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Besides being the envy of all your peers (oh yeah, and the Commissioner Barnes Trophy), here's a friendly reminder to all you playoff teams out there of what exactly it is we're playing for.
Shorts available if a jersey ain't your thing. Also available in Sundancers, Stratagem, Gators, Iguanas and Jai-Rai.
Now go get 'em!
And one more thing: The WFBL still needs $5 from each of the following teams: Jai-Rai, Butchers, Kings, SnowBees, Underdogs, Tigers, Sundancers, Trojans, Stratagem.
WASATCH CONFERENCE ROUND ONE
AND HERE WE...GO!
Dwyane Wade took the Park City Sundancers from tote bag champs a year ago to this year's best regular season record.
Going in to last week, nothing had been decided as far as playoff seeding, much less "Week 19 Power Rankings". But we've made it to the end. Some of you roaring into the postseason (Park City), others limping (Maracaibo). While no team broke any records for wins, one wonders what would have happened if the WFBL had not gone to the 18 matchups over 19 weeks format. Wonder no more. Without further ado, your regular season final Power Rankings.
Team, Rank, (Previous), Overall, (Last Week)
1 (2) 92-65-5 (6-2-1) The 'Dancers poured it on the final few weeks of the season, going 17-8-2 since the All-Star break. What we get from Park City is this year's only 90-win team. The hottest team in the league has to hope they don't cool off while they await their Wasatch Conference Concludings opponent. (Projected 21-week record: 107-77-5)
2 (4) 89-65-8 (6-3-0)Regardless of what Nephi does in the playoffs (which depends greatly on whether or not KG returns any time soon), we think the Strats deserve a round of applause for generating such a great turnaround from last season. 2008 final record: 66-116-9. Projected 21-week total for 2009: 104-77-8).
3 (5) 89-70-3 (6-3-0)The A-Boms and their patchwork lineup did just enough to stumble into the World's top seed. Not quite what we're used to from Zermatt, but even so, Chris Paul has taken his slacker teammates on his shoulders and into the World Concludings. (Projected 21-week record: 104-82-3)
4 (1) 89-66-7 (4-5-0)The Gators' seven-week unbeaten streak came to a screeching halt at the paws of the Underdogs, and what was looking like a week off and a return trip to the Concludings now looks more like "road team in round one". Week 19 slip-up notwithstanding, Twin Falls has been playing some of the best basketball in the league lately. (Projected 21-week record 104-78-7)
5 (6) 80-81-1 (6-3-0)Congratulations to Udorn on defeating the Iguanas! Their prize? A rematch in the first round, this time in Maracaibo! Not your idea of a reward? Well, for Udorn it is, as the Jai-Rai own the season series 10-8. This marks Udorn's first-ever playoff berth. (Projected 21-week record: 92-93-5)
6 (3) 88-70-4 (3-6-0)Down, down, down the Iguanas go! Since defeating New York 6-3 in Week 11, the Igs have gone 27-34-2, including losses in five of those seven weeks. Part of the Power Rankings is even starting to feel bad for 'Caibo backers, whose life outlook, according to experts, rivals that of Cubs fans. (Projected 21-week record: 103-82-6)
7 (8) 69-85-8 (5-4-0)The only non-playoff team to actually make good on their spoiler role, the U-Dogs complete the season sweep of the team that knocked them from the playoffs a year ago, Twin Falls. Perhaps that little nugget of information will give St. George some momentum heading into the Consolation Ladder. (Projected 21-week record: 81-100-8)
8 (7) 77-80-5 (3-6-0)
That five-week unbeaten streak now seems like only a memory. Two straight losses to close out the season put a stop to their playoff hopes, but never fear, SnowBee fans! That Tote Bag is within your grasp! (Projected 21-week record: 89-92-8)
9 (9) 73-89-0 (5-4-0)
Sure you missed out on the playoffs, after flirting for a few weeks there. But hey, at least you didn't lose to Bayside to finish the season. And you are the only team in the league to end the season without a tie. In our book, that's a success. (Projected 21-week record: 85-104-0)
