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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.

Week 3 Power Rankings - Part IV
7. San Dominica Warriors (9)
EFFG:9 | OPP EFFG:4
San Dominica had the biggest jump in EFFG this week, jumping nearly 16 points to cross the 100-point threshold, landing at 109 up from the 14th rank. Their defense stays in the top four, though it hasn't been quite as good as last season, landing at 87.5 OPP EFFG. As mentioned earlier, they demolished Fondy before holding off Linndale this week. They're still in the Cup, though face a daunting opponent in #5 ranked Mountain Eagles of NBBA lore. And that's on the backside of two premier matchups traveling first to Philly followed by playing host to The White Walkers. Really intrigued by that matchup!

6. Philly Dribble (2)
EFFG:5 | OPP EFFG:7
Philly only dropped 4 points in EFFG, but those four points near the top dropped them from 2nd to 5th. Additionally, they improved their OPP EFFG by almost 12 points (down to 93.2), but that's still only good enough for 7th, which lands them four spots lower in these rankings than last week. And that's after two wins! They handled Linndale at home and turned around and beat Fondy by 25 on the road. And while they hit 119 in efficiency, that's 20 points below Fondy's average OPP EFFG. If I had to guess, I'd relate it to an enthusiasm thing after their matchup with Linndale and playing TIE against the Cardinals. Either which way, they're better than this ranking, and this week will be a good indicator as they host San Dominica before then hosting Miami Cleo in two great matchups.

5. Carolina Rebels (7)
EFFG:6 | OPP EFFG:5
Up three places in EFFG and one in OPP EFFG, Carolina is doing its part to stay relevant after dropping their second loss to Linndale in week 2. They had a nice 12-point victory over the Flamingos followed by that 10-point win at home against 209's MostWanted. They get another shot to extend their Cup run, this week facing #337 Shrugging Shlubs. Before that, though, they travel to the Rebel Posers for what should be (I hope?) a good TV matchup before turning around and hosting Żubr Białystok in interdivisional play. Hugo Espinsoa continues to be a beast, averaging 21.5/15.2 PTS/Rebs per game and their starting five are averaging double digits in points. Also, fun fact, Carolina leads the league in the least number of turnovers by opponents, at 8.3, which is five TO less than the highest mark by STG and Linndale.

4. Tasty Tardsicles (3)
EFFG:7 | OPP EFFG:3
spilly19's crew continues their rise up the EFFG charts, moving from 16th in week 1 to 11th last week and now they find themselves at 7th, helping bump them up to 4th in the overall rankings. Their OPP EFFG is holding steady in the low 80's, still good for 3rd overall. Since losing their Week 1 matchup with The Night King, they've run off a four-game winning streak, defeating STG at home by nearly 30 before eking out that epic come from behind victory over Żubr Białystok. They've got a more challenging Cup matchup this week against #137 ranked Anchorage Allstars, but they themselves are currently ranked #100. That game will come after hosting Hustlas and then traveling to Alex from the 209's Lions Playground. Marco Jimenez is averaging 15/15 PTS/REB on the season and doesn't look like a fun matchup, ranking #3 in rebounds (#388 in OR in the WORLD).

Week 3 Power Rankings - Part V
3. Lion Rebels (4)
EFFG:4 | OPP EFFG:6
I should mention, these last four spots are all based on tiebreakers, with Tasty and my Rebels matching up in average rank and the next two matching up with each other as well. Ties are broken by last week's ranking and ties there are based on lowest OPP EFFG (because Defense WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS). I'm honestly pleasantly surprised to find my squad at 5-1 after the last two seasons. Rebounding after the Warriors demoralizing victory over me, I held on in OT against Alex's MostWanted after giving up 44 points in the fourth quarter for them to come back being down 14 heading into the 4th quarter. Pretty ridiculous, but made for an entertaining showing. That was followed by a nice 32-point victory over the Flamingos to kick off a rare three game home stand and a "decide if you want to keep in the Cup" game against #302 Everett Gym Rats. But before that, a key matchup with Carolina in the Rebel Rights Bowl followed by hosting STG on MCU for the interdivisional start.

2. Miami Cleo (3)
EFFG:2 | OPP EFFG:2
As mentioned, Miami is tied with number one this week, but thanks to last week's rankings, end up in 2nd. They had the second biggest improvement in EFFG, jumping 14 points and 5 places and saw an even more impressive jump in the highest OPP EFFG change, dropping from 79.8 to 61.8 after games against Cincinnati and The Beer Bellys, victories in which they outscored their opponents by a collective 102 points. But, the easy road ends here, with a key matchup with The White Walkers at home followed by a trip to Philly to take on the Dribble. Also, they play #477 ranked Chicago Vampires in the Cup.

