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Well, after gaining some clarity of our roster Friday night during an enhanced daze of rum and edibles I realized in the moment that my back-court is getting too old to sustain DIII level of play much longer. All but Segovia are on their way out, good chance he could be listed early next season as well. Need to devote time/money towards buying and training up the Belly guards of the future. Honestly I've put this off probably a season too long, but I couldn't face leaving this league and all the great conversations in here! At least we'll have one more season before relegation.

Best of luck to everyone in the playoffs/relegation!

Final Season 59 Power Rankings
This last ranking comes late, courtesy of the last game of the season not coming until Saturday evening, but I'm getting it in before the playoffs/relegations start, so they still count! Not a ton of huge changes, but some interesting tie breakers leading up to it. I'll get to the rankings, keeping the comments short because I want to get to my playoff/relegation predictions as well. Let's go!

First a quick note from last week's power rankings comments on how things COULD shake out. The Great 8 settled about where I thought with Hustlas holding off Beer Bellys, while I was off on the Big 8 thanks to a Linndale upset of San Dominica in the final game and Carolina getting upended by 209's on the road before falling, as expected, to Philly Dribble. So Carolina gets the privilege of traveling to Philly for back to back games while Linndale also gets back to back road games against San Dominica. I do think both 2 vs 3 seed games should be interesting tonight, but we'll get to that in a moment.

For these final rankings, I thought it would be fun to look back at where each team was ranked after the first week of the season - that number is in parenthesis.

1. San Dominica Warriors (6)
I know - they're 15-7, but this isn't based on standings, simply efficiency. They finished the season ranked 2nd in EFFG and OPP EFFG, which puts them at the top of the pack.

2. The Ashkickers (2)
While they haven't gotten a lot of love in these rankings, they finish out at least closer to where they probably belong, which is #1 because, you know, Defense wins Championships! Their 59.1 OPP EFFG ranks supreme - they will be tough to beat.

3. Philly Dribble (1)
Philly is the exact opposite of The Ashkickers: ranked 1st in EFFG and 6th in OPP EFFG. But still, they're dynamite and are chomping at the bit to move on.

4. Miami Cleo (8)
Losing only 4 games this season thanks primarily to their 2nd ranked OPP EFFG. It will be an interesting contest with the unpredictable Hustlas, but should they advance, they're maybe the best team with a shot to knock off The Ashkickers.

5. The Beer Bellys (3)
I just want to point out that the Bellys went from averagign 103.8 EFFG last season to 122.1 this season and made even greater improvements in OPP EFFG going from 100.3 down to 73.7. Too bad it sounds like they're blowing it up, though probably necessary.

6. 209's MostWanted (5)
Our first non-playoff team enters the rankings, edging out Hustlas solely based on final OPP EFFG rating, 79.6 compared to 84.3. Looking back, having just missed out on the playoffs by one game with a favorable point differential in the case of a tie, it's hard to pick which game they'd want back, but it's probably their 10-point loss to Linndale at home on New Years Eve as that would've pushed them into that last spot.

7. Hustlas (7)
Finishing where they started in the rankings, they're downfall, barely, is probably their defense as they could score with the best of them. But an 84 OPP EFFG (ranked 9th overall) isn't going to cut it, especially this season with so many dominant defensive teams who could still score (There are only 10 EFFG points separating #1 and #7). Of the top teams, Hustlas OPP EFFG was the 2nd worst.

8. Linndale (4)
The tricky thing for Linndale is I don't know that they NEEDED to beat San Dom - the right type of close loss could have them edge out 209's based on point differential - but it would had to have been close!

9. Żubr Białystok (10)
They miss out on the playoffs after surprising us in season 58 by finishing 2nd in the Great 8, but it seems like their training regiment got in the way of season success, which makes next season's team more daunting.

10. Carolina Rebels (9)
Carolina's definitely played the field very well this season and their efficiency rankings show that they played above their level. Kudos to them for prepping as well as they did to earn the 4th seed.

11. Lion Rebels (11)
Finishing with a bang over a bot team, the rumour mill around the team is whirling, having finished with their second worst record ever, the mood around the team is somber. Relegation matchup with the Spartans looks a bit daunting, but time will tell as they earned home court advantage for the series based on a barely favorable point differential.

12. The Philadelphia Spartans (14)
Despite a brief daliance with competing at this level, they fairly quickly backed out, seeking shelter in the relegation zone. Lion Rebels and Philadelphia were the two teams on the plane in between playoff spot competition and bottom of the barrel.

