BLOOMINGTON SOUTH, MN: Week 2 Preview

While NBA owners try to bail themselves out of bad decisions - like giving Eddy Curry $60 million dollars - and NBA players refuse to play for more money than many people will ever make in a lifetime, the players and teams of Ultimate Hoops will carry on Wednesday night in Bloomington South.

After an intense opening week that had four games come down to the final minute, and saw the Rebels dismantle the Timberpuppies, there are eight more games on tap for tomorrow night.

Let's break down the matchups:


Rebels (1-0) vs. Blazers (0-1)

On paper, this wouldn't seem to be much of a game.

The Blazers could only manage 52 points on 38% shooting against the Tropics, while the Rebels easily defeated one of the top-4 teams in rec.

I'd like to say that, "this is why they don't play the games on paper." Given the difference in talent and the fact that GM Joe Neuenfeldt has almost-assuredly sent his team a 5-page e-mail scouting report on the Blazers, I can't see how this game ends with anything less than a 20-point margin for the defending champs.

Prediction: Rebels win by 28

What to Watch For: Paul Ferber has recorded at least 1 block in 25 of the 27 games he has played in a Rebels uniform.




Thundercats (1-0) vs. Panthers (0-1)

For being a brand new team in Bloomington South, and considering that they were missing Andy Heieie, the Panthers played a nice game and didn't let the Blue Chips have an easy win, despite Keilon Riddley's 28 points. Five of their players scored in double figures and Kyle Zweber impressed with 11 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

Meanwhile, the Thundercats defeated The Bulls by 16, despite running with only 5 players all night. Sources close to the situation tell me that the Thundercats will likely have at least six players for Wednesday night's game, which will make them even more dangerous.

While the Panthers are likely to give another spirited effort, they aren't as good as The Bulls and the Blue Chips aren't as good as the Thundercats, which means that this game is likely to be another blowout.

Prediction: Thundercats by 31

What to Watch For: Derek Batiste has never lost a game in his career to Romaro Nelson (5-0) or Eugene Phelps (6-0).





Riddlers (0-1) vs. Blue Chips (1-0)

After losing in such dramatic fashion last week to St. Baul, it is easy to overlook the real reason why the Riddlers lost last week:

Free throws.

Despite getting called for 10 fewer fouls and shooting 13 more free throws than St. Baul (which makes one a little skeptical about some Riddlers players blaming the officials after the game), the team managed to squander that free throw advantage by shooting only 61% from the line. Plain and simple: If John Ebling and Mark Buettner each make two more free throws apiece, which would still put them at only 80% for the game, the Riddlers win.

This week, they take on a Blue Chips squad that is trying to convince people that they are for real this season. Unfortunately, they are going to have to do better than a 13-point win over a new team that is missing its (arguably) best player.

They will get their chance to make a bold statement this week, especially since a win over the Riddlers would avenge last year's 80-49 loss.

Oh yeah, and Riddlers' captain Nick Roell is back this week.

Prediction: Riddlers by 18

What to Watch For: Keilon Riddley's 31.2 PPR last week was the 4th highest PPR in Blue Chips' franchise history. Riddley also holds the top spot with a 36.6 PPR after a 27 point, 19 rebound performance in a loss to the T-Pups in Fall of 2010. Jason Briggs and Sam Halverson have the 2nd and 3rd best PPR performances, respectively.





Timberpuppies (0-1) vs. The Bulls (0-1)

These aren't the same teams that played each other nearly 4 weeks ago in Fridley. Replacing Thomas Levitt with Mike Byrne and adding Mike Wolf on top of that makes the Pups quite a bit scarier scarier, while the loss of Lawrence Barnes and the question marks surrounding Roderick Powell make The Bulls a little less scary.

Still, given how the guards of the Rebels tore up the Puppies last week, The Bulls have a model of success to draw upon, even if they do not have a Dustin Dupont or Justin Montzka on their team.

Powell is still the wild card. If he plays, I think The Bulls have a legitimate chance to win. If he doesn't, I think the T-Pups probably win convincingly.

Prediction: Powell plays and The Bulls win by 3

What to Watch For: Mike Byrne only had 5 rebounds in 37 minutes of play against the Rebels. The last time Byrne played more than 30 minutes and grabbed 5 or fewer rebounds? Fall of 2010 against the Sphinx.




