The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it, and with all Life Time clubs indefinitely closed, there are no Ultimate Hoops leagues running. While some leagues were able to finish their seasons and crown a champion, there were more leagues that got suspended in the middle of the playoffs, with a winter banner still to play for.

This was the case for the Folsom Draft League, as they finished their semifinals last week and had their championship game scheduled for this past Tuesday. They unfortunately couldn’t play that game in real life, so league coordinator James Doran set up the next best thing.

He uploaded the rosters of Who’s Next and Purple Rain into NBA 2K18 and set up a simulated game to see who the best team in Folsom was this season. The game was played with eight-minute quarters, and the game was broadcasted through a live stream last night on the UH Sacramento Facebook group. Here’s how it went down.

Who’s Next, represented by the New York Knicks, came out strong by dominating the glass and out-shooting Purple Rain, represented by the Sacramento Kings, from the outside (if this situation wasn’t weird enough, this simulation had the Knicks and the Kings playing Game 7 of the Finals in Sacramento). This led to Who’s Next leading by nine after the first quarter.

Purple Rain was able to respond and cut the deficit to three at halftime. Who’s Next built the lead by out-rebounding Purple Rain 21-14 in the first half and by the play of Drew McPherson, who had seven points and eight boards at halftime.

The third quarter followed the same pattern as the rest of the game, as Who’s Next went into the fourth quarter leading by four. Their defense was giving Purple Rain fits all game, as they couldn’t get anything going from half-court sets. Many of Purple Rain’s shots came with under five seconds left in the shot clock, and nearly all of them were contested, leading to them shooting under 40% from the field.

Despite the offensive struggles, Purple Rain tied the game up at 49-49 with 6:55 left in the game, presumably setting up a dramatic finish. That was not the case however, as over the next 3:25 of game time Who’s Next went on a 10-0 run to end all hopes for Purple Rain. Who’s Next cruised from there, winning 71-58.

McPherson was awarded with the Player of the Game, as he finished with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. This is pretty in line with what has happened this season for McPherson, as he’s averaged 20.5 points and 7.8 rebounds this season. There was one aspect of McPherson’s simulated performance that surprised Doran though.

“They had a closed team meeting and talked to Drew about his lack of passing and it showed tonight. He actually passed the ball more times (tonight) in the last three to four seasons he’s played,” Doran said after the game.

The only downside for Who’s Next was that Brandon Kim got ejected from the game in the final minutes as he picked up his second flagrant foul.

Who’s Next can now celebrate their virtual title at home during this isolation period. This will not count as an official banner for Who’s Next, as the championship game will still hopefully be played in person, but if that’s not a possibility, this is the best we can do.

Another huge shout out to Doran for putting this together and streaming it. Hopefully it inspires other LC’s to follow suit.