With the first half of Season 8 behind us, lets review the news and notes of the first half of the IBL season.
Entering the season, three teams had a bulls-eye on their back, those teams being : Division 1 Champions Dino’s Finest, the Division 2 Champions Primetime and the Division 3 Champions Wonton Soup. We all wanted to see how the reigning champions would defend their respective crowns with new teams entering the thicke of things and returning teams revamping their roster for an eventual title run. All three ball clubs opened up their seasons with big wins and have since been riding out the momentum of their early season wins.
The level of competition is beyond deep in all three divisions. I truly believe all champions will have their hands full trying to pull off a repeat this season as the champions from Season 6 did. My favorite to win the Division 3 championship this season would have to be Wonton Soup, they are a well oiled machine, they’ve played together for 5 seasons now, and with 4 championships under their belt, they are better than ever. Things are looking great for the reigning champions Wonton Soup, they are 4-0 through 4 games and have blown teams away with their gritty play and consistent 3 point shooting, if there is any “team to beat” look no further than Wonton Soup.
An up-n-coming team to look at this season is HiiiPower, led by Sangone Niang, this team has flown under the radar so far and sit at the top of the division with the champs, with a 4-0 record. They will meet the reigning champions Wonton Soup in Week 5 and the winner will take sole possession of 1st place in the Division.
There are a host at teams who sit a 3-1 (Burger Kings, The Squad, A$AP, California Raisins, and Slaughterhouse). Some of these teams have had a favorable schedule while others have had to grind it out for their wins against élite teams, however I’m not taking away anything from these teams, out of the 5 teams named, one will have a late season collapse and fall out of the playoff picture as teams in the “middle-bottom” of the pack usually make a late season push. Veteran teams like the Filthy Elite, and the former Champions the California Swag Bears are poised for a late season playoff push. The Swag Bears won the championship in Season 6 and returned to the championship in Season 7 but a dramatic roster overhaul has caused this team to lose their once great chemistry and start this season this way. So we will have to wait and see how the season plays out.
There are 7 teams battling for a shot to maybe sneak into the post season. Those teams are (Mixed Nuts, The Tropics, GMC, Show n Tell, Balls of Fury, and the Tune Squad). Well the Tune Squad has more of an uphill climb seeing as they are 0-4 with a point differential of -85 and the only team with a higher point differential the (Tropics) -101, have already faced off and beat them, so I would say even if the Tune Squad were to win their remaining games, it would be a long-shot that they would qualify for the post season, they are the Bobcats of the Division. Another team that is a long shot, is Balls of Fury, they are 0-3 with a combined 98 points as a team through 3 games. This is another team that is virtually eliminated from post season contention unless they have a miraculous turn around.
IBL Full Court Press 