Western Preview - Derby on the Rocks

The climax of the regional season comes this weekend in Denver, CO hosted by the Denver Roller Dolls and the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls. The West is the perfect region to come last because it has all the fixings to be the most exciting region to date with the top six seeds ranked in the Top 20. Even the first round and consolation games should be fun to watch as seeds 7-9 are within twelve spots of one another.

But the top is where the action will be and top is where the action has been all season. 1-seed Oly has played two of the top six seeds this season winning by a combined eight points. However, both of those wins came at home. Could the mountains affect this speedy team that likes to put up big numbers on the scoreboard? That's what 2-seed Denver is hoping for, the Mile High Club lost one of those games to Oly by just two points. Denver has also played Rat City and Duke City thus far this season. Rose City has played four of the top six, Rat City has played three, Bay Area has played two, and Duke City has played three. These teams are clearly not strangers and clearly evenly matched as no game played this season had a margin wider than 85 and most were within twenty points (2, 6, 7, 14, 18, 47, 63, 65, 85).

Western Region (as seeded):
1: Oly Rollers (#6, 5-0)
2: Denver Roller Dolls (#4, 6-1)
3: Rose City Rollers (#11, 4-1)
4: Rat City Rollergirls (#12, 4-5)
5: B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls (#14, 1-4)
6: Duke City Derby (#18, 3-6)
7: Pikes Peak Derby Dames (#36, 4-4)
8: Rocky Mountain Rollergirls (#25, 2-3)
9: Tucson Roller Derby (#37, 1-2)
10: Angel City Derby Girls (#53, 3-2)

Champion: Denver. Both Oly and Denver have continued to improve dramatically all season but the Denver Roller Dolls come into the regional ranked ahead. The mile high conditioning is the icing on the cake as Denver should get payback for their only loss of the season and win when it matters.

Ticket-punchers: Denver, Oly, Rose City. Despite the top six seeds being so evenly matched, these three teams have clearly put themselves in the top half. The only losses these teams have incurred have been to one another and that should not change after regionals.

Team most likely to play above their seed: Rocky Mountain. Not only is Rocky Mountain playing in their home city, not only is Rocky Mountain ranked ahead of all the other teams without a bye, but Rocky Mountain picked up three of the top skaters from 7-seed Pikes Peak earlier this season.

Predicted finish:
1: Denver
2: Oly
3: Rose City
4: Rat City
5: Bay Area
6: Duke City
7: Rocky Mountain
8: Pikes Peak
9: Tucson
10: Angel City

September 28 Analysis - Southern Fried Smackdown Edition

This past weekend's South Central regional marked the second straight in which the Derbytron only missed one game throughout the tournament (Dallas (#31, 7-3) over Atlanta (#23, 8-8)) which brings the record to 40 for 45 throughout the three regions.

South Central Champion - Texas (SC1 in national tournament): The Austin girls completely dominated this tournament from start to finish with pretty much no doubt who the victor would be at halftime of all of their games. Texas (#5, 9-1) took down Nashville (#29, 7-4) 207-23 in their first match, then dominated Dallas 288-19, with their closest game of the tournament being the championship against Kansas City (#9, 8-3) which was an 83-point spread 153-70. This weekend once again proved that Philly (#2, 9-1), Gotham (#1, 6-1), Windy City (#3, 9-1), and Texas have solidified themselves as being clearly separated from the rest of the teams in the county. Only Denver (#4, 6-1) and Oly (#6, 5-0) can really put themselves in that group at this point but without any high level inter-regional matchups from either team, it is tough to tell how close to that group they are. Texas will face the winner of the Madison (#8, 7-2)/Boston (#10, 9-8) game in Philadelphia.

South Central Runner-Up - Kansas City (SC2 in national tournament): The 2007 national champs easily controlled their competition in their first two games with wins over Tampa Bay (#30, 4-5) 198-77 and Houston (#17, 5-2) 118-56. Kansas City ran into trouble in the championship, however, falling 153-70 to Texas. The Warriors had trouble working as a team against the unforgiving blockers of Texas allowing their jammers through untouched on numerous occasions with KC's jammers stuck in the pack. Kansas City will face the 3-seed from the West for the right to play Windy City in the quarterfinals.