1. The White Walkers (1)
EFFG:3 | OPP EFFG:1
We're on the cusp of finding out if the rest of the Great 8 (outside of Miami) are just that bad at offense or if The White Walkers are the real deal. Their OPP EFFG is all the way down to an historic 45.7 as they keep their hold on first in that category. They destroyed the Bellys and the Slammers this week, giving up an average of 55.5 points while scoring an average of 103. Only one opponent thus far has scored 80 on them (hat tip, Hustlas). The test comes in the form of a road trip that starts in Miami and ends in San Dominica in what should (hopefully) be tantalizing offense/defense matchups.

Next week we'll be looking back at what week one's rankings were compared to the current ranking. Best of luck!

P.S. OMG that was wordy - sheesh, sorry about that!

MR: “Marshall Richards and Happy Ourer here for our Linndale week in review, and let me tell you we have a lot to review! We have the departures of Paul Lutz, Bobbie Coenen, and Joe Brown. We have the acquisition of Mantas Petriukstis. We have the team’s GM in studio. We have rumors of coming moves and wild speculation about others. Let’s get right to it!”

HO: “Let’s welcome the GM to the show, Marshall. So, I want to start by thanking you for coming on the show, and ask you why you gutted the guard room. What was the thinking there?”

GM: “Thanks for having me. We gutted the guard room because it was clear that what we had wasn’t going to get it done. That being the case; it would make no sense if we didn’t go out and get guys with the upside to be better than what we moved on from. Coenen lost his aggressiveness and I think it was more the league got better at the point guard position and he didn’t progress. Lutz was doing just fine but we don’t want just fine; we want far better than that. Brown we decided if someone grabbed him, good for him and them. Trenton Tovar came in passed Brown quickly. He played well with Lutz, but we want to see him and Knowles on the court together. We want to see if he can play some point. Mantas Petriukstis is going to be the point guard, but we don’t have a true backup. If Tovar can handle extended minutes at the point and Kyle can handle some minutes at the point, great. We’re trying to put pressure on our guys to get better. Brown, Coenen, and Lutz weren’t getting better. It’s as simple as that.”

MR: “What do you say to those that say you took a playoff team and made them worse?”

GM: “Keep in mind we gave up a pair of talented 27 year olds and a 26 year old. Tovar is 22, Petriukstis is 21. If they aren’t at the level of Coenen or Lutz in 3 years, they’ll be real close with a few years to spare before they hit that age 27 season. We’re betting we can get them to be better. We’re betting on the development of Art Reese and Rolland Reynolds. We’re betting that our kids will be good enough to not only make the postseason, but build a title winner around.”

HO: “You have no veteran leadership; no real experience on the roster. What do you say to that, to a lack of depth, and to a lack of toughness, especially inside?”

GM: “Kyle’s the leader. Daniil Kamp can start asserting himself. Nick Guevara is a behind the scenes and glue guy. At just 21, Datler is a blue collar, no nonsense guy. Reese just gets better and you can see he’s coming along. Tovar is showing he’s more than just a brash kid. He wants the ball and the spotlight. He wants to win. This is a group that can grow together.”

MR: “But your bigs aren’t doing it. Datler, I’ll agree just keeps plugging away and at the end of the day is looking very nice. I’m going to call Garcaa a huge disappointment. His next 20 point 20 rebound game will be his first. The talent is there but the results are not. Kamp when at the 4 hasn’t produced big games consistently. Nick hasn’t done it consistently. Mann is still a work in progress. What are you going to do so that the guards don’t have to carry the load every night?”

GM: “Did you see San Dominica jump out to a 12 point lead after one? We just kept coming. The punched us in the face, we gut punched them, over and over and over. The problem was we didn’t have enough to land that big blow left in the tank. It was a 2 point game with 2 minutes on the clock. The should have beat the brakes off us but the guys didn’t quit fighting and no one had to carry the team alone. The whole team fought.”

HO: “So you’re looking to add more young guys if the opportunity presents itself?”

GM: “No Happy; I’m looking to add the best player to this group when the opportunity presents itself. I don’t care the position. Can you play, and how do you make us better? That’s what we want to know.”