2023-2024: Week 8 Player Reports

Game 1: Team Silver vs. Team Pink

-Pink might have been due for some variance correction. After basically the same team ran to a title and just one loss last year, they started this year strong again, topping Purple to get to 5-1. The last couple weeks have not gone to plan. They are struggling to get points and losing some of the focus and poise that has served them so well. Silver seems content to play solid and take advantage of mistakes. Kind of a “lean on them until they buckle” approach. It takes maturity to swallow your pride and realize you’re not just going to outscore the other team with pure talent or skill. Silver quickly learned that Chris could score 40 a game and it probably wasn’t going to be enough. Since then, they’ve adopted an egalitarian system and everyone is getting in on the fun. They play defense and rebound as a team and they share the ball on offense. It’s not perfect or pretty, but it’s working. Six times in a row it’s worked. Let’s see how far they can ride the wave and let’s see how Pink responds to the first true adversity they’ve faced. Oh, also, there was a tickle fight at the end of this one that was extremely sexual in nature.

Game 2: Team Purple vs. Team Green

-Rob continues to hide from Kennedy (this time via a self-inflicted black eye) dooming his team and snapping their three-game win streak. Green doesn’t appear to have the runway to threaten the top of the standings, so even though they gave it their all in this one, the only real games that will matter for them are against Blue, Yellow, and Gold. If they win those three games in the back half, they would get a minimum of 6 wins, which should safely get them into the playoffs. It’s clear they’ll need top production from Rob and Aderman and the entire bag of tricks from Glover to actually do something in the playoffs, but you have to get there first. Purple got through the early game challenge in this one and coasted to a win, snapping a two-game losing streak of their own. They have a very light schedule coming up, playing the bottom three teams in the standings consecutively. If they take care of business, they’ll be in good position for a key rematch with Orange in Week 12.

Game 3: - Team Gold vs. Team Yellow

-Congratulations to the hapless Team Yellow on securing their first win of the season. They avoided infamy and gave themselves a realistic route to still dream about the playoffs. It’s not encouraging that they’ll have to play Orange and Purple the next couple weeks, but they aren’t dead yet. They’ll have to win out against the bottom half of the league and will probably need an upset to factor into playoff scenarios, but it still feels like they have the roster to make some noise if they can put the pieces together. Team Gold continues to look different from week to week, in a bad way. Losing to a winless team is no bueno, but they’ve also given up all the ground they gained after a good start to the season. They’re officially in the bottom tier, scrounging around with the parasites. Gold too has a rough schedule coming up and, if they’re not careful, they could find themselves on the outside looking in by the end of February.

Game 4: - Team Orange vs. Team Blue

-In a very competitive game, Blue looked up to the challenge of guarding Orange’s dangerous backcourt duo. Most of Rashad/Antwan’s damage was at the line, but it was still enough. Tasked with the difficult responsibility of guarding Rashad, Justin’s offense struggled and Blue couldn’t compensate. Orange has a quiet stability about how they play. They operate with an even pace, share the ball, and don’t seem to panic when a play or two doesn’t go their way. That poise allowed them to steadily control this game, without ever leading by double digits. Blue continues to show more fight, but they’re now saddled with an awful record and will have to claw their way back in the playoff mix game by game. They’ll get Yellow in what is a must-win game for both teams. Should be fun.

Standings

Team	Captain	Win	Loss	Record	Win %	Streak	PS	PA	DIFF
PURPLE	STEVE DUDEK	6	2	6 - 2	0.750	W1	565	476	89
ORANGE	MATT VITALIANO	6	2	6 - 2	0.750	W2	596	534	62
SILVER	MATT KOLL	6	2	6 - 2	0.750	W6	525	479	46
PINK	MARK KOLL	5	3	5 - 3	0.625	L2	475	480	-5
GOLD	DAVE TROY	3	5	3 - 5	0.375	L2	598	616	-18
GREEN	ROB KNAPCZYK	3	5	3 - 5	0.375	L1	557	568	-11
BLUE	LUKE ASIMAKOPOULOS	2	6	2 - 6	0.250	L1	445	518	-73
YELLOW	KYLE GARMES	1	7	1 - 7	0.125	W1	486	577	-91