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I wanted to start this thread earlier in the season, but was caught up with some stuff. So I decided to wait til now so we won't accidentally alert any opponents xD

This season's games gave me mixed feelings. First things first, of the 8 games that we were supposed to play, 5 were winnable ones. However, with those winnable games being back to backs (3 game stretch before meeting Portugal U21, then another two game stretch), it kinda gave me season 64 flashbacks, where an unfriendly schedule caused our opponents to put in more effort than us in crucial moments to steal wins. Thankfully schedule-wise, there were totally no surprises, except for tonight against Luxembourg U21. I actually expected them to CT us, because there are no more meaningful games for them after this (just like us). If not, We could have gone into the next two games with more enthusiasm, but it won't make much of a difference anyway because it's not like we stand a chance against Argentina U21 and Czech Republic U21.

What was surprising however, is starting the season with 3 star players who were also on last season's team, and having only 1 of them play regularly for us.
Poh Sze Jian was our second most expensive player this season, and played 10 games last season. Interestingly enough he's actually trained by the U21 manager of Barbados U21 (I have to thank him for his integrity, as he kept Poh's GS up even against his own team). His consistency allowed our team to at least have some star power. He's currently on pace to breaking 100 assists in a season.
Chen Shi Jing started out as our best player and played regularly last season, featuring in 13 of 14 matches. However he only played 1 official match (the loss against Macau U21), and even then he came off the bench because GS was just respectable. Turns out Androit was pretty inactive at the start of the season, so his GS suffered. He has been having nice minutes in the past two weeks, but somehow he has been unlucky with the random GS factor, so he has yet to feature since then.
Cai Ze Leng was meant to complete our big 3, but sadly I had to drop him off the team totally until very recently. His manager somehow played him in every single game, causing his GS to tank. I've sent out 2-3 BB-Mails, he only replied 1, and then ghosted me after that. But if Chen Shi Jing's GS for the past 2 weeks was puzzling (bad GS despite good minutes), his is a total mystery - 96 minutes a week, and suddenly he hit respectable last week, then strong this week. It totally defies the game engine code, I don't know why. Regardless, it's good news and he had his place restored 2 weeks ago, so he's played 2 games so far, both as subs.

The rest of our initial starting lineup includes:
Albert Joseph our sharpshooter. He's been a regular starter for us. If he is currently on pace to overtake Kok De Seng for the 4th place in points scored in a season.
Ng Lee Han is our big man who does big mans sutff. He's also been a regular starter for us, and had 2 games where he broke the 20 rebound milestone. He's currently on pace to overtaking Chua How Feng for 8th place in the season rebounds list.

Our first game against Belarus U21 was a glimpse of the depth chart. Sadly that was the last time our team played at full strength this season.

Away vs Macau U21: 118-121 (L)
This game left me in quite a dilemma. For one, it was our season opener. Since it was game 1 of a 3 game stretch of winnable games, I needed to decide if I wanted to build enthusiasm or play safe. Thankfully, both of us played at the same effort level, but the absence of Cai Ze Leng and the unimpressive GS of Chen Shi Jing allowed our opponents to barely edge past us. Albert Joseph was the star of the night, putting in 30 points and 4 assists in his U21 debut. Ng Lee Han was equally impressive even though he didn't score much and got fouled out, as he still managed to pull down 21 rebounds in 45 minutes of play. Meanwhile Kwa Ming (23 points 4 assists) and Poh Sze Jian (19 points 7 assists) also played well.

Home vs Pakistan U21: 103-88 (W)
We were missing both Chen Shi Jing and Cai Ze Leng in this game, and I'm proud of our boys for grinding out a pretty big win against Pakistan U21. Albert Joseph continued his impressive form with 27 points and 3 assists, while Poh Sze Jian finished the night with a double double (21 points 12 assists). Anthony Samuel proved that he's capable of replacing Cai Ze Leng as he also picked up a double double, with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Ng Lee Han was 1 point shy of scoring double digits, but even then he was not overshadowed by his fellow starters as he pulled down 20 rebounds. He managed to not get fouled out this match.

Away vs Moldova U21: 121-109 (W)
I was wary against Moldova U21, as they might suddenly pop up with more effort and win the game. The loss against Macau U21 was already costly enough, so we didn't have room for risks. Even though in the end we could have conserved enthusiasm, but I think the gamble was justified. Albert Joseph led the team in scoring with 33 points to go along with 5 assists, while both our bigmen, Anthony Samuel (21 points 11 rebounds) and Ng Lee Han (16 points 10 rebounds) finished the game with double doubles. We were very impressive on offense, shooting 53% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. This game also saw Yim Wang Hiu being called up to help battle the GS issues plaguing our team. He finished the game with 11 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, shooting a respectable 5 of 9 from the field and hitting his sole 3 point attempt.

Home vs Portugal U21: 68-88 (L)
Our boys were brought down to earth in this game. Albert Joseph came off the bench for the first time as other players were in better form than him, and he only hit 4 points from 6 attempts. Despite that he still played well, as he finished the game as one of only 2 players with a positive +/-. Anthony Samuel looked like the most impressive player of the team, scoring 23 of the team's 68 points, while grabbing 13 rebounds. Poh Sze Jian lacked in scoring (8 points off 25% shooting), but he still contributed with 7 asissts and 5 rebounds. That said, I didn't expect much from our boys anyway because the quality difference was obvious in the first place, and we were also missing Ng Lee Han due to GS issues.

Away vs Barbados U21: 103-92 (W)
Our boys bounced back in a slim win against Barbados U21. Albert Joseph got fouled out, but still led the team in scoring with 19 points, shooting 50% from field and hitting 3 of 4 from downtown. We won largely due to our lockdown defense, but things could have gotten better if we were better in the boards. Ng Lee Han (12 rebounds) game back into the starting lineup, but that didn't stop Barbados U21 from grabbing 23 offensive rebounds, beating us 40-59 on the boards. That said, despite them having 104 shot attempts, they only managed to hit 38 of them (36.5%). There were also times when we disrupted their offensive plans and they were forced to jack up desperate 3s from outside, so they had a pretty abysmal 3 point percentage (1 of 15 or 6.7%). Cai Ze Leng made a return to the team in this game, but he fired blanks, although he was impressive on defense with 3 blocks.

Home vs Luxembourg U21: 123-86 (W)
Probably the last win of the season. Things went into garbage time by the 4th quarter, and 7 of the 9 dressed players scored double digits. Anthony Samuel was our top scorer with 20 points. Looks like he established himself as one of our best scorers in the later part of this season. Ng Lee Han and Yim Wang Hiu both picked up double doubles, with the latter scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, while the former finished the game with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Our boys were particularly impressive from outside, hitting 11 of 16 three pointers (69%). That said, like I previously mentioned, I was afraid that Luxembourg U21 would go Crunch Time on us, so I didn't dare to take risks. Plus, there is little hope to beat our next two opponents, so a little bit more enthusiasm might not be worth the risk of losing this game.

Our next game will be against Argentina U21 away. I don't expect much from our boys, but hopefully they can stuff the stat sheet.

All being said, I expect the season results to be 4-4. It shouldn't be enough for us to make the knockout rounds, so it will be scrimmages after that. Currently we have 4 players who have been ever present for us: Poh Sze Jian, Anthony Samuel, Albert Joseph, and Ler Loong Jin. Hopefully they keep up their impressive appearance streak!