10 (10) 67-90-5 (2-6-1)That score was closer than it looks—the Trojans were threatening a 5-4 victory there for a while. If things don't shake out for you in the Consolation Ladder, we'll always remember you for that great three-week run when you beat Udorn, Maracaibo, and tied Park City! (Projected 21-week record: 79-105-1)
11 (12) 64-92-6 (4-5-0)The Power Rankings are too lazy to look it up, but we wonder if the Tigers ever a week had all their starters actually played their full slate of games. Since we know you're too lazy to look it up too, we'll go ahead and say that no, they did not. (Projected 21-week record: 74-107-8)
12 (11) 69-91-2 (3-6-0)
In a three year sample, the Richmond Butchers franchise (aka Indiana Sand Dunes) has finished dead last (2007) third (2008) and now 10th in the regular season final standings. So the pattern tells us that Butcher fans should reserve their 2010 playoff tickets now! (Projected 21-week record: 81-106-2)
Uh, Coach? That trophy's made of bronze, not chocolate...ZERMATT PG MOST EXCEEDINGLY BENEFICIAL; COMMISH DOESN'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK
ZERMATT (AP)—The Chris Paul love train rolls on.
In what could quite possibly be qualified as the "closest" and "most difficult decision" in the history of the WFBL EBP race, Commissioner Ben Barnes without hesitation named Chris Paul the 2009 Exceedingly Beneficial Participant.
"I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for this," said Commissioner Barnes, who I don't know if it's been pointed out, is also Chris Paul's coach with the A-Boms "But I don't care. Look at the Player Rater. Tied with LeBron for first in total numbers. First by almost 1.5 in average numbers. He's been the best individual player all season long, and now we're just making it official by giving him a bronze trophy of himself."
Chris Paul remarkably led his team to first place in the World, despite the loss of All-Star Al Jefferson. He averaged 50% FGs, 86% FTs, .8 threes, 5.3 rebs, 11.1 asts, 2.8 stls, .2 blks, 3 tos and 21.4 Pts per game, upping his stats in 6 of 9 categories from a year ago.
"That's an EBP right there," said Barnes. "You got a problem with that? I dare you to say something. I haven't fined anybody in a while. And we all know that in this economic climate, I could use the extra dough."
Coming in second by the narrowest of margins—although, when pressed, Barnes would not reveal exactly how narrow—was Park City Sundancers standout Dwyane Wade. The shooting guard had been on quite a tear lately, and was threatening to take home his first EBP. Some wonder if the quality of Wade's teammates hurt his overall chances for the award.
"Hey man, that's fine with me, CP's a great player, and he's so polite too," said Wade, who had four teammates ranked in the Player Rater's top 20, as opposed to Paul's one. "It would have been great to have a bronze statue of myself, I ain't gonna lie to you. I guess that's what I get for having great players around me. Too bad CP can't say the same. Boo-hay!"
Finishing third, right behind Wade, is last season's EBP winner, LeBron James. Early reports had James as this season's winner, had the Iguanas been able to hold on to first place in the World.
"Whatever," said James.
"This is a great achievement, and it'll look great next to my 2008 Concludings EBP trophy and my 2009 All-Star EBP award," said Paul. "But it really means nothing if we don't defend our title. Now excuse me, I've got a bye week to go enjoy. And by 'enjoy' I of course mean spend studying film on the Iguanas and Jai-Rai."
Of course it does, Chris.
2009 PLAYOFFS BRACKET—RD 1
Click to embiggen.
The 2009 Playoffs Bracket will be played the same as most years, with the exception being the division of teams into their respective conferences. Park City, Wasatch's #1 seed, gets a bye into the Wasatch Conference Concludings, where it will face the winner of the Twin Falls at Nephi Round 1 matchup. Zermatt, the World's #1 seed, gets a bye into the World Conference Concludings, where it waits for the Udorn at Maracaibo Round 1 winner.
