Numerous Teams Eager For Fast Start

GREEN VALLEY REC: Week 2 Predictions

By Michael Palmer | Green Valley Media Associate

The Industry (0-0) vs. Houdini (1-0)

Two teams that are very familiar with each other will look to start the season with a win as Charlie Farber and Houdini will face Derek Adkins and The Industry. Houdini has plenty of top-notch players that will give it to The Industry all game long. Andreas Vasiliu will be a key guy for The Industry and the point, as well as Adkins of course.

Marciano Brunette will be a key weapon for The Industry down low; let's see how well he does going up against Josh Rollans. Watch out for Cory Argubright to attack at The Industry and also be a big facilitator too. The Industry can't sleep on Danny Lee and that goes for Houdini too in Adkins. Until I see some big-time scoring against top-tier teams for The Industry, I have to pick Houdini.

Prediction: Houdini -4

Revolver (0-1) vs. Urban Air

This matchup will feature a new team in Urban Air and a somewhat veteran team in Revolver. Urban Air has Silas Gebhart, who will be making his Ultimate Hoops debut, and I'm guessing that his other players will be making their debuts too. Revolver has pure scorers in Nick Davis, Seth Gomez and Brenden Graves. Revolver needs to take fewer 3s as they shot 24 percent from downtown last week. I expect Davis and Gomez to show Urban Air who's the boss.

Prediction: Revolver -6.5

Free Agents (0-1) vs. RudeDogs (0-1)

Craig Sutter and the Free Agents will go up against D'Andre Henderson and the RudeDogs, and man will we see a plethora of shots attempted. Ben Carey of the RudeDogs will attempt a lot of 3s, and let's see just how many will go down tonight. Watch out for James Rice down low; perhaps the Free Agents will double-team him at some point. Henderson will most likely score 25-plus points and be on fire, so Sutter and the Free Agents need to pay extra close attention to the sharp-shooter. 

Even though the Free Agents lost to the SUNZ last week, they still put up 92 points as Sutter scored 44 points, while Jonathan Garcia got himself 27 points in his Ultimate Hoops debut. They were also 11-12 from the charity stripe and the RudeDogs need to be careful containing some of the new guys. Watch out for Douglas Polk to grab big-time boards. This may be closer than most people think, but I have to go with the RudeDogs here based on their experience and clutch shooting.

Prediction: RudeDogs -5.5

Lifetime Lakers (0-0) vs. Knicks (1-0)

We're going to see some big-time action in this one as Nick Guidice and the Knicks will square off against Shawn Monegan and the Lifetime Lakers. Monegan should have all of his guys back from last season, and if they want to move above .500, they need to start attacking at the rim and limit their 3-point attempts. I know they love to shoot the long ball, but they have guys that can attack down low and run very well in transition. Chris Mellor is one of those guys and I know he can go up against Brenton Van and the Knicks.

Speaking of Van, he was something else last season, and if I had to pick a newcomer of the season, it was him for sure. He grabs boards, gets things going and is a difference-maker every time he steps foot on the floor. The Knicks have brought in Nick "Beam" Rainey and his defense will be spot-on all season long. Watch out for Matt Darcel to attempt a lot of 3s. I have Guidice being the player of the game and remaining undefeated. 

Prediction: Knicks -5

Dyme Pieces (0-0) vs. Gandonians (1-0)

Nick Lomardo's back-to-back champion Dyme Pieces will play their first game of the winter and face Andrew Sookiassian and the Gandonians. The Gandonians beat the RudeDogs last week and had themselves an impressive season debut as they shot 42 percent from the field and had four of their five starters score in double figures. Frank Washko had a big-time double-double with 14 points and 21 boards, so the Dyme Pieces have to take him into consideration for sure.

When talking about the Dyme Pieces, there's really not a whole lot of negative things to discuss. They have raw talent every season and simply know how to win. They have pure scorers in Tom Gibson, Josh Ross, Marvin Campbell, Dylan Hansel and Zach Dean. Jim Reilly is that big man that every team hopes to have, but he's a Dyme Piece. Watch out for Hansel to get the ball rolling, and Ross to get to the line quite often as he normally does for the victory.

Prediction: Dyme Pieces -18.5

SUNZ (1-0) vs. Buckets (0-0)

Cris Cockrell and the SUNZ will see if they can make it 2-0 when they go up against Edwin Urbina and the Buckets. The Buckets are also comprised some notable players in 3-point specialist Jason Hill, Matt Bumgardner, who played for the Buckeyes last summer, and the SUNZ's former player Victor Senn. All of these guys for the Buckets certainly have great talent and even though they're not the biggest team, they're capable of beating top notch teams. I have a feeling Urbina will grab rebound after rebound as the point guard comes from no where all the time and grabs double-double rebounds with ease.

Watch out for the SUNZ's Blake White to keep up with the Buckets and drill shots from downtown. Vince Sant made an impressive Ultimate Hoops debut last week by scoring 23 points, so he'll be another guy to look out for. Even though some of the guys on the Buckets haven't played with each other that often, they should still start the winter season 1-0. 

Prediction: Buckets +4

Bye Week: Diplomats (0-1)

Week 2 Power Rankings

1. Dyme Pieces (0-0)

2. Houdini (1-0)

3. The Industry (0-0)

4. Knicks (1-0)

5. SUNZ (1-0)

6. Buckets (0-0)

7. Gandonians (1-0)

8. Lifetime Lakers (0-0)

9. Diplomats (0-0)

10. RudeDogs (0-1)

11. Revolver (0-1)

12. Free Agents (0-1)

13. Urban Air (0-0)