Serbia 78-62 England
A game which promised so much ended in grave disappointment and ended our hopes of qualifying for the second round in back to back competitions. Everyone in the game of BuzzerBeater knows that Serbia always deploy two SB bigs and a 3-2 zone, making them tough to attack, but with the crop of players we had available to us I decided to try exploit the lack of OD on their bigs using Low Post but it failed dramatically with Serbia dominating the game from start to finish. I did think it was possible Serbia would go for a CT and that left us vulnerable as it wasn’t an option for us, with Latvia at our final game. Taking the ratings and PP100 into consideration, maybe that extra use of enthusiasm made the difference and meant it was always going to be a challenge to beat a team that made the Consolation tournament finals.
Latvia 132-120 England
After the loss of Serbia, this game meant very little in terms of jeopardy but was one that would have been nice to win and finish the season in third place. Instead, we were dominated on the rebounds and that felt the deciding factor in the game as it could have gone either way. Latvia had more enthusiasm than us so I expected it to be difficult but a disappointing result to end the campaign with. We were limited in options offensively due to some managers being unable to manage game shape at key points in the season.
Overall, finishing 5th is extremely disappointing and I take sole responsibility for the poor season. Ultimately we were drawn in a group against a host nation and then three really strong European teams, so qualification was always going to be difficult. A key factor in our demise was the loss of one of our greatest ever national players in Jonathan Kemp. The double OD drop he suffered early into the season left us limited in offence. We say goodbye to the legend who finishes his international career 2nd in the all-time scoring charts with 2363 points in 127 games. Throughout periods of the season we’ve also had some key players in poor shape, particularly in key weeks which has unsettled the balance of the squad, but as I said earlier, my tactical choices for some games was also poor and ultimately it’s my job to make sure I maximise the use of the crop of players we have.
If anyone has any questions, suggestions or observations, please feel free to drop them in this forum or message me personally. It’s now a time for recuperation and testing with the squad to make sure we’re best prepared for next season. We have some exciting talent coming through, so I hope to see those players grow and enhance the crop of players we have available to use now.
Last edited by js8 at 2/18/2025 6:17:22 PM