The Wasatch and World will then meet in the WFBL Concludings, which this year will only be seven days long, instead of the previous years' ten days (due to the shortened schedule).
The Round 1 losers will then play each other for 5th place, and the Conference Concluding losers will face off for 3rd place.
2009 CONSOLATION LADDER—RD 1
Click to embiggen.
This year, instead of the Consolation Bracket following the format of the Playoffs Bracket, those less fortunate teams will be in what is known as the "Consolation Ladder".
This is new to the WFBL, but here's the gist: Every non-playoff team will have a game each of the three playoff weeks. The top non-playoff team (in this case, Salt Lake) will host the second-rated non-playoff team (New York) at the "top of the ladder" (or Game C1 for our purposes). The next highest teams, St. George and Richmond, will play one "rung" below (Game C2), and the final two teams, Rigby and Bayside, will play on the bottom "rung" (Game C3).
You win, you move up a rung. You lose, you move down a rung. And there you go. The tote bag awaits at the top of that ladder.
STOP US IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE: IGUANAS CHOKE AWAY FIRST-ROUND BYE, A-BOMS THE BENEFICIARY; SUNDANCERS SEIZE FIRST PLACE IN THE WASATCH
LeBron James and los Iguanas de Maracaibo once again let fortune—and quite possibly another EBP trophy—slip through their fingers. Coach Hopkin texted it best: WTF?A-BOMS BLOW PAST BUTCHERS, BACK INTO FIRST-ROUND BYE
RICHMOND/UDORN (AP)—(WARNING: Maracaibo fans may want to skip this recap)
Thanks to upstart Udorn, the defending champion Zermatt Abominables once again snatched a first-round bye from Los Iguanas de Maracaibo. Sound familiar?
Two seasons ago, The Igs had a three game lead over their rivals as late in the season as Week 18, only to lose 6-3 to Zermatt in Week 20 and 6-3 to Salt Lake in Week 21, thereby getting dropped from first-round bye contention. A season ago, the Igs had a nine game lead on the A-Boms heading into the All-Star break, only to see that lead overtaken for good by the A-Boms in a Week 21 9-0 humiliation, a loss that again knocked the Igs from first-round bye contention.
And so the story goes. The result may be the same, but it's not about the destination, it's the journey, correct? Well this time a bit more unexpectedly, the Iguanas lost out on the coveted first-round bye in due to new depths of heartbreak. With a 2.5 game lead and first place in the World Conference seemingly in hand, 'Caibo squandered their opportunity, thanks to a 6-3 Zermatt victory over the Butchers and by themselves losing 6-3 to the Jai-Rai.
"This is a new level of choke," said Iguanas forward LeBron James, who joined the Iguanas a season ago. "The first time they were new at it, weren't really sure what they were doing. Last year I brought in my knowledge on choking, and you could see we were refining the art. But this year, my goodness."
For the first time in since Week 5, the Abominables are in first place in the World Conference. That was a week before a humiliating 8-1 loss to these same Iguanas—a loss that put the defending champs in a hole out of which it seemed the A-Boms had no desire to crawl.
"I'll tell you what, man," said Zermatt guard and EBP candidate Chris Paul. "Of all our great fortune thanks to the ineptitude of the Iguanas, this is by far our most unexpected, and most-cherished. If you would have asked me after last week's loss if I thought we would have caught 'em, I probably would have avoided the question with some sort of 'we just go out an take it one game at a time' baloney. And that's for real."
What else is for real is the Jai-Rai, who also deserve credit for their part in making history repeat itself. Udorn now gets the chance to do it all again in the first round of the playoffs, as they travel to Maracaibo for a rematch.
"It's hard to beat a team three times in one season," said forward Al Horford. "But it's also hard to beat a team once. We've now done that. And no one's ever said anything about beating a team twice being difficult. So we like our chances."
The A-Boms now go back to Zermatt to rest up and await not only the 'Caibo-Udorn matchup, but the impending 2009 EBP announcement, who many pundits have as a three-player race between Paul, James, and Park City's Dwyane Wade.
