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5. San Dominica Warriors (5)
Sitting at 2nd in the Big 8 at 6-2 and having beaten both #1 seeds in each conference, their first loss of the season was a bit of a fluke seeing where Flamingos are at so far, but their loss to Carolina on the road is a bit of a head scratcher. Either way, they handled two tough teams this week against Philly and White Walkers leaving them well positioned to continue to improve both in the standings and these rankings this week as they face Cincinnati and then host The Beer Bellys. They also have a nice matchup in the Cup for the chance to continue on.

6. Philly Dribble (3)
Philly slipped from 5th to 8th in EFFG as they dropped 8 points in that category, but and while they saw slippage in OPP EFFG by 4 points and have lost two in a row now (to two difficult teams) and find themselves at .500 and out of the top 4 spots for the first time I recall in the last several seasons that I've been here. Both losses came at home and now they turn their sights to the Night King on the road with a chance to right the ship before hosting the Slammers for what should give them a breather.

7. 209's MostWanted (12)
While week 1 had them ranked 5th in EFFG their 15th rank in OPP EFFG left them 12th overall. They've used their offensive fire power to move up to 7th now thanks to their 123.6 EFFG (2nd). They're 3rd in the Big 8 and took care of the Flamingos and then beat out Tasty to find themselves at 5-3 on the season. Next comes a road game against Hustlas followed by hosting STG which should only improve their stock overall.

8. Żubr Białystok (8)
Whitestok's crew finds themselves at .500 after taking out STG on the road before getting shut down by Carolina on the road. After struggling last season and surviving, this year they're finding themselves in the middle of the pack. But watching their young guys improve over the last few seasons, they're window for being great is rapidly approaching. They host the Lion Rebels on Saturday and then travel to the best designed court in the league to face off against the Flamingos.

9. Linndale (9)
After last season, their start to this season seems a bit underwhelming, but with their recent big moves, they're banking on making some great strides. At .500 but having won their last two games against the bottom feeders (so far), they turn their attention to The Beer Bellys on the road before hosting Tasty Tardsicles. Still at least another week before Hearn arrives and even then, they'll have to adapt to poor game shape on his part, making it probably until the all-star break before he'll be able to perform at his highest level. Still enough time for them to break through the Big 8 to get back into playoff contention.

10. Carolina Rebels (5)
How am I ranking a 5-3 team below the .500 teams? This week, they dropped in 5 spots in EFFG and 3 spots in OPP EFFG thanks mostly to throwing their matchup against the Lions before dominating Zubr and their Cup matchup. Their reward for ensuring progression through the Cup? A 373rd ranked KC Kings - while it's on the road, it's probably a good 100K well worth it on the season. And with two difficult matchups on the road against Miami and then hosting the Night King's zombies, it makes sense to continue to on in the Cup, especially sitting where they're at.

11. Flamin' Flamingos (14)
It's unfortunate for the Flamingos, being in the Big 8 - I think if they were in the opposite conference, they'd probably have a better record (no offense Beer Bellys, Hustlas or STG). And while they're sitting at 3-5 on the season and only two games out of the playoffs at this point, they did only win two games against Big 8 teams before beating the Hustlas dominantly in their first interconference play. Next up, comes STG on the road and a good test of where they're really at against Żubr Białystok. They're also still in the Cup, with another favorable matchup before hell week in wee

12. The Beer Bellys (10)
Last season thatguy's squad was surprising and impressing, but now they're retooling and preparing for the future after moving on from Segovia. In the meantime, they've still got the impressive Isidre Homs and had an impressive 26 point improvement in OPP EFFG after playing the bottom seeds in both conferences. They find a stiff test this week with a home game against Linndale and then traveling to San Dominica.

13. Hustlas (7)
If I know anything about Reece, they're only biding their time to retool their roster until finances make sense. Riding a five game losing stream thanks to losses to Tasty on the road followed by a road decimation to Flamingos, they turn their attention to hosting 209's this weekend before traveling to Fondy. How much longer until they bring in some new blood?

