It has been an entertaining 6 weeks of 3×3 basketball for the College Grade. Now all eyes are set on the lunchtime of Monday 21 September, where 6 out of 10 teams have the chance to go for gold and become the inaugural SMC College 3×3 Champions. College 2 (Top Seed) and College 9 (2nd Seed) are two of the 6 teams set to aim to win this competition.
Six weeks and eighteen games per team into the competition, here are the final standings heading into the College Grade Playoff Week (Wins/Draws/Losses/Goal Difference (if required)):
1. College 2 (16W/2D/0L)
2. College 9 (13W/3D/2L)
3. College 6 (12W/1D/5L)
4. College 8 (11W/2D/5L)
5. Air Ballers (9W/2D/7L)
6. Shaqtin’ A Fool (7W/1D/10L)
7. College 3 (5W/0D/13L)
8. College 7 (4W/1D/13L)
9. College 1 (3W/1D/14L/GD of -38)
10. Why Not? (3W/1D/14L/GD of -49)
Why Not?, College 1, College 7 and College 3 just missed the bracket and the chance to play for first place as only the top 6 teams are eligible. Instead, to determine their final placings, they will play one game against every other team in the hope of avoiding placing last. They will play on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
As the top two seeds, College 2 and College 9 will sit out on Monday, automatically qualifying for a spot in the semi-finals. That means only two spots remain.
Those final two spots will be contested by the four teams that have taken 3rd – 6th place: Shaqtin’ A Fool, Air Ballers, College 8 and College 6. Two games will be played to determine the final two teams going to the semi-finals: one between the 3rd (College 6) and 6th (Shaqtin’ A Fool) seeds and one between the 4th (College 8) and 5th (Air Ballers) seeds. The winners qualify for the semis while the losers play for 5th and 6th place, so these games are key games in getting one step closer to winning the College Grade competition.
After six teams going for gold are cut to four, those teams will play semi-finals and either a 3rd/4th place playoff game on Thursday or the Grand Final, the only game being played on Friday lunchtime, where the format for the final changes from a 10-minute running clock (clock doesn’t stop) to a 10-minute stop clock (the clock stops every whistle).
It’s going to be a hectic playoff week for the College grade, so come and watch the games being played on lunchtimes this week (excluding Wednesday) and follow updates on the school Instagram page for updates regarding the SMC 3×3 Competition!
Ethan Siao (Air Ballers)
