Looks like I'll be handling another season of rankings/predictions since I have some spare time. For those of you know that know me, it's nice to see some old familiar faces again from the last few seasons. I'm sure there are a bunch of people here who don't know me since I'm not familiar with a lot of these teams except from reputations. I've been doing these columns for a few seasons now and will continue to do them through the season if you guys want to read them.
Anyway, since my ranking script never wants to work anymore I'll be using rjssob's rankings from the APL/USA thread as a starting point and splitting the conferences to make things easier for me. Unfortunately, since I don't know much about a lot of the teams right now you'll have to deal with my guesswork when I make predictions until I become more familiar as to who the dominant teams are and who the posers are. So if anyone gets offended with the rankings or predictions all you have to do is win the game to show me you belong higher.
Good luck to everyone this season (especially Sterling cause we're going to need it from the looks of it
) and I'm looking forward to seeing a ton of great games since AAA was getting a little lackluster to say the least.
On to the rankings!
PRESEASON LION
1 Sun City Undertakers
2 Franchise
3 Wallachia Wamphyri
4 LHC Naked Turtles
5 Fulham Flying Hellfish
6 Carthaginian War Elephants
7 Massawa Redhorns
8 San Francisco Demons
9 Sahara Storm
10 West Yorkshire Bandits
11 Cagliari Outbreak
12 Kenya Diggits
13 Uganda Silverbacks
14 Zambezi Silverbacks
15 IRONTON TANKS
16 Sterling Bulldawgs
PRESEASON ELEPHANT
1 Nairobi Warthogs
2 The Black Hand
3 Guyana Generalissimo's
4 Kickin Djibouti
5 Zimbabwe Rebels
6 W. I. N. S.
7 Windhoek White Rhinos
8 Sons of Anubis
9 The Dead Presidents
10 Ivory Coast Breakers
11 Wrightstown Tigers
12 Darfur Depopulators
13 The African Predators
14 Angola Blood Diamonds
15 MaRAWK!!o Evil Aces
16 Ron's Texans
WEEK 1 PREDICTIONS
INTERCONFERENCE GAMES
Ron's Texans vs Wallachia
I see the Texans as the underdogs here but I'm dedicating this pick to bug03 and the whole team along with my condolences for his recent loss.
Kenya vs Angola
It was just 2 seasons ago that Kenya ran through AAA with a 16-0 reg season record before falling short in the playoffs. They weren't very successful last season and maybe they got promoted a little too quickly but from experience they can be as tough a team as any. It's been a few seasons since ABD has tasted any playoff glory themselves. Part of that could be the fact that they play in Elephant which has been seen as the tougher of the two conferences for seasons. Both teams are looking to come out of the gates swinging and get a good start to the season. I'm picking ABD since they don't really have a chem issue and are deeper on defense.
TDP vs IRONTON
I witnessed TDP cut through teams in S15 on their way to a perfect season and know they are a great team. IRONTON is coming off a shaky season and I don't see them giving the Prez too much of a fight. But I do like the quick history lesson about the team name on their page!
Sun City vs Nairobi
One team moved up and one came down. The Undertakers had a superb S16 that led to a Championship. The Warthogs were not by any means a disappoinment in WL but they failed to make the playoffs and have moved back down. So the big question here is whether the upstart team from AAA can make a statement against a former WL team. I think Nairobi will make a statement of their own and show that they have every intention of getting back to WL.
The Black Hand vs Fulham
Two fairly equal teams on paper that are both coming off so-so seasons although Fulham did make the playoffs. Not much of an edge anywhere for either team but I'm going to pick Fulham to take a close one.
Massawa vs Evil Aces
Massawa is looking to improve from their 7 win season which was a step back from their previous season. The Aces moved up after an impressive 14-2 season. Another fairly even match-up and I'm going to give the nod to the Aces.
Darfur vs San Francisco
Here are two teams that appear to be on completely opposite trajectories. On one hand we have Darfur coming off a 1 win season. On the other we have the Demons who went 16-0 before falling one game short of making the Championships last season. I've got to go with the new addition to the conference here.
Wrightstown vs WYB
A rematch of last weeks preseason game. We can be sure neither team was showing too much last week since they would be facing off here. WYB squeezed out a 2 point win in that game even with their struggles to stop Wrightstown's offense. They'll have to perform to their usual standards here if they want to get the win that matters. I can see this one going either way and if the Tigers find ways to convert that offensive output into points every time they can take this game.
Franchise vs Kickin
Frachise is looking to improve from a 15-1 record and a deep playoff run. They have to be seen as one of the early favorites this season and with a solid advantage in depth they're my pick here.
Sahara vs ICB
Another tough one to call as these two teams look pretty damn equal on paper too. Both coming off 10-6 seasons and early exits from the playoffs. Both with solid depth everywhere. ICB has a moderate chem edge so I'll go with that.
Sons of Anubis vs Uganda
SoA is looking like another early favorite. After falling short of the championship game last season you can rest assured they'll be looking to make a strong push again this season.
Zambezi vs Guyana
Zambezi is coming off a rough 3-13 season and Guyana came 1 game short of a perfect season. The Silverbacks have a huge chem disadvantage to top things off. Guyana gets the win here.
LHC vs TAP
LHC is at a slight chem disadvantage. TAP was not very successful last season although they were still in a few of those losses. I'm flipping a coin here and it goes to LHC.
WINS vs Carthaginian
Another early favorite gets my pick this week. WINS is just coming off too good of a season to doubt them.
Windhoek vs Cagliari
Another solid match-up, man this nothing like AAA, this week. Looking at the Outbreak last season it's easy to see that they will be a tough team this season. They lost only game by more than 3 points so could have easily went 15-1.