14. STG on MCU (13)
At 2-6 it's been a rough go so far with their most recent losses to Zubr and the Lion Rebels. They flipped over to Princeton and had a good outside offensive performance with two players combining for almost half their total points in the game even though they were battling from behind the whole game. But for a 1 seed vs. 7 seed, it wasn't a bad showing. Next comes a 7 vs 7 matchup against the Flamingos at home followed by a road matchup with 209's MostWanted.

15. Fondy Cardinals (16)
While Fondy doesn't have the WORST offense, their defense is still at the bottom, true since week one. A 20-point loss to Linndale on the road followed by a 21-point loss to The Beer Bellys at home on TV leave them winless still on the season. On the slate next is Tasty on the road followed by Hustlas at home, where there might be potential for a win.

16. Cincinnati Slammers (11)
Cincy started out the season with an 83.5 EFFG (which was still only good for 15th) but had a 101 OPP EFFG good for 4th overall thanks to some crazy OPP EFFG scores overall. Now they find themselves settling into 15th in defense efficiency and a -283 point differential. Aside from a 2-point loss in game one, they haven't been very competitive, but only lost to Linndale by 12 this week. Unfortunately, next comes San Dominica at home and Philly Dribble on the road.

Onward through interdivisional play - best of luck!

GM walks into the Coach Pio Reina’s office, a bounce in his step. “Hey Coach, gotta few minutes?”
“Sure”, Pio replied. “What’s on your mind? You look like your in your criminal mastermind mode.”
GM retorts, “I am; I’m trying to take over the world.” Pio sighs. “What did you just do to make my life harder?”

“Open your email. You’ll see the player acquisition report. I want your thoughts on the guard room. I want to know if you want another point guard, or do we wait and see how things shake out?”

Pio reads the report. “I see. This is both a future move and a hedge our bets move, isn’t it? You’re thinking we can get this kid ready for backup minutes in the postseason, but you’re looking longer term. You’re thinking he might not become more than a backup point guard here, but he’d be a very nice backup. If he can develop his shooting range, things could get very interesting. Gives us an option if Shooter or Petriukstis can’t handle the point.”

“I thought about that, but I went in a slightly different direction. Imagine the new kid and Petriukstis in the back court together. Shooter off the bench as the 3rd guard. Reese at the small forward…” The GM got lost in thought for a moment.

“If the kids continue developing,” Pio started. “---we will have a young, nasty, defensive minded squad. Think 2 years down the line. The guards should be weapons on both ends. We might have some minor tweaking to do at the forward spots, but at center we’ll be pretty solid, and deep. What do you think about that?”

“I think we need a guard who can rebound and a big who can shoot it,” Pio replied.

“Check the next report.”

Pio looked at the next report. Looks like the GM is playing interdimensional chess today, Pio thought. It’s not perfect, but I can definitely make it work, he thought to himself. “I have concerns”, Pio allowed. Let’s see what we have with the kids right now. How close are we to being that defensive team in your eyes?”

“Petriukstis, Knowles, Kamp, Reese. Not worried about the centers. Still think there’s more to unlock with Mann at PF, Reynolds has the potential to be in that first group, Guevara still has room inside to grow I think.” GM thinks they are closer than Pio thinks. Pio is being pragmatic.

“Look, I think the kids need longer to cook than you do. I think growth is not linear. However, I trust that you’ll make this the best roster you can and I do think you listen to my opinions. You get the talent, and let’s see where this goes.” Pio didn’t want to show he was absolutely intrigued and was trying to downplay it. It worked.

“All right Coach. I’ll keep looking. We’ll see what else we can do. There’s gotta be that one guy out there that ticks the boxes, and we’re gonna go find him.”

“Marshall Richards here on the Linndale Basketball Pre Game Show with Coach Pio Reina! Coach, how are you doing?”

“I’m good, Marshall, Thank you for asking.”

“Coach, it’s already been an eventful season. We’ve seen an overhaul in the back court and a big addition up front. Let’s start up front; any word on when Floyd Hearn takes the court?”

“Floyd looks like he’s about a week out from returning to action. We’re excited to have him. It’s going to take a moment for the guys to get used to playing with him and we’ll likely change some rotations, but we think this is going to be good!”

