2001 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP

1. Lou Tillery- Despite being criticized early in the tourney, Lou Tillery showed he didn't need any gimmicks to win the championship game. Tillery brought all the elements to the table to win the title. Good stick control, sound execution on both sides of the ball, and excellent adjustments and schemes to offset his opponents. The champ set the nationals record for most point scored in a game, scoring 106, but his intense, aggressive defense may have been the most impressive element to his game. 2. Ray Green - Stick control like Whoa! Is all you can say about Green. Not to overshadow his defense or offensive execution, that was outstanding as well. But Green set the tourney of fire with some incredible runs by Jerome Bettis, and pin point passing by Kordell Stewart. What impressed most of the ballers is that Green was using the Steelers in a manner that no one else (other than the Director) would phantom. Green's biggest shocker: Busting the clock on #1 seed Trapjaw in the second round, scoring 102 points. 3. Wallstreet - After showing up in New Orleans in his stock broker suit & tie, Wallstreet lived up to his name, for after his upset of defending champ Candyman, he had everyone in the room chanting sell, sell, sell!!!! It was an awesome moment for Wallstreet. While one may debate Wallstreet or Ray Will Turner for #3, just the fact that Wallstreet defeated P.C., Candyman, and X in route to his final four appearance, places him in my #3 slot. Wallstreet saved his best performance for nationals, and it showed. 4. Will Turner - When your sparring partner is the national champ, you have to be good. This is the case with Will Turner who joined the NOMB along with national champion Lou Tillery. Will & Lou both have attacking styles that are very similar to one another. Turner dominated in many of his games throughout the tourney before falling to Ray Green in the semi's 5. X - X has never gotten an interview on The Swammi Show, but he does have the consolation on knowing he is in The Swammi's top 10. The defending BFL champ showed his prowess through out the tourney by coming back from large deficits to come out victorious. Just the fact that X has his own theme song, recorded by Snoop Dogg makes him a candidate for The Swam's top 10 by itself. But it is his intense defense, and balanced game that really has him at Swam's #5 spot. 6. David (DC) Carter - D.C. took the Giants, of all teams, and ran through nationals all the way to the quarterfinals before falling to the eventual champ. Carter is the only baller from Swammi's 2000 top 10 to advance past the second round. Carter's dominance in the BFL, and his consistent play at nationals secures his spot as one of the top ballers in the nation. 7. Marc The Upsetter - Upsetter's name is his game. He quietly waltz through the tourney making a name for himself with a supreme running attack. Upsetter impressed the field with his power running game with Emmitt Smith. His special teams were spectacular as well, as the Upsetter took no less than 3 kickoffs back for TD's on Sunday alone. This guy can give us a clinic on how to effectively use the Cowboys. 8. Dell Barton - The biggest question the field had about Dell Barton was, "who is Dell Barton? The nation now knows, as Barton saved his best balling for New Orleans. After going 3-0 in the round robins, including a win over E-Lai (ISUX), Barton rocked the tourney with his first round upset of BFL legend Winky White. Afterwards he moved on to score an impressive win over Playmaker before falling to Will Turner in the quarters. 9. TrapJaw - Yea, I know Trap had a c-note dropped on him, but if that happened to him, it could have happened to anyone. It is a supreme mystery how Trap let the game get that far out of hand. Ray Green is certainly that good, but I'm not sure if TrapJaw is that bad. This guy went in to the tourney as the #1 seed, with a nationals record, 67 point differential. Ray Green did earn this win no doubt, but this was simply a bad game at the wrong time for the Trap. 10 Candyman - After a solid showing in the round robins, and the first round of the tourney, the champ looked poised to make a run at a repeat until running into a Wall...street that is. Nevertheless, I still like the former champ as one of my top 10. Many may disagree, but anyone that can hang with the likes of Lou, Will or TrapJaw, can run with the best of them. Besides, he already has one title on the mantle, and it will take more than one loss at the Nationals to knock this guy out of my top 10.