The regular season is complete and the stage is set. Unlike the pros, the BBAL serves one shot for all teams in every round. Put up or shut up meaning any team can get hot at any moment to pull off a miracle run! This week is an opportunity for teams who performed below standards this year to receive a second life in making a statement when it counts.
First up, the Tropics and Dragons square off to earn the rights to face the owner of the 1st seed and a bye week, the 8 Balls. The Tropics this year just struggled to prove themselves as a legit threat. Even after trades, they just haven’t played playoff caliber basketball compared to these other powerhouse teams. Hopefully, Brad Atkinson already has eyes on the future in knowing what his team needs to compete at a higher level and not need a second life like their getting. This team can win without a doubt. But, they are one of many teams that not only no one has on their radar but, also there is never a definite win with these guys. They’ve failed to eliminate doubt quite frankly. They should be one of few teams entering a rebuild and until that is complete, I wouldn’t expect much, even this week. The Dragons, however, are a little different. They’ve recently made a trade for Alex Makrides to now bring both the Makrides boys together. They were doubted to start the season(not by me!) and immediately after they were in full force, their potential started to unfold. It looked like a semi-bright season for the Dragons until more roster absences appeared and injuries tested them. I think they are more likely to go on a run than the Tropics so I do think Alex Cruz and the guys should still be focused on the task at hand. Hopefully, we’ll see more playing time from Dre Davis and overall both teams are fully healthy!
Last but not least, the Gremlins face the CherryPickers in a similar situation as the previous game battling for the opportunity, this time to face arguably the most hated team and 2 seed, Huskies. The Gremlins finished 0-7 this season and overall this season just wasn’t pretty. If anyone should be focused on the offseason, it's their captain Tony Cruz. He traded most of his productive stars rumored to be because of lack of chemistry and willingness to play together. I mean Makai Ortiz-Gray and Nas McFadden look pretty happy on their current teams if I say so myself! And speaking of trades, they’ve made two more for Ryan Koltunovich, Nick Keener, and picks. As well as a player exchange trading Mike Lyons for Dakota Royer. All this going into the Playoffs seems like it'll throw them off even more to me but, I guess we’ll see come Sunday! They showed fight for the first time this season toward the closing weeks of the season but, overall, have been incapable of pulling out wins.
On the other hand, The CherryPickers after winning it all last year, clearly have not achieved the same success. They only have the 2 KJ’s left from that championship roster and hopefully, this newer experiment with Tyler Crespo leading the charge will spark some championship pedigree into this franchise again. Being a sophomore expansion team, this team definitely went through a sophomore slump this year, we’ll just have to see if they can create some noise this week and next year with a few upgrades.
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