Didn't have enough characters spare to explain my order but especially since you have a different order in the middle, I'll explain my logic now.
#8 - II.4 Big 8 were always going to be last. Barcelona is experienced, Botanical Power and Hull Radom are trending up fairly quickly and in a season or two may be real powers, but currently if no team can crack 10 average player rating and the best rated team would be 6th in multiple other conferences then you are a weak conference.
#7 - II.3 Big 8 has Flower of Scotland as a wildcard ready to explode the season they decide they have the funds to make a push and are hard to rank as they might be rebuilding this season but also might end up pushing this season (see also Minas Morgul or Stómas in higher-ranked conferences for similarly hard-to-rank potential giants). In the end though, the top team was #17 in division II last season for average rating so difficult to justify higher.
#6 II.2 Great 8 - Glasgow Raptors are always a strong team somewhere around 11, Santa Booker, Raging Seagull and myself all improved noticeably last season, but none of us are exactly scary powerhouses yet, and to be fair we shouldn't be! I am at $375k/week wages, Santa Booker are about $300k, and Raging Seagull $270k. We are probably all overperforming with what we have! Unless one of the top 4 spends big, #6 is where I feel this conference belongs.
#5 II.4 Great 8 - This conference scores higher than the above partly because the weaker teams aren't as weak, and that one of them is Stómas who might decide this is the season to hulk-smash back to the ESL before either Breiðholt and Fimbles (both trending up) become strong enough to be a bigger problem or they get moved to a stronger conference.
#4 II.2 Big 8 - Glasgow Raptors against this confernence's then top 6 last season? 0-6. Raging Seagull 0-6. Santa Booker 1-5. I was 3-3 and was pretty pleased with that. This conference has been stronger than the II.2 Great 8 and until at least a couple of us can have winning records against the top teams in it to prove otherwise then that will remain the case. Also, if you like games where multiple teams have put out tremendous level defence and seem to like to win defensive rockfights 82-68 then this is the place to be!
#3 II.1 Great 8 - 5 teams averaging over 11 means this conference can't be rated lower. But the bottom 3 averaging under 6 means it also can't be rated higher. I expect whoever finishes 5th to potentially be the strongest division 2 team not in the play-offs this season unless one of those top 5 teams botifies.
#2 II.3 Great 8 - Very slightly weaker top end than the number #3 conference but a whole bunch stronger at the bottom with you being 6th rated here and only the #5 conference has a 6th rated team even close in rating. 7th rated Pastizzi were the strongest of the promoted sides so I could see them being ambitious and spending heavily to get more competitive (and will have to to get near the salary floor by the end of season anyway!) and being on a Hull Radom type trajectory as they have a little less improvement needed.
#1 II.1 Big 8 - Quality top 5, 2nd strongest #6, 2nd strongest #7, and the strongest #8 that would be #6 in most conferences. Also Minas Morgul may say he isn't spending for promotion but with a track record of 6 Europa Cup wins in 10 seasons and 6 seasons in the last 10 where he got out of the group stages of the BBB will certainly know how to maximize what he does have on the court whatever he decides! I won't be surprised if at least one of the other teams (Devstry maybe?) goes on a Celestia-style spending spree just in case especially as even if they win out, they would still likely have a high 12, maybe even 13 rating team to overcome from the other conference as Malta Pissedons are basically already that, and KB Peja, The Red Hammers, The Others, or Bardagakappi, could all conceivably be at that level at the end of this season.
Last edited by StrategicHamlets at 10/16/2025 5:10:06 PM