2023-2024: Week 1 Player Reports

Game 1: Team Pink vs. Team Silver

-It’s interesting that both of these teams are littered with very accomplished HatchetBall players and no one thinks to highly of either team. That is telling of the general mood of the league right now. The viewer’s eyes are shifting to the shiny new objects, being the new talent we brought into the league this season. So far, the shift in confidence has been warranted. This game was a sloppy mess while other rookie players looked sharp. Chris played with his usual determination to lead Team Silver and keep this one close, but he got almost zero help from the supporting cast. Some of that speaks to the defense and hustle of Team Pink, who made a living making people uncomfortable en route to their title last year, and some of it speaks to early season shittiness and a poorly constructed team. Pink did absolutely nothing special and still were able to ice this game down the stretch with free throws.

Game 2: Team Purple vs. Team Green

-The top players on both teams didn’t make this game, which often can turn the resulting game into a wonderful shit show. There’s nothing better than seeing role player types be force into long minutes and a bunch of shots they are never prepared to take. Still, every game is important and finding a way to dig out victories in these scrappy wildcard games is critical. Your whole team isn’t going to be there each week. It’s a simple fact. And, yet, you still have to make it work. It speaks to the quality of Steve’s 2^nd and 3^rd round talent that they were easily able to put Team Green away. Excited to see how they fare alongside Kennedy and the attention he’ll receive. Rob and Glover will be back in action and try to right the ship for Team Green in Week 2 against Team Pink. Should be a fun one.

Game 3: - Team Gold vs. Team Yellow

-In the closest game of the night, Gold held on to win by a single bucket. Jones was the headline of this game, picking up right where he left off in the playoffs last year. And it still wasn’t enough. We’ll have to keep an eye on his squad to see if that was due to his supporting cast struggling or Gold being a legit team to deal with. I have my doubts. Golden Troy seems to have nabbed another deep team that will rely on balanced scoring, which is always a great way to stay in games and steal victories. None of their players are isolation scorers, which may turn out to be a good thing, as it will force them to play together. Yellow needs to make a concerted effort to keep Chuck and Poncho involved. They are too good of shooters to not take advantage of.

Game 4: - Team Orange vs. Team Blue

-Orange showed up with their whole team, while Blue was without Justin and Luke for their season opener. So, in some respects, this game was likely decided before it began. It was certainly decided after Ed took a ultimate punch to the face that knocked him out of the game. Prior to that, Blue had clawed their way back into this one, even if it appeared to be only a matter of time before Orange found separation. All of Matt V’s newcomers contributed and they already look the part of contender. No obvious weak spots that anyone will be able to take advantage of. We’ll need to see them in a more competitive game before we can guess what their ceiling is. Blue might as well forget this game even happened and start fresh in Week 2, assuming Ed’s concussion didn’t cause him to forget the game already.

Standings

Team	Captain	Win	Loss	Record	Win %	Streak	PS	PA	DIFF
PINK	MARK KOLL	1	0	1 - 0	1.000	W	58	53	5
ORANGE	MATT VITALIANO	1	0	1 - 0	1.000	W1	72	60	12
PURPLE	STEVE DUDEK	1	0	1 - 0	1.000	W1	65	54	11
GOLD	DAVE TROY	1	0	1 - 0	1.000	W1	66	62	4
BLUE	LUKE ASIMAKOPOULOS	0	1	0 - 1	0.000	L1	60	72	-12
GREEN	ROB KNAPCZYK	0	1	0 - 1	0.000	L1	54	66	-12
YELLOW	KYLE GARMES	0	1	0 - 1	0.000	L1	62	66	-4
SILVER	MATT KOLL	0	1	0 - 1	0.000	L1	53	58	-5