2012 Winter, SEASON 7
Week 3
Last week my fellow IBL’ers met Mr. Controversy Himself; Division 1’s very own Mike Criscione with the first edition of “Mike Mic’d”. So I felt it would only be right to reintroduce myself. i go by the name of Nate Apolonio aka D3 GM of the Year aka Mr. IBL Media himself, I’ve been writing for the IBL for the past 5 seasons, but somewhere along the lines, I got stuck doing “boring” game recaps. So starting this week, I’m gonna dive into the Division 2 frenzy and give my insight on the division.
We are in the 7th season of IBL play, and in those 7 seasons only 2 teams have hoisted the Division 2 championship trophy. With those teams being Wonton Soup and Double Dribble; there is Quiksilver who won the inaugural Division 2 championship in season 2 but they “Gold Ball” wasn’t instituted at the time, so they receive some spiffy t-shirts.
So with 3 weeks in the books in season 7 I can tell you what teams are on the right track and what teams playoff hopes have quickly derailed.
Contenders
Lets start with the reigning champions Double Dribble; the champs returned in Week 1 with the almost the exact roster that won the championship in Season 6 with the only addition being Daimon Fleming (3.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg) who hasn’t really panned out to what the team expected. The team lost one of their key pieces, from the championship team with the departure of Giovanni Valentine and his scoring will be missed. One of the bright spots for the champs has been the play of Andrae Lockett, through the first 2 games Lockett is averaging (29.0 ppg, and 3.0 spg) Lockett is a perennial 3 point threat every time he’s on the floor so defender’s look out. The scoring behind Lockett is mostly comprised by a combination of the Pickett Brothers (Derrick and Diahnte) and Jesse Jimenez. The team sits atop the division with a 2-0 record, and all signs point to this team returning to the playoffs to defend their crown.
The team sitting in the #2 spot in the standings are the Division veterans Quiksilver, the addition of Jordan Block and Kyli Crooms has been HUGE for this team who thrives on the “inside-out” style of play. The play of those two players and the play the health of PG Brandon Kinard will be a huge factor in the success of the team. Quiksilver is one of those veteran teams that make small off-season acquisitions to stay in the thick of things when it comes to teams “contending” for a championship.
If someone were to tell me that the X-Men would be in the #3 spot after 3 weeks of play with a 2-0 record I wouldn’t believe you. I still don’t believe this team has what it takes to even make it to the post season. Their 2-0 record is a result of “luck scheduling” in Week 2 they played and beat the (0-3) 686 team and in Week 3 they beat an undermanned Fly Society team (0-2). Both the teams that they beat look poised to miss the post season, so I wouldn’t be celebrating too much if I was a member of the X-Men. The loss of the Smith trio (Darren, D’ante and Chris) who pretty much carried the team to and through the playoffs last season will be felt soon enough.
Surprise Teams
Some of the surprise teams this season have been team Limitless who have proven they can contend with the Divisions “élite” teams, starting this season with a 2-1 record entering Week 4. Another surprise has been UKnow after the departure of the teams leading scorer Jordan Block to Quiksilver, the team looked to be all but dead, but the addition on Buai Tut, Tray Caples and Tyrell Goldsberry has energized this team and quickly propelled them up the list of “surprise teams”.
Another Surprise team would be Reign, led by Wilson Fiallos this team could easily be 2-0 entering Week 4 but a 2 point loss to Quiksilver is Week 3 trashed all hopes of that happening. Reign is a veteran team that can make some noise all season long.
The Revenge has quickly become a serious contender as well. The addition of Darren and D’ante Smith as well as Brandon Jones the team has three offensive options and are 2-0 after 3 weeks of play.
Fly Society is known for starting their season with 0-2 and 0-3 records, and getting it together in the season. However if this team falls in Week 4 to UKnow a 0-3 start will hurt whatever chances they have at making the playoffs, their room for error is minimal so GM Desean Collins will have to get his troops in order. He’ll also have to learn to check the schedule so he knows when the game times has been changed.
Pretenders
The List of Pretender teams in the Division include; last season’s runner-up the Secret Agents who claim to have made significant moves in the off-season to get back to the level they were at, but the injury to Lonnie Bradshaw will affect the team more than they think. His production cannot be duplicated.
Los Primos is also on the list of pretenders, although they sit a 2-0, this team has just not convinced me that they can compete at an Elite level. In Week 1 they won by 3 points over an undermanned UKnow team, and in Week 2 they seemed a little better with a 13 point win over 5 Guys 1 Cup but lets keep in mind that 5 Guys 1 Cup sits at 0-2 so far this season, and are in the lower echelon of the division.
Continuing on with the list of pretenders, I’d have to include the Smash Bros., a couple of season’s ago the team had the second best regular season record in the division only to lay an egg in the playoffs. The team took a two season hiatus and returned to the league this season with hopes to contend for a championship. However the division has grown in terms of talent since, and although Gene Quiocho leads the division in scoring with 30.5 ppg, I see this team struggling to compete with the teams in the upper echelon.
So far this season there is only one team in the entire division with “hype” surrounding them and that team would be The Freshmen. A few players have been noted as saying that every week is a “bye week” meaning that every week is an easy win. The week 3 loss to UKnow seemed to put things into perspective for the team. Although the team is filled with proven championship caliber players (Washed Up, Wonton Soup) they still have to go out and win games. It seems like they are awaiting the arrival of Johnny Earl to take this team to the next level.
The Best of the Rest
The Han$um Goonz are one of those teams that I can’t really rank with the contenders or pretenders. For the simple fact that I haven’t seen them play this season. The roster seems the same as last season, and that’s not a good thing. Teams have upgraded and if your team brings back the same team from the previous season, don’t expect to make it very far.
The same can be said for the #JETS. The #Jets tried to add a post presence but their player was just a tad…well more than a tad bit over the height limit. JoeJoe Williams still leads the team in scoring but his scoring has fallen off from the mid twenties to the mid teens. The #Jets should try to add another scorer to the team or else this will be another short season.
Make it Nasty and Primetime are two teams, that can be labeled “surprise” teams. Primetime is led by Yung Dang and Mark Davison, the guard-center combo has the potential to be one of the Divisions best when the season is all played out, Dang is a three-point threat and Davison is a monster on the boards, the rest of the team feeds off the play of these two individuals.
Make it Nasty is led by strong guard play, through 3 games the teams offense is the 3rd highest scoring in the division with 159 points, so as you may know this team can score in bunches.
Eurostep should be known as EuroSTOP, Solin Bit why do all your teams posses offensive tendencies but the defensive aspect is non-existent? In just two games you’ve managed to give up 157 points? Eurostep will be stepping their way away from the post season if they keep up this lack luster defensive effort.
In just two games Blood and Bones has shown major inconsistencies. In their Week 1 win, this team looked solid but in Week 2 and 3 this team suffered 2 double-digit losses.
686 is the unfortunate team that’s sitting at the bottom of the division with no wins in 3 games played.The team has the worst defense in the division giving 213 points in 3 games. Things may be looking up for in Week 4 as they take on the team right above them in the standings the #JETS as both teams look for their first win.
That was a brief, yet no so brief look at all the teams in Division 2.
IBL Full Court Press 