By Luke McGrath
1. Morin (2-0): Shaw Taylor has exceeded all expectations. Everyone knew he was going to be good. Few people knew that in his first Sunday game he would drop 29. He is an early league MVP candidate. Scott Morin’s coaching mixed with solid defensive play and continued offensive success from players like Ryan Alexander will make this team very hard to beat. If you do not have a player that can hang with Shaw in the center, you will not beat this team.
2. Barry (2-0): Yes, you read that correctly. Barry won today. They may have allowed 60+ points and 44 from a single player but they were still able to pull off an unlikely upset. All of this without their two best players. To say this team has depth is an understatement. They legitimately have 2-3 kids on their bench that could start on other teams. Once Fitzy is healthy again they will be very hard to beat. They should probably focus more on their defense for the next few games because 60+ points per game allowed is going to be hard to win with.
3. Smith (2-0): Having not allowed over 40 points in a game this season, Team Smith has asserted themselves as the premier defensive team in the league. Scoring has been spread out over Cord, CJ, Luke, and Deco pretty well over the first few games but realistically Cord will need to be the main offensive threat for this team to have success. Points off of the bench will also be necessary if they are unable to hold teams to such low score totals in future games.
4. Hillier (1-0): Probably the hardest team to place in the entire ranking, they stay in the top 5. They won a game against Vanheest today that may go under the radar as one of the best comebacks of the season. They came from double-digits down to pull off an overtime winner. Lead by Ryan Liu, they were able to hit shots to get themselves back in the game. This team will be interesting to follow for the next few weeks and will need Eugene to make some more shots in order to keep having success.
5. Vanheest (1-1): With a disappointing loss to Hillier I had no choice but to keep them further up the rankings. However, the Amadors seem to continue to get better and Vanheest’s shot from the three point line makes this team even more dynamic. This team will need to avoid the mindset they played the end of their game with today for the rest of their season because there are very few teams that they will be able to cruise against in this league.
6. Kelley (1-0): Going up against a weak team in Philbrook it is hard to really gauge how good this team may be but Polich showed his work ethic and skill in his game today. Parent also seems like he will be able to be a great player to work alongside Polich. Good all around performance and they are another team to follow in the next few weeks to see how they and Pat Kelley develop.
7. Ruhl (1-1): With a good performance today from Ruhl and Mo they seemed to get back into the groove after a tough first game against team smith. In order to have a good season they need Wong and Flahive to score and take a lot of pressure off of Marty. They also need better three point shooting, but they seem to have the ability to do so.
8. Riela (1-1): Ben continues to impress as one of the better guards in the league with his ability to shoot and handle the ball. Vondy needs to step up. With a disappointing showing against Ruhl, Vondy will need to really put up impressive performances in the following weeks. With Houle back next week, that should leave Vondy with a little more breathing room to make plays for his team.
9. Mac (1-1): This team does not have a ton of depth. Walthal and Horsefall will get theirs but others need to step up in order to win. Rushabh had a stellar performance and will need to continue this. If Rushabh, Sid, and other players do not step up then this team will struggle to score enough to win because Walthal can only score so many.
10. Guillbeau (0-2): After a heartbreaking loss to team Smith today, there are only positives to look at with this team after showing a lot of fight in the 4th quarter today. In order to get better and consistently win games, Bongi and Lis are going to need to score more. Tmac has been able to get his but Bongi from three point land and Lis driving have been somewhat disappointing. Both players will need to step up in order to win.
11. Meyer (0-1): I’m sorry to do this to you Avery but you guys are not looking great. I still am not quite sure how they managed to lose today but it shows that one player can not win a game. Avery having 44 is absolutely bananas. While he deserves a ton of recognition for that performance, all eyes have to go to Kev Ji. Only 9 points from him is unacceptable. He needs to be scoring 15+ a game to help Avery out with the scoring especially if they are not going to be able to hold opposing teams to fewer points.
12. Bersani (0-1): I heard Correnti got doubled throughout the game and it seems that this will be a trend for the whole season. There are only two ways that this team is going to win. A.) Sam scores 30+ a game. B.) Connors, Bersani, and Nichols combine for 30+ every game. While this second option seems possible, they will need to do this consistantly in order to take the weight off of Correnti’s shoulders.
13. Philbrook (0-2): This team is going to really struggle without Burke. Firth is a solid three point shooter and Jrod can drive with the best of them but without someone with decent size in the middle this team will be missing a key piece. Hopefully by the time Burke comes back they will have a few wins but it seems quite unlikely.
14. Khoury (0-2): Its going to be a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong season for this team. I hope they will be able to win a few games but it is going to be really tough. Gonzo and Kamari will need to be consistent scorers in order to win. While this team may not be the most fun to watch, Coach Khoury continues to be the best dressed coach in the league and is giving the fans something to talk about.
