2023-2024: Week 10 Player Reports

Game 1: Team Purple vs. Team Blue

-Steve finds a new way to doom his team every year. He seems to waffle back and forth between drafting a turd team that isn’t going anywhere and drafting a solid team that will inevitably fall apart. They’ve faced some unexpected adversity, losing Henry to a work conflict and Falvey to an injury, but they are compounding the effects of those obstacles with poor attendance. They’ve slipped to 6-4 and are now firmly in 4^th place. Of course they can and should play their way back into contention for a BYE assuming their available players are, well, available. However, don’t discount the disruptions to continuity in the grand scheme. You can’t just tell yourself your team will be there when it matters most and you’ll figure it out. You only have 40 minutes per game to put it all together and that’s easier to do after a full season of playing together. Purple has shown flashes of dominance, but there’s an undercurrent of doubt now clouding their lofty expectations. Team Blue took advantage of back-to-back weeks against the worst the league has to offer and have propelled themselves into a tie for 5^th place. Hard to believe out of all the depressing shit we’ve seen from Luke’s Blues this season, but they are projected to make the playoffs. Let’s hope this is the last time we ever seen the Dudek Family Reunion trying to form a HatchetBall team.

Game 2: Team Silver vs. Team Green

-This game went exactly according to script, mirroring exactly what we’ve seen out of these teams this season. For Green, they looked dynamic at times, pushing the break, sharing the ball to their many shooters, and containing ballhandlers. For Silver, Chris continued to setup his teammates when he drew double teams and they continued to miss open shots and get beat back on defense. This led to a steady lead for Green most of the game. But at some point, the weaknesses of Green were exposed and the steady poise of Silver turned the tables, much like we’ve seen before. Don’t forget, the last time these two teams played, Green raced out to a 24-point lead that they squandered. After 30 minutes of nothing, Richie got into the post and scored about 6 points in a row. After missing 7-8 consecutive wide-open threes, Carter hit a couple in a row. Silver stayed home on all Green’s scorers (they really don’t double team anywhere on the court) and Green couldn’t muster much outside of a few deep heaves from Aderman. And in the span of a couple minutes, Silver claimed the lead and coasted down the final stretch. Rob’s decision to draft small comes back to bite them in the second half of games, as they expend so much energy on defense compensating for the many mismatches they have to deal with. This leads to some dead legs and worse shooting as the game goes on. Silver is now in complete control of first place. If they win the games they will be the favorite in, that should be enough to capture a BYE. Green is now out of the playoffs. They’ll have multiple must-win games in the next month to squeak back in.

Game 3: - Team Orange vs. Team Yellow

-With Antwan and Rashad seemingly swapping weeks back and forth, Team Orange continues to grab wins. Rashad poured in 38, replacement Ralph Peck had a breakout game with 19, and Rob Walus scored likely a career-high with 28. He feels like a no-brainer for 6^th man of the year at this point even though he was drafted in the 8^th round. Orange became the first team this season to get over 100 points and it was unsurprising that happened at the hands of the hapless Team Yellow. Yellow now sits a full 3 games behind the final playoff spot. Even if they won out, they would likely need a bunch of tiebreakers to fall their way, as they’ve already lost twice to Blue and don’t hold the head-to-head point differential tie breaker over Gold. Worse yet, the rest of their schedule looks tough. They get Purple, Pink, and Silver before finishing up their season against Green. They could be mathematically eliminated in the next week or two.

Game 4: - Team Pink vs. Team Gold

-With both podcasters out the first time these teams squared off, there was a bit more electricity in the air for this one. That first game, back in Week 3, was confusing. Pink surrendered 96 points to Team Gold, which was 26 more than they’ve given up in ANY other game this season. Rodney Washington also didn’t play in that game and Marcus Stevenson (supposed defensive stopper) DID play. So, this time around, we swap in Rodney and Troy for Gold and swap out Marcus in favor of Mark. And, somehow, Gold scores 40 FEWER POINTS. This either means Mark is a generational defensive maverick or that Week 3 game was a bit of an anomaly for whatever reason. Certainly, if nothing else, it helps that Gold’s players are more well known to the league in general. We’ve gotten a taste of what Rodney and Paul can do. Good teams will make them adjust and do more. Scheme-wise, Pink didn’t do anything fancy, other than force Gold to pivot from their usual strengths. Conversely, Gold did a respectable job on defense, which is what kept this game within striking distance. But, let’s be honest, Troy is never beating Mark with an important game on the line. Easy win for Pink.

Standings

Team	Captain	Win	Loss	Record	Win %	Streak	PS	PA	DIFF
SILVER	MATT KOLL	8	2	8 - 2	0.800	W8	672	621	51
ORANGE	MATT VITALIANO	7	3	7 - 3	0.700	W1	770	677	93
PINK	MARK KOLL	7	3	7 - 3	0.700	W2	601	589	12
PURPLE	STEVE DUDEK	6	4	6 - 4	0.600	L2	698	657	41
GOLD	DAVE TROY	4	6	4 - 6	0.400	L1	747	744	3
BLUE	LUKE ASIMAKOPOULOS	4	6	4 - 6	0.400	W2	605	655	-50
GREEN	ROB KNAPCZYK	3	7	3 - 7	0.300	L3	680	700	-20
YELLOW	KYLE GARMES	1	9	1 - 9	0.100	L2	620	751	-131