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i like a nice mix of old timers and training the odd rookie, while it does take a while, done well, you can always sell the trainee in a few seasons and buy up on more old timers to get you over the hump, no harm in training up @ least one young un as your team will surely dominate any team in div3 u may face and it wont hurt your team playing one game a week with that trainee playing all 48mins, barring any injuries and massive massive blowouts of course. gluck for the rest of the season and bring on div 2

yeah i suppose your right from that point of view. well lets just hope the season pans out A OK for the both of us, and any other team trying to promote!

oh for some reason Hippo said something in the league forum which made me think it was this saturday.

I can feel the pressure rising, not long until the clash of the titans.

i retract my previous comment. they play 2nd last game. rule no.1 - never assume! it makes and ass out of u and me.

however dont be so quick to forget this (39666091)

but in all seriousness, tilley is a smart manager and wont CT especially with 4 winnable games on the way home. Cowboys, Gladiators, Beasts, Shizzles.

they should at least go 3/4 maybe even 4/4. so you might see a Hippos vs Thunder playoff matchup.

III.4

None of these teams will trouble the bot promotion spot. so unfortunately i wont be writing about this league.

III.5

Here we have the Sydney Sea Eagles, sitting 3 games clear of the 2nd best record in their division. With the resident div II relegate, Home Axis, in tank mode, their biggest challenge will either come From Way Downtown and Sergios Slayers.

However after looking at both these sides, it is hard to see how they will compete with the Sea Eagles.

Their biggest challenge will probably be from GS, which is all over the shop for their marquee players. It is unlikely that they will be beaten in this division with HCA, unless Downtown and Slayers have some serious cash saved up.

III.6

Most of you should know the leader in this division. Akuma has a firm grip on this division and with a match vs Possum Chasers being their biggest hurdle before playoffs. Expect Akuma to go 22-0.

Their biggest challengers are from the blue side. Now that MMM Donuts have moved on to greater things it was up to a middle of the road blue team to stand up. So far it has been DragonZ who has stepped up to the challenge. Unfortunately they seem to lack the power that will be required to knock out a fiesty akuma.

The more serious contender might be the J Ballers who have a season of div II under their belt. The J Ballers have some serious big men, with the aus/nz due of Careless/Bradshaw surely bringing Akuma some distress. The J Ballers though may lack the guard power to stop Abimbola and MaClean. This should be a good inside vs outside battle if we get to see a finals series.

HCA will be a very leg up for Akuma, however the J ballers may just have some last minute changes in mind to make things really interesting. Too early to call a winner!

III.7

In this division we have the atrains up top with a 16-1 record. Initially when i looked at their roster i thought, this cant be right, how are they 16-1 in division 3. However as i got round to looking at their main contenders C U Next Tuesday & The Bongo Players, i realised that this is the weakest division 3 i have reviewed so far. In other division III's these teams would be finding themselves around the 3-4th spots in their conferences. They have some nice players, but nothing that is going to scare their opponents.

So to answer your question SchaBoom... It wouldn't surprise me if C U Next Tuesday won this division, but i would expect the team that goes up to find life extremely hard in div II. Lewisness is my dark horse if they can sort out some GS issues.

III.8

We have the Coin Collectors undefeated in III.8 and sitting pretty. but we have the Melbourne Demons on 16-1 and the Unbeatables 15-2 sitting waiting to pounce should the Coin Collectors slip up or pick up an important injury.

In my humble opinion it might be a battle in two here. The Collectors are looking very strong, led by some exciting trainees, however the Unbeatables are suspected to have alot of cashola, and add to their already decent roster.

We also cannot forget those devious Eggplants in this whole equation. but it is a question of whether they think they are up to the challenge of div II again after their holiday down here.

i know what your thinking... where are the demons in all this? despite being 16-1 they have not been impressive in their last 3 games and really dont think they can run with a fit Coin Collectors, or Unbeatables should they bring in some strength.

III.9

This has to be one of the most open division 3's. Mayhem currently sit atop the standings, but you can probably get a blanket and toss it over 4 or 5 teams here. Mayhem and the South Gisborne Storm lead on 16-1 a piece in what is a marginally easier conference. Whereas in the other side of the draw the MTbreds and Footsteps are duking it out for HCA for their conference.