“OK, let’s go the back court. Trenton Tovar is playing well, and some say better than expected. How would you evaluate his play?”


“He’s doing what he needs to earn his time. He’s taking care of the ball, when he gets to the line he knocks down his free throws, his defense is getting better, and he’s been picking up some time at the point and handling that as well. Mantas Petriukstis has seen time at both guard spots as well. He needs to be more aggressive on offense, but his defense guarantees he will play. Kyle Knowles has just been balling out, and we’re excited about the long term potential of Christophe Nguyen.”

“Coach, that brings us to the forwards. How is that group coming along?”

“Marshall, we know what we’re getting with Kamp and Guevara, but the addition of Hearn will allow us to do more things with them, and versatility is a strength of both. Art Reese is playing well defensively and getting better offensively. Harrison Mann has work to do, but we do see improvements. The wildcard is Rolland Reynolds, we simply do not know what his ceiling is but he will get every chance to get better.”

“Finally, coach, the centers. How will Hearn impact that group?”

“Marshall, you’re just going to have to wait and see like the rest of the league.”

“Coach, on to tonight’s opponent. The Beer Bellys are an interesting team.”

“They are, but I’m worried about my team. We can be an inconsistent bunch. I don’t like inconsistency. I need to see who will step up so Kyle doesn’t have to carry the load on offense. I also need more aggression on defense; I don’t like that our focus tends to wane. We need better focus on defense, we need to attack the boards, and we need a big game from someone besides Kyle Knowles.”

“Thank you for yout time, Coach, and good luck with tonight’s game!”

“Thanks, Marshall and thanks for having me.”

Day 9 (Saturday 11 March 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
209’s MostWanted 122 - Hustlas 95
Flamin' Flamingos 111 - STG on MCU 92
Lion Rebels 49 - Żubr Białystok 66
Carolina Rebels 58 - Miami Cleo 93
Philly Dribble 73 - The White Walkers 86
San Dominica Warriors 115 - Cincinnati Slammers 77
Linndale 107 - The Beer Bellys 105
Fondy Cardinals 77 - Tasty Tardsicles 110

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 122 : 209’s MostWanted
Rebounds : 67 : Tasty Tardsicles
Assists : 33 : San Dominica Warriors
Steals : 15 : 209’s MostWanted
Block Shots : 11 : Flamin' Flamingos

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 41 : J. Esposito (Hustlas)
Rebounds : 29 : A. San Miguel (STG on MCU)
Assists : 10 : Z. Shunyi (209’s MostWanted)
Steals : 3 : P. Cuellar (209’s MostWanted), R. Raich (209’s MostWanted), V. Valladares (San Dominica Warriors), R. Singh (Lion Rebels), D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos)
Block Shots : 5 : A. Fornos (The White Walkers), S. Aldino (Flamin' Flamingos)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : B. Anderson (Flamin' Flamingos) (16 Points, 6 Rebounds, 8 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 24
Shooting Guard : J. Esposito (Hustlas) (41 Points, 4 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Small Forward : D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos) (29 Points, 11 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 3 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 43
Power Forward : C. Anaya (The White Walkers) (16 Points, 16 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 1 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Center : A. San Miguel (STG on MCU) (13 Points, 29 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34

MVP of the evening
D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos) (29 Points, 11 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 3 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 43

The bad performance of the evening
K. Brown (Lion Rebels) (3 Points, 1 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -4

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : L. Senserrich (Hustlas), M. Slakteris (Hustlas) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : N. Muižys (The Beer Bellys) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : G. Locus (Miami Cleo), B. George (Carolina Rebels), K. Brown (Lion Rebels), S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok), A. Fornos (The White Walkers), P. Stevens (Cincinnati Slammers) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : Y. Georgoulis (The Beer Bellys) : 6 Three points

The best performer : V. Papageorgiou (The White Walkers) : Rating : 18.0

The worst performer : T. Lang (Fondy Cardinals) : Rating : 3.0

“Marshall Richards on the Linndale Basketball Pregame Show, and subbing in for the ill Happy Ourer, we have Air Allnite. Welcome to the show, Air!”

