Week 7 Recap

Happy Thursday!

Traditionally, I will come up with some exciting backstory to hype up the two
teams vying for the championship. Jacob decided it was best that I continue to
do so since he didn’t want to be too biased writing it up. What a guy. 

Before we proceed, here is the schedule:

5:30PM Game: Tyler’s Heroes (dark) vs. Ballin For God (light)
6:30PM Game: The Goon Squad (dark) vs Noah’s Arc (light)
7:30PM Game: The A Team (dark) vs. Team 1 (Light)
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The Recap:

Last Sunday was an exciting day. We started off the evening with a “huge” upset
between Ballin for God and Noah’s Arc. Ryno’s team looked to be on track to
continue steam rolling teams by taking a 14 point lead early. But Aaron’s team
stayed locked in and clawed their way back into the game and took a 4 point lead
at the end of the half. Usually, the second half is where Ryno’s team shines –
their energy and athleticism tends to carry them through once the other team
gets gassed. Despite being the largest team, Noah’s Arc found a way to match the
pace, at least in the scoring department. They played physical (some
questionable screens were observed) and packed the paint, which affected BFG
immensely due to most of their shooters having an off night. Noah’s Arc also did
a good job protecting the ball, which is something that BFG thrives off of. 

For the 2nd game, Tyler’s Heroes missed Alec Frank and Sarah LePenske’s scoring
contributions, as they lost to The Goon Squad by double digits. The game was
close up until the last 10 minutes of the game. Captain Jacob Brummett regressed
a bit in his performance from the week prior, but that didn’t matter, as his
team still got the win. Michael Van Egmond did his best to keep his team in the
game, with an efficient 24 points, but the rest of the team struggled to find
the bottom of the net. Their one loss this season was to The Goon Squad, and
Alec Frank missed that game too. 

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The Finals Preview:
The upcoming matchup between Noah’s Arc and The Goon Squad will be a good one
(hopefully). Aaron Slack’s drafting strategy has definitely been a point of
discussion over the years, but it seems to have paid off this season. Twin
towers? Child’s play compared to the tallest starting 5 that Noah’s Arc can put
forth. The NBA was impressed by the Warrior’s small ball “death lineup,” but
Aaron decided to go in the opposite direction by grabbing the 4 biggest guys in
our league to surround himself with. In the games they lost this season, they
were outrebounded by the other team. Consistent play from his co-captain,
Noah Andrade and stellar rebounding by Joshua Antee will need to persist if they
want to win the championship. The x-factor will be Sawyer McKenzie, who has not
scored more than 10 points in the last 3 games. 

On the other team, we have CNUSD standouts: Collin Moffat and Kailen Green who
serve as the backbone of their team. Kailen was favoring his right wrist last
week, but he will need both hands if he wants to be effective on the boards this
coming week. The Goon Squad will be without Ryan Lambert who had a successful
achilles repair surgery and will look to get back on his feet by June. One of my
favorite matchups is going to be between Jacob Brummett and Sawyer McKenzie.
Their last matchup produced a career low performance from each player, but
historically, these two players shared no love for each other on the court. For
all the sports bettors out there, the over/under for Sawyer and Jacob getting in
each other’s faces will be set at 1.5 altercations.

Will the Goon Squad be able to break through the sturdy hull of Noah’s Arc? Or
will the team with the largest combined mass continue to steamroll through to
the championship? 

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The All Star Game:

This season’s all star game will feature two teams coached by two people who did
not actually play this season. That should go well, right? Some of the captains
gave up their spots in the 
All Star game for other players. 

The A Team (dark): Coach Kevin
Tyler Bernth
Alec Frank
Tyler Sewell
Michael Manthorp
Jackson Thompson
Karsen Butler
Kailen Green
Sawyer McKenzie

Team 1 (Light): Coach Ricky
Ryno Moore
Aaron Slack
Jonathan Cabral
Brandon Porras
Ryan Holmes
Joey Zoller
Collin Moffatt
Alekz Law

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Kevin Du | League Emperor
Crossroads Basketball League
www.ballerstats.com [http://www.ballerstats.com]