After another exhilarating and action-packed season, the Capital District Basketball Association enters its post season. The opening round begins Monday, with the semi-finals being played on Wednesday night. The finals will be a best-of-three series with the champion having to win two games in order to receive the coveted Donald Led Duke Cup.
Although Team Deas managed to knock off top-ranked KeyBank on Thursday, Key remains the #1 overall seed heading into the week as they had already clinched the top spot after their win on Monday night. KeyBank will receive a bye and play the winner of American Energy Care (6th seed) and D & D Power (3rd seed) on Wednesday. Janitronics, who clinched the #2 seed will also get a bye and play the winner of Team Deas (5th seed) and NBT Bank (4th seed), also on Wednesday night. After a strong start which had them ranked at the top of the league at the season’s mid-way point, losers of four straight including an 18-point blowout on Thursday night, SEFCU will have to watch the playoffs from the Rensselaer High School bleachers.
Here are our predictions for how the playoffs will go:
American Energy Care got lucky and saw SEFCU get blown out by a less experienced but more athletic NBT Bank squad, but that luck will be short lived as they go against D & D Power in Monday night’s opening round match-up. As SEFCU has seen their season go in a downward spiral the last few weeks, D & D has started to gel, with the role players around Siena’s O.D. Anosike stepping up and playing great basketball. D & D should win this game pretty easily, as American Energy Care just don’t have that one player who is able to carry the team in the event that it’s a close game. (U.S. PICK: D & D Power)
Game two on Monday night is intriguing as the styles of play between these two teams are so similar. Team Deas has struggled this season because of it’s lack of ability to control the tempo, but an inexperienced NBT Bank squad may just be the prime candidate to play into Deas’ hands. Deas will have a tough time, as after the loss of Tiki Mayben in week two, Mark Edmonds went down with a shoulder injury a week and a half ago and will most likely miss the playoffs. In a very tough game to predict the outcome, this game will come down to Team Deas’ ability to control the game over this inexperienced NBT squad, and NBT’s ability to match-up with James Thomas down low. (U.S. PICK: Team Deas)
Should D & D Power win on Monday night, they will play top-seeded KeyBank. A re-match of the 2011 finals that saw D & D victorious, this time around could see a very different outcome. KeyBank was able to beat D & D in week one, but D & D is a much better team than they were back then. They are on a role, but KeyBank’s greatest strength, in sharp contrast to Team Deas, is their ability to control the tempo of every game. D & D’s trio of O.D. Anosike, Davis Martens, and Keven Donahue are good, but Dom Milka, Phil Sellars, and Clayton Longmire of KeyBank are just as potent. The “X” factor in this game could be at the point guard position, with the slight edge to KeyBank’s Lloyd Johnson over D & D’s Jeff Stopera. (U.S. PICK: KeyBank)
Janitronics will be awaiting Team Deas in the semi-finals. Deas was able to get by Janitronics the other night, led by free agent Talor Battle, but Janitonics will be playing with a full roster and the back court of Dagostino and Bromirski is the best in the league hands down. With the best player in the league (Dagostino) and one of the best second options in recent memory (Bromirski) playing for Janitronics, Team Deas will need to jump on them early and then be able to hold that lead. (U.S. PICK: Janitronics)
Upstate Scout’s picks for the final round are Janitronics and KeyBank. These teams have consistently been the best in the league throughout the season and they will show us in the playoffs that they are worthy of the #1 and #2 seeds. Janitronics went undefeated in the 2011 regular season only to be eliminated by none other than KeyBank, but they will set out to prove that that was a fluke. KeyBank lost last year in the finals, and in their second straight trip, will be out for blood and to prove that they should have won the Led Duke Cup last year. Janitronics may have the best backcourt in the league this season, but KeyBank has the best frontcourt. The key to this game could be newly acquired guard for Janitronics Kareem Thomas, as it could create a match-up problem for the forward-heavy KeyBank. It’s hard to say who this championship round will favor, but it will be a hard-fought, entertaining series. (U.S. PICK: Janitronics)
As was the case throughout the season, Upstate Scout will be providing weekly coverage of the 2012 CDBA playoffs. American Energy Care and D & D Power will kick off the opening round on Monday at 7:00pm with NBT Bank and Team Deas squaring off at 8:30. See you there!
Mike Long Jr., Staff Writer
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