Mayhem suffered their only loss at the hands of the Storm earlier in the season, whereas the Storm fell short against MTbreds in the cross-over games. so if we look at who has lost to who, we can see how wide open it is.

Team | Lost to

Mayhem: Storm
SG Storm: MTbreds
MTbreds: BSB, Mayhem, Footsteps
Footsteps: Redbacks, Rim Jammers, Storm, Mayhem.

from that we can see that each of the top 4 teams have handed down losses on the others. At this point in time you would have to go with Mayhem or Storm as favourites because they will inevitably have HCA. But make a predicition at your own peril.

If BSB scrape into 4th they may also have the finances to mount a challenge to the leaders. Whatever happens it should be a great dog fight. Keep an eye out tomorrow for a preview of the Mayhem vs. South Gisborne Storm game that is on tomorrow night.

Great work Bainsy and excellent read. Can't wait to hear about your league. Will be quite a thing to have the other Gisborne team in division II next season.

Last edited by yodabig at 4/13/2012 5:46:54 PM

i wouldn't count his chickens before they catch. like i said the division is very even. i think my bro might have another purchase to come

It is time to look at some more crunch games for the top Div III'ers

First we head to over to III.2 with...

Popenpop (17-0) vs. Magic vs Bird (15-2)

Good luck making sense of that title

These sides have met 4 times, with an exciting 2-2 split in those games. Magic managed to knock out Popenpop in the PO's last season. So they are definitely a chance here.

The key man as always for Popenpop is the Frenchman Romain Santos, who averages great numbers against Magic. Across all their meetings Santos has averaged an impressive 27.2 PPG 4.8 RPG and 4.5 APG. It is clear that if Popenpop are going to take a lead in this rivalry, that Santos is the man to lead them there.

Like Santos for Popenpop, homegrown hero Stephen Jankowski has featured heavily in all their previous matches. averaging 24.2 PPG 8.0 APG 2.2 SPG against their undefeated opponents. Jankowski however doesnt seem to be in that same vein of form recently, with a significant drop in his averages in the last 5 games, even 10 games.

Popenpop are undefeated, but i think that might end tonight. HCA will go a long way to the Magic securing a 'W'. Without some early slip-ups they could have been the team dominating this division

My Prediction: Magic vs Bird by 14

Will the young Aussie be able to handle the pressure of leading his team to the Championship?

We now head over to III.9 where we have another top of the table clash.

Mayhem (16-1) vs. South Gisborne Storm (16-1)

This match decides HCA for the PO's. A loss for either side will make it hard for them to get up over their opposition in the playoffs, without their home court fans cheering them on.

Last time these teams met the Storm walked away with the win. However the Storm did put in more effort than Mayhem.

The key man for Mayhem will most likely be their canadian guard Christian Spencer. Spencer has averaged 12.0 APG in his two previous matches against the Storm. Mayhem will rely heavily on his ability to create opportunities for his teammates to score points.

The Storm however are beginning to look particularly strong. Having just this morning added Spanish guard Adrián Alquézar for a lazy 1 mil. The eyes of the Storm fans will be on one player though. Their young Swedish U21 Representative, Frank Norrgard, who has really broken out this season. Although in his 3 previous games vs Mayhem he has only managed an average of 10.3 PPG and 14.3 RPG, which is well down on his season average of 21.4 PPG and 13.9 RPG.

With their recent acquisition i would have to say that the Storm are favourites in this one. With HCA and some serious guard firepower added i would say they should run over Mayhem fairly easily. However knowing that the Storm failed to set a lineup in their scrimmage and ruined GS of a couple of vital players, they might find things difficult against the good GS of the Mayhem lads.

My Predicition: South Gisborne Storm by 12

Who do you think will take HCA in III.9?

Good stuff Bainsy! Just saw what you wrote about me team though... *tears*

Jokes :D

Nice prediction. It was a great win for Magic vs Bird. That is the end of the bot promotion race for Popenpop.

Popenpop vs. Magic vs bird 106 - 127 (42968403)

Considering what was riding on this game perhaps little Bainsy was foolish to not try as hard as Mayhem, but they say it is better to be lucky than good and little Bainsy takes it in overtime.

Mayhem vs. South Gisborne Storm 105 - 108 (42969638)

Last edited by yodabig at 4/14/2012 6:40:19 AM