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Week One Power Rankings
Week 2 Observations
Welcome to season 59's first official power rankings following games one and two of the regular season. As the season has gotten underway, we've got five players averaging 25 or more points per game (though, admittedly two of them were involved in a walkover match), four players are averaging 15.0 or more rebounds per game, and three players are averaging 7.0 assists or more per game. I won't do this every week, but just pointing a few key players out at the start of the season - BKDogs Čamil Grbac leads the way with 29.5 PPG on 50% shooting (although, they're posting a turrible 17.6% from three on 21 shots, including 1-10 last night and they still scored 37 points!). Meanwhile, Carolina Rebels Trent Begley has gone 18-18 from the free throw line partly from going 10-10 in the final 39 seconds of the Rebel Bowlto maintain their lead at the end after they almost blew it in the fourth quarter. Terry Armstead has hauled in 36 rebounds with Hustlas Giorgi Taktakishvili on his heels with 35. And The Beer Belly's Isidre Homs is leading the way with 33.5 average efficiency after two.

Not much transfer movement related to teams adding on this season, and by "not much" I mean none since the transition from Season 58 through today. Several more departures, but I'm sure with some passing time, we'll see a team or two (or seven) bring in some more salary as the standings start to take shape and we see who's who and what's what. BKDogs did sell the 32-year old Antonio Rodríguez a Spanish PG to the Greek D III club Psisasters for $166,500 on the 5th, but nothing else has been notable except for scrubs and rookies being moved on from*. And with that, here are this season's initial power rankings!

*And of course, I wrote that sentence yesterday (11/09) and since then we've had two new transfers come in. First up, Linndale brought in 19-year old American SF Art Reese who has some nice potential, but probably won't be much of an impact at first. The second addition was BKDogs acquisition of 21-year old Lithuanian SG/SF Dominykas Švarplys, who looks primed for some continued training.

For those of you who are new, my power rankings are based on a combination of average Efficiency Per Game (EFFG) rank and their Opponents EFFG (OPP EFFG). Week one ties are sorted by difference in EFFG and OPP EFFG (ensuing weeks will take into consideration previous week's rankings to sort ties).

Week 1 Power Rankings
1. Philly Dribble
Not a big surprise at the top, with Phil_Wings starting off strong with an easy matchup first thing against newcoming BOBBBSBURGS (salary difference of $290k between them). Philly had an incredible combined 160 EFF for the game and lead from beginning to end. They then faced the Lowly Lion Rebels and beat them just as handily with seven players scoring double-digits and P. Huddleston having a monstrous double double with 18 boards. Next up after their Cup matchup, on the road against San Dominica and then they play host to Linndale in an early season highlight game.

2. The Ashkickers
It's nice to see my two Championship Series team predictions in the top two after one week...here's hoping that sticks for the whole season (sorry everyone else!). Tylormade's crew also faced what should be the bottom feeder of their side of the league in Sweaty Socks and were just as dominant with a 58-point victory while notching 151 EFF for the game. They carried that on the road to face The PHiladelphia Spartans who put up something of a fight until really getting taken advantage of in the third quarter. Once again, The Ashkickers are well balanced and fierce, although PG Rojas struggled on Tuesday night with a -5 EFF on a 1-10 shooting night. Next up: an interesting matchup with Hustlas at home before traveling againt to take on Żubr Białystok - definitely not a walk in the park sort of week.

3. The Beer Bellys
What I love about using efficiency for a ranking system, especially early on in the season, is the potential for a wide variance in rankings. Does thatguy's group deserve to be this high? Probably not, but also, I don't think they're that far off from this mark. After 1 & 2 (both 1st and 2nd in EFFG and OPP EFFG respectively) the rankings start to vary, with more offensively efficient teams jostling with more defensively efficient teams for position. This week, The Beer Bellys are ranked 5th in EFFG and 4th in OPP EFFG, landing them slightly ahead of the next two spots in the rankings. With a 1-1 record and three other undefeated teams, how can this be?, you say. Well, in game one, they defeated the Spartans by 19, holding them to only 59 EFF while boasting a 130 for themselves. Their matchup visiting Hustlas ended in a 9-point loss after being in the lead after three quarters, and while they didn't play great, they weren't terrible and Hustlas weren't domineering in EFF, resulting in The Beer Bellys landing in this spot. Will they stick? Well, with a matchup against Żubr Białystok at home followed by a trip to Sweaty Socks, I don't think they'll be too far off of the mark, but we'll see if they can stay the course.

