Championship Wednesday

SYOSSET: Championship Game Prediction

By Anthony Leo | Syosset League Coordinator

After a long fall season, we have finally reached the championship game. The Ballerz captained by Mike Seff will take on the Walking Dead captained by Tom Dimicelli. Both teams had very different paths to reach this point, but here they are facing off for the vet’s league championship. We start with the Ballerz who had a very up and down regular season that finished with a disappointing 3-5 regular season record. On paper coming into the season the Ballerz were looked at as one of the favorites because of their depth up and down the roster. They struggled at times, but when it counted the most they played excellent together as a team. The Walking Dead had a tough start to their season and most people left to the side and didn’t think much of anything of this team when they started 0-3 on the season. They went on to finish the regular season 4-4 and with some tie breakers earn a first round bye. All season long the story for this team has been the incredible scoring display of Tom Dimicelli who leads the league averaging 24.7 points per game.

During the regular season the Ballerz and the Walking Dead faced off twice splitting the season series. The game that is most important to look back on is all the way back in Week 2 of the regular season but turned out to be probably the best game of the season. The Ballerz won that Week 2 game in a triple OT thriller. Tom Dimicelli scored 32 points to lead the Walking Dead and Mike Seff scored 25 points to lead the Ballerz. In their second matchup the Ballerz didn’t have Cedric Wallace and again couldn’t stop Dimicelli from scoring 30-plus points.

Tonight’s game should be another great game between both these teams. Both teams match up well with their wing players and big men. Some of the key matchups to watch in this game are Mike Seff and Tom Dimicelli the leading scorers on each team and Cedric Wallace and Dave Konecky the big men on each team. Seff and Dimicelli both are excellent scoring guards who can beat you in so many different ways. Dimicelli will have to deal with Zeb Pirzada chasing him around tonight for 44 minutes which won’t be an enjoyable time. Seff may have an easier time but I expect both to get their points. This game comes down to the role players on each team and in this game, there are plenty of excellent glue guys and roll players. For the Ballerz it’s all about Peter Deplas and his shooting ability. If he’s on and gets hot it changes everything and takes the pressure to score off of Seff. For the Walking Dead it’s all about Richie Yorke and his ability to rebound, pass and put people in the right spots.

In the end I think this game is another defensive battle that is controlled by the Ballerz and their stronger defense and rebounding ability. I will take the Ballerz to be the fall season vets champions.

PICK: Ballerz