13. Motor City Waddupdoe (12)
Tough sledding for Motor City, finishing with 4 wins on the season winning the title of Best of the Worst. Relegation matchup against 209's doesn't look too promising for them.

14. BKDogs (14)
BKDogs wins the prize for not losing to the bot teams and also having only the fourth worst point differential on the season.

15. Sweaty Bots (15)
Stinky.

16. BOTTTSBURGS (16)
Defensive (in)efficiency did indeed reach 200 as well as dropping down to -0.6 in offensive (in)efficiency.

Playoff and Relegation Predictions
First up, the Great 8 where we have a decent separation between all four teams from 1 - 4 seeds.

The Beer Bellys (4) vs. The Ashkickers (1)
thatguy's squad barely lost to The Ashkickers in the final game of the season, losing by one with a failed 4th quarter comback which might make this an interesting matchup, except for that loss came at home. In the first game of the season, The Ashkickers kicked some Beer Belly ash, winning by 15 when they hosted them.
Prediction: The Ashkickers

The Hustlas (3) vs. Miami Cleo (2)
Miami lost at home to the Hustlas early on in the season, falling by 11 before renewing their resolve and beating the Hustlas on the road on New Years Eve by 10. Miami lost two strange games this season, including the first one to Hustlas. Regardless, I don't think Hustlas pulls off another on the road victory, but I wouldn't put it passed them.
Prediction: Miami

Next, the Big 8, where they finished with a log jam at 2, 3, & 4 all at 15-7 with point differential playing the tie-breaker.

Carolina Rebels (4) vs. Philly Dribble (1)
Carolina lost by a cumulative 40 points in their two matchups with Philly this season. Assuming they both played the TIE, Philly has the favorable matchup as the host.
Prediction: Philly Dribble

Linndale (3) vs. San Dominica Warrios (2)
Linndale lost by 10 at home in the first part of the season before then finishing the season with the upset on the road, winning by 12 with more enthusiasm used. With that, it feels like they sealed their fate.
Prediction: San Dominica

Great 8 Conference Finals
Miami Cleo (2) vs. The Ashkickers (1)
Talk about a tale of two different games. In their first matchup of the season, Miami rode into The Ashkickers court and limped off having only scored 45 points in four quarters in what turned out to be a terrible TV game. But then, with three games left to go in the season, Miami played host and defeated The Ashkickers by 9 in a redemption game where The Ashkickers put in more effort on the night. A decently tough call, but I'm riding Tylormade's defense and home court advantage to the league championship.
Prediction: The Ashkickers

Big 8 Conference Finals
San Dominica Warriors (2) vs. Philly Dribble (1)
While San Dominica was playing extremely efficiently against most teams in the league, Philly Dribble was their achilles heel, losing by 13 at home and 15 on the road. While I've touted their efficiency all season, I think it ends at this point in the road.
Prediction: Philly Dribble

Season 59 Div III.11 Finals
Philly Dribble (1) vs. The Ashkickers (1)
I'm assuming The Ashkickers wins home court advantage for the series with the better record and having beat Philly by 6 at the middle point of the season. And that game was at Philly, with Philly using more enthusiasm than The Ashkickers. Tylormade's three-headed outside monster composed of Sesamo, Gattoni, and Rojas scored 27, 25, and 24 points respecitvely despite Philly's prominent rated permeter defense and jumping out to a 12-point lead at the half. And I know it's probably not too fair to compare, but Philly lost to The Ashkickers in their only matchup last season. I'm not saying it will be a blow out, but it probably won't be quite the slugfest.
Prediction: The Ashkickers in 3 games

Relegation Predictions
Motor City Waddupdoe (7) vs. 209's MostWanted (5)
I can't imagine this will be much of a competition, with 209's having just missed out on the playoffs and Motor City's only other win aside from bot victories coming against BKDogs. Their highest salaried player isn't a scorer and even if 209's sell off 35-year old $41k PG Paulinho Gomes before the series finishes, I don't think there's any way Motor City competes.
Prediction: Motor City in 2 games

BKDogs (7) vs. Żubr Białystok (5)
Much like the previous matchup, I don't imagine this one will be close either, especially with BK selling $13k SF Zigmas Elsneris and fielding a less than stellar game shape squad. whitestok can't get out of this league quite yet!
Prediction: Żubr Białystok in 2 games

The Philadelphia Spartans (6) vs. Lion Rebels (6)
Unfortunately for Philadelphia, their most recent acquisition, big man Timothy Richard, isn't available for post season play. But they still have enough tools to compete with a weary Lion Rebels, who thanks to injuries don't have their game shape quite up to par. It should be a decent matchup.
Prediction: Philadelphia Spartans in 3 games

That's all folks - good luck to those in the playoffs and good luck to the Spartans (I'm gonna need it!).