4. 209's MostWanted
AlexFromThe209 brought a strong defensive effort in the first week, and while their offensive EFF wasn't terrific, they're sitting on a 54 point differential at 1-1. Thanks, in part, to getting to face BOBBBS, they also arrive here because they hung with Linndale and put up a good fight, only losing by 12 after faltering in the 2nd quarter. But BOBBBS is where they made up a lot of ground, holding them to a 1 point EFF rating for the game with six of their players having a negative efficiency night, while they hit 151 with all but two of their players (who both only played 1 minute) hitting at least double digits in efficiency for the evening. Will they be able to stand their ground? As you well know, time will tell and they have a road trip to Daylis Stadium to face the utterly defeated Lion Rebels before hosting San Dom on the flip side.

Week 1 Power Rankings Continued
5. Linndale
Speedtraps probably has a right to be irritated with an undefeated record to be ranked 5th, but with their first two matchups coming against solid clubs, it's expected that their efficiencies might be a bit lower, thus the lower ranking. They come in with a ranking of 3rd in EFFG and 7th in OPP EFFG. But with two solid wins under their belt, they've got a promising start to the season, defeating 209 and BKDogs right out of the gate. 209 caused a little more fuss for them than the Dogs, but Linndale has got to be feeling themselves. Happy Ourer will do that do you. Next up they play host to the upstart Carolina Rebels (2-0) and then have to travel for a big test against Philly Dribble next Tuesday.

6. San Dominica Warriors
Coach Stephenson finds themselves in 5th after two games with a 1-1 record with a nice win against BKDogs and a suprising upset loss on the road against Carolina (who put in a necessary Crunch Time effort). They rank 4th in EFFG and 8th in OPP EFFG. It's going to get tougher before it gets easier, with a home game against Philly followed up with a road trip to the 209 (I hear it's nice this time of year), but I suspect, they'll still be at .500 after Week 2.

7. Hustlas
Reece's group finds themselves at 2-0 with a meager 20 point differential after two games. They've shown they can score, but also tend to let the other team score as well, but a game 1 win against Miami on the road followed up with a defeat of The Beer Bellys has them sitting pretty with their aging crew. They slot in at 8th in EFFG and 5th in OPP EFFG and I'll take just a moment to point out that ranks 4-8 in OPP EFFG are all within 6.5 points of each other, so they're all neck and neck. I'm sure there will be lots of adjustments to these rankings in this middle tier of teams. Following their Cup game tonight, they face a strident Ashkickers on the road before playing host to currently 5th seeded Motor City Waddupdoe - they should still be above .500 come week's end.

8. Miami Cleo
Packer_22's squad sits at 1-1 but seeded 3rd in the Great 8 after one week after losing a relatively close game to Hustlas before ending up in an unfortunate walk-over win against Żubr Białystok. Which brings up the trickery I'll have to sort out for efficiency ratings...Buzzer-Manager treats a walk over win/loss as NOT a game...so I had to do some trickery with Miami and Żubr's numbers for week one and I'm not certain how I'll handle it going forward to account for it, but here's what I did for Miami: they had an EFF rating of 85 and a 105 OPP EFF in their game one loss to Hustlas. I took 85 and multiplied it by 1.25 to get an average EFFG of 106.25 through two games for them and I took 105 and divided that by 1.125 to get 93.3 for their OPP EFFG. Which leaves them ranked 9th and 6th in each category respectively. Is that scientific? No, but it explains why last season Hustlas EFFG/OPP EFFG ratings didn't drop as much as I thought they would...they just had three or four games not count in their walk over losses. At any rate, Miami moves on to play host to Sweaty Socks before facing the Spartans on the road, both games I expect them to win.

Week 1 Power Rankings Continued
9. Carolina Rebels
Kudos to Daisy Merollin for being agressive to start the season and starting undefeated. While I imagine their next matchup will not fare well, they're fortunate to face a bottom rung team after and will be able to rebuild some enthusiasm. Game one netted them a win in the Rebel Bowl, beating my lowly lions by 6 in a back and forth matchup with a come from behind win in the fourth by Carolina where PG T. Begley had himself a night, hitting 5 or 9 from three-point land on route to 37 points. They followed that up with a daring effort at home against San Dom with another come from behind win, this time playing the big guy game as well as benefiting by a lopsided foul night from the refs. Hopefully the 2nd win is worth it! Coming up, they face a strict test against Linndale before playing host to BOBBB and his BURGS, which should generate a 3rd win for them. All I can say is revenge is a dish best served cold. ;)

10. Żubr Białystok
Really bummed by whitestoks apparent forgetfulness to set a lineup for their second matchup, but seeing as they've been online recently, I'm hoping that's not a trend that will start. Their first performance of the season was promising with a dominant 45-point win over new comer Motor City before Miami "benefited" from the walk-over victory. I think their matchup would've been a good one and helped sort these rankings a little bit easier. For the efficiency determination, I divided their initial game efficiency score of 168 by 2 and then multiplied their OPP EFF by 2 (total of 104). Again, might not be scientifically accurate, but trying to make it up as we go!

