UnderDogs Come in as Favorites this Week

GREEN VALLEY OPEN: Week 7 Predictions

By Michael Palmer | Green Valley Media Associate

Ball 4 Life (1-4) vs. JYD (2-4)

This will be the first meeting of the season between these two squads and this should be an intriguing matchup to watch. For starters, Ball 4 Life has been without Milos Knezevic for two of the past three games and they're going to need him to get this team running. Another player for Ball 4 Life that will be vital is Zach Dean as he may go up against Kodiak Yazzie down low. If this happens, it has the making of being a physical type of ballgame. Yazzie must watch out for Dean's transition game as the man is an absolute beast when it comes to transition offense. Let's see how well Mark Trevino and Angel Castro do from downtown as everyone knows they'll be taking a lot of treys. Josh Ross will have his hands full and JYD will be all over him, perhaps Anthony Livingston will be guarding him if Knezevic doesn't suit up.

Speaking of Livingston, he'll be looking to share the ball like crazy and watch out for his transition game. If will be a challenge for Ball 4 Life to guard him and they must do everything they can to stop him. I'm looking forward to see how well Cris Cockrell does against a physical Ball 4 Life team. He'll look to drain some 3s and get things going for JYD. The duo of Eric Redeaux and Victor Senn have been vital to this team and watch out for the two of them to go back and forth scoring. This one is a tough game to pick, but JYD has my vote to get the victory.

Prediction: JYD -5

Villains (4-3) vs. Flight Vegas (6-0)

Flight Vegas beat the Villains by 22 points in Week 4 and boy this will be another solid game. In that game, Vernon Clemens scored a team-high 28 points an shot 50 percent from the field as well as going 5-5 from the charity stripe. Hollis Hale for the Villains scored a game-high 31 points on nine treys and shot 50 percent from the field as well. I'm not so worried about the Villains' defense, it's just that Flight Vegas is such an accurate shooting team as they're second in the league averaging 108 PPG and are shooting 54 percent from the field. The Villains are the highest scoring team in the league averaging 115 PPG. Ken Peters of Flight Vegas has been a solid addition and he'll grab his boards and make his shots. David Murtha of Flight Vegas missed the game against the Villains in Week 4, so I'm sure he'll suit up and be ready for action. Watch out for the duo of Robert Sandoval and Cory Ford to attack at the Villains' defense and draw some fouls too.

The Villains are such a pure scoring team and it shows each and every game. Andreu Johnson put up 85 points in one game last week and let's see if he can take over once again. I really want to see Joshua McCarver get the ball a lot more as he only attempted eight shots last time against Flight Vegas. Jon-Ross Campeau and London Schneider will also look to make some clutch shots and attack at a very strong Flight Vegas defense. Hale will attempt 3 after 3 and it may frustrate Flight Vegas down the stretch if they can't stop him. Chase Skinkis has himself quite the team, however, they haven't had the second half of the season they had hoped to have. Flight Vegas is an absolute unit of a team and I can totally seeing them winning a close contest.

Prediction: Flight Vegas -6

UnderDogs (3-2) vs. RudeDogs (2-5)

The battle of the Dogs as the UnderDogs will square off against the RudeDogs in a rematch from Week 1 where the UnderDogs won by 27 points. That was then and this is now. The RudeDogs have Travis Sobers back as he hadn't played a game since Week 1. He scored 30 points last week and will be a crucial player for the RudeDogs to trust in pressure situations. Will we see Leonard Mitchell lll suit up? He's missed the last two games and if he and Sobers suit up, man this will be a quality one-two punch against a dangerous UnderDogs team. Ben Carey and Matt Darcel will of course look to make the 3, so the UnderDogs can't sleep on them from downtown.

Adam Rellah of the UnderDogs was feeling it last week as he scored a season-high 30 points on eight treys. If he gets open a lot, boy will the RudeDogs be in trouble. I'm curious to see how well Sobers does against the UnderDogs' John Loyd. Loyd is an attacker, a difference maker and of course, a quality player that every team hopes to have. Dylan Hansel didn't play against the RudeDogs in Week 1, but to him, this is just another game and another shot and drilling clutch 3s and playing exceptional defense. Perhaps Sobers may have to guard Duelle Gore down low, but regardless, I have the UnderDogs winning a big one tonight.

Prediction: UnderDogs -9.5