Fall 2016: Franchise B Draft League Champs: Vandelay Industries

Vandelay Industries Are Your Franchise B Champions
Los Bandidos 54 Vandelay Industries 61

In a rematch of their sole loss all season long, Vandelay Industries proved that he who laughs last laughs hardest.  

To put it bluntly the energy in the gym was nonexistent.  It's a shame that these title games occur when none of the other guys from other teams are around to watch.  It was eerily quiet as the game tipped off.  However the lack of crowd noise allowed me to hear all the badly missed jump shots slamming into the wall and onto the ground - both teams looked really tight early and it showed.  Neither team could find their range.

In fact, Vandelay looked particularly bad in the early going as they missed their first five three point attempts.  It felt like Gans missed a hundred shots before he finally made one but more on that later.

The guy who looked the sharpest for VI in the first few minutes was, yup you guessed it- Ian Cundall.  It's a little annoying that he keeps getting drafted at such great value because he always seems to end up on teams that win thanks to his contributions, rather than in spite of him like many of our beloved bench guys.   He was finding his teammates in space and firing perfect passes to them which enabled them to knock down open shots. 

For Los Bandidos Greg Kerkorian was bringing the noise early and his energy seemed to overwhelm VI.  We've accused them of being soft in the past and guess what?  They were soft in this game too - they just kind of let Greg rip the ball out of their hands and keep possessions alive for his team.

The score was 15-14 VI at the ten minute mark in the first half until Kerk bullied, bowled over, and bitch slapped Vandelay's various vaginal shooting guards in order to get his team a narrow lead.

It was at this point in the game when Jeff Arinella made the HOUSE CALL OF THE WEEK by picking someone's pocket (I forget who) and taking it all the way in for a layup and LB got themselves a four point lead.

Just as LB was gaining momentum, coach Kerk called a timeout.  I didn't agree with this move but it ended up not mattering.

Andrew Walker, however, was undeniably the MVP of the first half.  Not only did he score 8 points and snag 8 rebounds, but his composure after catching the ball in the post was admirable.  This was as good as I've seen him all season long. 

Thanks to Greg and Walker, Los Bandidos went into the half with a 32-27 lead. 

Some random notes for the first half:

-Gans was awful

-Boogie was invisible

-Sherman-Ash still doesn't seem to know what a foul is

-McCusker didn't do a whole lot

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In the second period Cory Gans decided he was tired of being humble. He led the charge for Vandelay and swished the first three deep balls he shot.  In the blink of an eye it was 39-32 VI thanks to a 12-0 run on five field goal attempts. 

In my opinion, this is when and how the game was decided.  Los Bandidos needed to call a timeout in the worst way and didn't.  Instead they kept charging ahead furiously and took like  7 horrible shots in a row.  I think on those 7 possessions there were exactly 6 passes. 

To put it another way - they got hit with a few haymakers and starting pooping their pants.  You could tell they were flustered because Booth was visibly frustrated with both his teammates and the ref, and this was the first time I had seen him upset all season long. 

Nick Frongillio stepped up big time in the last 15 minutes of the game (which is when the real ballers show up) and scored 11 points on 5 field goal attempts. 

Mike Cawley had a really pretty up and under move with about 7 minutes left that gave his team a 49-42 lead.  The lead would fluctuate between 5 and 8 points for the duration of the game.

Frongi hit a baseline jumpshot that I thought was the DAGGER OF THE WEEK. 

WAIT!

After cutting the lead to five, and Vandelay missed the front end of a 1 and 1, G Flow hit a tough shot inside to cut it to three. 

And then JEFF ARINELLA STOLE THE BALL!  Los Bandidos had the ball, down three, with 40 seconds left.

Alas, the Bandits couldn't get the three ball to go in (they shot 2/11 from downtown in the second half) and Frongi ended up really hitting the DAGGER OF THE WEEK on a free throw that extended the lead to a two possession game.

At this point, the fat lady started singing.  Goodnight Irene. 

GRADES

Frongi: A+, MVP.  I was tempted to give this award to Gans but Frongi's scoring was so efficient that it had to go to him.  Three for three from beyond the arc, and got key buckets when his team needed them.  Great game for the young fella.

Cawley: A.  Had Booth strapped for all 40 minutes.  That was the part of the game that won't make the highlight reel but allowed VI to mount their comeback and pull away.

McCusker: C+.  He was a net positive but didn't have a monster game like he often does.  I don't have a single note about him.

Gans:  A-.  He stunk in the first half but was so, so great coming out of halftime. His threes got VI the lead.

Cundall:  B+.  Very good in the first few minutes, pretty quiet down the stretch but this is why he flies under the radar.  He's a silent killer.

Kerk: A-.  Worked so hard all night long.  The one knock is that he needed to call a timeout during VI's barrage of threes and didn't. 

Arinella: B+.  Very good defensively but wasn't as effective on the offensive end as we've seen all season long.    JET RATING:  Jet Magazine [img]http://www.chicagonow.com/ndigo-chit-chat-all-that/files/2014/05/Oprah-Covers-Jet-Magazine.jpg[/img]

Booth:  C-.  Not a great game from Boogie and he knows it.

Sherman-Ash:  C-.  Didn't record a point or a rebound in the second half.

Walker:  B+.  So great in the first half but was underutilized in the second.

Ruff:  A+.  I saw two questionable calls, one for each team.  This is all you can ask for.

Scores, Box Scores & Write-Ups

Playoff: week 12

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