11. Lion Rebels
I didn't imagine an 0-2 start, but was hoping for 1-1. All I have to say is training sucks. Also, I'm going to stop watching the end of my games when they're close because I always seem to lose them. Kudos to Carolina for their win and no surprise that Philly destroyed me with my sub-par trainees. A focus on the Cup and training means I'm hoping to hang in there and hope I don't waste the twilight of Armstead's prime trying to get others up to speed to make a push to the next division. A pitiful 81.5 EFFG combined with an untenable 117.5 OPP EFFG leaves me outside of the middle tier of teams, but hoping to right that ship sooner, rather than later. Next up, two interesting games that should help determine the Lion Rebels fate for the season, playing host to the 209 before traveling to the DogPound to face BKDogs. If we don't start winning some games, I might see a fan revolt.

12. Motor City Waddupdoe
Starting to reach the depths of despair on this list, Motor City followed up their trouncing by Zubr by tossing Sweaty Socks in the hamper with a 16 point win where big man Mitchell Bowie, their 19-year old perennial allstart hopeful got in his training minutes and 23 boards. What should be a win comes Saturday as they play host to the Spartans (prove me wrong Philadelphia!) before they travel to face the Hustlas next Tuesday. Will they be able to break past the upper crust of the bad teams this season?

Week 1 Power Rankings Continued
13. BKDogs
Wisdom's re-entry into Div III hasn't gone the way I'm sure they wanted it to, stumbling out of the gate with two losses, first to San Dominica and then to Linndale in decisive fashion. Big Brazilian Fernando Brasilino has had an inauspicious start, averaging 6.5 points to go along with his 14.5 boards while his front court cohort 7'2" Austrian Manfred Köhler hasn't fared much better, averaging 6.5 points to go along with his 14.5 boards. While they're 5th in rebounding on the season after two games, it's been their offense that's been offensive while running motion. And sure, Croatian SG Čamil Grbac has gone OFF leading the league in points, their defense has not been kind, ranking 2nd to last in the league with 143.5 OPP EFFG. This week should be kinder to them, with a TV game on the road against BURGS before playing host to the little Lion Rebels. We'll see if they can right the ship and get back to .500 to be competitive.

14. The Philadelphia Spartans
Tough start for Philadelphia, who by salary should be the best of the bottom tier of teams this season, with double-digit losses to The Beer Bellys and The Ashkickers. They should be able to correct some things with their schedule this week, but their offensive efficiency hasn't looked promising and their OPP EFFG is 14th in the league. Their key player, Frenchmen François Nicolle has had a nice start to the season ranking 4th in points and 1st in 3-pointers made (though only shooting 32% from beyond the arc), they're gonna need to rely less on luck and get more bang for their buck. They could get their first win on the road against Motor City, who sports a payroll $114k less than the Spartans, before testing themselves against Miami next Tuesday.

15. Sweaty Socks
Not surprisingly, Foot Sniffer is sniffing the feet of the rest of the Great 8 after getting utterly demolished by The Ashkickers and then watching Motor City hold them to only 54 points, bringing their average points per game to a depressingly low 53.5. Their EFFG is a sad 30 and their OPP EFFG sits at 121.5, which honestly could be worse. But their offensive ineptitude stanks to high heaven. They head out on the road to face Miami on Saturday before returning back to The Boot to face off against The Beer Bellys.

16. BOBBBSBURGS
It looks pretty grim for ohio's BURGS. Suprisingly they scored more against Philly than they did against the 209's. Their EFFG is even worse than some of the worst we saw last season from Tanking Mighty Moose Rockets and sits at 22 after two games. And their OPP EFFG is just as bad, hitting 155. Both of those numbers are obviously worst in the league and while they face 7th seeded BKDogs this weekend, followed by a trip to Carolina, I doubt they have a chance to win either game, much less any other game this season, though Sweaty Socks might give them a run for their money.

Good luck this week, everyone!

Last edited by Baine at 11/10/2022 1:48:05 PM

I see my plan of enticing you for some grub and drinks worked. I laced that stout with some mind altering $hit that worked! 3rd we are not, but, we have some things up our sleaves that may get us near-ish there by the end of the season. I am glad to see my defensive moves last season are finally paying off.

Either way, the food is good and the drinks are always strong here at The Keg. All owners and senior management are welcome to come party with us anytime. Bring your game face, or it will plant itself in a table quickly at which point sharpie face art becomes a social media trending story when you are carried out of here. Just warning ya'll.

"2-0 to start the season," says the owner to new team president Bobby Sparks. "I would have never guessed it. I figured we'd start off like the Lakers did this season."

"We are trying sir. We do have a problem. Our age. It will be a factor. We currently don't have the funds yet to get new players, but with a change or two, maybe that could be remedied. We would have to sacrifice some games possibly for that outcome," says Bobby Sparks.