3rd Place - Houston (SC3 in national tournament): Houston won a thrilling bout over Dallas in comeback fashion 113-101 in the 3rd place game. Boxed jammers doomed Dallas down the stretch. This will be Houston's first trip to nationals where they will play the 2-seed from the West. The winner will then get to play tournament hosts, Philly, in the quarterfinals. Houston also took down No Coast (#46, 4-8) 183-45 and lost to Kansas City 118-56.

4th Place - Dallas: Dallas contributed the only miss of the weekend by beating Atlanta 122-91. After that exceptional win, however, the Big D dropped a big one to Texas 288-19 which was by far the biggest blowout of the tournament. They did follow that up with a strong showing in the 3rd place game leading Houston for most of the way before losing 113-101. With a stronger schedule next year, Dallas could set themselves up to be a favorite entering next year's South Central Regional to make nationals.

5th Place - Atlanta: The tournament hosts may have been disappointed after an early exit from the nationals hunt at the hands of Dallas but the Down South Derby Girls came back with two impressive wins. First, they dismantled Memphis (#42, 5-4) 190-77 and then took down Nashville 126-66 to take 5th place.

6th Place - Nashville: Nashville's closest game this weekend was a 60-point spread with one win and two losses. They were the first victim of the Texecutioners 207-23. Nashville then beat West Texas (#52, 2-5) 212-49 but lost to Atlanta in their closest game 126-66.

7th Place - Tampa Bay: It was an up and down weekend for Tampa Bay but many came away impressed with the Tantrums. In the first round, Tampa took down Memphis 229-105 and then later that evening hung with Kansas City for the first 15 minutes only to allow KC's slim margin to balloon by the end of the game to 198-77. In the final game of the weekend, the Tantrums came away with the win 127-110 over No Coast but struggled against a lower ranked team.

8th Place - No Coast: The ladies from Lincoln were one of two teams to play above their seed which was cemented after a first round win over West Texas 109-79. That win allowed them to play Houston later that day but were shut down 183-45. No Coast did impress against Tampa Bay, though, losing a close one 127-110.

9th Place - Memphis: The other team to play above their seed was Memphis who didn't earn that distinction until the 9th place game on Sunday where they beat West Texas 134-82. First round action saw the Hustlin' Rollers lose to Tampa Bay 229-105. Later, they couldn't keep Atlanta in check losing 190-77.

10th Place - West Texas: Taking last place was the 8-seed West Texas Roller Dollz. The Lubbock crew lost games to No Coast 109-79, Nashville 212-49, and Memphis 134-82.

