Sorry gang, it's been a few weeks. That's on Commish. If you're reading this I hope you got your morning coffee by your side because it's about to be a long one.

When I last left you, some things were happening.
Let's recall...
- Heavy Glaze was the last undefeated team in the Winter League
- TC was coming off a 47 point game and Reeb had his first league triple double
- Justin Allen was playing like an Alien. He had 153 points to his 6 assist.
- Team HAM scored more 3 point shots than 2 point shots in their dismantline of FKAUD
- No Diddy and Blazers were both winless (Shoutout No Diddy for Diddy-in LeBron James, the team)
- and there was still 5 weeks of gameplay left

I think that about wraps up where we last left off.

Fast forward to today, Saturday Feb 22nd and the opening round of the Winter League Playoffs.
This is how the season ended...

HAM finished the season as the 1 seed winning 6 straight to end the season and finished with a 9-1 record. HAM absolutely beat down their opponents during their 6 game win streak by a margin of 17.5 points. The duo of Hiam (21, 5, 4a) and Bernstein (21, 7, 2 stl) proved to be as lethal as it gets. Team HAM's +118 point differential was the best in the league and the only team to get into positive triple digits in that category.

FKAUD finished the season on a 5 game win streak and clinched the 2 seed with an 8-2 record. Amongst league leaders is FKAUD's Fonz Hale. Fonz finished with the most total points in the JDL this season (339) as well as the most assist (56). After being dismantled by Team Ham 89-72, FKAUD went on to defeat FTK, Space Jam Rejects, LeBron James, Ball Busters, and Hoop Dreams. FKAUD had the third largest positive point differential with 89 (Team Cordone 93) and also finished with the most total team points on the season with 794.

Heavy Glaze finished in the 3 spot this Winter. Team Captain and defending Winter League Champion Clark Brueckl looks to do what he does best and that's win when it matters most. At our last update, Glaze was the last remaining perfect team. Since then, Glaze dropped back to back games to Team Cordone and Live and Die. What seemed like Glaze's downfall was quickly halted by back to back wins to finish the season which includes a 42 point first half, 59 total point performence by Brueckl in the teams final outing. Averaging 27 and 9 on the season, Brueckl had his hands full. He got help from Ahmet Merzihic (13, 6) and Brandon Camacho (14, 5) this season and will continue to need those guys to step up if he plans on leaving IFS Basketball March 8th as a 2 time Winter League Champion. Glaze leads all teams in** total defense allowing a league low 583 total points against.

Hennything IS Possible when you have the Alien Justin Allen. Just know that when it's time to start the game and throw the opening tip, JA will most likely be "about 5 min out". JA PER 36 min is probably through the roof to be honest. Whether he's on time or not, this team still wins. Finishing the season on a league best 7 straight wins secured them the 4 seed. LOTTTAAAAA controversy with this team and how they secured leading league rebounder and Summer League Finals MVP Matthew Sadowy. With their only loses coming to Team HAM and Heavy Glaze, this team is poised to make a deep run to finish out the winter session. Team Captain Mike "Big Country" Ludwig added perimeter shooting to this team while Sadowy ate up the paint. H.I.P will look to prove that come March 8th, Winning the Winter League Championship could be possible.

Team Cordone dropping a couple late season games had this team from possibly the one seed to the 5 seed. A tough overtime loss to HIP and a close loss to HAM has this team fired up headed into post season play. Before we dive deeper into thier season review, shoutout TC for going for 50 on his born day. 3 players averaging double digits for Team Cordone was the reciepe for success this season. TC averaging28, 6 and 5 (I rounded up) to go along with a double-double from Dorr (14, 11) and Reeb's (16, 8) was enough to secure 7 wins on the season for Team Cordone. Role players Tayvon Boyd and Zach Caito will look to space the floor with their periemeter shooting while Paul Brinkel, Alexander Dominique, and Carson Dayka will continue to hustle hard and do all the right things for this team to be successful.

