By:  Luke McGrath, Matt Bongi and Cord Callahan

Pre-Season Power Rankings:

1. Team Morin- In a year where there is clearly no obvious favorite to take home the ‘ship, Scott Morin seems to have been able to compile another winning roster. With Alexander and Lamountain, the team should have no trouble handling the ball or hitting shots. However, all eyes are on Shaw Taylor. Shaw coming off of a varsity basketball season last year, smartly decided to bring his talents to Sunday mornings and in a league where a good big man is hard to come by, Shaw should be alone a top the ranking of centers. Like most teams in the league, the depth of this team may hurt them but they still have time to develop.

2.Team Amador- Greg and Chris Amador, can they carry a team? If players with a lot worse teams have done it in the past I see no reason why the Amador’s would be unable to do so. Not to mention they have two players waiting to have a breakout season. Vanheest and Moschella are both athletic and coordinated, which seems to always make for an above average rec ball player. Mixing Tram into this teams points only towards and quick dethroning of Team Morin from the number 1 spot.

3.Team Hillier- Ryan Liu, Ryan Liu, Ryan Liu. Not much else to say here. Everyone saw it with Team Smith last year and this year will be no different. If he stays hot and avoids traveling violations this team will win. Stott is going to need to give him a hand in taking some of the attention away from Liu by putting up a double-double every game. With two sets of brothers on the team they will need to look out for internal fighting but Coach Hillier proved himself this fall that after being doubted year after year he is a great coach and that he may be able to collect a ring on the court.

4. Team Guilbeau- A team that is eerily similar to the Bongi/McNamara team last year proves just how tight this league really is. Saying that, with Bongi shooting from the outside and Tmac somehow managing to put in runners and rebound there is no way this team will not be able to score. Almost forgot, Sam Lis is on the team, while his hair may be lacking his ball skill is superior to none in his family. Being a first round pick there are expectations but he seems to welcome them and has the potential to be an MVP candidate. Not much depth here but Guilbeau seemed way to confident so I think it could be a major issue.

5. Team Ruhl- Probably the best rebounding team in the league. Wong, Mo, and O’toole all will grab boards consistently. Marty will also get in on the rebounding action as easily the best rebounding guard in the league. Also the deepest bench in the league here. Cusson, Anderson, and Rosenfeld will all have to step as seniors but all three have been proving themselves for three years and I see no reason to think they have declined. As much as I hate to say it, if you want to talk about serious contenders for the ‘ship, the conversation is incomplete without mentioning Team (hopefully Kevin) Ruhl.

6. Team Mac- Sid aka Mini Raug and company. Just kidding, this is Walthal’s team, he came down from school ball last year and put on a good shooting performance, after a long year at BSC he is ready to be probably the best three point shooter in rec. Having Davis outside with him should result in a ton of threes. Horsfall adds a good inside option as long as his mid range game is working. If this team does not shoot well they will not win. It is as simple as that.

7. Team Vondervellen- VONDY NEEDS TO SHOOT THE BALL WELL. Thomas Vondervellen, fast, athletic, jackhammer. He is another player that could end up being the MVP and is similar to a smaller Srebnik. He will work well in the post with Houle and Reila is an elite guard so he will have no problem getting the ball down to those guys. However, Reila needs to develop a better outside shot to make the team two-dimensional. This is another team where the bench has question marks all over, hopefully the new kid Condon can use his athleticism to make his mark on this team and help get them a few wins.

8. Team Meyer- Avery showed last year that with not much help his quickness, shooting, and passing could lead a team on a deep. This teams trouble starts immediately once the ball leaves Avery’s hands. It is up to Moiz, Kev Ji, and Will Yoo to help Avery out by putting up double digits every game. Without that they will have a lot of trouble scoring. On the bench there are quite a few young, athletic players that are looking to make their mark on the league and could easily surprise the rest of the league.

9.Team Smith- Probably Zach Bloch’s favorite team. Cord Callahan is the center piece of this team and defense and offense will revolve around him. This team will have a lot of trouble scoring and will need Cj, McGrath, and Gardner to put up points in order to win. If this team does not play good defense they will lose. Smith needs to lean on the five seniors to lead this team and grow the less experienced guys in order to give their bench some death. Look out for CJ, good size and good driving ability, not to mention a chip on his shoulder.

10. Team Nagi- Easily the most efficient and best two-way player in Nagi, the team should have no problem on defense. Like Smith, this team does not have very much offense. Fitzgerald is going to have to use his size to establish himself as a superior post man in order to work the two man game with. Fitzgerald is also due to have a big year in an undersized league. Zais and Barry will have to become a good guard duo in order to get Nagi and Fitzgerald the ball. If Nagi get hot, this team wins.

11. Team Phillbrook- This is your classic hockey player playing rec ball team. They are going to be REALLY gritty. Jrod will need to lead the way but Burke and Barrett can easily help him on both sides of the ball. Not to mention that Vikram will be one of the better athletes in the league so he will be a piece of the puzzle on defense. Firth can shoot. He is one of the more underrated shooters in the league but after countless years of rec ball he can shoot the three. If Jrod can dish the ball of to Burke and Firth, he will not need to score as much. This team also has very little size and yes I know Aidan is tall but he will not be able to match up with someone that has more weight then him.

12. Team Kelly- Polich is good, has he played competetive basketball outside of BSC in 4 years, no. Will he foul a lot, yes. If Polich does not get his fouling under control this team will probably be the worst team in the league. Parent, Mespelli, and Keogh are going to have to really step up their game in order to help this team because right now it looks like it will have to be 20+ points from Polich in order to win. Undersized and little depth makes it hard to see this team going very far.

13. Team Bersani- People have been mumbling it for years “Correnti is soft”. Well, this is his time to prove everyone wrong. He NEEDS to be the best big man in the league for his team’s sake. While this team is riddled with athletes, there are virtually no scorers and unless French, Connors, or Nichols becomes are deadly outside threat, everything will go through Correnti. Correnti also needs to stay mentally composed and needs to hit his free throws for this team to have a resemblance of a chance at winning anything.

14. Team Khoury- I hate writing this but this just feels like one of those teams that is going to sit in 14th the whole year. With Dirty Gonzo as the main playmaker it is going to be very hard for this team to score. They will need outstanding play from Schifty, Komari, and Jalen in order to get wins. I really hope these guys prove me wrong but I just can not imagine them putting up more then 30 points in a game.

The wait is finally over. Tonight’s match ups with Team Ruhl vs. Team Smith at 6pm, Team Bersani vs. Team Kelly at 7pm and Team Macelhaney vs. Team Barry at 8pm marks the start of the season.

According to the rankings, Team Ruhl should take tonight’s game being ranked the fifth seed over the ninth seeded Team Smith. It’ll be a close game between Team Bersani and Team Kelly as the former is ranked thirteenth and the latter is ranked twelfth. The last game of the night between Team Macelhaney and Team Barry  has good match ups with Jack Walthal, Andrew Davis, Ben Horsfall and Sid U squaring off agaisnt Spencer Nagi, Jackson Barry, Joe fitzgerald and Logan Zais. But, Team Barry is ranked tenth against the sixth seeded Team Mac so it’ll be interesting to see what happens. One key thing to remember is that this is rec ball. Anything can happen. So don’t be surprised if Team Ruhl, Team Mac or Team Kelly get upset tonight.

Good luck to everyone and we’ll see you tonight