Rankings Update - September 28, 2009

	Team		Rating	2009 Record	Base Rating	SOS	Games Used	2009 Games
1	Gotham	+1	0.750	6-1	0.769	0.633	13	7
2	Philly	-1	0.742	9-1	0.710	0.626	16	10
3	Windy City		0.720	9-1	0.735	0.621	16	10
4	Denver	+2	0.715	6-1	0.685	0.533	12	7
5	Texas	-1	0.710	9-1	0.704	0.560	17	10
6	Oly	-1	0.672	5-0	0.703	0.497	5	5
7	Charm City		0.659	12-5	0.652	0.597	22	17
8	Madison	+1	0.646	7-2	0.630	0.565	5	9
9	Kansas City	-1	0.646	8-3	0.640	0.576	16	11
10	Boston	+2	0.622	9-8	0.569	0.564	22	17
11	Rose City		0.620	4-1	0.630	0.542	10	5
12	Rat City	-2	0.619	4-5	0.568	0.613	13	9
13	Detroit		0.607	7-4	0.607	0.579	16	11
14	Bay Area		0.570	1-4	0.524	0.588	10	5
15	Cincinnati		0.563	9-4	0.574	0.540	18	13
16	Steel City		0.562	9-3	0.604	0.453	13	12
17	Houston	+2	0.553	5-2	0.549	0.507	12	7
18	Duke City	-1	0.548	3-6	0.491	0.583	14	9
19	Arch Rival	-1	0.545	6-7	0.518	0.509	16	13
20	North Star		0.540	5-3	0.591	0.518	8	8
21	Carolina	+1	0.534	3-7	0.461	0.606	16	10
22	Harrisburg Area	+1	0.531	3-2	0.556	0.472	8	5
23	Atlanta	-2	0.527	8-8	0.530	0.487	19	16
24	Brewcity		0.523	5-4	0.497	0.554	10	9
25	Rocky Mountain		0.518	2-3	0.476	0.538	10	5
26	Providence		0.512	4-4	0.473	0.526	11	8
27	Minnesota	+2	0.498	4-3	0.518	0.520	12	7
28	Burning River	+2	0.492	3-5	0.492	0.464	11	8
29	Nashville	+2	0.489	7-4	0.520	0.447	13	11
30	Tampa Bay	-3	0.488	4-5	0.482	0.508	11	9
31	Dallas	-3	0.483	7-3	0.553	0.484	15	10
32	Sioux Falls		0.476	2-2	0.522	0.471	4	4
33	Ohio		0.473	6-3	0.485	0.460	11	9
34	Grand Raggidy		0.463	3-8	0.409	0.505	17	11
35	Naptown		0.461	3-3	0.452	0.428	6	6
36	Pikes Peak		0.461	4-4	0.500	0.504	13	8
37	Tucson		0.457	1-2	0.435	0.532	8	3
38	Tallahassee	+2	0.443	1-1	0.507	0.357	2	2
39	Maine	-1	0.431	3-4	0.451	0.496	8	7
40	Fort Wayne	-1	0.424	4-6	0.411	0.459	12	10
41	Montreal		0.418	0-5	0.326	0.519	5	5
42	Memphis		0.403	5-4	0.459	0.389	10	9
43	Omaha	+1	0.395	2-4	0.406	0.443	7	6
44	DC	-1	0.393	4-5	0.436	0.459	12	9
45	Dutchland		0.383	2-3	0.374	0.387	5	5
46	No Coast	+5	0.368	4-8	0.367	0.446	16	12
47	Suburbia	-1	0.360	1-1	0.362	0.325	2	2
48	Connecticut	-1	0.360	3-6	0.366	0.443	10	9
49	Northwest Arkansas	+1	0.353	2-4	0.365	0.436	10	6
50	Sacred City	-1	0.348	3-3	0.344	0.440	9	6
51	Hard Knox	+1	0.339	1-4	0.354	0.387	5	5
52	West Texas	+1	0.331	2-5	0.389	0.421	10	7
53	Angel City	-5	0.321	3-2	0.469	0.396	6	5
54	Green Country		0.287	3-4	0.355	0.333	9	7
55	Arizona		0.260	1-3	0.277	0.436	5	4
56	Assassination City	+1	0.246	2-4	0.307	0.367	7	6
57	Dixie	-1	0.246	1-4	0.222	0.436	8	5
58	Bleeding Heartland		0.222	1-1	0.359	0.389	2	2
59	Sin City		0.219	0-3	0.227	0.326	4	3
60	Dominion	+1	0.214	0-8	0.230	0.450	11	8
61	Salt City	+2	0.197	1-0	0.379	0.346	5	1
62	Big Easy		0.197	0-6	0.249	0.396	7	6
63	Oklahoma	+1	0.187	1-4	0.231	0.414	7	5
64	Alamo City	-4	0.166	0-3	0.247	0.321	7	3
65	Slaughter County		0.160	0-2	0.263	0.495	2	2
66	Gem City		0.083	0-3	0.242	0.478	3	3
67	Long Island		0.032	0-3	0.246	0.411	4	3
	*Unofficial Team