Rec Ball Week 1 Power Rankings

Colin West '22 and Brady Volin '22

      1. Tam/Chattopadhya

In one of the most exciting games of Week 1 vs. Team Collins/Xu, Sean Tam cemented himself as the MVP frontrunner, dropping 20 points and showcasing his elite ball-handling and vision. Kevin Nunes put the league on notice, scoring 12 of the most entertaining points you’ll ever see. Amir Hameed also dropped a respectable 10 points with a combination of shooting and driving. Taylor Fredman made his coaching debut and energized his team from the sidelines. It’s crazy to think that we still haven’t seen this team at full strength, as Ayush missed this game with an illness. Tam/Chattapadhya will likely remain at the top of the league until Will Collins is healthy and it will be exciting to watch them grow as the season progresses

      2. Collins/Xu

Despite losing their first game, Team Collins/Xu remains near the top of the league. They gave #1 ranked Tam/Chattopadhya a run for their money without Will Collins. Kevin Xu led the team with 16 points, and Eli Wawersik followed him with 13 and showed a lot of potential. This team will only get better with time: Eli could have easily had 25 if he made a few more layups and free throws, Kevin played his first basketball game in 2 years, and Will is yet to make his Rec debut. If coach Rohan Bettadpur can gel this team and teach them varsity presses, they will be nearly unbeatable in the near future.

      3. Townsend/Warner

Team Townsend/Warner took care of business this past Sunday, as expected. They made easy work of Team Barry and remained towards the top of the league, only dropping because of the greatness of Sean Tam and Co above them. Tim Breen and Cooper Armstrong led the scoring efforts from team Townsend with 12 and 10 points respectively. This is a deep team and will look to continue their success. 

      4. Henderson/Levesque

Team Henderson/Levesque was certainly the surprise of the week, upsetting a previously top 5 ranked team in Nagi/Steinberg. They won this game handily, holding Nagi/Steinberg to a measly 31 points. Brady Henderson and Jay “Jadious” Mekala shined, combining for 20 points. Brady made his case as a DPOY candidate, blocking shots and grabbing boards like a mad man. Jadious Mekala looked outstanding as well, converting an and-1 that energized the whole gym. Watch out for this young team down the stretch, as they are serious contenders for a deep playoff run.

      5. Seymour/Billinsky

After their nail-biting win against Team Calderone, It’s safe to say that the fate of Team Seymour/Billinsky lies in the hands of Jacob Bilinsky. While he’s on the court, Billinsky is an MVP favorite: he dropped 24 points in 12 minutes on Sunday. However, he received the first (and only so far) technical foul of the season and had to sit out the entire first half. Team Seymour has a great supporting cast in Elliott Seymour, Brady Volin, Colin Campell, Vincent Zheng, and Thomas Gagnon, but they absolutely need Jacob on the court to be a serious contender.

      6. Sullivan/Burke

In the game that was predicted to be the game of the week vs Team Meyer/Erickson, team Sullivan/Burke came out victorious. Hayden Goulet, an MVP dark horse coming into the season led the team with a cool 18 points vs a very good defensive team. Hayden was supported by Luke Sullivan who poured in 13 himself, and from great defensive play from his big man Hugh Burke. Cam also made an impact on this game, but perhaps the greatest impact was the terrorizing trash talk from Hayden and Hugh as they easily were able to strike fear in the opponents. 

      7. Pisciotta/Friedberg

Jake Ritacco put up 32 points, the most out of any player this week. It goes without saying that Tacco is now in the MVP discussion, and is arguably the best scorer in the league. Thomas Cashman stepped up as a big man, grabbing boards and blocking shots in the paint. Max Dullea also had a solid game, but this team could definitely use some more depth. The trio of Tacco, Cashman and Dullea is great, but they need more help. 

      8. Lombardo/McGinn

Team Lombardo/McGinn beat up on Team Last in a game that found the score actually close at half time. Team Lombardo did pull away and ended up winning convincingly by 17 points with a huge contribution from former ‘role player’ Micheal Lombardo who scored 17 himself. The duo of Tommy and Basim also were solid with 11 and 15 points themselves. This team wants to prove everyone wrong and plays with a chip on their shoulders and week 1 led them in the right direction. 

      9. West/McDermott

To give team West some credit, they were missing one of their top players, Brendan McDermott to an injury, and ended up losing by 22. That being said I don’t believe having Brendan in that game would have won it for them. Colin West did all he could, scoring 22 of the team’s 42 points. Andy C was next in line with 10 points. Look for Cooper Hagen to have a bounce back game next game as they look to get back on track with a win. 

      10. Meyer/Erickson

Meyer/Erickson played a close game with Team Sullivan and will remain near the middle of the league for the foreseeable future. As expected, Charlie Snow and Jackson Bohn had great weeks with 17 and 11 points, respectively. Ryan Snow put the league on notice with 9 points of his own, showing his potential as a scorer. This team’s performance will likely fluctuate with the performance of Chuck and Jackson, but definitely have the potential to upset a top-ranked team if Chuck can get hot.

      11. Nagi/Steinberg

Team Nagi/Steinberg had a very disappointing week, losing to Team Henderson and scoring a measly 31 points. It’s tough to win by scoring less than a point a minute, and scoring seems to be this team’s main struggle. Connor Nagi had a solid game with 7 points and Greg Steinberg dropped a nice 6, but Adam Steinberg only managed 4 points while leading the team in shots. Ryan Carew dropped 5 but fouled out early, and he has the ability to contribute more as the season goes on. This defense-based team needs a main scorer but has the ability to hold elite teams to a respectable amount of points with their above-average defense.

      12. Calderone

Team Calderone participated in the real game of the week vs Team Seymour. They got off to an incredible start and led by as much as 28 at one point in that game. Unfortunately for them, they just couldn’t keep their foot on the gas and ended up losing a very close game by only 2 points. That being said this game wasn’t even supposed to be close so they showed some great potential as Matt Mendes put up 18 with Rahim scoring 15 of his own. They were led by Sam Manuelien on the defensive end who also put in work against Team Seymour. This team deserves some respect and they indeed do have the ability to win games.

      13. Barry/Barr

Team Barry/Barr put up the lowest scoring game of the week with a measly 29 points led by Desmond O’Reilly with 11 and Big Mikey L with 9. This team just simply needs more out of their top dogs to be a threat, and they will need a lot from their supporting cast as well. There is just not much to say other than they need to step up in a big way next game. 

      14. Last/Cespedes

Team Last/Cespedes is a team full of menaces, as they had multiple technical fouls and had a few players foul out, like Luke Hadley. Team Lombardo did not provide the names of the top scorers, only the numbers, so they were led by #30 who had 8 points and #20 who had 7. If this team keeps hucking up half court shots at the end of the game, I don’t know how close they can come to winning a game. They need to put on a masterful defensive performance for that, which I do believe is possible.