Full Court Press: May 2011 Cover (Championship Early Edition)

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Full Court Press: April 2011 Cover

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Full Court Press: March 2011 Cover

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PEORIA FREE PRESS - JOHN WALL

After the drafting of John Wall, the Peoria Bricklayers seem poised to rebound from an embarrassing 2009/10 campaign.

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Full Court Press: September 2010 Covers

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Full Court Press: June 2010

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FCP: Record Tracker / Magic Numbers (Week 21)

With the final week of play in the 2009/2010 regular season upon us, and so many teams still in the hunt for those final three playoff spots, FCP presents to you a special Final Week edition of Record Tracker, including playoff scenarios and magic numbers. Chris Paul doesn't look to return until the end of next week so the Lizards are really hoping for a strong final push at a bye, but Bridgewater is in the driver's seat.



Record Tracker / Magic Numbers (Week 21)
By: Max Powers; Full Court Press


Three team have clinched and fight over the top two spots while five other teams battle it out for the three open spots still available. Only four teams sit on the outside, with two of them hoping to play spoiler int he final week of play. With Peoria and Dublin already clinching the first and second picks in next year's draft respectively (and in one case a new winning % record) look for them to hold nothing back in Week 21 as they help add to the excitement for a change.

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Magic Numbers / Playoff Scenarios

1.) Tokyo Vegans
109-67-4 (111.0 pts)
Magic Number - Clinched playoff spot (At least the 3rd seed)
Magic Number to clinch first round BYE - 5.0; Top Seed: 6.0
Final opponent: South Carolina Rebels

The Vegans have the formality of solidifying the top seed this week, with a match up against the streaking Rebels. The number one seed gets to face the winner of the 4/5 match up fro the first round, which is yet to be officially determined but with the Week 21 match ups as they are it would not be a surprise to see Rakeville and Colorado in those seeds, with the winner facing off against the Vegans in the second round.

2.) Bridgewater Phenoms
105-70-5 (107.5 pts)
Magic Number - Clinched playoff spot (At least the 3rd seed)
Magic Number to clinch first round BYE - 8.5
Final Opponent: Dublin Bar Brawlers

The second seed, and final first round bye is still anyone's game, but the Phenoms hold most of the cards heading into the final week. They face off against the young Brawlers who have already clinched their coveted 2nd overall draft pick for next year's draft. With nothing to lose, Dublin may come out firing, giving the Phenoms something to fight for but with Vegas going up against Tijuana, the defending champs, look for Bridgewater to hold onto the final bye and possibly face Vegas in the 2nd round.

3.) Las Vegas Lizards
105-72-3 (106.5 pts)
Magic Number - Clinched playoff spot (At least the 3rd seed)
Final Opponent: Tijuana Matadors

The Lizards came into the season with dulled expectations and high hopes. They fought most of the season to hold onto one of the top two spots, but with the loss of star point guard Chris Paul their hold has been chipped away each and every week. They have clinched no lower than the 3rd seed in the playoffs, but with Paul not expecting to return until the end of next week, Vegas would really like that first week to rest up. None the less, they are expected to stay in the 3-hole and face off against the likes of either South Carolina, Montreal, or Tijuana, whom they end their regular season against in Week 21.

4.) Colorado Bears
95-82-3 (96.5 pts)
Magic Number - 5.0
Final Opponent: Rakeville Crows

Colorado, though hasn't clinched a playoff spot officially, has already put aside hotel rooms for the team they'll be hosting in the first round of the playoffs. The Bears should probably be hosting Rakeville once again, as the two face off in the final week and should probably tire each other out to a final score of around 5-4. Prediction: who ever wins the Week 21 match up, will lose the first round playoff rematch.

5.) Rakeville Crows
93-85-2 (94.0 pts)
Magic Number - 7.0
Final Opponent: Colorado Bears

Ya, sure, the Crows are only half a point up on the Rebels in the standings, but who's counting? Rakeville sure is, knowing they can easily be kicked out of the playoff race, never mind knocked down from the 5th overall seed. All their hard work in the second half of the season could be all for not with one bad week, but don't expect it. The Crows match up well against anyone out there, and as much as the rest of the playoff squad would rather see the Rebels in the playoffs than the Crows, look for Rakeville to squash those dreams and ride their own to a second round match up against Tokyo.

6.) South Carolina Rebels
92-85-3 (93.5 pts)
Magic Number - 7.5
Final Opponent: Tokyo Vegans

Just a few weeks ago South Carolina sat comfortably in 10th place, announcing how terrible they thought they were to the world. How things have changed. With 5 straight wins, albeit against all teams currently in the bottom half of the standings besides Colorado, the Rebels find themselves with a rejuvenated spirit and confidence about them. That new confidence will surely be tested in their final week against Tokyo. The possibility of finally put themselves in a position to may the playoffs after weeks and months of sitting in the bottom half, just to be kicked out in the final week of play has got to be stressful, not to mention that even if they make it out alive and live to play another week, they'll get matched up against one of Bridgewater, Las Vegas, or even rematch against Tokyo. Their best case scenario would be that Colorado blows out Rakeville, Tokyo goes easy on them, and they sneak their way into the 5th seed. Stranger things have happened. Right?

