Championship Preview
Any Given Wednesday 61 Make A Swish Foundation 63
Good afternoon gentleman. Here we have it. The clash of titans. The wire to wire number one seed Water Bears taking on last season’s champ Make a Swish Foundation.
The Bears have been impressive throughout. They’ve played a fun, disciplined, and heady style of basketball. They’ve been challenged in the closing weeks but a 20+ victory over ACC in the semis has them reaching back to their mid season streak of hot play that was reminiscent to the Seattle Supersonics of yesteryear and their 14 game winning steak in 96’.
The Bear’s have seemed like the team all year. Sam King has been magnificent. And Dave Opp just turned in his best game of the season leaving his finger prints all over the box score. He scored a season high 21 pts with a game high 5 assists. He has deferred all season but when he’s taking his fair share of shots he can be another difference maker. Him being the the 6th leading scorer on the team is scary.
Make a Swish has also been playing some great team ball. They came into the playoffs on a 3 game win steak and have continued that success with a dramatic comeback OT win against AGW. I spoke last week about the importance of Pykkonen and Ohara’s production on the offensive end has been. They both were able to find ways to get back in double digits. These guys are both very capable of hitting tough shots. The type of guys that help win playoff games.
But the big question is the once again is the status of Scott Blumenthal. Turning his efforts to Coaching the last few weeks he still has yet to disclose his IR so I’ll have to assume he is out.
So…….
Brandon Connolly may have only scored 13 points. But he basically scored on ever post touch. The Bears have some guys inside that can deny the ball in the post. But they will have to work around front to keep him off the offensive glass. Both are good rebounding teams. But both will have to emphasize boxing out with the amount of good offensive rebounders in this game. Zachey Kliger and Dave Opp are both at the top of the league in the amount of possession extending offensive boards from guard spot. And Dium Salio can rebound from any possition on the floor.
As intriguing as a number of the individual matchups are this is more so a matchup of strengths. The Water Bears are the best defensive team in the league and the Swish are aptly the number one scoring team. I think we meet in the middle with a hard fought game in upper 60’s.
It is the holiday party seaon at work so I’ll hold my prediction till after I see who is in lay up lines.
Commentary by BAKER & OTTO... Make A Swish Foundation 78 The Water Bears 76
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Standings B1 5v5 F16 Thru Week | |||||||
P | Team | Record | % | Streak | GB | PF | PA |
The Water Bears | 8-1 | 0.889 | W1 | 0 | 71.00 | 55.56 | |
Any Given Wednesday | 6-3 | 0.667 | W3 | 2 | 66.56 | 63.33 | |
Make A Swish Foundation | 6-3 | 0.667 | W3 | 2 | 82.78 | 72.44 | |
Hurricanes | 5-4 | 0.556 | W1 | 3 | 62.44 | 68.78 | |
Amnesty Clause Candidates | 5-4 | 0.556 | W1 | 3 | 76.56 | 72.56 | |
Big Tuna | 5-4 | 0.556 | W2 | 3 | 60.89 | 66.00 | |
THEM | 5-4 | 0.556 | L1 | 3 | 59.67 | 62.22 | |
Nice Guys Looking for a Fun Time | 4-5 | 0.444 | L3 | 4 | 67.89 | 71.00 | |
Guys with Great Hair | 4-5 | 0.444 | L1 | 4 | 69.22 | 64.67 | |
Castles Cobwebs | 3-6 | 0.333 | L2 | 5 | 67.00 | 66.89 | |
Get Wet Stay Wet | 2-7 | 0.222 | L1 | 6 | 70.44 | 74.11 | |
Bullhorn | 1-8 | 0.111 | L8 | 7 | 56.33 | 73.22 |
Points Per Game | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bobby Bartlett Bullhorn | 23.67 | |||
2 | Andrew St Claire Amnesty Clause Candidates | 22.00 | |||
3 | Jack Keough Castles Cobwebs | 21.78 | |||
4 | George Phillips Nice Guys Looking for a Fun Time | 20.11 | |||
5 | Jimmy Lau Hurricanes | 19.71 | |||
6 | Drew Holinski Nice Guys Looking for a Fun Time | 19.29 | |||
7 | Jake Meister Guys with Great Hair | 19.17 |
Player Rater | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Brendan Connolly Make A Swish Foundation | 50.56 | 8 | ||
2 | Jack Keough Castles Cobwebs | 49.06 | 9 | ||
3 | George Phillips Nice Guys Looking for a Fun Time | 47.94 | 9 | ||
4 | Andrew St Claire Amnesty Clause Candidates | 47.88 | 8 | ||
5 | Jimmy Lau Hurricanes | 40.29 | 7 | ||
6 | Saliou Dioum The Water Bears | 40.25 | 8 | ||
7 | Drew Holinski Nice Guys Looking for a Fun Time | 40.00 | 7 | ||
8 | Mark Domaracki Get Wet Stay Wet | 38.33 | 6 | ||
9 | Sam King The Water Bears | 38.20 | 10 | ||
10 | Bobby Bartlett Bullhorn | 38.08 | 6 |
Rebounds Per Game | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Brendan Connolly Make A Swish Foundation | 12.88 | |||
2 | Daniel Mepham Nice Guys Looking for a Fun Time | 11.50 | |||
3 | Andrew St Claire Amnesty Clause Candidates | 10.75 | |||
4 | Jack Keough Castles Cobwebs | 9.22 | |||
5 | Saliou Dioum The Water Bears | 9.00 | |||
5 | Matt Connelly Amnesty Clause Candidates | 9.00 | |||
5 | George Phillips Nice Guys Looking for a Fun Time | 9.00 |
3s Per Game | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jimmy Lau Hurricanes | 4.86 | 45% | ||
2 | Jake Meister Guys with Great Hair | 4.17 | 34% | ||
3 | Zach Ohara Make A Swish Foundation | 3.88 | 50% | ||
4 | Brian Edgerley Any Given Wednesday | 3.71 | 36% | ||
5 | Pat Kelley Any Given Wednesday | 3.70 | 43% | ||
6 | Jon Mazzone Amnesty Clause Candidates | 3.60 | 42% | ||
7 | Bobby Bartlett Bullhorn | 3.50 | 34% | ||
7 | Sam King The Water Bears | 3.50 | 44% |
Assists Per Game | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dave Opp The Water Bears | 4.44 | |||
2 | Philip Barlow Guys with Great Hair | 3.86 | |||
3 | Nick Mazzeo Any Given Wednesday | 3.67 | |||
4 | Jake Mattleman The Water Bears | 3.50 | |||
5 | Caleb Pykkonen Make A Swish Foundation | 3.30 | |||
6 | George Phillips Nice Guys Looking for a Fun Time | 3.22 | |||
7 | John Cahill Get Wet Stay Wet | 3.17 |