanted), L. Baião (San Dominica Warriors), M. Marsh (STG on MCU), H. Šapiras (Żubr Białystok), S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok), M. Bobôšík (Żubr Białystok), J. Esposito (Hustlas), R. Ainsworth (Cincinnati Slammers) : 4 Three points

The best performer : V. Papageorgiou (The White Walkers) : Rating : 19.0

The worst performer : T. Lang (Fondy Cardinals), D. Christopher (Cincinnati Slammers) : Rating : 4.5

Full on tank mode initiated, Segovia has been listed. We are incredibly bummed...time to drink and drown our sadness by partying with the cheerleaders today.

*Coach Pio Reina steps to the podium*

"Rare is the time you'll find me pleased with a loss. This is one of those times. WHen you get a chance to talk the boys in the locker room, I'm sure they'll tell you I hadn't said a single word to them since Saturday's game. Not a word, text, phone message, email, smoke signal, telegram, pictograph or anything else. Figured everything I needed to say they would see on the transfer wire. At the end of the first quarter, I was not happy with the score board, but we were putting in the work. The second and third quarters, we just kept grinding. We kept working, we didn't give up, we were seeing the results of the work we were doing. Down 12 after one, it was 6 at the half and 2 at the start of the 4th. 4 minutes left it was a 2 point game. We put in the work. We didn't finish it off, but the team finally put in the work. I could say we lost at the 3 point line, or because of too many turnovers, but the truth is they were simply better than us today. Tip your cap to San Dominica. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to speak with my team for the first time all week. Seems like they are finally ready to enter the conversation. Guess we'll see if that part is for real, or if this was a one off shortly. Locker room is open in ten!"

Day 6 (Tuesday 28 February 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
209’s MostWanted 103 - Carolina Rebels 113
Flamin' Flamingos 78 - Lion Rebels 110
Philly Dribble 97 - Fondy Cardinals 73
San Dominica Warriors 106 - Linndale 99
Tasty Tardsicles 104 - Żubr Białystok 102
Hustlas 103 - STG on MCU 116
Miami Cleo 99 - The Beer Bellys 43
The White Walkers 106 - Cincinnati Slammers 55

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 116 : STG on MCU
Rebounds : 67 : Miami Cleo
Assists : 28 : The White Walkers
Steals : 10 : Lion Rebels
Block Shots : 14 : Miami Cleo

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 43 : H. Espinosa (Carolina Rebels), J. Esposito (Hustlas)
Rebounds : 20 : L. Senserrich (Hustlas), J. Jude (Fondy Cardinals)
Assists : 9 : M. Maurin (Miami Cleo)
Steals : 4 : M. Granja (San Dominica Warriors), K. Brown (Lion Rebels)
Block Shots : 5 : H. Espinosa (Carolina Rebels)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : É. Blanchet (San Dominica Warriors) (18 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 27
Shooting Guard : J. Esposito (Hustlas) (43 Points, 1 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots), L. See Yan (Flamin' Flamingos) (40 Points, 2 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 29
Small Forward : H. Šapiras (Żubr Białystok) (30 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 29
Power Forward : H. Espinosa (Carolina Rebels) (43 Points, 16 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 5 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 53
Center : A. Gallucci (Miami Cleo) (21 Points, 19 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 0 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 42

MVP of the evening
H. Espinosa (Carolina Rebels) (43 Points, 16 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 5 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 53

The bad performance of the evening
A. Reese (Linndale) (0 Points, 1 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -5

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : S. Klin (Hustlas), G. Colonnello (Flamin' Flamingos) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : A. Munson (Cincinnati Slammers) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : A. Gallucci (Miami Cleo), L. Arevalo (Carolina Rebels), S. Hollins (Lion Rebels), M. Grimm (Żubr Białystok), P. Stevens (Cincinnati Slammers) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : L. See Yan (Flamin' Flamingos) : 6 Three points

The best performer : V. Papageorgiou (The White Walkers) : Rating : 18.5

The worst performer : M. Jordan (The Beer Bellys) : Rating : 3.5

Sending over the finest Bourbon the true Rebels of III.11 own.

Cheers