Air Allnite: “Glad to be here, Marshall. What do you say we get right to it?”

MR: “Let’s go! I interviewed Coach Pio reina after Saturday night’s game and he shared the following with us.” (plays video)

Pio Reina: “Offensively, this was our most balanced contest in a long time. Every starter scored double figures. We won the battle on the boards, won the turnover battle, Shooter was good off the bench with his offense, our bigs both had double doubles, and we were efficient with the 3 point ball. It was a team win. Defensively, the inconsistency showed up again. We had one good quarter defensively, the second. We were poor defending the 3 point line, we couldn’t slow down Tison or Georgoulis. We have a lot of work to do on that end, but the team showed their resolve and hung on for the win. A defensive effort of that caliber against the Tardsicles won’t cut it. We have got to be a lot better.”
MR: “And now we welcome Coach Reina to the show. How are you Coach?”

PR: “I’m good, thanks for asking. How’s Happy doing?

MR: “He’s getting better, He sends his regards and expects to be back this weekend.”

AA: “Coach Reina, Air Allnite---”

PR: “I know who you are. Marshall, any more questions?”

MR: “Well, Coach, what’s the plan for tonight?”

PR: “Marshall, we need a big game from our bigs. We need a much better defensive effort than we gave Saturday. We’ll also need big games from the guards.”

MR: “Air, any last questions?”

AA: “Coach,how do you---”

PR: “No, Marshall; no further questions. Thanks for having me and we’ll see you after the game.”

Hunt Mosley:
He’s the legend Bret Rodriguez, I’m Hunt Mosley and you’re watching/listening to the Warriors’ Post Game Show. Warriors take care of business against the Beer Bellys here in the SMG. Warriors jumped to a quick start and pretty much didn’t look back since. Bret I’ll let you get some 2 cents up in here.

Bret Rodriguez:
Like you said Hunt, Warriors wasted no time establishing where this house was and who this house belonged to. It was Baiao’s lab but there was some fabulous mad italian science from Fab Alidori, who had no problems filling in for the struggling Etienne Blanchet who just get out the zebra’s way with foul trouble.

Hunt Mosley:
I’ll have to stop you there partner as we’ve just found out Coach is at the podium and we’ll now take you to the post game press conference with Coach Stephenson.

Reporter#1
Coach, Thad Moreno, San Dominica Times-Real. Big win coach, your team came out and established itself quick and early. Did you guys stress any concerns about this being a trap game?

Coach Stephenson:
I know a lot of people looked upon this as a gimme game but look, the Beer Bellys are a dangerous.

From the crowd:
Especially after they’ve had their ale

Coach Stephenson:
Especially (laughing) after they’ve had their ale. But no we were not underestimating our opponent, so we wanted to get an early lead, run up the tempo, try and get their bigs tired. And it worked for the most part.

Reporter#2
Coach, Fab Alidori came off the bench for a struggling Etienne Blanchett, 24 points, 5 assists and 4 steals ...

Coach Stephenson:
Yeah I’ll save you some breath. Hmm Fab is a damn good combo guard. His shooting ability and court vision could have him be a starter in this league easily so today was just Fab being Fab and us being a team that lives by the credo ‘Always be ready because you never know’

Reporter#3
Coach, you guys went to a 3-2 that pretty much smothered their offense. How did you know to go with that?

Coach Stephenson:
Actually we were expecting them to go Look Inside. Hmm that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to have such a quick pace. Figured tired bigs, make horrible inside scorers. We went 3-2 hoping to stifle their guard action enough to make getting them the ball difficult and hoped that tired bigs having to shoot from difficult positions = low points. That they just happened to play motion really didn’t change the gameplan much

Reporter#5
Coach, your team’s been on a win streak. Obviously the process is working, are you guys starting to think you can repeat?

Coach Stephenson:
Look we’re just trying to take things one game at a time. Last year that approach got us to the Finals, hopefully that approach can give us the same results. But look, we’re just focused on keeping pace with the Lion Rebels. In fact we’re gonna take a look at that game. (laugh) hopefully get some intel on the Cleo.