Last edited by Baine at 1/24/2023 5:50:07 PM

*addressing the press after his final game*

Coach: "We talked about the lack of bench scoring. We talked about the lack of scoring. We talked about the lack of rebounding. We talked about all of that all season long. I don't know if you weren't listening, but we talked about it. All of that came back to bite us. We just didn't get the job done. To be clear, that's a good team over there in the other locker room. Give them all the credit in the world. They went out and took this game. That's what you have to do in the postseason. I suppose I'll see you guys one last time after I clean out my office. It's been a good run, but I'm sure I leave things better than when I got here. Pio has a nice team with some youth and young vets. He's a capable coach. He will get this team where it needs to be. I'm around as an adviser to the GM, whatever that means. I'm a coach. I know basketball; what am I going to advise a GM on? Budgets? I never saw a budget make a free throw, block a shot, take a charge, or draw a foul. You guys know who I am and what I do. They need to change that title; it should be adviser to basketball operations, or something like that. Anyway, I'll see you guys later, we gotta get home. Thank you all, have a great night, and congratulations to San Dominica."

Thanks for the writeups all season. Tough go for me getting promoted to a league this competitive after only having the franchise for a quarter season. Enjoyed playing with you all and hopefully I'll be back soon

Was tough sledding - glad you stuck it out though. Now you have a chance to retool and come back stronger!

Round One Recap
Games went pretty much as expected - here's some quick highlights for your Wednesday morning round up!

The Ashkickers Defeat The Beer Bellys
800 fans short of a sell out at The Basketball Center saw The Ashkickers demolish The Beer Bellys despite the Bellys using more effort. They must've been drunk, because they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, shooting 28% from the field and a paltry (dismal? wretched? horrendous?) 6% from three (and that's being generous by rounding up from 5.9%) hitting only one of 17 shots from beyond the arc. Juan Gilbert Segovia was especially depressing, scoring 8 of his 18 points from the free throw line, only making 5 of 20 total shots, including 0-8 from three.

On the other side, The Ashkickers finished them off with a dynamic duo output from San Miguel and Rojas (10-15 and 8-12 from the field, respectively) leading the team with 29 and 23 points on the night. The Beer Bellys kept it relatively close in the first half, only down 6 heading into the third quarter only to score just 28 points in the final two frames to lose by 25.

Miami Cleo Ousts Hustlas
With more effort, Miami held off Jonata Esposito's 28 points in 38 minutes with Arys Varpukevicius leading the way with 34 points. Cleo also had a tremendous 23 assists to 3 turnovers ratio in their dominating win. Though they won by 19, it appears they may have needed the extra effort to ensure victory, though I would assume they would've won regardless. Having said that, they're now at a supreme disadvantage heading into their 2nd round matchup with The Ashkickers. But time will tell!

San Dominica Over Linndale
On the other side of the bracket, in the second of three repeat matchups in just one week, San Dominica delivered the knockout blow to Linndale's season, jumping out to an 8-point lead and holding onto a 3-point lead at the half. A dull 3rd quarter by both teams led to Linndale being down by just 5 with an opportunity to upset on the road (again) but despite Kyle Knowles 12 points in the final frame to finish with 27 on the night, they just couldn't capitalize, shooting 20% from three in the patient offense as San Dominica pulled away for a 14-point victory. Five players scored in double digits for the Warriors, with PF Jérome Bégin bringing in 19 rebounds and backup C Vicente Valladares bringing in another 16 rebounds in an astounding 19 minutes of play.

