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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

Week Three Power Rankings
Week 3 Observations
I have to admit, compared to last season, the number of transfers happening in this league is stunning. Hustla's sale of 35-year-old Robertas Oblacinskas brings the transaction tally to 55 (UPDATE: While I was writing this, Segovia sold, which makes it 56 with an additional $108k in monies made from selling players). Unbelievable. That's 20 players purchased for a grand total of $11.167 million and 35 players sold for a total of $6.434 million. In the last week alone, there's been 11 total transfers, with Linndale moving on from some core pieces, Philly selling off its sluff, and Żubr swapping two pieces for a third.

With $1.2 million made (and having spent just under $500k already), I'd assume Speedtraps has some moves up their sleeve still to salvage their season (I know, it's early, but with the way things are looking in the Big 8, woof. Having said that, while my Rebels are sitting at 5-1, I wouldn't be surprised if Linndale and the Lion Rebels swapped places when all is said and done with how competitive it is). Manager Reece usually has an itchy trigger finger, so we could see more moves there. Or maybe everything will settle down, with The Beer Bellys openly tanking and things evening out a bit.

Through three weeks, I have to say, seven teams are still vying for the top 4 slots in the Big 8 with only 110 points separating them in point differential (sorry Fondy, I know you're trying). While in the Great 8, there's a bit more separation at the top with the top three seeming to be the cream of the crop and the next three battling it out for that final spot.

Interdivision games start up this week, and it should be fun to see how the two sides compare after slugging on their own for seven games. Some big movements in the power rankings - this week I'll have each team's EFFG and OPP EFFG rank posted. We're doing them backwards this week! Onward!

Week 3 Power Rankings
16. The Beer Bellys (11)
EFFG:15 | OPP EFFG:15
thatguy's brutal drop in the standings is thanks to the precipitous fall in EFFG, going from 111.8 (ranked 4th last week) down 31 points to 80.8. Meanwhile, their OPP EFFG dropped nearly 8 points, but it wasn't very good to begin with, landing now at 135.3 on the season. While they're self-proclaimed tanking was announced this week, it still would've been a rough week facing seeds 1 & 2. They were brutalized by The White Walkers by nearly 50 points last weekend before getting demolished by Miami Cleo a few days later. In both of those games they only averaged 49.5 PPG. On the bright side, they're still in the Cup, but face #340 ranked Five Horseman. Next up, a pair of 8 seeds, both on the road against Cincinnati and Fondy.

15. Cincinnati Slammers (16)
EFFG:16 | OPP EFFG:13
Cincinnati is sporting a -194 PD after six games thanks, primarily, to three blow outs on the season to Tasty, Miami, and the Walkers losing by an average of 56 points. The good news is that their other three losses average out to only 12 points. Their big struggle is offense, with the worst in the league and it's not really close. They're 25 points of EFFG behind The Beer Bellys. And while their defense isn't the worst, it hasn't proven great - but that could just be their competition so far. They too are still in the cup, but are underdogs to #161 ranked Connecticut Helos. They face The Bellys at home before traveling to Linndale - will they get their first win of the season?

Week 3 Power Rankings - Part II
14. Fondy Cardinals (15)
EFFG:13 | OPP EFFG:16
Fondy's games have been relatively close with only one true blow-out, losing by nearly 60 last weekend to San Dominica. They followed that up with a tough campaign hosting Philly Dribble. Sporting the worst defense in the league, it doesn't help that they dropped from 10th to 13th in EFFG in losing 16.8 points in the stat. They play the reverse of Cincinnati (funny how that works) in traveling to Linndale this weekend before hosting the Beer Bellys on TV. They, unfortunately, lost in their last Cup matchup to #313 ranked Kings Knights, a fellow Div. III team. A bright spot, Matthis Anwander is averaging 21 PPG to go along with 9.5 rebounds. He also has the distinction of ranking 96th in the USA in personal fouls!

13. STG on MCU (14)
EFFG:14 | OPP EFFG:10
Making our way out of the gutter, STG is the first team we come across with a 2-4 record thanks to this week's 13-point victory over Hustlas at home after losing by almost 30 to Tasty Tardsicles on TV last weekend. In better news, they overcame #244 ranked Purple Piranhas in the Cup to advance and get the offering up now of #505 VB United, a Div. IV team. Week 4 brings them Żubr Białystok in what is probably a MUST WIN game, before traveling across the divisions to face Lion Rebels at Daylis. While their offense is lacking with only 82 EFFG, their defense has shown promise at 10th, but is still high at 117.2 OPP EFFG. Their $600k guy Matthew Marsh is playing well, ranked #3 in PTS, #5 in 3FG% (#42 in 3FG made in all of Division III!).