From the crowd:
The Lions actually won that one by 14.

Coach Stephenson:
See those daggone Lion Rebels. I’m telling you guys, Blaine is like ‘Hey Coach, I hope when you sleep and you dream, you see us, and when you can’t sleep and you scream it’s because of us! But nah, Exhibit A of why you can’t crown us Big 8 champs yet. One last question

Reporter#6:
Might we be seeing a change?

Coach Stephenson:
Change where?

Reporter#6
At the PG position

Coach Stephenson:
What! Hell no! Look Fab’s good but right now when it comes to dropping dimes without giving the ball up, it’s Etienne’s show. All right guys we’ll be seeing you

Hunt Mosley:
That was Coach with his post game press conference. (turns to Bret) What's wrong

Brett Rodriguez: (banging his head on his interlocked hands)
I can't believe that last question

Hunt Mosely:
You and me both. We'll be back

Last edited by Coach Stephenson at 3/15/2023 2:33:06 AM

Day 10 (Tuesday 14 March 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
STG on MCU 74 - 209’s MostWanted 131
Żubr Białystok 109 - Flamin' Flamingos 85
Miami Cleo 84 - Lion Rebels 97
The White Walkers 76 - Carolina Rebels 74
Cincinnati Slammers 44 - Philly Dribble 144
The Beer Bellys 53 - San Dominica Warriors 111
Tasty Tardsicles 107 - Linndale 92
Hustlas 81 - Fondy Cardinals 95

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 144 : Philly Dribble
Rebounds : 64 : Lion Rebels
Assists : 36 : Philly Dribble, 209’s MostWanted
Steals : 14 : Philly Dribble, San Dominica Warriors
Block Shots : 13 : San Dominica Warriors

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 43 : J. Esposito (Hustlas)
Rebounds : 21 : D. Allen (Carolina Rebels), T. Kuykendall (Lion Rebels)
Assists : 9 : M. Maurin (Miami Cleo), M. Velasco (Philly Dribble), T. Rumin (209’s MostWanted)
Steals : 5 : J. Bégin (San Dominica Warriors)
Block Shots : 5 : N. Peretz (Żubr Białystok)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : M. Velasco (Philly Dribble) (16 Points, 6 Rebounds, 9 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 28
Shooting Guard : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo) (28 Points, 5 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots), L. Baião (San Dominica Warriors) (25 Points, 1 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 24
Small Forward : J. Glicas (Philly Dribble) (31 Points, 5 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36
Power Forward : N. Peretz (Żubr Białystok) (14 Points, 20 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 5 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 32
Center : D. Allen (Carolina Rebels) (13 Points, 21 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 29

MVP of the evening
J. Glicas (Philly Dribble) (31 Points, 5 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36

The bad performance of the evening
G. Tison (The Beer Bellys) (0 Points, 5 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -9

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : J. Esposito (Hustlas), I. Homs (The Beer Bellys), D. Christopher (Cincinnati Slammers) : 7 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo), T. Plummer (Carolina Rebels) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : T. Plummer (Carolina Rebels), D. Freire (The White Walkers) : 53 Minutes

The shooter : T. Tovar (Linndale) : 7 Three points

The best performer : M. Velasco (Philly Dribble), T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) : Rating : 18.0

The worst performer : Z. Carr (Cincinnati Slammers) : Rating : 2.0

Week Five Power Rankings
Some light movement in the rankings this week despite mostly status quo games throughout Week 5. Carolina had a valiant effort against White Walkers but fell short, while Fondy Cardinals found themselves their first win on the season to avoid double digits in the loss column for now! On to the rankings! Last week's ranking will be in parenthesis behind the team name.

1. San Dominica Warriors (5)
Bizarrely, the exact same situation happened last season in Week 5 with Coach Stephenson's boys moving from 5th to 1st in these rankings. Huh. Their joint rankings in EFFG and OPP EFFG score them a 3 (EFFG rank: 2; OPP EFFG rank: 4). A relatively easy week 4 for them, as they coasted on the road at Cincinnati to a 38-point victory, followed by a 58-point drubbing of The Drunken Beer Bellys at home. They also received help from an easier cup matchup and have 244th ranked IU Hoosiers in the Cup next week. But before that, they'll have at least one challenging matchup as they travel to The House of Hoops to take on Tasty before turning around and hosting Hustlas next Tuesday.

