Basketball Season 2: Movers of Week 2

Savanna Collins

Mar 07, 2023

Week 2 of Athletes Unlimited Basketball featured four evenly matched teams that made for exciting games night after night. Each team took at least one loss and in five-out-of-six competitions, the final score was separated by just five points or less.

Team Sims (2-1) and Team Smith (2-1) tied it up at 600 win points
Team Hillmon (1-2) finished 550 wins points and the most quarter wins (8)
Team Harrison (1-2) logged 350 win points

Mover of the Week: Jasmine Walker

Making the biggest leap on the leaderboard in Week 2 up 12 spots to No. 25 overall is forward Jasmine Walker.

Walker was on Isabelle Harrison’s orange squad, which makes her feat as Mover of the Week even more impressive. Despite collecting the fewest win points on that team and no MVP points, she still made an impact in stat points and shifted more than any other athlete in the rankings.

In fact, Walker’s win points remained the same week to week (350) but she nearly tripled her stat points. In Week 1 she earned 144 stat points. In Week 2, Walker took on a more significant role for Team Harrison to earn 424 points across the three games.

Most of her points came offensively; she hit 11 two-pointers and seven threes.

biggggggg fortyyyyyy 🎯@TheRealJuice40 | #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/mqwPndShD3

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) March 5, 2023

Odyssey Sims remains on top

Odyssey Sims’ ranking at the top is the largest margin held between an athlete and the one ranked below them. Sims outpaces No. 2 Smith by 308 points. For anyone to slow Sims’ roll would be challenging considering she hasn’t depended on a single-point category to remain No. 1.

Put simply, Sims is winning games, playing lights out, and rightfully being voted MVP for her performances. She’s averaging 26.6 points per game and holds a 4-2 record as a captain. Heading into Week 3, she’s the athlete to defend and the captain to beat.

WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE#BeUnlimited | #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/FBVLcoPjY9

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) March 5, 2023

Smith and Hillmon shift up a spot

NaLyssa Smith and Naz Hillmon’s performances as leaders in the league look very similar. Not only are they earning comparable points, but they’re achieving it in related ways.

Smith vs. Hillmon Week 2 Breakdown

Stat points: Smith 3rd highest earner (641) – Hillmon 2nd highest earner (655)
MVP Points: Smith 90 – Hillmon 90
Rebounds: Smith 34 – Hillmon 31
Two pointers: Smith 23 – Hillmon 25

They both shifted up one in the rankings to lead a different color team in the upcoming week of games as back-to-back captains.

Mitchell makes S2 Captain debut

Kelsey Mitchell didn’t have to go far on the leaderboard to become a captain.

She’s the third-highest scoring player in the league and paces the group in three-pointers with 22 splashed so far.

After finishing Week 2 ranked fifth, her dominant performances paired with 180 MVP points pushed her into the role of Purple team leader. Only Sims was voted MVP the same number of times in Week 2 but Mitchell leads the league in the category overall with 300 MVP points in two weeks of play.

Kelz Too Smooth 🧈

The MVP points leader worked her way into the Captain's chair this week and will lead the purple team.@Kelz_Hoop | #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/bR619AmabJ

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) March 6, 2023

Player to Watch: Lexie Hull

Don’t let guard Lexie Hull slip from your mind (or AU Fantasy Picks) just because she hasn’t been a captain yet.

Hull was last week’s 3rd overall point earner, right there with NaLyssa Smith (1,331) with 1,312 points in the second week.

At the draft, she was Smith’s first-round pick, so expect her to be heavily involved in the offense. There’s little doubt she’ll be a starter all week with her Indiana Fever teammate and take on a large role in the team’s shooting beyond the arc. She’s been hitting 40.7% of threes.

Defense is where Hull can really shine for her team too; she leads the league in blocks (10) and steals (15).

"Lexie Hull defends like her ability to breathe depends on it." – @CindyBrunsonAZ

@lexiehull | #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/SFq59hi7zT

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) February 26, 2023

Tune In

Week 3 begins on Wednesday, March 8 with Episode 3 of the Athletes Unlimited Preview Show at 5:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. CT on YouTube. Then, at 6 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT with Team Hillmon vs. Team Smith on WNBA League Pass.

Savanna Collins is the Digital Media Reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Twitter @savannaecollins.