THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2005 _Summer/Fall AAA-Elite (SF/San Mateo) |
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 The best of the best is in the wild wild west! Asian, Open, Women's, and Masters divisions available...More info San Jose Vikings Rise to Top NOVEMBER 13, 2005 -- En route to a convincing victory in the double-elimination repeat championship, league MVP Ryan Mateo and teammate Seve Nocon combined to score nearly two-thirds of the points, distribute fourth-fifths of the assists, and grab one-third of the rebounds in the San Jose Vikings team totals...Full Story The Vikings became one of the lowest seeds (South #4) in Dream League history to win a championship. They started out 0-and-3, losing to all of the San Mateo teams in the first round-robin. There was little chemistry to speak of and a danger of repeating their 2-and-6 finish in the AL-Elite the season before, despite the drop down two divisions to AAA-Elite and the loss of their two best and tallest players (one of them, Russell Lopez, continued to play in this season's AL-Elite on Fastbreak). After beating Fists of Gujus from the weaker Northern Conference, Mateo was en fuego with 38 points against Yellow Fever, but the Vikes lost the game. Another matchup against first-place and ex-champ Ballaz By Law (BBL) was imminent, but with the entire frontline of BBL missing in that game, the Vikings took advantage and turned the corner on the season, led not by Mateo or Nocon, but by Patrick Dizon who had his best game of the season with 14 points. After that, the Vikings hit fifth gear as Mateo scored 30 or more points in three straight games played, then 20 or more in the two showdowns against BBL.
BBL also had a great season and came within one quarter of repeating. They battled through a Winners Bracket upset defeat by Fob Five as Guy Blightman and Paul Perez emerged as forces in the middle -- Perez was named Top Defensive Player thanks to his tenacity on the boards in critical games and despite somewhat limited minutes, while finishing in the top 10 in both steals and blocks (again with fewer minutes than the average all-star). On the flip side, Bomb Squad had perhaps the most disappointing season. With the blueprint for success with a full 10-man roster, Bomb Squad was poised to make a dent in the playoffs, but a rash of missing players in the playoffs sent them reeling, only to exit somewhat early at the hands of fellow #1 seed BBL and paying the price for failing to hold ground in the Winners Bracket. Still, Rob Cuenca and Barry Calagui had strong performances during the season. Depletion also cost the cagey veterans of Yellow Fever, whose captain and floor leader Anthony Wang went down with an injury and playoff hopes vanished as First-Team All-Leaguer Donny Young didn't have a running mate at the end of the playoffs. Fob Five showed their potential in the upset of BBL, but in the end, with Johnny Liu spending most of his time where he belongs in the NL and AL, the lack of a reliable ballhandler and unacceptably low 0.7 team assist-to-turnover ratio became the Achilles heel. At 15 ppg and 13 ppg respectively, Frank Liu and Junius Ho are proven impact players, but they need to get the ball in more advantageous positions. T-One was solid, but they'll need to find another ballhandler to ease the load on Galen Ma and dish down low to Victor Lo. Fists of Gujus seemed to get it going near the end of the season, but it was too late as they lost their last three games by just 1, 5, and 6 points. Deepesh Patel averaged a league-leading 12 rebounds a game, a pretty sick feat for a lanky small forward, and the Gujus will have to find a way to capitalize on the those second chances that Patel gives them -- the outside-shooting Dalal brothers Jai and Manish have got to improve on their combined 31.6% shooting for the Gujus to get over the hump. Finally a depleted, older, and slower SFFD for the most part without veteran Derek Wing will need to regroup, perhaps in the AAA-Premier or new Masters division as the AAA-Elite is starting to attract faster ballhandlers. Ed Yup stepped "yup" this season and made some amazing shots with a hand in his face. |