2. The White Walkers (1)
Dropping out of #1 for the first time this season is the White Walkers with their EFFG rank dropping to 7th despite only losing 3.3 points on their average for the season. But their OPP EFFG rank stays first, so they score a 4 on my scale. While they had two wins to create a new winning streak after losing to San Dominica a week ago, their offense struggled a bit more than usual in efficiency. But beating Philly by 13 in a game that wasn't really that close followed by staving off Carolina Rebels on the road by 2 points in OT after being down 10 at the half has to feel good. Next, a home game against the other Rebels and then they take their Grateful Dead show on the road to the Flamingos to finish out the week. They're still in the Cup too!

3. Tasty Tardsicles (4)
Tasty continues to move up these rankings, making improvements in both EFFG and OPP EFFG this week (3rd & 5th, respectively) for a score of 4 - because of last week's ranking, the tie goes to The Night King. Sitting at 8-2 on the season now, they had a nice week with an easy win over Fondy before handling Linndale on the road by 15 points. After their Cup loss last week, they're demoted to scrimmages. But this week should be a challenge with games against San Dominica at home followed by a trip to Philly to take on the Dribble. Should be some good comps to see where they're at overall (outside of these rankings and where the real action happens).

4. Lion Rebels (2)
The facade is starting to crumble, though in losing last night's Cup matchup, there won't be any toying with the starting line up to manage minutes going forward. We had another fall on our face game, getting limited severely by whitestok's defense, suffocated really, and only scoring 49-points in a game that is almost a mirror image of our loss to San Dominica. But a nice bounce back after that, defeating Miami at home thanks to a difference in effort. Heading beyond the wall this weekend before hosting Cincinnati - thankful for at least one win (I hope).

5. Miami Cleo (3)
Sitting at 7-3 after defeating Carolina soundly at home before losing in the aforementioned game to the Lions, Rebel week went alright for Miami. even though they lost only 1.8 points in EFF, they slipped three places (to 8th) thanks to other teams moving up, and with a similar slip in points (1.5) in OPP EFFG they stayed the same, ranked 2nd for a combined score of 5. Next comes the Flamingos who've retooled a bit, followed by a road trip against 209's MostWanted, which should be a nice matchup.

6. 209's MostWanted (7)
Alex finds his crew at 3rd place in the Big 8 after five weeks and are now in the midst of a four game winning streak thanks to a near 30-point victory over Hustlas on the road followed by a dominant near 60-point win while hosting STG on MCU. Their 8 point improvement in EFFG moves them up one spot to 1st and they improved by 10.6 points in OPP EFFG to move up to 9th from 12th, which gives them a score of 5 (tie break goes to last week's ranking, which Miami wins). A trip to Żubr Białystok is on the horizon and then they turn around and host Miami for a battle of the (current) 3rd place teams.

7. Philly Dribble (6)
Philly finds themselves at .500 even though they've got a 134-point differential advantage. Their loss to The White Walkers extended their losing streak to three before they righted the ship against Cincinnati at home, taking out all their frustration in a 100-point victory, scoring 144 points on 62% shooting (nearly 100 shots). Their EFFG is ranked 5th while their OPP EFFG is ranked 6th for an overall score of 5.5. They get a bit of a sigh of relief, traveling to the Keg against Beer Bellys before then hosting Tasty in what could be a difficult matchup - but they have a chance to get two games above .500!

8. Żubr Białystok (8)
After putting a drowning out the Lions last weekend, whitestok's boys turned their attention to the Flamingos, beating them on the road by 24. Their efficiency ranks have stayed the same (9th and 7th respectively) for a score of 8 as we enter the next section of teams. On their slate for Saturday is a home matchup with 209's in what should be an interesting matchup and then they travel to face the Cardinals on the road.

