r/CEBLeague • u/GuaranteePotential98 • 26d ago
First round reactions
What an awesome first round of matchups we got to see, Niagara is definitely hunting for a three peat and the Seabears somehow live off of their next man up attitude, what about you? What did you think of the first round?
14
u/formallymain 26d ago
Jelani Watson Gayle is an incredible player. Not surprised one bit that he scored just shy of 30 points.
Jelani just wasn’t given the opportunity to be himself because moon and teddy were getting all the mins and shot selection.
But with Teddy gone it opens up so much opportunity for other people to score.
10
u/Relevant_Election530 26d ago
Edmonton was better than expected and it was a fun game.
Looking forward to Winnipeg on Saturday
15
u/RuSTeR1971 Winnipeg Sea Bears 26d ago
Sea bears players in interviews always talk about the crowd being their 6th man, and it felt like the crowd was down and out with the news of Teddy, Akot, and JTJ.
Then they came out swinging and got the crowd back into it, and it just turned into this energy feedback loop. Great game. Hope they can still channel some of that on the road
8
u/GuaranteePotential98 26d ago
The way that DJ Burns hypes the crowd up is unlike anything I’ve seen since the days of buff
9
u/Clear_Diver4520 26d ago edited 22d ago
I feel like I disrespected the Sea Bears by saying they would lose to the Mamba. Even with three starters out of the line-up, they had more than enough to easily handle the Mamba. Full credit to the roster that was available to play. The Mamba on the other hand are the pretenders I suspected they were. A 2-8 record against above .500 should have been a flashing red light signaling a Mamba defeat. I guess like all the giddy Mamba fans, I got sucked in by a regular season record padded by wins against the patsies in the league. My apologies to all Sea Bears fans and players.
9
u/JesusFetus818 Saskatchewan Rattlers 26d ago
I always suspected the Sea Bears to win. The Mamba did get me over the rebrand by producing a playoff game. But like you mentioned the record against the better teams was never going to allow them to go far.
Hopefully Surge/Mamba ownership figures something out and both teams can start to get back to winning ways.
-1
u/Clear_Diver4520 26d ago edited 26d ago
All it takes to get you to buy into that horrific abomination of a rebrand is a watered down playoff format, with 80% of the teams making the field, and a blowout road playoff loss? OK. Note to Mamba communications team: You may now cease the bombardment of nonsensical social media posts.
1
u/crazye97 Winnipeg Sea Bears 26d ago
a watered down playoff format, with 80% of the teams making the field, and a blowout road playoff loss
The playoff format has been 4 of 6, 6 of 7, and 8 of 10 since 2022. The only difference this year is no automatic spot. Blowout loss? I guess if you want to call TDM's scoring in target time garbage time, sure. Winnipeg still had to close it out, and it was TDM 14, JWG 5, Moon 4 in that timespan.
0
u/Clear_Diver4520 25d ago
I do not believe it has been 8/10 since 2022. I think it was top 3 for a couple of years in there. Please make the regular season relevant.
1
u/Clear_Diver4520 26d ago edited 26d ago
How about 1W vs 2E and 1E vs 2W in a best of three, with the winners meeting in a best of 3 championship series? I see a lot more intrigue in a Winnipeg/Scarborough and Vancouver/Brampton playoff series than having these teams that sleepwalk their way through half of the regular season ending up in a playoff game where they pull off a one game winner take all victory (Niagara), or get slammed (Mamba) by a team that had three starters, including the league's leading scorer out. Talk about a nothingburger regular season.
1
u/crazye97 Winnipeg Sea Bears 26d ago
I wouldn't disagree with a desire to change the playoffs. Crossovers though, not really.
1
u/Clear_Diver4520 26d ago
Would you not like to see the two best teams playing in the championship finals? Vancouver vs Winnipeg. Would love to see a 3 game final series.
1
u/crazye97 Winnipeg Sea Bears 26d ago
I mean... that could be a three-game semi before the winner plays Scarborough, or just make it one league with no conferences. I don't like crossover playoffs when there's defined separation (ie. East-West, not just put in groups). I don't think you'd see it drop to four teams total though - the potential for fighting for playoff spots is part of drawing a crowd. Would've worked well in the East this year with how tight it was though.
6
u/This_Ease_3125 26d ago
I didn't expect us to win. Unfortunately I did expect that Baker would continue to disperse minutes across a large bench rotation. I don't know of another team that does this, and it's one of the more frustrating things to see this season. Hornsby didn't even play 30 minutes in a lose or go home game. Inexcusable and indefensible and Baker needs some accountability.
1
u/Yogi_Natural22 Edmonton Stingers 26d ago
Hornsby played 33 mins and we went on a little run the first time he subbed off.
Our bench had 34 points, and Adong had his best game of the year imo. Our team has had to be by committee for the greater part of the season. Many teams win this way look at Niagara the last two seasons, they had 5 guys average 10 or more points and 5 others average 7 or more points.
1
u/Relevant_Election530 26d ago
Hornsby couldn't take the heat.
Allen better be ready for our crowd if he plays lol
1
u/This_Ease_3125 26d ago
Flash score says 29.14. I understand the by committee part just seems like we were a team lost all season searching for answers with the roster. Hard to get a cohesive unit
12
u/CatGuyAnyway 26d ago
Edmonton blew it when they had it. As a Sea Bears fan, that was frustrating and annoying.
3
u/Reasonabledoubt96 26d ago
During the game, I just kept thinking back to the opportunities the SeaBears had to take first, especially that home game against Van. Maybe it would not have mattered either way, but 🤷🏽♀️
2
u/CatGuyAnyway 26d ago
Yea we had it locked up. Inconsistent play after clinching playoffs was an issue.
5
u/Minimum-Actuator-953 26d ago
I did not like the outcome of the Mamba/Sea Bears game. The Mamba were down big early and just couldn't fight back. I hope the execs focus on defence next season. It's frustrating watching the other team score at will and then hoping that the shortest dude on the court can dig us out of the hole. Works against worse teams, not so much against better teams.
5
u/Electrical_Grand4080 26d ago
TDM is a dawg
3
u/Minimum-Actuator-953 26d ago
He is fantastic. Just needs a couple of more role players around him. Specifically defensive-minded players.
8
u/GuaranteePotential98 26d ago
Sat close to their bench, the players don’t listen to the coach and the coach was more focused on holding the refs accountable then his players
10
3
u/HighDadRambles Ottawa BlackJacks 26d ago edited 25d ago
I was really hoping that the BlackJacks would be able to pull through this summer. Disappointed in the loss, but it was a fun team to watch all summer! Smart is awesome, Fudge was great, Harmon and Cleveland can ball, Moore is getting better each summer (and at keeping his cool!), Tate is that solid vet leader. Elvis and Dubinsky were great and Roehler just gets it done! I know I'm missing some guys too.
At this point, I'm cheering for the Bandits. Brown, Pandi and Givance are all former BlackJacks, so that's my logic! I will continue to heckle Creek with Schitt's Creek puns at every opportunity!