1.) Barry (3-0) — In the game of the week, Team Barry beat Team Bersani. Team Barry looks dominant with Jackson on the floor, and he appears to be the only player in the league challenging Walker for MVP. Nagi has been able to hold it down when Jackson is sitting, and the press is suffocating other teams with Jackson getting fast-break after fast break. Team Barry also has some underrated depth. Mac Bradley, the Sullivan brothers, and 3 point threat Charlie Snow are all very solid rec ball players that have helped out Nagi and Jackson. Team Barry should remain atop the rankings unless somebody takes them down or their margins or victory consistently decrease.

2.) Guilbeau (3-0) — After a big week two win against Capello, beating them by 27 points, this team seems almost unstoppable. Their starting lineup is a force to be reckoned with. This team has one thing that makes them so lethal: depth. It cannot be overemphasized how great of a pick Coach Guilbeau made by selecting both the Kaplans in order to make one a third rounder. They’re the key to the elite defense and depth this team has. When Arya goes to the bench, the Kaplan’s can score, Guilbeau can drain some threes, and V Dawg can grab the boards. Winning each game by about 20 points, a loss doesn’t seem to be coming in the near future for Team Guilbeau.

3.) Bersani (2-1) — Team Bersani would probably be number two in the rankings had they played anyone but Team Barry. Brendan and Pete have been consistently great offensively. They’ve both averaged over 20 points a game, which is enough on its own to beat most teams in the league. Bersani doesn’t have many other double-digit scoring threats, but they have players that are solid and can contribute enough that teams can’t ignore them to focus in on Pete and Brendan.

4.) Kelley (2-0) — Walker is in MVP form. He put up pretty much half his teams points, and there still hasn’t been an answer for him. He has enough help surrounding him with Pat Kelley and Joey Kurtz to contend against any team. Teams are going to be throwing a lot of different looks at Team Kelley in hopes of figuring them out. Team Kelley may struggle against teams like Guilbeau who aim to keep the ball away from ball dominant scorers. Walker will probably eventually have a mediocre game where he doesn’t put up 30 with incredible efficiency, and that’s when teams will need to strike to take down Team Kelley in order for them to slide in the rankings.

5.) Schiffman (2-0) — Team Schiffman is undefeated, but their performances haven’t been convincing. Scoring 31 and winning is a rare feat, even in rec ball. Nichols and Will have been solid scoring and have made a point to share the ball, but they may have to take over against stronger competition. The rest of the depth that makes up Team Schiffman has been strong defensively and can be counted on to contribute scoring. One big question surrounding Team Schiffman this week is whether or not Coach Nichols will be attending his team’s game or the Patriots’ game. Hopefully if he attends the pats his contribution of standing up and yelling “Defense! Defense!” will play as much of a role as it does when he’s coaching Team Schiffman. If Ryan accompanies his dad at the Pats game, as expected, Team Schiffman will have to grind one out against Team Philbrook this week.

6.) Croft (2-1) — Keith stepped up big for Croft against Team Grossman, but an anonymous source on Team Grossman and an anonymous teammate of Keith’s both agreed, “he took like 40 shots.” #stayme7o. I guess volume shooting is the Melo way. On the other side of the court, Hari has been a pest on defense. Their 1-3-1 defense has been very effective against opposing ball handlers. In addition to Keith’s offense and Hari’s defense, Crowley and Arthur have been strong scoring options. Croft is an early candidate for coach of the year as his roster on paper isn’t as strong as the team’s surrounding his in the rankings, and his defense that’s unique to rec ball has been effective.

7.) Mac (1-1) — After beating one of the subpar teams of the league, Team Mac stands in the middle of the pack. Eli and Sid are a dynamic duo that opposing defenses have strugged to stop. Few people predicted Sid to have the scoring impact he has so far, but his emergence as a legit scoring presence is huge for Team Mac. Owen Gately’s defense has also been a great addition to Team Mac. For this team to move up in the rankings, their bench is going to have to step up in the scoring column. Team Mac is one of the tougher teams to get a read on currently, but number 7 seems like a fitting spot for now.

8.) Meyer (1-1) — Meyer came out in week 2 and got the narrow win over Team Croft. Zach Levine’s explosive speed and Anirban’s shooting complement each other very well. Alex Mack who is a strong defensive player that will help this team force turnovers, has been missing for Team Meyer in the first 2 games. 4-year-varsity player Domenic Casparriello went out of his way to say, “Team Meyer has desperately missed the presence of Alex Mack. I can’t wait to see him back out there after his Wisdom Tooth Surgery sidelined him for over 2 weeks…so soft.” With these 3 players, Team Meyer remains in the middle of the pack. However, Meyer has a big game against Team Guilbeau in week 3, without Zach, and will most likely struggle. But look out for them moving up the rankings when they’re at full strength and Alex Mack is making his uncontested layups.