Philly Dribble Handles Carolina Rebels
On the surface, this looks like an easy win, but it turned into more of a nightmare in the 3rd quarter. With just under nine minutes to play in the 3rd, T. Plummer fouled M. Velasco, Philly's star point guard, stopping a driving layup by scratching Velasco's face so badly he had to leave the game. The team's doctor announced after the game that the gashes were so severe, not even a face shield would suffice to protect Velasco's pretty face and he's slated to miss what amounts to the rest of the season. Just over five minutes later, up 32 points, Philip Huddleston tried a driving layup and missed but was fouled by H. Espinosa who landed with full force on Huddleston's right ankle. Huddleston was seen in a walking boot after the game and early reports are that he's out at least one week with a right ankle sprain. Carolina would go on to score an impressive 53 points in the 4th quarter to make it look close, but with their defense giving up 40, 33, 34, & 34 points in each of the night's quarters, it wasn't really that close. Just a shame too, as it makes next weekend's matchup against San Dominica all that more challenging.

Last edited by Baine at 1/25/2023 5:27:27 PM

Just want to shout out a congrats to The Ashkicker's Lorenzo Rojas on thoroughly winning the MVP award. I think he really deserved it, especially after the last three seasons since Tylormade acquired him, putting up 16, 17.1, 17.4 PPG, 5.2, 6.0, 5.6 APG and playing in all but 3 league matchups in those seasons (his first season).

While I didn't get to my MVP predictions in time, I had pulled the numbers, and Rojas winning really throws a kink into my calculations which is a weighted ranking system based on Average Efficiency, Efficiency/48 Minutes, and finally Average Rating where in Rojas finished 14th, 14th, & 11th respectively among all players. But as Buck Showalter would say, "sometimes your gut just tells ya who the best man is."

Not that it's worth anything, but here's how I had the top 10 in MVPs ranking:
1. Sławek Klin (Hustlas)
2. Dewayne Allen (Carolina)
3. Clark Riggins (Żubr Białystok)
4. Terry Armstead (Lion Rebels)
5. Hugo Espinosa (Carolina)
6. Jérome Bégin (San Dominica)
7. Juljonas Glicas (Philly Dribble)
8. Lorenzo Rojas (THE ACTUAL MVP, OK)
9. Patrick Cheatle (Miami Cleo)
10. Yüce Semiramis (The Beer Bellys)

Obviously that ranking system seems to favor the big man...guess I'll have to go back to the drawing board for trying to predict this award in the future. Good luck this weekend!

Round 2 Recap
Welp, things turned out as I expected, with The Ashkickers and San Dominica advancing to the finals.

Miami Cleo @ The Ashkickers
With Miami exerting extra effort last Tuesday against Hustlas, they were facing what already seemed like an unsurmountable mountain, but then Tylormade's crew came out punching, starting out with a 28-14 1st quarter thumping. League MVP Lorenzo Rojas went 4-4 from the field, including 1 3-pointer for 9 points in 9 minutes while Miami shot 7-20 from the field. They kept pace in the 2nd, closing the deficit by two points to be down 12 at the half before Ashkickers handled the second half with relative ease, keeping Cleo to just 16 and 12 points in the last two quarters. With that, Miami drifts back into the shadows until Season 60, while The Ashkickers advance.

San Dominica Warriors @ Philly Dribble
As expected, Philly's injuries played into this game with Philly keeping pace alright until the 3rd quarter where they were exposed. Only down 4 after the first quarter, they fought back with 24 points in the 2nd to take a one point lead at the half. But a brutal third quarter sealed their fate where they sent 4-21 from the field to score just 11 points. While they had four steals in the first half, they would go on to only get one more steal on the night finishing out their season with a 12-point loss after beating the Warriors at home AND on the road this season. Tough luck for Phils_wings.

Championship Finals Preview
Starting tomorrow night, San Dominica travels to The Basketball Center to take on The Ashkickers. In their lone matchup this season, they lost at home to Ashkickers, 89-85 in a game that featured 50 3-point shots (and, to be honest, subpar shooting). The other highlight from that game was Ashkickers 15 blocks, including 6 by PF Toni Colomina. SF Luís Alberto Baião held up his side of the deal in that game, scoring 6 points above his average for the season with 23 points, but 2nd highest scorer on the season, SG M. Granja struggled, only netting 11 points on 4-12 shooting.

San Dominica's outside defense matches up well with The Ashkickers three-headed outside attack, but there are concerns that if just one player gets hot, as Rojas did against them in December going 6-10 from three, that they won't be able to keep pace with them offensively. Both defenses are stout, but The Ashkickers may just have more stoutness in them. Passed that, it may just come down to stamina, game shape, and enthusiasm to finish out the season. I think this matchup goes three games, regardless of who wins, but I'm predicting The Ashkickers in 3.