2024-2025: Week 8 Player Reports

Game 1: Team Green vs. Team Red

-Every year we have to recruit new guys into the league and we always get mixed results. Despite well-intentioned draft descriptions, there’s some inevitable variance to what you actually get when you see the player in action for the first time. To be clear, when things don’t work out, this is never the player’s fault. It’s really an unfair expectation burden to place on a player simply because they were drafted higher than their talent merits. We’ve seen some teams over the years benefit from some players being better than reported. TJ Kennedy might be the best example of that right now, as he's a well-rounded player with enough athleticism and strength to battle with some of the best players in our league. But, more often, guys get over-drafted and it can drag an entire team down with a brutal handicap. Green was likely doomed from the start after its second and third round picks ended up being questionable at best. Almost halfway through the season, it’s clear that there really isn’t a viable path to make up for the lack of production they’re getting from those draft slots. In total, Green is a slow, bad-shooting squad that also doesn’t seem to have a ton of basketball acumen. They throw errant passes to each other, directly to defenders or just wildly out of bounds, about 5-10 times per game. They provide almost zero support to Kennedy to help him get open. And they often settle for the first decent shot they stumble across in their chaotic attack. Things don’t look good in Greenville and other than a re-draft, I’m not sure how they can fix it on the court. Red continues to coast in winnable games. They have a couple BYE weeks approaching, sprinkled between their matchups with Purple and Orange, which should be the true test of how good this team can be.

Game 2: Team White vs. Team Yellow

-Rob is terrified of Mark, so it was little wonder he stayed home for this one. But somehow sharing his terror with HatchetBall rookie Mike Finley was an unexpected outcome. Netiher showed up and White got the pounding they deserved. Lots of unselfishness for Yellow, with all 7 available players scoring 5 or more points. White can rightfully shake this one off and tell themselves they would have competitive with all their guys, but their record doesn’t back that up. They are currently cemented in the bottom heap of the league, with a crucial matchup against Blue looming in Week 9. If they can’t muster a win in that game, injuries aside, they might be contemplating a future where a playoff berth is in jeopardy. Pretty wild for a team that supposedly had some great draft luck. Team Yellow will get a favorable matchup against Team Green in Week 9 to close out the first half of their season. Strangely, it still doesn’t feel like we’ve seen the best version of Yellow. Some of that is due to Mark’s injury and uncharacteristic slow start, but still, they have only two losses, which were both games they were in position to win. Interestingly, Yellow doesn’t play Purple, Orange, or Red until the last three weeks of the season, meaning they could be in position to rattle off a nice win streak in the meantime if they take care of business. Knowing HatchetBall, it won’t be that easy.

Game 3: - Team Purple vs. Team Orange

-Without Chris to spoon-feed his teammates wide-open shots, Orange looked miserable on offense. Carter really struggled to convert plays and Bob missed a baker’s dozen of shots right at the rim. We certainly didn’t get the showdown we would have liked in this one and it turned into a mockery of a game as Purple’s role players all got in on the action of stomping Orange into submission. Matt V hit a pretty nifty layup. His cannabis bones are looking mighty spry. Purple now sits alone atop the standings with a BYE coming in Week 9. Orange will be back in action against the desperate Team Pink.

Standings

Team	Captain	Win	Loss	Record	Win %	Streak	PS	PA	DIFF
PURPLE	MATT VITALIANO	6	1	6 - 1	0.857	W4	450	372	78
RED	STEVE DUDEK	5	2	5 - 2	0.714	W5	455	432	23
ORANGE	KYLE GARMES	4	2	4 - 2	0.667	L1	390	375	15
YELLOW	MARK KOLL	4	2	4 - 2	0.667	W1	416	342	74
WHITE	ROB KNAPCZYK	2	4	2 - 4	0.333	L3	351	413	-62
BLUE	LUKE A	2	4	2 - 4	0.333	L3	338	356	-18
GREEN	DAVE TROY	1	5	1 - 5	0.167	L1	365	464	-99
PINK	MATT KOLL	1	5	1 - 5	0.167	L3	396	407	-11