9.) Capello (1-2) — Team Capello fell to Guilbeau and Khoury this week, but they were missing Ryan French in their close loss to Khoury, so we give them a pass on that one. Their loss to Guilbeau, while acceptable given how strong Team Guilbeau is, wasn’t pretty. They lost by 27 as Frenchy was limited to 14 points. The real determinant of Team Capello’s success down the line is whether or not people outside of Frenchy can score enough. Big man Aidan Hirsch had 8 points this week and looked solid, which is an encouraging sign for Team Capello. With all this said, we expect Capello to lose by a decent margin to an elite Team Barry this week.

10.) Hogan (1-2) — Team Hogan had a solid weekend; they picked up a dub against Team Last, and they kept their game against Team Bersani close until the end. Word has it Tim Barry went 0-11 in the second half on Sunday, but they still managed to win, which is pretty impressive. Jaeger dropped a cool 10 again this Sunday, which is a positive sign. Both Primeaus have been scoring pretty consistently, but varsity guard Jackson Katz challenged Ryan saying,“Ryan is overrated and can’t carry the team even as the second tallest player in the league.” We’ll see if Primeau can prove Katz wrong once he’s back from his ankle injury. All in all, a win and a close game against Bersani was the best Hogan could hope for this week, so things are looking up for Team Hogan despite their losing record.

11.) Last (1-2) — Unsurprisingly, Team Last appears much stronger when Josh Sternburg is healthy; although, it’s hard to look worse than they did when they scored just 15 points against Team Barry. Sternburg had a solid season debut scoring 19, and Flahive put up 10, but they lost a close one to Team Hogan. We anticipate Team Last being a middle of the pack team the remainder of the season. With an established scorer and competitive showings, besides the obvious outlier, they’ve separated themselves from the worst teams in the league for now.

12.) Khoury (1-1) — Team Khoury won a game, which is nice to see after recent years of struggling. Team Capello was without their best player, but a win is a win. Khoury is adding to their title of being a defensive minded team. Choate was solid for Team Khoury, with self proclaimed double doubles in each game, but he failed to reach the 20 points he told us he would produce. The offensive side of the court is going to have to improve for Team Khoury to win some more games. Asael has been one of their best scorers, but he will need some help. Once they play some of the better teams in the league, this team may struggle in the win column. Given they only won by five to a team missing it’s best player, the 12th spot may seem high, but there are plenty of teams who have played poorly enough to warrant being behind Khoury.

13.) McGinn (1-2) — Team McGinn was highly touted coming into the year, but they’ve failed to meet expectations. McGinn and Prune have played poorly in two out of their three games, and their performances are beginning to raise the question of whether they’re still good. When asked about their recent loss, McGinn said, “Guilbeau was the better team. When a single player (Zach Walker) scores more points in a game than your whole team, you deserve to lose by a lot.” The next two games for Team McGinn are tough matchups, so they could very well be 1-4 by December 20. They’ll need to rely more on their depth and hope others like Elliott and Robbie can contribute 8-10 points a game consistently.

14.) Townsend (0-2) — Team Townsend has fallen to Team Kelley and Team Schiffman so far. Both weren’t favorable matchups for Townsend, but they managed to keep their game this week closer than many anticipated. Team Townsend has only averaged 26 points per game, which makes it tough to win. If AJ starts making his layups, Team Townsend will be averaging over 30 in no time. They had three players this week score 6 points, but nobody scored double digits. Jeremy James is going to need to step up his scoring in order for Team Townsend to get some wins and move up the rankings.

15.) Philbrook (0-3) — Team Philbrook still has the excuse that they played against difficult opponents in all three of their games. They lost to Guilbeau, Kelley with Walker dropping 31, and McGinn with Prune dropping 27. Jared Boyer has consistently been a top scorer, but they need Matt McCarthy and others to consistently contribute more. Team Philbrook has a lot of solid players, but their defense has struggled early, allowing the most points in the league; they’ve allowed 59.5 points per game on average, which is 10 points more than the next highest mark. A team with solid depth shouldn’t be this easy to score on. Their matchup this week should be a tough one against Team Schiffman, but if Ryan Nichols isn’t there, I expect them to have a real chance of getting win number one.

16.) Grossman (0-3) — It’s been a rough start of the season for Team Grossman. This team can somewhat score, but their defense and lack of passing has been hurting them. Kevin McCarthy, Jack Cardin, and Eric Gould have all been balanced scorers for this team. However, for them to win some games, they all need to be clicking at once. This team has managed to keep games close, but at the end of the day, they need to win and prove they can score more to move up in the rankings. If the rumored Kevin McCarthy injury is as serious as it sounds, it’s going to be a very, very long season for Team Grossman.