"The trophy'd be great for him, especially since he should have arguably won it last year," said Zermatt forward Rashard Lewis. "But EBP or not, there's another trophy we want. (long pause) I'm referring to the Commissioner Barnes trophy. (long pause) You know, for winning the Concludings."
'DANCERS SECURE FIRST-ROUND BYE, REFLECT ON AWESOMENESS
RIGBY (AP)—It was a week of major accomplishments for the Park City Sundancers as they beat a persistent Rigby team by the closer-than-it-looks score of 6-2-1. The victory enabled the Sundancers to finish the regular season with the league's best record, and become the only team to reach the benchmark of 90 wins.
Once again leading the charge for Park City was Dwyane Wade, who, in addition to putting the final exclamation point on his EBP candidacy by averaging 36.4 points, 1.9 threes, 6.1 rebounds, 10.8 assists, and 2.6 steals over the final two weeks of the season, is now rumored to be a shoe-in for the role of Jason Bourne, should Matt Damon ever decide to retire.
Park City stalwarts Mo Williams and Chris Bosh, along with unlikely first time starter Luis Scola, also did their part to help Park City leapfrog Nephi and Twin Falls en route to their first regular season conference title, and a hard fought first-round bye.
"Earning the bye was critical," explained Park City owner Dave Barton. "First and foremost, it gives Kevin (Durant) another week to rehab his sprained ankle. On a more speculative note, we are hoping that having the week off will help alleviate some of the stress of being considered the best team in the league. In the past, we have always faltered as soon as we reached the summit. Maybe having some extra time to reflect will help us come to grips with our awesomeness."
"Yeah, let's hope coach is right," replied newbie Scola, "because no one is going to wear a 'Regular Season Conference Champions' t-shirt."
"What? You were all thinkin' it!"
DAYLIGHT SAVED, FIRST PLACE SQUANDERED
ST GEORGE (AP)—First place in the Wasatch Conference playoffs, including the coveted first-round bye, was all but theirs. All the Gators had to do was beat lowly St. George—something lots of teams have managed to do this year, including such lightweights as Rigby and New York. It didn't even need to be a blowout; 6-3 probably would have done it. Instead, thanks to a last-second jumper by—let's see, whom shall we give it to? How about Kobe Bryant's man?—Ben Gordon, the Underdogs outscored Twin Falls 333 to 331 to secure a stunning 5-4 victory in the regular season finale, dropping the Gators from first to third in the conference.
Bryant, who forgot to set his wristwatch an hour ahead in observance of daylight saving time, stared at the officials in stunned disbelief as the final buzzer sounded. "I thought we had another hour to play," he explained afterwards. "I was totally saving myself for that last hour. I was gonna turn it on for another 6 three-pointers, 20 assists (even though I had managed only 6 assists so far all week), and 8 steals. It's no fair that we got one less hour this week. I'm tellin' you, if we had our full 168 hours this week, there's no way we lose this series. Against St. George! Are you kidding?
"So I just want to stress that this loss is not my fault. It's daylight saving's fault. Seriously, whose hairbrained idea was that anyway? Benjamin Franklin's? He's never had any good ideas."
"Now, that being said," Kobe went on, "I want to emphasize that I am a mature, likable guy who accepts responsibility for his actions, except when it's somebody else's fault, such as Benjamin Franklin's in this case. And I want to go on record as saying that I am in favor of daylight savings insofar as it lets little kids play outside more. However, if there are a lot of people who don't like daylight savings, I'm against it. I'll leave it to you, reporters, to cast me in the most favorable light considering the preferences of your respective readers. I'm definitely pro-sunshine, generally speaking. The important thing is that I'm perceived as charismatic and gregarious. You may want to call Magic Johnson and find out where he stands on daylight savings, and then just report that I agree with Magic. In fact, if you could somehow get Magic to say how much he admires me, that would be killer. I don't think you should feel like you're above quoting him out of context—or even just totally inventing a quote if that's what it takes."
