GREEN VALLEY OPEN: Championship Prediction

By Michael Palmer | Green Valley Media Associate

#1 The Krows (9-0) vs. #6 Ball 4 Life (3-7)

Previous matchup: Week 8 - The Krows 103, Ball 4 Life 80

We have finally made it to the title game. I'm sure many people never would've guessed that the #1 seed and #6 seed would be playing each other in the title game. The Krows advanced to the championship game after defeating the Flight Vegas in a game 91-76. They won that game without MVP Tomas Sanchez, Chad Byron Briggs and Adam Rellah. Will we see them suit up tonight? Greg Murray was a straight up beast last night scoring a game-high 35 points and grabbed 10 boards, good enough for his second double-double of the season. Lamont Morgan Jr.might have had his best game yet as he put up 25 points on 10 rebounds and 12 assists and yes, that's a triple-double for the point guard. Let's see if he can have another phenomenal game.

Let's not forget that Ball 4 Life had their sights set on playing in the Rec league. Thanks to Milos Knezevic for playing college basketball, they were 'force' to move to the open league and look at them now. I must say that GM Angel Castro has put together quite the team in a short amount of time. Ball 4 Life pulled off the slight upset by knocking out Houdini, 81-71. I use the words “slight upset” because it is not a huge surprise that Ball 4 Life advanced. They have had a down season but they are still easily one of the most talented squads and can beat any of the teams in the league. Former NCAA national champion Taurean Green led the way in this one with 29 points and 6 assists on 50% shooting. Hollis Hale also knocked down 6 of his 11 three pointers but more importantly, he was constantly playing lockdown defense and didn't commit one foul.

This matchup should be another exciting one to watch unfold, and another one where the teams styles contrast. Both of these teams play great defense as The Krows are 1st (80.7) and Ball 4 Life is 3rd in scoring defense (92.4 ppg). The differences come when you look at the offenses as The Krows are much more perimeter oriented than the Ball 4 Life. Ball 4 Life leads the league in 3 point attempts by a wide margin with 38.1 per game. The Krows on the other hand attack the rim and do more of their damage in the paint, especially from guys like Murray, Anthony Livingstonand Kodiak Yazzie.

The last time these two teams met was back in week 8, where The Krows closed out the regular season undefeated, winning 103-80. Ball 4 Life was without a trio of their key players, but The Krows held them to 32% shooting overall and 30% from deep while being extremely efficient on the offensive side. The Krows finished at 52% and 34% from distance. I expect to see a lot of that again tonight for The Krows, that is if Sanchez and Briggs play tonight. The wild card in this scenario is the three point shooting prowess of Ball 4 Life. I’m predicting that Ball 4 Life gets hot from deep, which they are more than capable of. I of course won't be present for this one but if Sanchez and Briggs don't suit up for The Krows, we will perhaps see an 'upset' with the #6 seed beating a #1 seed. It's not going to be like a No. 16 UMBC beating the top overall seed Virginia, or will it.

Prediction: The Krows +3.5