9. Linndale (9)
Speedtraps' gang is sticking at .500 after a brief three game win streak, the last of which was a two-point victory at the Keg thanks to D. Kamp's shot with 17 seconds remaining and the Bellys not scoring on their shot attempt with 4 seconds left. Following that, they lost to Tasty in a game in which they were never really in it, although Tovar had a nice night, shooting 50% from the field, including 7-12 from three for 29 points. Their EFFG is ranked 8th and OPP EFFG 10th for a score of 9. Next comes a road matchup with Hustlas followed by hosting STG on MCU.

10. Carolina Rebels (10)
A tough week for Carolina dropping two games and going 1-4 over the last two weeks with their intentions keen on staying in the Cup, which has been rewarded, as they face #587th ranked AZ LYNX this coming week with a chance for three games during all star week. They dropped a road game to Miami before just missing on their hosting of The White Walkers, losing by two in OT. Down 5 at the start of the 4th, the White Walkers quickly found themselves down 10 after a couple minutes. But a three ball by V. Stiberc jolted them awake and they clawed back, holding the Rebels at 63 points for six whole minutes, but didn't tie it up until 19 seconds were left. Tied at 69 heading into overtime, the teams traded barbs back and forth before the Walkers went ahead by one with 33 seconds remaining and both teams not able to make a shot aside from Stiberc going 1-2 from the FT line with 16 seconds left. Ultimately Carolina couldn't get a shot off to end the game. After that heart break, Carolina is gifted a television matchup on the road in Cincinnati before playing host to The Beer Bellys.

11. Flamin' Flamingos (11)
Not satisfied with the status quo of hanging just outside the playoff field, ascent went out this week and dropped 1/2 million dollars on a French 7-footer, 30-year-old Julien Delaire who averaged 16.3/14.9 PTS/Rebs for a French Div IV team that went bot. I'd assume he'll step in place for Gino Colonnelo, the 34-year-old Italian center whose been performing relatively averagely thus far. He might transition to PF, with Salehuddin Aldino moving to SF and Darnell Rivas pivoting to SG which would relegate Li See Yan to the bench as a very capable 6th man. But that's just a guess. 1-1 on the week, with a victory on the road against STG before falling short against Żubr Białystok. Next comes a tough week with a road game in Miami followed by hosting the Wild Walkers of the North.

12. The Beer Bellys (13)
I fudged and accidentally entered The Bellys EFFG points 25 higher than they actually were. They had been ranked 4th in EFFG before I found my flub, but one can wish, I guess. Their actual rank is 12 and their OPP EFFG is ranked 11th, which leaves them with a score of 11.5. They too have made some moves this week, bringing in some old dogs alongside a 19-year-old Canadian that one would presume they're going to focus on training. In the short-term, however, their guard/forward pick ups should help balance them out in their fight against relegation - but only they will know how fast their skills deteriorate over the course of the season. Another two losses this week, with heart-breaker to Linndale at home followed by utter decimation by the heartless Warriors on the road. Next up, they host Philly before traveling to Carolina for what will be a difficult week.

13. Hustlas (13)
This tier of teams has stood pat in the rankings with no movement. Hustlas are no exception to that rule, with an EFFG rank of 13 and an OPP EFFG rank of 14, leaving them with a score of 13.5. They haven't won since February 18th, and their losing streak is up to seven games after losing to 209's and granting the Cardinals their first victory of the season. Next up comes Linndale at home followed by a TV matchup on the road against San Dominica.

14. Fondy Cardinals (15)
The lone team with movement upwards in the bottom 9 teams in these rankings, Fondy gets themselves a win and with a 4.6 swing in OPP EFFG moves from dead last in that category to 13th which gives them an overall score of 13.5, jumping them up to 14th in these rankings. It's been a rough go thus far and Tasty was sure to leave a turd in the visiting locker room last weekend before they defeated Fondy viciously, but the Cardinals turned around and beat Hustlas by 14 points at home leading the whole way. And though they gave up 43 points to league scoring leader J. Esposito, they put together a nice offensive performance for themselves on the back of Móric Milo who started at SF and finished with 25 points on 11-19 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Next, they've got a chance to put together a little winning streak as they go on the road against STG on MCU before then hosting Żubr Białystok.