Sterling vs Zimbabwe
We've got a rematch of last season's Africa AAA #2 Championship game to kick off the season. Once again it appears that Zimbabwe has every edge possible in this game so it's hard to see a different outcome
Anyway, since my ranking script never wants to work anymore I'll be using rjssob's rankings from the APL/USA thread as a starting point and splitting the conferences to make things easier for me. Unfortunately, since I don't know much about a lot of the teams right now you'll have to deal with my guesswork when I make predictions until I become more familiar as to who the dominant teams are and who the posers are. So if anyone gets offended with the rankings or predictions all you have to do is win the game to show me you belong higher.
Good luck to everyone this season (especially Sterling cause we're going to need it from the looks of it
) and I'm looking forward to seeing a ton of great games since AAA was getting a little lackluster to say the least. On to the rankings!
PRESEASON LION
1 Sun City Undertakers
2 Franchise
3 Wallachia Wamphyri
4 LHC Naked Turtles
5 Fulham Flying Hellfish
6 Carthaginian War Elephants
7 Massawa Redhorns
8 San Francisco Demons
9 Sahara Storm
10 West Yorkshire Bandits
11 Cagliari Outbreak
12 Kenya Diggits
13 Uganda Silverbacks
14 Zambezi Silverbacks
15 IRONTON TANKS
16 Sterling Bulldawgs
PRESEASON ELEPHANT
1 Nairobi Warthogs
2 The Black Hand
3 Guyana Generalissimo's
4 Kickin Djibouti
5 Zimbabwe Rebels
6 W. I. N. S.
7 Windhoek White Rhinos
8 Sons of Anubis
9 The Dead Presidents
10 Ivory Coast Breakers
11 Wrightstown Tigers
12 Darfur Depopulators
13 The African Predators
14 Angola Blood Diamonds
15 MaRAWK!!o Evil Aces
16 Ron's Texans
WEEK 1 PREDICTIONS
INTERCONFERENCE GAMES
Ron's Texans vs Wallachia
I see the Texans as the underdogs here but I'm dedicating this pick to bug03 and the whole team along with my condolences for his recent loss.
Kenya vs Angola
It was just 2 seasons ago that Kenya ran through AAA with a 16-0 reg season record before falling short in the playoffs. They weren't very successful last season and maybe they got promoted a little too quickly but from experience they can be as tough a team as any. It's been a few seasons since ABD has tasted any playoff glory themselves. Part of that could be the fact that they play in Elephant which has been seen as the tougher of the two conferences for seasons. Both teams are looking to come out of the gates swinging and get a good start to the season. I'm picking ABD since they don't really have a chem issue and are deeper on defense.
TDP vs IRONTON
I witnessed TDP cut through teams in S15 on their way to a perfect season and know they are a great team. IRONTON is coming off a shaky season and I don't see them giving the Prez too much of a fight. But I do like the quick history lesson about the team name on their page!
Sun City vs Nairobi
One team moved up and one came down. The Undertakers had a superb S16 that led to a Championship. The Warthogs were not by any means a disappoinment in WL but they failed to make the playoffs and have moved back down. So the big question here is whether the upstart team from AAA can make a statement against a former WL team. I think Nairobi will make a statement of their own and show that they have every intention of getting back to WL.
The Black Hand vs Fulham
Two fairly equal teams on paper that are both coming off so-so seasons although Fulham did make the playoffs. Not much of an edge anywhere for either team but I'm going to pick Fulham to take a close one.
Massawa vs Evil Aces
Massawa is looking to improve from their 7 win season which was a step back from their previous season. The Aces moved up after an impressive 14-2 season. Another fairly even match-up and I'm going to give the nod to the Aces.
Darfur vs San Francisco
Here are two teams that appear to be on completely opposite trajectories. On one hand we have Darfur coming off a 1 win season. On the other we have the Demons who went 16-0 before falling one game short of making the Championships last season. I've got to go with the new addition to the conference here.
Wrightstown vs WYB
A rematch of last weeks preseason game. We can be sure neither team was showing too much last week since they would be facing off here. WYB squeezed out a 2 point win in that game even with their struggles to stop Wrightstown's offense. They'll have to perform to their usual standards here if they want to get the win that matters. I can see this one going either way and if the Tigers find ways to convert that offensive output into points every time they can take this game.
Franchise vs Kickin
Frachise is looking to improve from a 15-1 record and a deep playoff run. They have to be seen as one of the early favorites this season and with a solid advantage in depth they're my pick here.
Sahara vs ICB
Another tough one to call as these two teams look pretty damn equal on paper too. Both coming off 10-6 seasons and early exits from the playoffs. Both with solid depth everywhere. ICB has a moderate chem edge so I'll go with that.
Sons of Anubis vs Uganda
SoA is looking like another early favorite. After falling short of the championship game last season you can rest assured they'll be looking to make a strong push again this season.
Zambezi vs Guyana
Zambezi is coming off a rough 3-13 season and Guyana came 1 game short of a perfect season. The Silverbacks have a huge chem disadvantage to top things off. Guyana gets the win here.
LHC vs TAP
LHC is at a slight chem disadvantage. TAP was not very successful last season although they were still in a few of those losses. I'm flipping a coin here and it goes to LHC.
WINS vs Carthaginian
Another early favorite gets my pick this week. WINS is just coming off too good of a season to doubt them.
Windhoek vs Cagliari
Another solid match-up, man this nothing like AAA, this week. Looking at the Outbreak last season it's easy to see that they will be a tough team this season. They lost only game by more than 3 points so could have easily went 15-1.
Sterling vs Zimbabwe
We've got a rematch of last season's Africa AAA #2 Championship game to kick off the season. Once again it appears that Zimbabwe has every edge possible in this game so it's hard to see a different outcome