Thunder (1-0) vs. Huskies (0-1)

Normally, a 32-point win for the Thunder without their best player - Jeremy Bachman - would be a good sign for the team. However, just like games against the Rainbow Warriors last season and games against the Wolfpack in the Spring, numbers tend to get inflated and players tend to look their best in games against Clem's Kidz.

I do think the Thunder are a playoff team, however, and to be a playoff team, you have to win the easy games. This week, I think they'll have another easy game against the Huskies.

The Thunder shoot a lot of threes and score a lot of points. Last week against the Lakers, the Huskies didn't play much of anything resembling defense, and gave up a lot of threes and a lot of points. Unless they somehow made a commitment to the other end of the floor in the past week, I think the Huskies will likely give up 80+ points for their second straight game and will not be able to win the shootout.

One thing I would like to see the Huskies do this week is have somebody besides Ronnie Olson - who was arguably their best player last Wednesday - sub out of the game.

Prediction: Thunder by 16

What to Watch For: Thunder player John Hohenstein scored a career-high 28 points against the Clem's Kidz. His previous career high was 26, but that was against a 4-man Riddlers squad.





St. Baul (1-0) vs. Inception (1-0)

Both St. Baul (as described above) and Inception won their games in the final seconds last week. Inception took advantage of a late closeout and foul from Michael Fee to get a 4-point play and win by a single-point over the Raptors.

As Matt Messina's squad is going to find out this week, the Raptors are no St. Baul. Last season when the two teams played, St. Baul won by 22, although they did so with a combined 15-points, 9-rebounds and 15-assists from Johnny Webb and James Pinkett. Both Webb and Pinkett will likely be missing from this game.

Nevertheless, I expect this game to be over by halftime unless Inception can really pull something special out tomorrow night.

Prediction: St. Baul by 20

What to Watch For: Ryan Samuelson and Justin Samuelson have played a total of 110 Ultimate Hoops games together. When both Samuelsons score in double figures, which they have done 88 times, their teams have gone 74-14 (.840). When both Samuelsons do not score in double figures, which has happened 22 times, their teams have gone 17-5 (.773).




Tropics (1-0) vs. Lakers (1-0)

This is a game that could have significant playoff implications for both teams.

Given that the Tropics face the Panthers and Inception in their following two games, a win over the Lakers could have them at 4-0 to start the season, which would likely be good enough to earn them a playoff berth even without another win all season.

The Lakers, meanwhile, have to face St. Baul, the T-Pups and Rebels in the next four weeks with only the Raptors in Week 4 to give them a break. A loss this week could mean a 2-4 record after that stretch is over and must-win games over Inception and The Bulls.

The Tropics shot horribly (32%) against the Blazers, but got to the line at a nice rate (17-3 advantage), which was the key to their victory. The Lakers also got to the line against the Huskies (14-of-15), but managed to shoot 53% from the field and 48% from downtown.

Of course, the Tropics had the tough defense of the Blazers to play against, while the Lakers played against the matador defense of the Huskies.

Still, I look for the Lakers to win a close one.

Prediction: Lakers by 4

What to Watch For: The Lakers' Justin Martin is one of the most underrated players in Minnesota rec basketball. He has never averaged fewer than 13 points per game and only once in his last 8 seasons has he shot worse than 40% from the field. He also averages 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.5 steals per game for his career.




Raptors (0-1) vs. Clem's Kidz (0-1)

This is easily the best - and is perhaps the only - chance for each of these two teams to get a win this season.

The Raptors, on paper, do not look that bad. They have shooters. They have guys who can play the post and can rebound well. They have solid defenders. They have Parris Curren, one of the best point guards in UH history. Yet, as is the case with all free agent teams, finding chemistry and cohesion has been difficult.

The biggest bright spots last week were Lance Buscher, who shot 7-of-11 from the floor for 22 points off of the bench; and Daniel Whiteside, who had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Curren also added 8 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Clem's Kidz had one player - Benjamin Wagner - who played well last week with 28 points and 19 rebounds, but the rest of the squad failed to show up in a game against the Thunder. Wagner is going to need some help if the team has any chance of a win or even a close game.

Although the Raptors are a free agent team, I still don't think Clem's Kidz has much of a shot in this one. The Raptors should have won last week and I think they'll do it for real this time.

Prediction: Raptors by 9

What to Watch For: In 9 career games with Clem's Kidz, Mike O'Brien and Benjamin Wagner have scored 53% of the team's total points.