__________________________________________________________________AROUND THE WFBL
Stratagem 6, SnowBees 3
Forgive SnowBees forward Dirk Nowitzki if he doesn't seem sufficiently solemn after Salt Lake's disappointing 2008-09 season ended with, appropriately, a disappointing 6-3 loss to the Nephi Stratagem. "Really? We lost?" he said, trying to sound interested. "I knew it was the last game of the season, and I knew that, per league rules, I become a free agent after this season, so there's a good chance I won't be a SnowBee next year, and maybe I could play for an owner who knows what he's doing. But I guess I wasn't really paying attention to the outcome of the game." Dirk's giddiness may wear off a little once he realizes that he's still under contractual obligation to play out his team's postseason, which this year involves a convoluted consolation round that nobody understands. But the end of his two-year sentence in Salt Lake is definitely in sight, so it's unlikely that he'll let outcomes of games get him down.
Kings 5, Tigers 4The WFBL is unlike other professional sports leagues in so many ways. Besides the obvious differences, such as its unmatched worldwide popularity and immunity to economic crises, its scorekeeping system also stands out as unique. It is one of the few leagues in which players and some owners often have to go to bed at night not knowing whether or not they've won. League statisticians stay up all night doing their arithmetic before officially declaring a winner, and sometimes the lack of sleep leads to mathematical errors. As a result, players like New York's Steve Nash may wake up in the morning, check the league standings online, and spend all day thinking his 104 points, 42 assists, and 8 steals were not enough to secure a victory against the Bayside Tigers. But players have learned that if you don't like the results, sometimes you can come back a few hours later and they'll change. That's what happened this week, when somehow New York's 4-5 loss magically turned into a 5-4 win (a meaningless difference anyhow, since both teams are out of playoff contention). The whole charade proves something that Kings owner TJ Barnes has maintained all along: that this league relies far too heavily on math—a method he feels cannot be trusted to determine playoff seeding: "I think we should use something more fun, like Art or Social Studies."
WEEK 18 EBP WINNER
Dwyane Wade, Park City
Shorts available if a jersey ain't your thing. Also available in Sundancers, Stratagem, Gators, Iguanas and Jai-Rai.
Can the Gators make another run to the Concludings? Can the Strats complete their remarkable turnaround?
SEED: 3
SEED: 2
Will the momentum the Jai-Rai gained in last week's win over Maracaibo help carry Udorn to their first ever playoff win? Will it be another early exit for the Iguanas, who have made the playoffs every year in the WFBL's history, but have never made it to the Concludings?
SEED: 3
SEED: 2
Dwyane Wade took the Park City Sundancers from tote bag champs a year ago to this year's best regular season record.
1 (2) 92-65-5 (6-2-1) 
3 (5) 89-70-3 (6-3-0)
7 (8) 69-85-8 (5-4-0)
8 (7) 77-80-5 (3-6-0)
9 (9) 73-89-0 (5-4-0)
10 (10) 67-90-5 (2-6-1)
11 (12) 64-92-6 (4-5-0)
12 (11) 69-91-2 (3-6-0)
Uh, Coach? That trophy's made of bronze, not chocolate...
Chris Paul remarkably led his team to first place in the World, despite the loss of All-Star Al Jefferson. He averaged 50% FGs, 86% FTs, .8 threes, 5.3 rebs, 11.1 asts, 2.8 stls, .2 blks, 3 tos and 21.4 Pts per game, upping his stats in 6 of 9 categories from a year ago.
Click to embiggen.
Click to embiggen.
LeBron James and los Iguanas de Maracaibo once again let fortune—and quite possibly another EBP trophy—slip through their fingers. Coach Hopkin texted it best: WTF?
RIGBY (AP)—It was a week of major accomplishments for the Park City Sundancers as they beat a persistent Rigby team by the closer-than-it-looks score of 6-2-1. The victory enabled the Sundancers to finish the regular season with the league's best record, and become the only team to reach the benchmark of 90 wins.
