As we approach the end of the first half of winter league, it is time for the debut edition of the City Of Alexandria Men's Basketball power poll. I take a look at the standings, factor in strength of schedule and determine a true ranking for the league based current performance to date and projected performance for the year.
It is clear that the level of competition is very high this season, as perennial contenders (GDB and Joy Boys) find themselves looking up at a mostly new group of contenders.
As a reminder, 4 teams out of 12 make the playoffs. This year it looks like there are six or seven teams for those 4 spots, which means that a 7-3 record is still going to require a team to win tie-breakers to make the tournament.
Early Favorites - teams looking strong and off to good starts
#1 G-Men - (3-0) with quality wins over ASC and Squad
#2 Self-Check - (3-1) Only loss was an attendance loss to Bullets 68-65. Quality wins over ASC and Durangos
Challengers
#4 Durangos (2-1) Always strong, but mixed returns at the moment....loss by 10 to Self Check, Beat ASC by 10
#5 ASC (2-3) 3 losses are to top 4 teams. Beat us by 10 without Eddie, only have Squad and Bullets remaining as teams that could beat them.
#6 GDB - Defending champs got off to a slow start at 1-2 with a buzzer beating shot by Mike Reamy the only thing that kept them from 0-3.
Lucky Schedule quirk
#7 Monstars - 4-0, but those 4 wins are all against the Bottom Tier teams. They get a chance to prove their early season success is no fluke with a matchup against the surging Green Dot Ballers.
Fall from grace
#8 Joy Boys (1-4) - basically eliminated except for the final math. Already have 4 losses and still have to play Self-Check and G-Men in the next two weeks.
Bottom Tier (4 teams)
#9 Big Ballers (3-2) - three wins are to the three teams below them.
#10 Bullets (1-3) - Highly unpredictable team. Lost at buzzer to GDB, Dropped 68 on Self-Check in an upset victory, but suffered double digit losses to Joy Boys and Big Ballers
#11 Kearney (0-4) - much more was expected after consolidating from two teams to one this season. Could be dangerous if all of their players show up on a given night, but so far that has not been the case.
#12 Generals - New team in the league finding out that the level of play in Rec division is still strong.
Final Thought - Looks like that buzzer beater by Mike Reamy avoided a fatal blow to the defending champs chances to defend the title.
Games to watch this week -
2/12 G-Men vs. Durangos - G-Men with a chance to further their lead at the top of the standings
2/12 Joy Boys vs. Self Check - anything left in the tank from Joy Boys? Or does Self-Check keep rolling
2/14 GDB vs. Monstars - A chance for these teams to prove which version of their team is the truth.
Standings - Green means a win, Red means a loss, yellow is the game this week. There are 10 games and 11 opponents for each team, so the column to the right is the team that is missed in the rotation. Bottom line, GDB, Self-Check and G-Men drew the toughest schedules, by not being scheduled to play the bottom three teams.
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