"We had a nice test with the two teams we played. We have an even bigger one tomorrow. The Ashkickers are a thorn in our side. We have never had the team to beat them. When we did, we didn't play them. And this team, it is built to be competitive, but not to win," says John Walton, coach of The Hustlas. "But we will see. All eyes will be on this game. Do we keep games close and pull out in the end or are we just pretenders? We have started with the toughest schedule this season. Hopefully we can make it 3-0."

"If we don't, we will still learn a lot about this next game," says Bobby Sparks. "Use our bigs to our advantage. Maybe that'll give us the edge in this one."

"Yes, I thought of that. It could work. It did against Miami," says John.

"The scorers haven't went off yet and scored. Ozakan, Nick Williams, and Soykan. They need to score the ball. That's why we got them," says Bobby Sparks. "And Jaanson is disappointing. We will be parting with him if he has a bad week or can't crack the lineup."

"Bobby, 100k bonus if you win this next game, not using crunch time to do so," says the owner.

"We will try," says Bobby Sparks. "We will try."

100k bonus to win a game? Sign me up for Hustlas team president!

Lol, Daisy for Team GM.

Coach: “Guys, nice effort out there. I’m glad to see some improvement, but we’re not where we want to be.
We’ve got a long way to go. Paulie, great first half. You looked winded the second half. Shots, way to pick up Paulie in the second half. Kyle, quiet job there; I like it when players are so quietly efficient that you almost miss what they did. Nick, nice job out there. Bobby, we have to work on making things easier for you on offense, nice game. Joe, keep grinding; you’re close. B, nice work out there but you gotta be more salty out there. Kev, nice work. G, nice work, but you also need some aggression out there. Teti, solid job, but we gotta help you defensively. You’re better than that. Gale and Gross, nice to see you made it to the floor.”

Coach Reina: “Here’s what I didn’t like at all: 10 turnovers. That’s too many. Under 40% from deep. Nick and B, you guys had 2 turnovers. Neither had that many assists. Unacceptable. What do we want to do?”

Datler and Czagala: “Defend, rebound and share the basketball.”

Coach Reina: "I’m sorry; I thought this was a team. What do we want to do?"

Entire team: "DEFEND, REBOUND, AND SHARE THE BASKETBALL!!!"

Coach Reina: "Now let’s go figure out how we can do that better. Good game, guys, but that won’t get it done against
Philly Dribble. We gotta get better."

Entire team: " LET'S WORK!!!"

Day 3 (Saturday 12 November 2022) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
209’s MostWanted 120 - Lion Rebels 99
BKDogs 128 - BOBBBSBURGS 60
Carolina Rebels 53 - Linndale 126
Philly Dribble 87 - San Dominica Warriors 74
Hustlas 98 - The Ashkickers 91
Żubr Białystok 74 - The Beer Bellys 99
Sweaty Socks 36 - Miami Cleo 112
The Philadelphia Spartans 87 - Motor City Waddupdoe 69

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 128 : BKDogs
Rebounds : 68 : San Dominica Warriors
Assists : 27 : Miami Cleo, Linndale, Lion Rebels, BKDogs
Steals : 12 : Miami Cleo
Block Shots : 15 : BKDogs

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 34 : P. Lutz (Linndale), Č. Grbac (BKDogs)
Rebounds : 24 : M. Bowie (Motor City Waddupdoe)
Assists : 8 : L. Rojas (The Ashkickers), B. Coenen (Linndale)
Steals : 6 : W. Graf (Miami Cleo)
Block Shots : 5 : M. Köhler (BKDogs)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : D. Santana (Miami Cleo) (16 Points, 6 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 3 Block Shots), P. Matkowski (BKDogs) (20 Points, 5 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 24
Shooting Guard : L. Papenmoor (BKDogs) (30 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35
Small Forward : P. Lutz (Linndale) (34 Points, 3 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34
Power Forward : G. Romão (The Philadelphia Spartans) (25 Points, 11 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 32
Center : F. Brasilino (BKDogs) (14 Points, 13 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 1 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34

MVP of the evening
L. Papenmoor (BKDogs) (30 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35

The bad performance of the evening
T. Dorman (Carolina Rebels) (0 Points, 1 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -11

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : T. Dorman (Carolina Rebels) : 5 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : W. Westmoreland (Sweaty Socks), T. Dorman (Carolina Rebels), V. Sesamo (The Ashkickers) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : E. Quintana (Carolina Rebels), M. Bowie (Motor City Waddupdoe), S. Hollins (Lion Rebels), T. Medina (Lion Rebels), S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : G. Azheli (209’s MostWanted) : 6 Three points

The best performer : T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) : Rating : 17.5

The worst performer : J. Fábila (The Philadelphia Spartans) : Rating : 3.0