Hustle, Hustle, Hustle, Hard

GREEN VALLEY OPEN: Week 3 Predictions

By Michael Palmer | Green Valley

Free Agents (0-1) vs. Flight Vegas (0-1)

Robert Sandoval and Flight Vegas will look to get their first win of the season against Adam Rellah and the Free Agents. Flight Vegas lost a tough one in overtime to the Villains and I'm sure they'll bounce back and be ready to go tonight. Sandoval and Vernon Clemens are a great one-two punch as Sandoval scored a game-high 49 points last week, while Clemens got himself 29 points. Cory Ford is back and healthy, so the Free Agents better keep a close eye on him. David Murtha only scored eight points last week, and I expect him to score in double figures in this one. 

The Free Agent only lost by three points to the RudeDogs last week and were led by Rellah's 42 points on eight treys, while Austin Welch got himself 37 points on 11 threes. I expect the duo to put up 3 after 3 and knowing Flight Vegas' defense, it's not going to be easy to get those shots up. Josh Ross will look to secure another double-double and if anyone needs to have an all-out performance, it's going to be him. Let's see how Frank Washko does against Murtha in the paint, and I know it won't be easy guarding Murtha. Both teams have a lot of pure scorers, but Flight Vegas has something special about them and they get this one locked down.

Prediction: Flight Vegas -14

JYD (1-0) vs. Villains (1-0)

Jerome Williams and his JYD squad are well rested and ready to face Hollis Hale and the Villains. JYD received a bye week last week and have quite the agile group. Not only does JYD have Williams, they have Eric Redeaux to help him out down low and snatch those boards. JYD also added one of the best guards in the league in Lamont Morgan Jr. and boy will he have a special season. Of course they brought back Cris Cockrell and the veteran Anthony Livingston to start a spark and be true facilitators. I expect Livingston to secure at least 10 assists, if not more and the Villains have the talent to slow him down. 

Jon-Ross Campeau of the Villains somewhat struggled last week from downtown, so perhaps he'll need to be a little extra cautious when thinking about attempting those shots. Knowing him though, he'll bounce back before you know it. Hale will be all over the place playing lockdown defense, drawing fouls and drilling 3s from left to right. I know that Andreu Johnson will draw a ton of fouls and earn plenty of trips to the charity stripe. He's a career 81 percent free-throw shooter, so the Villains should have nothing to worry about from the line. Watch out for Josh McCarver to get some put-back shots and grab plenty of boards, but not if Williams and Redeaux to stop him from doing so. This is a really tough one for me to pick, but this will come down to who will step it up in the second half and find some magic. I know the Villains have plenty of talent, but if they can't stop Morgan Jr. from scoring early and often, it will be JYD's game but if they slow him down and the duo of Hale and Johnson have electric performances, the Villains will rise up for the victory.

Prediction: Villains +4

Bye Week: RudeDogs (1-1)

Power Rankings

1. JYD (1-0)

2. Villains (1-0)

3. RudeDogs (1-1)

4. Flight Vegas 0-1)

5. Free Agents (0-1)