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7.) Tijuana Matadors
92-87-1 (92.5 pts)
Cursed Number - 8.5
Final Opponent: Las Vegas Lizards

From a solid 4th seeded team and on the brink of jumping to number three, to a bubble team hoping for a break in the final week. The defending champs are in a difficult situation, a similar one their Week 21 opponent, the Lizards, found themselves in this time last year: they're too good to drop too far in the standings to grab a better draft pick but may not be good enough to make the jump into the playoffs. Week 21 will tell for the Matadors, who need a good week against Vegas, who are on their own bubble fighting it out. With the Rebels going up against the Vegans the Matadors have a shot, it's just too bad Montreal, who is only a half point back from them, has the luxury of visiting Peoria in the final week.

8.) Montreal DeathPiggys
90-86-4 (92.0 pts)
Cursed Number - 8.0
Final Opponent: Peoria Bricklayers

Don't let the standings fool you - Montreal is a playoff team. Always has been, and for the foreseeable future, always will be. It may have seemed like they've succeeded in dropping to the bottom of the barrel in order to solidify a better draft pick in next year's draft, but they've saved the best for last: a final week match up against the new "worst team in EHBA history"*. The Piggys look to jump over Tijuana and South Carolina in the final week to grab that number six seed, much to their dissapointment, because even though Montreal has the capability of winning eah and every week against any opponent, they are well aware they probably wouldn't make it out of the first round at this point and would much rather have that 5th overall draft pick in order to fight for a bye in the 2011 playoffs rather than fighting for the 6th seed in the 2010 playoffs. They're just have to fight for both.



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Record Tracker 2009/2010


Below is a list of records broken during the 2009/10 season, along with the current leaders in each category and what they would need in the final week to break the record...

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Season-Long Record Watch:

FG%
Current Record: .487 (LV - 2007/08)
2009/10 Leader: .482 (FIT) - On Pace For: .482

FT%
Current Record: .818 (DUB - 2007/08)
2009/10 Leader: .802 (TKO) - On Pace For: .800

3PTM
Current Record: 892 (DUB - 2007/08)
2009/10 Leader: 786 (COL) - On Pace For: 825
Needed to Break: 106

PTS
Current Record: 13,091 (BRW - 2008/09)
2009/10 Leader: 12,419 (TKO) - On Pace For: 13,040
Needed to Break: 672

REB
Current Record: 5133 (COL - 2007/08)
2009/10 Leader: 4828 (TKO) - On Pace For: 5069
Needed to Break: 305

AST
Current Record: 2744 (TIJ - 2008/09)
2009/10 Leader: 2529 (BRW) - On Pace For: 2655
Needed to Break: 215

ST
Current Record: 899 (MTL - 2007/08)
2009/10 Leader: 862 (COL) - On Pace For: 905
Needed to Break: 37

BLK
Current Record: 651 (RAK - 2007/08)
2009/10 Leader: 610 (LV) - On Pace For: 640
Needed to Break: 41

TO
Current Record: 1160 (COL - 2008/09)
2009/10 Leader: 1226 (DUB) - On Pace For: 1287
CANNOT BE BROKEN THIS SEASON

HIGHEST WINNING %
Current Record: .619 (TIJ - 2008/09)
2009/10 Leader: .617 (TKO) - On Pace For: .617
Needed to Tie: 6 win (or equivalent); Needed to Break: 6.5 wins (or equivalent)

LOWEST WINNING %
Current Record: .352 (COL - 2008/09)
2009/10 Leader: .317 (PEO) - On Pace For: .317
PEORIA HAS ALREADY CLINCHED THE RECORD (The highest winning % they can have at the end of the regular season is .349)*


*Yes, I know mathematically there's still a possibility that Dublin is crowned the "new worst team in EHBA History" but c'mon.

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Current Unbeaten/Winless Streaks**....

LONGEST UNBEATEN STREAK RECORD:
Current Record: 8 Weeks (LV/MTL - 2007/08)

Active Streaks***:
BRW: 5 Unbeaten Weeks
SC: 5 Unbeaten Weeks
LV: 2 Unbeaten Weeks
TKO: 2 Unbeaten Weeks
TIJ: 2 Unbeaten Weeks
COL: 1 Unbeaten Weeks



LONGEST WINLESS STREAK RECORD:
Current Record: 13 Weeks (PEO - 2008/09)

Active Streaks***:
PEO: 9 Winless Weeks
MTL: 4 Winless Weeks
DUB: 3 Winless Weeks
WEY: 2 Unbeaten Weeks
FIT: 2 Unbeaten Weeks
RAK: 1 Unbeaten Weeks


**With only one week left, neither of these records can be broken this season. Streaks will carry over to the start of the 2010/2011 regular season.
***Streaks include regular season match ups only.

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Weekly records tied/broken during 2009/10 season****:

3PTM: COL - 61 (Week 1)
ST: COL - 59 (Week 3)*****
BLK: RAK - 45 (Week 13)
REB: TIJ - 317 (Week 14)
FG%: PEO - .539 (Week 15)
ST: BRW - 63 (Week 18)*****

****Any and all records tied or broken during the shortened NBA All-Star Week do not count in the EHBA record books.
*****COL first set a new Weekly Steals record in Week 3 of the 2009/10 season, only to have it broken 15 weeks later by BRW

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