Selecting the five for this week was a more straightforward affair, but rank ordering them and putting one standout at the top for additional POTW honours was tough, with Derby, Bristol, Loughborough, Hemel, CoB and Essex all winning this past weekend behind some impressive contributions.
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We'll pick a Player of the Week and four other selections to round out the Team of the Week, paying attention to the following criteria:
Other players will also receive a shout out as honourable mentions at the bottom of the piece.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
No player produced more points this weekend in D1M than Raheem May-Thompson, but this award was more for what he didn't have than what he did.
Facing a three-hour jaunt up the country to Newcastle to take on a Knights team coming off a win over Nottingham, Derby were without captain Malcolm Smith, influential guard David Simental and free-scoring Leighton Elliott-Sewell for what was a difficult road encounter.
The reigning regular-season champs needed someone to step up, and May-Thompson answered the call.
His 31 points were 40% of Derby's total, his seven rebounds were second on the team behind Rob Marsden's 15, and he went a perfect 12/12 when sent to the foul line. Add in his three assists and +/- of 11, and it all added up to a great overall performance.
On a day when Derby could so easily have tripped up, Raheem May-Thompson ensured his side stayed on course.
Neck-and-neck with May-Thompson this week, Moton must instead settle for a spot in the Team of the Week after his starring role in Hemel's 88-68 revenge win over Milton Keynes.
The American ensured there would be no repeat of MK's KitKing semi-final win as he poured in 29 points on a stunning 71% shooting, hitting an eye-catching 5/7 from long range in the process.
It wasn't just the points he scored, but also the timing of them, that made Moton so valuable this weekend.
Hemel led 39-32 to begin the second half but a KJ Johnson triple quickly trimmed that lead to just four points. Moton would drop 14 points in the next seven minutes of play to go with his two assists, powering Storm to a 32-17 frame that would ultimately decide the contest.
Bristol picked up their third win of the season this weekend as they edged towards the top four, continuing to show that they more than deserve their seat at the top table of the NBL pyramid.
A big part of the Hurricanes' 87-74 victory over Nottingham Hoods, Edozie put together another typical double-double performance as one of the league's top forwards.
No surprise, given he sits eighth in the D1M scoring charts (18.5PPG) and top of the rebounding table (13.3RPG). Edozie has been a constant source of production for Bristol in their debut D1M campaign and this weekend was no exception.
Of his 17 boards, five came on offence, and his rebounding total was way out ahead of the next best Hurricane, with four players pulling down five boards each.
Add to that 21 points on 58% shooting, the second most on the team, and it is easy to see why the former Commonwealth Games man sealed a spot in this week's five.
Jackman stuffed the stat sheet in CoB's 92-84 road win against Bradford on Saturday, doing plenty at both ends of the court.
He got points, 17 of them at 60% from the floor. He got rebounds, too, with his eight only trailing team-mate Luke Okosieme's nine. His eight assists were a game-high as he found the open looks time and time again, and he even got three stops on defence with a steal and two blocks.
As if that wasn't enough, Jackman was the only Rocket to play 20 minutes or more with no more than one turnover.
Productive, efficient basketball, and a win. A great recipe for Team of the Week selection.
A second Hemel Storm pick from their impressive victory over Milton Keynes rounds out the five, with forward Nelson-Henry making the cut alongside Moton.
A 14/10 double-double is the kind of stat line fans might be expecting to see from a forward of Nelson-Henry's ability, but his six assists this weekend takes the former BBL winner into D1M's top 10 with 5.0APG.
That is some effort from the big man, who is consistently showing his all-round skill set for the reigning playoff champs.
A trio of steals also demonstrate Nelson-Henry's ability to read the game, and he certainly enjoyed the upper hand against MK forwards Troy McIndoe (4pts) and Chris Tawiah (6pts) this weekend.
Newcastle is traditionally a difficult place for D1M teams to go. The Knights were 8-4 at home in 2023/24, with last season's top-four finishers Reading tasting defeat in the North East amongst plenty of others.
Playing without captain Malcolm Smith, Leighton Elliott-Sewell and starting guard David Simental, last Saturday's outing instead gave Derby a chance to showcase their strength in depth and a number of players shone in that regard.
Pass-first guard Charlie Brown played the full 40 and hit 3/4 from beyond the arc, whilst Jonas Dieterich was another who brought his shooting boots from range as he went 6/9 from three-point land.
Both deserve extra credit along with POTW May-Thompson, as veteran forward Rob Marsden went to work on the glass with a game-high 15 rebounds.
Hopefully neither of Derby's absentees are out for long as dates with Bristol, Loughborough and Hemel loom before the month is out, but for one weekend at least, the Blazers kept on rolling despite being shorthanded.
With all teams now playing between five and seven games so far out of their 24 for the season, the D1M table is beginning to shape up.
Hemel, Derby and Reading lead the way on 10 points, with City of Birmingham close behind on eight.
That allows us to look forward to what could be some choice match ups in the coming weekend, and where the big blows may be struck before December's mid-season break.
Derby face Hemel, Milton Keynes and Reading between the end of November and mid-December, whilst Hemel play Reading next weekend and City of Birmingham on 7 December.
All of the above is also taking a very narrow view of what already has been a hugely competitive D1M field across the board, and no doubt all of this season's 13 teams feel that plenty can be achieved to get them into the mix by the time 2024 is in the books.
Ronald Blain (NEW) - 29P/5R/7A/7S/2B/28EFF
Jonas Dieterich (DTB) - 23P/4R/6-9 3PT/21EFF
Denzel Ubiaro (BRI) - 25P/5R/4A/4S/23EFF
Daniel Johnson-Thompson (ESS) - 12P/15R/2S/23EFF
Matt Ellis (HEM) - 18P/8R/2B/23EFF
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Main image credit - Lauren Newham
Team of the Week photo credits - Nick Higgins (May-Thompson), Nicola C Creative (Nelson-Henry, Moton), Natalie Lau (Edozie), Tara St Clair (Jackman)
