Week Four Player Reports
Mark Koll: Idle in Week Four
What's Next: Mark will need a
Spartan-like effort in Week Five to overcome the Persian Team Yellow
horde and
the evil King Vitaliano.
Mark Koll
2013-2014 Season Averages
|
|
RPG |
APG |
BPG |
FT% |
|
29.00 |
10.00 |
2.33 |
1.00 |
100.00% |
Matt Koll: After a strong
2-0 start,
things were looking up for Matt Koll and
Team Dark
Blue. In fact, preparations were already
being made for Week Eight, when Team Dark
Blue was to
square off against Team Yellow, in what figured to be a battle of
unbeaten
teams. That was the plan anyway. And it remained the plan for 39 1/2 minutes
of their Week Four battle against Team Danaher.
Being up six points against one of the more self-destructive,
unorganized, and unfocused teams in HatchetBall,
all
Team Dark Blue had to do was play smart and secure the win. Instead, they missed free throws, attempted a
foolish fast break, and allowed a wide-open three pointer to push the
game into
overtime. The momentum fully seized by
Team Green, Matt Koll and company were
then
manhandled in overtime and handed their first loss of the season. But if you look closer, it was apparent that
Dark Blue's struggles started earlier in the game, perhaps earlier in
the
season. Some fluky shooting has masked
their inability to score consistently.
More troubling is the unwillingness of their better players to
finish
offensive opportunities. They have a
nice roster which seems content to give the bulk of the scoring chances
to its
oldest and most limited players. It's
baffling, what you might call damaging unselfishness.
Matt finished with 6 points, 6 rebounds, and
4 assists, but his propensity to defer to other players in key moments
really
cost his team in Week Four. As usual,
he'll need to assert himself more often or his team will not be able to
contend
for a title.
What's Next: Matt will
try and get things back on track in Week Five against the feisty Team
Orange. This will not be a high scoring
affair. The first posted Over/Under in
Vegas came in at a paltry 36 1/2.
Matt Koll
2013-2014 Season Averages
|
|
RPG |
APG |
BPG |
FT% |
|
11.33 |
8.00 |
3.00 |
0.33 |
22.22% |
Matt Vitaliano: It isn't
often that I
commend Matt V for ethical superiority, but I had to hand it to him in
Week
Four. His dominant Team Yellow was
squaring off against the scattershot Team Red who was only able to
produce four
players for the match-up. It was clearly
going to be an easy win. And Matt V,
admirably, rather than go all out in an effort to pad his stats in an
obvious
mismatch, sat out the majority of the second half, when the game was
out of
hand, something I cannot say about Rob the Snob and Luke the Gook, who
shamelessly chased down meaningless stats with disgusting ferocity. Matt V's stats were right in line with his
season averages, finishing with 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. And again, he should be applauded for this,
as he adhered to the spirit of fair play.
There is no need to embarrass a clearly overmatched opponent in
the same
way that there is no need to hustle down superfluous stats that do
nothing but
undermine the integrity of the hard-earned stats that other players
struggle
for with honest effort. This is worth
pointing out because Team Yellow is very good and will likely find
themselves on
the winning side of several blowouts.
Exploiting that advantage to secure a championship is more than
fair. Exploiting that advantage to pad
stats isn't.
What's Next: Matt
V hopes that the bad karma accrued in Week Four will not come back to
bite him
in the ass against the competitive Team Grey.
Matt Vitaliano
2013-2014 Season Averages
|
|
RPG |
APG |
BPG |
FT% |
|
7.67 |
3.67 |
1.67 |
0.00 |
0.00% |
Rob Knapczyk: Through a
quarter of the
season, it's interesting to look at Rob's 2013-2014 averages compared
to his
career averages. In some regards, he is
playing better than ever. He's hitting
over 5 threes a game and averaging close to 13 rebounds a
game, which are both career bests, by far. However,
his overall scoring is down (Career:
28.45 ppg; 2013-2014: 26.33); his assists
are down
(Career: 3.82 apg; 2013-2014: 1.33 apg); and his free throw attempts are WAY DOWN. For his career, Rob averages 6.6 free throw
attempts per game. In 2013-2014, he's
averaging just 2 attempts a game and shooting a career low 50% from the
line. Now, some of this statistical
regression is due to the depth of his roster.
For the first time, not all the scoring and playmaking duties
fall into
his lap. But this simultaneously makes
Rob less of a threat. His numbers look
good because of some hot shooting from deep and a strong rebounding
effort, but
there are cracks beneath the surface that even a Week Four stat-padding
party
at the expense of Team Red can't hide completely. And
remember, too, that Team Yellow hasn't
really been tested yet. Their three wins
have come against a Hahn-less Team Orange, a sputtering Team Green
which should
be 0-3, and a Team Red that didn't even bring a full starting five (who
should
probably also be 0-3). Food
for thought.
What's Next: Rob
will get his first decent test of the season in Week Five against Team
Grey. If his shots aren't falling, it
will be interesting to see how he responds.
Rob Knapczyk
2013-2014 Season Averages
|
|
RPG |
APG |
BPG |
FT% |
|
26.33 |
12.67 |
1.33 |
0.33 |
50.00% |
Luke A: Luke participated in the shameless grab for stats
alongside
Rob in Week Four. And while they may
contend that they were unwilling to play down to their opponents, there
is no
excuse for the obvious moments, such as when Luke and Rob got tangled
together
fighting EACH OTHER for an otherwise uncontested rebound.
For shame. For shame. Luke's
numbers look good on paper, with 7
points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists, but so much of those were compiled
in
garbage time that I can't commend any of it.
What's Next: Luke will be back in action against Team Grey in Week Five, where he'll find that stats aren't quite so easy to come by.
Luke A. 2013-2014 Season Averages
|
|
RPG |
APG |
BPG |
FT% |
|
7.00 |
9.00 |
4.67 |
2.33 |
25.00% |
Jerry Hahn: Idle in Week Four.
What's Next: Jerry's
team follows up their BYE against the now vulnerable-looking Dark Blue.
Jerry Hahn 2013-2014 Season Averages
|
|
RPG |
APG |
BPG |
FT% |
|
16.50 |
10.00 |
7.50 |
0.00 |
100.00% |
Dave Troy: In a spirited
effort,
What's Next: Team
Green is back in the saddle in Week Five against the very beatable Team
Baby
Blue. Can they get back to .500?
Dave Troy 2013-2014 Season Averages
|
|
RPG |
APG |
BPG |
FT% |
|
5.67 |
4.67 |
0.33 |
0.67 |
50.00% |
2013-2014 Standings
|
Team |
Captain |
Record |
Streak |
|
Yellow |
Matt V |
3-0 |
W3 |
|
|
Vito |
2-1 |
W2 |
|
Grey |
Beave |
2-1 |
W1 |
|
DarkBlue |
Brennan |
2-1 |
L1 |
|
Green |
Danaher |
1-2 |
W1 |
|
BabyBlue |
McElligot |
1-2 |
W1 |
|
Red |
Tierney |
1-2 |
L2 |
|
Brown |
Rech |
0-3 |
L3 |