We thought the dream's would turn into nightmres (Shoutout Meek Mill) once Hoop Dream's Devon Darrell left midseason to play pro overseas. Insert Kam Williams. Kam scored 39 total points in his first 5 games in the JDL. Kam scored 26, 30, 44, and 19 in his last 4 games. No DD? No problem. DD's replacement player's Tyler Bailey and Jake Nye were great additions to a team in need of some speed. Why speed? Cause the certified G and bonafide stud Tyree Coble held down the paint as one of the leagues better big men and YOU CANT TEACH THAT! Bada boom, Hoop Dreams in the room as the 6 seed, how you doin??

FTK that's it. Thats the update. It was always and will always be FTK. A 20 point, 9 rebound average for TK this winter to go along with the Handyman Andy Strug's 19 and 11 statline was good enough to get this team 6 wins and positive on the season. A season full of swings, loses, wins, and fun saw FTK only have a +7 point differential despite having 6 wins to their 4 loses. FTK played in 8 single digit margin games, which is the most in the league. FTK will hope that veteran guard and Summer league champion Kevin Marcinkowski will be able to hold it down on the defensive end alongside second leading steals leader Mike Davis.

The Chosen, lead by team captain and recent 30 year old club member Tony Gualla had one of the more surprising seasons this winter. There wasn't one game where Gualla and company didnt truly believe they could win and on a nightly basis they proved it. Constantly undermanned, it didn't matter. Gualla made a move for Forward Trey Thompson from Blazers to pair alongside long-time friend and teammate Jarmani Cooper (first time dad mid season). The Chosen is the only team to have 5 players average double digit scoring averages.

The back half of the league includes:
9 seed Live and Die
10 seed Space Jam Rejects
11 seed Double Nickels
12 seed Blessed to Ball
13 seed Ball Busters
14 seed No Diddy
15 seed LeBron James
16 seed Blazers

3/128 players averaged 30 or more points per game (Fonz Hale 33.9, Justin Allen 32.8, Noah Grabar 30.7)
13/128 players averaged 20 or more points per game (Cordone, C Brueckl, Dobbins, Hoellig, M Ridgeway, Pulliam, Gualla, Bernstein, A Hiam, and Kittinger)
24/128 players averaged 15 or more points per game.

Fonz Hale was the only player to amass 300 or more total points scored (339). Next closest was Justin Allen with 295.

5 players averaged a double-double on the season (Matt Sadowy, Kavon Rogers, Derek Dorr Austin Peach, Andy Strug)

Sadowy, Kavon, and Peach all had 100 plus rebounds in their 10 games played, Dorr hit 100 rebounds in 9 games played.

Malikye Ridgeway lead the league in steals at 30 total on the season.

The playoffs begin this Saturday, Feb 22nd. 8 matchups all streamed live from our Twitch Channel @JDLAthletics.
130 - 3 v 14 (Heavy Glaze vs No Diddy) Glaze -15.5
230 - 2 v 15 (FKAUD vs LeBron James) Over 161.5
330 - 1 v 16 (HAM vs Blazers) HAM -22.5
430 - 4 v 13 (Hennything is Possible vs Ball Busters) HIP -19.5
530 - 5 v 12 (Team Cordone vs Blessed to Ball) TC -8.5
630 - 6 v 11 (Hoop Dreams vs Double Nickels) Nickels -2.5
730 - 7 v 10 (FTK vs Space Jam Rejects) FTK -2.5
830 - 8 v 9 (The Chosen vs Live and Die) Live and Die -5

To wrap it all up, I saved the most important stat for last. out of all 128 players, every single player who played in the Winter League scored at least one point. Every player made an impact in at least one game this season and ultimately that's what I'm most proud of.

If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed this winter session of JDL Basketball. This summer we're back bigger and better than ever! The official debut of the AllPlay Summer Pro-Am (formerly known as JDL). Summer registration is live through March 15th and the link can be found in our instagram bio. Hope to see you there!

Signing off, I wish everyone the best of luck during the playoffs!