12. Flamin' Flamingos (13)
EFFG:12 | OPP EFFG:12
Little bit of flippity floppity going on for the Flamingos this week as they dropped 4 spots in EFFG (down to 94) but moved up two spots in OPP EFFG. But remarkably, there are 8 teams with an OPP EFFG of 115 or higher, and ascent's crew, while ranked 12th, is averaging 125.5 OPP EFFG, which is not exemplary defense. Sitting in the bottom half of the pack of the 2-4 teams doesn't feel great, but their PD is only -71. They dropped their home matchup with Carolina by 12 and then fell to the fake Rebels on Tuesday, although Li See Yan couldn't be stopped, shooting 15-31, including 6-10 from three for 40 points on the night, bringing his average PPG up to 25 on the season. Their still around for the Cup, playing host to #790 Charm City 1978s this next week. Before that, though, they travel to 209's for their final Big 8 matchup on the front end of the season and then play host to Hustlas.

11. Hustlas (14)
EFFG:11 | OPP EFFG:9
Not much variation for Hustlas this week, though they did move up two spots in EFFG despite dropping 2.8 points to land at 97.2 on the season and while they dropped 6.5 points to 115 OPP EFFG, they kept their hold on 9th in that category. 2-4 with a -34 PD after losing by 15 to whitestok's crew followed by a somewhat surprising loss on the road to STG by 13. After three games to start the season, they were 2-1 with +19 PD, but then their three-game losing streak brought that to an end. On the plus side, they have a favorable matchup in the Cup, facing #726 Gonzaga Cavaliers. Two road games in the league for them this week, facing Tasty Tardsicles at the House of Hoops (I thought for sure that arena would be named the Porcelain Throne, or something like that) before then traveling for their first interdivisional matchup against Flamin' in the heat of Texas. (Also, ascent has the HOTTEST court design I've ever seen.)

Week 3 Power Rankings - Part III
10. Linndale (8)
EFFG:8 | OPP EFFG:11
Up until week 3, Linndale's EFFG had been helping them keep balanced as a result of their rough OPP EFFG. But this week, they're EFFG dropped 5 spots in the ranking when they lost seven points to land back at 110.8, while a 3.8-point tightening of their OPP EFFG moved them up a spot in those rankings, but it's still in the bottom half of the league. We knew this week was going to be tough, with a road matchup against Philly on TV before hosting San Dominica, they put forth a solid effort, but after falling behind by 12 in the first quarter, it took them two more quarters to catch back up, down by 2 heading into the 4th and while they tied and eventually took the lead 80-77 with 7:52 remaining, they only held on to it for 27 seconds. They later tied it back up at 93 with 2:32 left, but the Warriors scored 8 unanswered points over the course of the next minute and a half until Kyle Knowles knocked down a three, but with only 37 seconds on the clock San Dom made 5-6 free throws while Linndale went 1-5 from beyond the arc to lose by seven. Couple that with the fact they faced #18 ranked The Musicians in the cup (only lost by 19!), it's been a depressing week. Fortunately, they've got the 8 seeds up this week hosting both Fondy and Cincinnati, so unless the Cardinals present something incredible, they should make it back to .500 by week's end.

9. Żubr Białystok (10)
EFFG:10 | OPP EFFG:8
One of two .500 teams at this point in the season, whitestock went 1-1 on the week with a nice victory on the road versus Hustlas followed by a heart-breaking two-point loss to Tasty at home on Tuesday. They put forth the effort in a Run & Gun style and while they were down by 7 after one and 6 at the half, they jumped out to an 8-point lead heading into the final frame only for Tasty to drop 35 points on them to take home the victory. Tasty stormed back in a few minutes to retake the lead at 8:38, but four minutes later, Zubr was back up by 7. Unfortunately for them, over the last 3:57 they only managed 7 more points while Tasty scored 16. But it's worse than that - with 25 seconds left, Zubr held a 3-point lead, 102-99. Immediately following a time out, C. Wui Kwong hit a three to tie it up. A missed three by H. Sapiras followed by an unfortunate shooting foul by L. Cheng Yi at the buzzer let Marco Jimenez to the charity stripe and he sunk both of them for the win. Happily, Zubr is still in the Cup, facing #330 ranked The Tropics this week after they travel to STG on MCU and then a road trip to Carolina for interdivisional play.

8. 209's MostWanted (6)
EFFG:1 | OPP EFFG:14
209's a fascinating experiment in ALL OFFENSE ALL THE TIME. Their games have something of an All-Star game feel to them. They haven't scored less than 103 points in a game so far, but their opponents haven't scored less than 102 and have just a 2.6-point differential in PPG. This last week was probably frustrating, narrowly losing the Lion Rebels in OT after coming from behind before then dropping a road matchup to (THE REAL) Carolina Rebels. Arial Ziółkowski is still on a tear, ranking 1st in PTS, FG made, 3FG made and 8th in Division III in points, #28 in USA in points, and #256 in the entire world in 3FG made. Wowza. They host the Flamingos this weekend before hosting Tasty to wrap up week 4.