Well, Rebels dominance has come to an end, and I have a great hope it'll be a wide open league. But lets take a look at the new teams...
Great 8:
Crusadersx: Team name changed last year midseason (= new?), but went 19-3 and coasted through the playoffs. Center Mieczyslaw Sniezynski was their big player add last month, probably the best. Would think it'd be an uphill battle for him, being so new that they probably haven't built up money or training, and with such a low salary team, but team have really surprised me coming up from DV in the past!
Golden Highlanders: A promotion from DV, but this is a team that has been around... played the prior two seasons at DIV after starting there, so impressive they were able to stick around as a new startup, and then threw up the perfect (and scary) 26-0 record last year, including the top 6 in the MVP race... Suffice to say a team to be they are to reckoned with. Their max salaries are only just over 5000, and DMI fair but nothing amazing. But they look very deep, and 7'1" superstar potential Rich Scott still scares me. In fact a large collection of good potential players... will be interesting to see what blend of competitiveness and training they choose this year.
Sharks 13: It's interesting our division gets no relegators this year... and yet another team that has been there coming in. Sharks played as high as a year in DIII a few years ago, they went 21-1 in the regular season and lost the championship series to a similar team. Scored a ton of points last year Algimantas Teresas scares me a lot, 21 year old already making $15500 and putting up solid ratings. In fact, they center on a ton of great small forward talent, something I've always struggled to find. 4 players over $12000 salary shows this is probably the best team of the new incomers to my division right now, and one to watch.
Welcome back to Oakey, Legend Killers, Springfield, and Wolf-Pack, I've enjoyed some real exciting rivalries with you guys through the year and really like our chances of a great playoff fight for the title this year.
Big 8:
C.F. Wings: A new team who comes in off just a 14-8 campaign to win DV, looks like a new team with some work still being done? About half the team is aged near 30, and only one guy paid over $5000. Young shooting guard draftee Thomas Farmer promises to be a heart to young nucleus as the team continues to build. An impressive run to the title last year, who knows, maybe they'll keep up the surprises this year!
Indianapolis Icers: Another riser from DV, this one looks scary. Sure, they went 20-2 and won the title... but the real mark should be their cup run last year, into the final 512 against a fairly decent run of competition. Their top 8 salaries are aged 24 or less, so a team still growing as well. A little undersized (if that even matters in the games themselves!). Small forward Alexander Trabos looks to be the wise (24 year old) leader and yet another strong SF to reckon with in the league.
Detroit, Illini, Bucks, Kaiju, Springfield, and FC have made the Big 8 an amazing division, and I definitely wouldn't want to face their teams in a relegation series!
Interesting how we got no DIII dropdowns. Should make for a wide open, fun season, and I look forward to meeting you guys on the battlefield!